Ceremonies in the Peter and Paul Cathedral during the Celebration of the 200th Anniversary of St. Petersburg (May 1903)

The St. Petersburg Fortress and the Peter and Paul Cathedral became one of the centers of the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the capital of the Russian Empire. Naturally, the celebrations included a service near the grave of the city’s founder, Peter I. At the same time, the festivities were accompanied by more local ceremonies. Many foreign delegations and dignitaries from other cities arrived in St. Petersburg, and many of them wished to serve molebens in the Peter and Paul Cathedral — both at the grave of Peter I and at the burials of other Russian monarchs. In addition, similar divine services on the same days were conducted by the guards regiments and the capital’s educational institutions. All this is considered in more detail in this article. Note that this topic has not been previously considered in Russian historiography. During the preparation of the article, documentary materials from the fund of the commandant of the St. Petersburg Fortress were worked out, in which no information about these ceremonies was found, and therefore reports in the periodicals became the source base.