In the Flesh

In order to familiarize his son with the country he would eventually rule, Emperor Nicholas I arranged an extensive tour for him: an excursion of almost 20,000 km that took the heir across vast segments of the world’s largest country. Extensively choreographed and featuring novel forms of publicity and intense emotional expression, the excursion of Alexander Nikolaevich provided critical formative experiences for heir and country alike. Many things made the trip remarkable, but among the most important was that the voyage gave tsarist subjects the opportunity to engage with the monarchy directly and viscerally. Indeed, for many people in diverse parts of Russia, 1837 was unforgettable because they had seen the heir to the throne in the flesh.