#tercentenary

In May 1913, Emperor Nicholas II and the Imperial Family visited the Chambers of the Romanov Boyars on Varvarka Street in Moscow, the ancestral home of the dynasty. (Moscow) as part of the nationwide celebrations marking the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty.

It marked final stop of a "Great Pilgrimage" across ancient Russian cities (including Kostroma and Yaroslavl) that retraced the route taken by the first Romanov Tsar, Mikhail I, in 1613.

The visit to the chambers was deeply symbolic, connecting the last Russian Emperor to the very origins of his family line.

[Footage from this documentary]

The kokoshnik was made by nuns at the Starotorzhsky Convent, and is part of a set made for the Tsar’s four daughters to celebrate the Tercentenary of the Romanov Dynasty in 1913. Two other kokoshniki, owned by Grand Duchesses Tatiana and Anastasia, are in the Museum’s collection. There are no known (as of May 2024) photographs of the Grand Duchesses wearing their kokoshniks. 

Olga’s kokoshnik is made of peach velvet fabric, with satin ribbons used to secure the headdress. The kokoshnik is adorned with numerous precious stones, including pearls, emeralds, rubies, sapphires, and moonstones. An intricately beaded double-headed eagle sits in the centre of the headdress, symbolising the Romanov dynasty, intricately hand stitched.

The kokoshnik is preserved in its original presentation box, including its plaque, which reads  “To Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna, Nikolaevsky Starotorzhsky nunnery, Galich, Kostroma province. 1913” in Cyrillic. The Romanovs visited Kostroma as part of the Tercentenary tour in May. Preserved in its original box, the label still reads “Alexander Palace, the Children’s Half, Grand Duchesses’ drawing room.” 

The kokoshnik was sold to an international market in the decades following the Revolution, similar to a number of other jewels and artefacts that remained at the Alexander Palace and Winter Palace following the departure of the Romanovs. Meanwhile, Tatiana and Anastasia’s kokoshniks remained at Tsarskoe Selo, and were evacuated to safety during WWII. They have remained at the Museum ever since. Maria’s kokoshnik is still lost - perhaps owned by a private collector.

Olga’s kokoshnik was acquired by the Tsarskoe Selo State Museum Preserve in the early September 2014, for over $15,000 from a private collector. The kokoshnik was recently exhibited in St. Petersburg at the OTMA + Alexei exhibition. 

Bonus edit by me of what the kokoshnik might have looked like!

Sources: Ekaterina Potselueva / Tsarskoe Selo State Museum Preserve

The princely family of Monaco at the religious and civil ceremonies and festivities organised during the tercentenary of the Saint-Michel church in Menton, France, in the presence of the senator-mayor of Menton, Francis Palmero, on September 28, 1975.

[The origin of the Belle Park totem pole in Kingston, Ontario, at least in part. Queen Elizabeth was visiting for the Kingston tercentenary, and this totem pole was one of a number made at that time by Indigenous inmates at Collin's Bay Penitentiary and Joyceville Institution, two medium security federal prisons in Kingston. 

Who the carvers were, the inception of the project, whose idea was it, how it fits into the broader activities of the Native Brotherhood at Joyceville, all of that is still a little hazy to me - but the hard work of local researchers has resulted in a stupendous resource available here online: https://belleparkproject.com/the-place/totem-pole. It answers a lot of my questions and features the words of many of the carvers - a useful corrective to the Whig's slant here.

The Advance - the inmate newspaper at Joyceville - has a notice in June indicating OECA Channel 19 interviewed the totem pole carvers on May 18, for broadcast July 1 & 2 in Toronto. The Advance praises the tercentenary project as a "significant symbol of the role Native People have played in the evolvement of the Canadian people." Haven't read earlier issues yet to get a better feel. 

In terms of outside newspaper coverage, there is this dramatic image from April 17 crediting MP Flora MacDonald for getting the wood shipping from BC. Which is all about how great the local Conservative MP is, not the carvers.

In terms of the broader context, Seth Adema's article “Native Brotherhoods and Decolonization in Ontario's Federal Prisons' is pretty crucial, and available for free online if you search. The totem pole is still on the Belle Park golf course, which has become during the pandemic a tent encampment for Kingston’s growing unhoused population. The city keeps trying to evict them all - presumably to re-open the golf course - while local solidarity activists try and stop it.  Belle Island, where the park is partly located, is a site with great significance to the local First Nations, but was of course a garbage dump at one point because this is Canada...]

/// Captions for top images: "Chips are flying," Kingston Whig-Standard. June 8, 1973. Page 4. ---- Indian inmates at Joyceville Institution are busy these days in an effort to finish a giant totem pole before the Queen's visit on June 27. When finished, the carved pole will be given to the city and placed at the new municipal golf course where the Queen and Prince Philip will be staying in their private railway car. 

(Photo by William O'Neill)

"To overlook the municipal golf course," Kingston Whig-Standard. June 8, 1973. Page 4. ---- When completed and presented to Kingston, the totem pole on the left will be set up by the parks and recreation department on the spot marked with an X in the above picture. The Chalet willhouse the dressing rooms and office building for the city's new municipal golf course, built over at former dump site.

(Photo by Bill Baird)

Brooch commemorating the tercentenary of Russia's Romanov dynasty, 1913

May Pop-Up Days: Jewish American Heritage

The images above come from the second printing of a small booklet titled Everyman’s Guide: The American Jewish Tercentenary 1654-1954. The Jewish American Tercentenary was a national event that celebrated the 300th anniversary of the first Jewish settlement in America. The booklet was written by Norton Belth, illustrated by Ernst Ehrman, and designed by Sol Novins.

Our local Tercentenary planning committee, The American Jewish Tercentenary Committee of Wisconsin, was formed in 1953. After the celebration, the committee continued to meet and became the Wisconsin Society for Jewish Learning, which played a considerable role in supporting Jewish scholarship and learning in our state.