David M. Griffiths Catherine II Discovers the Crimea

Perhaps no act of Catherine II’s reign has been more misunderstood than her celebrated 1787 tour of southern Russia. Consuming almost an entire year of her reign, it attracted such celebrated figures of the time as Joseph II of the Habsburg Empire, the King of Poland, Prince Potemkin, Fran-cisco de Miranda, and a host of hangers-on, all packed into dozens of boats, all equipped with their own orchestras. Many left written accounts of the events, accounts that tended to focus on the ele-gance and the festivities. The ultimate product proved to be the creation of the celebrated term “Potemkin village.” Yet what the travelers saw was far more than Potemkin villages. They wit-nessed an empress concerned about the welfare of her subjects who was determined to find out what their needs were. Defined in this way, we discover that the Crimean journey was the fifth rather than the first such voyage, all of which were quite remote from anything resembling a Potemkin village.

Ø zurück zur homepage

Ø zurück zum Heft