Royal treat: menu from the coronation of Nicholas II
On May 14, 1896, the last coronation of the emperor in the Russian Empire took place in the Assumption Cathedral — Nicholas II was crowned tsar. 7000 guests were invited to the coronation banquet in Moscow. In front of each guest lay a scroll tied with silk braid, and in it was a menu written out in script. We have collected menus from the coronation dinner and the following ceremonial receptions, made by order of famous artists and more like paintings.
(7 photos in total)
This is how General Vladimir Fedorovich Dzhunkovsky, who was at that time the adjutant of Prince Sergei Alexandrovich, describes the menu:
The monograms rest against the border of the Old Russian pattern, which includes an artistically written scene: "The wedding of Mikhail Fedorovich to the kingdom." The painting is based on the original, stored in the Armory; in the background of the painting are the heads of the Assumption Cathedral. Under this painting, in ornaments, there are three double—headed eagles of different eras of the old time, printed in different colors on different backgrounds. In the triangle formed by these eagles and the screensavers decorating them, the menu itself is printed in Old Russian handwritten font, the text of which is approximately arranged in this order:
Soup: pickle, borscht; pies; steamed sterlets; lamb; aspic of pheasants; roast; capons; salad; asparagus; sweet: fruit in wine, ice cream.
Under the menu text there are Old Russian screensavers and, by the way, the figure of guslar, and in these screensavers the following text is placed in Slavic script (capital letters are printed in cinnabar):
Glory to God in heaven Glory! To our Sovereign on this earth
Glory! Glory to His faithful servants! His Glory to the distinguished guests! To make the truth In Russia more beautiful than the sun, Glory is bright.
The text of "Glory" rests on an artistically executed painting representing the ancient Russian rite of offering bread and salt by the boyars and the people to the tsar. Bread and salt on a dish covered with a towel, with the image of the state emblem. Under the drawing, as if to explain it, an imitation of "Glory" is printed in this presentation:
And we sing this song to bread, we sing bread, we honor bread. Glory. To the old people For a treat, To the good people For hearing, Glory Glory forever and ever Glory.
This text is included in the vignette, which depicts two Firebirds from Old Russian screensavers. At the end of the menu, the Old Russian manuscript shows: 1896 of the month of May 14th. The menu as a whole represents an artistic picture, in which with all the brilliance and brightness, a great talent and deep understanding of Russian antiquity by V.M. Vasnetsov has poured out."
After lunch on May 14, a series of other receptions took place.
Turtle soup. Pies. Fish Salt. Cancer sauce. Beef fillet with roots. Cold from grouse and goose liver. Roast: turkey and young chickens. Salad. Cauliflower and pods. Hot pineapple with fruit. Ice cream. Dessert.
Grouse broth. Different pies. Sterlet in Italian. Roast chicken and game. Swiss salad. Ice cream with raspberry gravy.
Crayfish soup. Pies. Finnish trout is natural. Veal with roots. Cold aspic from partridges. Roast: pullets and small chickens. Salad. Artichokes with peas. Hot sweet. Ice cream. Dessert.
Lukullovsky broth. The pies are different. Cold grouse in Suvorov style. Roast: large chickens on a spit. Salad. Whole asparagus. Ice cream. Dessert.
Transparent turtle soup. Cucumber cream. Cancers. Don sterlet in champagne. Saddle of lamb with early vegetables. Stuffed chickens with truffles. Foie gras souffle. Punch. Pheasants. Salad. Peas in the English style. Oriental pineapples. Strawberry. Dessert.
Keywords: Emperor | Menu | Russian empire