Royal treat: menu from the coronation of Nicholas II

On May 14, 1896, the last coronation of an emperor in the Russian Empire took place in the Assumption Cathedral - Nicholas II was crowned king. 7,000 guests were invited to the coronation banquet in Moscow. In front of each guest lay a scroll tied with silk braid, and in it was a menu written out in ligature. We have compiled menus from the coronation dinner and the following gala receptions, commissioned by famous artists and more like paintings.

Here is how General Vladimir Fedorovich Dzhunkovsky, who at that time was the adjutant of Prince Sergei Alexandrovich, describes the menu:

“I must say about the lunch menu that lay in front of each device. The menu is made according to the drawing of Professor V.M. Vasnetsov and presents a parchment scroll about 1/2 arshin long. The title bears the inscription in Slavonic ligature of a vershok size: “Sacred coronation of Emperor Nikolai Alexandrovich and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna to the kingdom”; under this inscription are the huge cyphers of their imperial majesties beneath the imperial crowns.

The monograms rest against the border of the ancient Russian pattern, which includes an artistically written scene: "The wedding of Mikhail Fedorovich to the kingdom." The picture was painted according to the original, stored in the Armory; in the background of the picture rise the heads of the Assumption Cathedral. Under this picture, in ornaments, there are three double-headed eagles from different eras of the past, printed with different colors on different backgrounds. In the triangle formed by these eagles and the headpieces decorating them, the menu itself is printed in old Russian handwritten script, the text of which is roughly arranged in this order:

Soup: pickle, borscht; pies; steam sterlets; lamb; jellied pheasants; roast; capons; salad; asparagus; sweet: fruits in wine, ice cream.

Under the text of the menu there are Old Russian screensavers and, by the way, the figure of a gusliar, and in these screensavers the following text is placed in Slavic script (capital letters are printed in cinnabar):

Glory to God in heaven Glory! Our sovereign on this earth

Glory! Glory to His faithful servants! Glory to His Eminent Guests! For the truth to be In Rus', Glory is brighter than the sun.

The text of "Glory" rests on an artistically executed picture representing the ancient Russian rite of bringing bread and salt by the boyars and the people to the tsar. Bread and salt on a dish covered with a towel, depicting the state emblem. Under the picture, as if explaining it, an imitation of "Glory" is printed in the following presentation:

And we sing this song to bread, we sing bread, we give honor to bread. Glory. For old people For a treat, for good people For hearing, Glory Glory forever and ever Glory.

This text is included in a vignette, which depicts two Firebirds from ancient Russian headpieces. At the end of the menu, an old Russian manuscript depicts: May 14, 1896. The menu as a whole represents an artistic picture, in which, with all its brilliance and brightness, V.M. Vasnetsov".

After lunch on May 14, a series of other receptions took place.

Turtle. Pies. Fish Salt. Cancer sauce. Beef fillet with roots. Cold grouse and goose liver. Roast: turkey and young chickens. Salad. Cauliflower and pods. Hot pineapple with fruits. Ice cream. Dessert.

Hazel broth. Various pies. Sterlet in Italian. Poulard roast and game. Swiss salad. Ice cream with raspberry sauce.

Crayfish soup. Pies. Finnish trout natural. Veal with roots. Cold aspic of partridges. Roast: poulards and small chickens. Salad. Artichokes with peas. Hot sweet. Ice cream. Dessert.

Lukullovsky broth. The pies are different. Cold hazel grouse in Suvorov style. Roast: large chickens on a spit. Salad. Whole asparagus. Ice cream. Dessert.

Clear turtle soup. Cucumber cream. Crayfish. Don sterlet in champagne. Lamb saddle with early vegetables. Chicken stuffed with truffles. Foie gras soufflé. Punch. Pheasants. Salad. Peas in the English style. Oriental pineapples. Strawberry. Dessert.