Transformations of the system of the palace towns’ administration during the reform of the Ministry of the Imperial Court in 1881-1890s

The article analyzes the reform of the local administration of palace towns undertaken in the 1880s. It was aimed at delimiting the real estate of the Court Department and towns’ property. The author argues that the reform was not the first one, since the former attempts did not go beyond the discussions in various committees. The new reorganization was initiated just after Alexander III ascended to the throne. Having no preliminary measures, it started immediately with the emperor’s decree on transfer of the palace towns Tsarskoe Selo, Peterhof and Gatchina under the governance of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Special commissions were to be established under the supervision of legal adviser of the Ministry of the Imperial Court. The author claims that this change in thei status of palace towns led to the alteration in the system of administration, when instead of one position of the “palace administration manager” “manager of town” and “head of imperial residence” appeared. However, local officials voiced their skepticism concerning the reform and insisted that it would be really hard to divide the property of the Court Department from the one of towns themselves. The author states that the Emperor had to abort the initiative of the transfer of palace towns to the governance of the Ministry of Internal Affairs having acknowledged the validity of those objections. The cancellation went in two stages: firstly, the issues concerning city services were put de jure back under the governance of one functionary of the Ministry of the Imperial Court; secondly, his post was named back as the “palace administration manager”. All this makes possible to conclude that the reform went a roundabout way and ended with the restoration of the initial system of administration with minor changes.