Memory of Russia: "The Posthumous Casket of Alexander II. On the occasion of 135 Years of Regicide" exhibition in St. Petersburg

11 March 2016

"The Posthumous Casket of Alexander II. On the occasion of 135 Years of the Regicide" exhibition opens on March 11, 2016, in the Museum of Artillery, Engineer and Signal Corps (St. Petersburg).

Emperor Alexander II was killed on the 1st (13th) of March 1881. After the death of the Tsar-liberator his morganatic wife Princess E. M. Yurevskaya (Dolgoruky) carefully kept the fragments of wood and glass from the shattered with an explosion Emperor's carriage, a piece of cloth belonging to a full-dress uniform of the Life Guards of Field-engineer Battalion, which he was wearing, the memorandums of physicians-in-ordinary, who provided a medical care and presented at his death, and passes to the Peter and Paul Cathedral in the memorial service and burial of deceased emperor. All these relics were placed in the funeral casket specially made in memory of the deceased.

By the 135-year anniversary of the death of Alexander II this unique exhibit is presented to visitors. Besides the casket itself all the memorabilia, which were kept inside of it, for the first time will be shown to visitors. Particularly valuable are the detailed descriptions of the emperor's death, made by eyewitnesses. The exhibition is supplemented with the copies of engravings depicting the regicide on March 1, 1881, which allow to follow through a chronology of the events of that tragic day.