TSAR NICOLAS II TSAR NICOLAS II - Set of 4 menus... Lot 11

TSAR NICOLAS II TSAR NICOLAS II - Set of 4 menus and 1 program relating to the visit of TSAR NICOLAS II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna Romanova to France in October 1896 and that of President Félix FAURE to Russia in August 1897. - Menu for October 5, 1896, illustrated in color with a naval scene and the flags of the French and Russian navies, engraved by Stern. - Musical program for the reception given in honor of L.L. M.M. l'Empereur & l'Impératrice de Russie on October 7, 1896 at the Hôtel de Ville de Paris, 4 pp. in-4 card, illustrated with the arms of the City of Paris in color and the city seal in silver and gold, engraved by Devambez, qqs small stains. - Menu for the dinner offered by the President of the Republic, Félix Faure, to the Tsar and Empress on October 8, 1896 at the Château de VERSAILLES, cardboard, engraved menu in a Louis XV-style frame with allegorical symbols, slight wetness, browned paper. The reception at Versailles was organized by Potel et Chabot in the Galerie des Batailles. - Lunch menu for October 9, 1896, cardboard printed with Félix Faure's monogram. - Menu for the dinner of August 13/25, 1897, offered to Félix Faure during his trip to Russia, cardboard (approx. 19 x 28.5 cm) illustrated in color with naval scenes and the coat of arms of the town of Peterhof (where the President resided during his stay), tiny silver stains on the front, remnants of laminated paper on the reverse and handwritten annotation in pencil "Amiral Skrydloff" [Nikolaï Skrydlov (1844-1918)] on the reverse. The two dates correspond to those of the Gregorian calendar for Russia and the Julian calendar for France. The imperial couple's visit to France in 1896 was a continuation of the Franco-Russian alliance ratified in 1893 by Alexander III, father of Nicholas II. The event was spectacularly organized, with a publicity campaign in the press contributing to the popular enthusiasm. Symbolic acts were multiplied, such as the laying of the first stone of the Alexander III Bridge, which spans the Seine. A few months later, Félix Faure went to Russia. He docked at Kronstadt on August 23, 1897 and stayed at the Peterhof Palace, near St Petersburg, where a grand dinner was served on August 25 in the Peter the Great Hall. The officers of the French squadron were honored, as the iconography of the menu reminds us, with a parallelism between the two state visits.