Press Release Concerning the Official Visit to Russia of the Head of the Russian Imperial House, H.I.H. Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna

Moscow
20 December 2006
No. 33

Between 14 December and 20 December, 2006, the Head of the Russian Imperial House, H.I.H. Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna, made an official visit to the Motherland. The Grand Duchess arrived in Moscow from Madrid on 14 December. At the Domodedovo airport, Her Imperial Highness was met by a delegation of the provincial administration of the Tula District, at the head of which was A. B. Korablev, the vice-governor, who served as the Grand Duchess’s guide during her entire stay in the Tula region. Immediately upon arriving, the Grand Duchess went to Tula where she stayed in the residence “Bogucharovo.”

On 15 December, the Head of the Russian Imperial House began her tour of the sites of Tula with a visit to the Tula Cartridge Factory, founded by the decree of her great-great-grandfather, Emperor Alexander II Tsar-Liberator, where she talked with the foremen and workers and where she familiarized herself with the manufacturing process in the factory and, with her own hands, tried out the factory’s finished product at a shooting range, showing herself to be a quite good shot. Then Her Imperial Highness visited the Count L. N. Tolstoi Tula State Pedagogical University (TSPU). At the University, the Grand Duchess met with students and teachers of TSPU and of the Tula State University, answering many questions from students. In the evening, the Grand Duchess attended a performance of Count L. N. Tolstoi’s drama “The Power of Darkness” at the Tula Academic Theatre of Drama.

On 16 December, the Grand Duchess traveled to the Zelybin Special (remedial) boarding school in the Iasnogorsk region of Tula District, where she talked with teachers and students and took part, along with the children, in decorating the school for the coming Christmas pageant, and attended a children’s concert. Her Imperial Highness also, in her capacity as head of the Russian Imperial House’s charitable program “Education for Poor Children,” gave the school several sewing machines and fabrics that were acquired by funds raised by the Russian section of the charity fair “Rastrillo,” headed personally by the Grand Duchess, the fair being held each year in Madrid by the foundation “Nuevo Futuro (New Future).” E. K. Nikoforov—the Special Representative for the Head of the Russian Imperial House for social and charitable affairs, Representative of the Orthodox association “Radonezh”, and head of program “Education for Poor Children”—promised the administrators of the boarding school his cooperation in the religious education of the students.

From the boarding school, the Grand Duchess went to the building of the Administration of the Tula District, where there then followed an official meeting with the governor of the Tula District, V. D. Dudka. At the meeting were present other ranking administrators of the Administration of the Tula District and His Eminence, Archbishop Aleksei of Tula and Belev. The Head of the Russian Imperial House presented to the governor a diploma raising him to the rank of a knight of the Imperial Military Order of St. Nicholas, First Class. After lunch, which was given by Governor V. D. Dudka in honor of Her Imperial Highness, the Grand Duchess went to the Cathedral of All Saints, where she venerated the holy objects of Tula—the Honorable Kazan Icon of the Mother of God and the relics of the blessed St. John of Tula, and then went to the restored Holy Dormition Cathedral at the Tula monastery of the same name. After visiting the cathedrals, the Grand Duchess visited the exhibition “Icons from the Iconostasis of the Dormition Cathedral” and an exhibit of the Tula Museum of Art. In the evening, in her residence “Bogucharovo,” there was a reception and concert in honor of the Head of the Russian Imperial House, at which were present the governor of the Tula District, V. D. Dudka; His Eminence Archbishop Aleksei of Tula and Belev; Vice-Governor A. B. Korablev; T. P. Posternak, first deputy to the governor and head of the administration of Tula District; S. A. Kharitonov, the chief federal inspector for the Tula District; and V. S. Mogil’nikov, the head of municipal development of the city of Tula.

On 17 December, the Head of the Russian Imperial House prayed at the memorial chapel for the victims of political repression and placed flowers at the Cross on the site of mass executions. Then the Grand Duchess traveled to Kulikovo pole. After placing flowers at the monument to Grand Prince St. Dmitrii Donskoi, Her Imperial Highness visited the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Mother of God and an exhibit at the Museum of the Battle of Kulikovo pole in the village of Monastyrshchina. From there, the Grand Duchess went to the town of Krasnyi Kholm, where she attended services at the Cathedral of St. Sergius of Radonezh. In honor of Her Imperial Highness, there was a luncheon given before her departure at which were present the governor of Tula District, V. D. Dudka, government official of the Tula District and the city of Tula, clergy of the Tula archdiocese, and officials from local museums. After the luncheon, the Grand Duchess departed for Moscow.

On 18 December, the Grand Duchess took a walking tour of the Arbat, and then heard reports from members of her Chancellery, and granted an audience to delegations from the Russian Nobility Association, the Russian Monarchist Movement, and the organization “For Faith and Fatherland.”

On 19 December, Her Imperial Highness visited and toured the Great Kremlin Palace. Afterward, the Head of the Russian Imperial House went to the Cathedral of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Tolmach, where she offered prayers before the great icon of Russia—the miracle-working Icon of the Mother of God of Vladimir—and attended a solemn moleben to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker of Myra in Lycia, which was served by the rector of the cathedral, Protopriest Nicholas Sokolov, on the occasion of the Feast of the Patron Saint of the Order of the Imperial Military Order of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, and of the five-year anniversary of the refounding of this Order. At this service, there were in attendance members of the Knight’s Council of the Order, and members of the Order of St. Nicholas in all three of its degrees, including General of the Army M. A. Moiseev; Colonel-General V. L. Manilov, the Head of the Union of Knights of the Military Order of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, called the “Military Nobility of Russia;” Admiral I. N. Khmel’nov; and Major-General A. I. Mirenkov, vice-governor of Rostov District and ataman of the Don Cossacks. After the moleben and with the blessing of His Holiness, Patriarch Aleksei II of Moscow and All Russia, there took place before the Icon of the Mother of God of Vladimir a ceremony awarding the devices for the Order upon those newly knighted. After the conclusion of this ceremony, there followed immediately a ceremony awarding by Imperial Decree, the Order of St. Anna in the First Degree to Major-General A. V. Kirilin, Chairman of the Knights’ Council of the Order of St. Nicholas, and a ceremony elevating E. P. Chelyshev, Academic of the Russian Federation, knight of the Order of St. Nicholas in the Third Degree, and a participant in the victory parade in 1945, to the hereditary nobility of the Russian Empire.

After the conclusion of these award ceremonies, Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna visited the Tret’iakov Gallery. Afterward her tour, there was a reception at the Gallery in honor of Her Imperial Highness held by the Knights’ Council of the Order of St. Nicholas. The General Director of the Tret’iakov Gallery, V. A. Rodionov, warmly greeted the Grand Duchess. General of the Army M. A. Moiseev gave the Head of the Russian Imperial House a commemorative medal “65 Years in the Defense of Moscow,” marking the services of the Russian Imperial House to the Fatherland and in reinvigorating the military spirit of Russia’s armed forces. From the Tret’iakov Gallery, Her Imperial Highness went to the State Duma of the Russian Federation, where she met with L. K. Sliskaia, the First Deputy to the Chair of the Duma. In the evening, the Grand Duchess attended a performance at the Bol’shoi Theatre.

On 20 December, Her Imperial Highness visited the cultural-educational center “Aspects of Education” in the southwestern region of Moscow, where she familiarized herself with the center’s work and attended a class on Russian history and a children’s performance prepared especially for her by the students in the center. On this same day, the Head of the Russian Imperial House, H. I.H. Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna returned to Madrid.

A. N. Zakatov

Director of H.I.H.’s Chancellery