Закавказский край в царских путешествиях: от Александра II до Николая II

Abstract

The travels of emperors on the national outskirts of the Russian Empire as a representation of power and mastering the symbolic space of multinational state were the means to manage cultur-ally complex communities of the Romanov dynasty servants. The article considers the circum-stances of the visits of Alexander II in 1871, Alexander III in 1888, and Nicholas II in 1914 to the South Caucasus. It describes the general characteristics of the routes and scenarios of the highest visits, shows the stability of the principal forms of communication with the local population. The importance of the continuity of the czarevitch’s’ Caucasian journeys in their future practices of ruling the region is emphasized. The commemorative aspects of the czarist visits that actualize in the public consciousness the key events of the Russian history of the Caucasus are investigated. It is noted while observing organizational and ceremonial canon, each visit solved concrete and his-torical problems determined by the completion of the accession Caucasus to Russia, the develop-ment of transport infrastructure and deeper integration of the region into the socio-cultural space of the empire, symbolic mobilization of demographic and material resources of the southern out-skirts during the World War I. The reasoned conclusion shows that the visits of the emperors pro-moted the legitimization in the eyes of the subjects of both the supreme crown authority and its representatives in the face of the authorities of the Caucasian region. “The Highest Visits” deep-ened the integration of the region into the larger imperial space and, at the same time, contributed to the reintegration of the peoples of the South Caucasus within the Russian state order.