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20 unusual facts about Catherine the Great


Bald–hairy

From 1682 to 1801 there was a strict "man–woman" sequence on the Russian throne: Peter I the Great, Catherine I, Peter II, Anna, Ivan VI, Elizabeth, Peter III, Catherine II the Great, Paul.

Carron Company

The British government tried to prevent the company from supplying plans and equipment to the Russian Empire, intended to improve Catherine the Great's weapons foundry at Petrozavodsk; nonetheless, Gascoigne delivered the Russian's orders, and travelled to Russia in May 1786 to supervise the works.

Charles Neale

In 1803, the members of the Maryland Mission, consisting of the surviving former Jesuits, learned that, two years earlier, Pope Pius VII had approved the continuation of the Society in Russia, where the decree of suppression had never been implemented by the Empress Catherine the Great.

Cigar band

One legend has it that Russian Tsaritsa Catherine the Great took cigars wrapped in silk so as not to stain her fingers, with members of her court beginning to wrap cigars in fabric bands in emulation of the queen.

Clisson et Eugénie

Count Orlov had spent time in France and was associated with the favourites of Tsarina Catherine the Great during this period.

Cynthia Whittaker

Whittaker is currently working on an intellectual biography of Catherine the Great.

Daniel Dumaresq

From there he was called upon to return to Russia and Poland to advise Catherine the Great (1762–96) of Russia and Stanislaus II (1764–95) King of Poland on educational matters.

Doris Keane

She also played Catherine the Great in Czarina in 1922 after Sheldon had revised the play especially for her.

Emily Bruni

Bruni is best known for portraying Helene Dufosse in TV series Agatha Christie's Marple and the Empress Catherine the Great in the 2005 television documentary Catherine the Great.

Essendon, Hertfordshire

Essendon Place was the seat of the Barons Dimsdale of Russia; Thomas Dimsdale was an expert on the treatment of smallpox by inoculation and in 1768 he was invited to Russia to inoculate Catherine the Great.

Francis Neale

Permission was granted by the Father General of the official remnant of the Society in Russia, where they had found protection of the Empress Catherine the Great.

Great Catherine

Catherine the Great (1729–1796), German princess who became most renowned and longest-ruling (from 1762 until her death) female leader of Russia, revitalizing and expanding its influence in direction of Empire's recognition as one of great powers of Europe

Málaga and Sierras de Málaga

In 1791, Mr Gálves, the Spanish ambassador in Moscow, presented the Tsarina and Empress of Russia, Catherine II, with some cases of Málaga wine, and such was the pleasure she experienced that she exempted all shipments of wine controlled by the Fraternity of Vintners from Russian taxes.

Matsumae clan

Laxman saw this as an opportunity to work towards the opening of Japan, and suggested this to Catherine the Great, who agreed.

Metropolitan Archdiocese of Mohilev

It was erected as a diocese in 1772 by the empress Catherine the Great, in a unilateral action independent of Rome.

Paul Roudakoff

A morganatic descendant of Catherine the Great, he was orphaned at the time of the Russian Civil War after his father, General, also named Paul Roudakoff, was wounded in battle, and his mother died of typhus five days later.

Robert Dimsdale

The barony had been conferred by Catherine the Great on Thomas Dimsdale, an ancestor, who had inoculated her son against smallpox.

Under Jakob's Ladder

During the 18th century, Seel's German-speaking ancestors were among those invited by Catherine the Great (and her son Paul and grandson Alexander who ruled after her) to settle the Russian territories.

Viotti Stradivarius

The violin receives its name from its first known owner, violinist Giovanni Battista Viotti, who is said to have received it as a love token from Catherine the Great.

Wladimir Köppen

Köppen's grandfather belonged to the cohort of German physicians that were invited to Russia by empress Catherine II to improve sanitation in the provinces, and later became a personal physician to the tsar.


Charter to the Gentry

Charter for the Rights, Freedoms, and Privileges of the Noble Russian Gentry also called Charter to the Gentry or Charter to the Nobility was a charter issued by the Russian empress Catherine II.

Ernest Beaux

"Bouquet de Catherine" was not a marketing success, perhaps due to Catherine the Great's German heritage at a time of rising tensions between Russia and Germany which would lead, in 1914, to World War I.

Genevieve Foster

While they were watching the 1934 film The Rise of Catherine the Great, Joanna noticed Catherine's clothes were similar to those wore by Americans during the time of George Washington.

Johann Rall

From September 1771 until August 1772, he was in Russia and fought for Catherine the Great under Count Orlov in the Fourth Russo-Turkish War.

Ladoga Canal

Catherine the Great decided to expand the canal by building another section between the Volkhov and Syas Rivers.

Nikolay Zubov

When his younger brother Platon became Catherine II's lover, the "colossus" was made a count and general.

Platon Levshin

A sermon preached by him in October 1762, produced so favorable an impression on the Empress Catherine II that she summoned him to court to be the religious instructor of the eight-year-old heir apparent, Paul Petrovitch.

Principality of Anhalt-Zerbst

Sophie Auguste Fredericke (Empress Catherine II of Russia) 1793–1796 (only in Jever)

Smolny Institute

The building was commissioned from Giacomo Quarenghi by the Society for Education of Noble Maidens and constructed in 1806–08 to house the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens, established at the urging of Ivan Betskoy and in accordance with a decree of Catherine II (the Great) in 1764, borrowing its name from the nearby Smolny Convent.

Stepan Davydov

When the principal choirboy of the Imperial Court Capella, he drew the attention of the Empress Catherine II, who consigned him to the care of the Italian composer Giuseppe Sarti (1729–1802).