22 October 2016

The Head of the Russian Imperial House attends the opening of the exhibit “Kinship by Choice: The Romanoffs and Hohenzollerns – 200 Years Together” in the Hohenzollern Castle near Stuttgart (Germany)

On October 22, 2016, an exhibit entitled “Kinship by Choice: The Romanoffs and Hohenzollerns — 200 Years Together” opened in the Hohenzollern Castle near Stuttgart (in the State of Baden-Württemberg, Germany). The opening was timed to coincide with the anniversary (in 1817) of the marriage of Grand Duke Nicholas Pavlovich, the future Emperor Nicholas I, and Her Royal Highness Princess Friederike-Luise-Charlotte-Wilhelmine of Prussia, the future Empress Alexandra Feodorovna.

The exhibit was arranged under the patronage of the Head of the German Imperial and Prussian Royal House, His Imperial and Royal Highness Prince Georg-Friedrich and His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, and was supported by the “Russian World” Foundation and by the St. Gregory the Theologian Charitable Foundation

H.I. and R.H. Prince Georg-Friedrich personally invited his aunt, the Head of the Russian Imperial House, H.I.H. the Grand Duchess Maria of Russia, to attend the opening of the exhibit.

The exhibition was formally opened by the Head of the German Imperial and Prussian Royal House, His Imperial and Royal Highness Prince Georg-Friedrich, by the Russian Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany, V. M. Grinin, and by the Executive Director of the St. Gregory the Theologian Charitable Foundation, L. M. Svastianov.

Approximately two hundred guests attended the opening, including the Minister-President of the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg, Winfried Kretschmann; Bishop Agapit of Stuttgart; the Heads and members of several royal houses (of Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Baden, Württemberg, Oldenburg, Hanover, and others); by Prince G. A. Iurievskii and his wife; by the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation of St. Andrew the First-Called, Vladimir Yakunin; and by the presidents of Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, BMW, Audi, Volkswagen, BASF, and others large corporations.

A Litiya memorial service was held in the Orthodox chapel in the Hohenzollern Castle at the grave of H.I. and R.H. Princess Louis Ferdinand of Prussia (born H.I.H. the Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna of Russia), the grandmother of H.I. and R.H. Prince Georg-Friedrich of Prussia and the aunt of H.I.H. the Grand Duchess Maria of Russia. The service was conducted by Hegumen Maksim (Schmidt), the dean of the Southern District of the Eparchy of Berlin and Germany of the Moscow Patriarchate.

A concert took place in the Count’s Hall of the Hohenzollern Castle, featuring performances by Svetlana Kasian (soprano) from Russia and a piano duet by Hans-Peter and Volker Stenzel from Germany.

The Plenipotentiary Representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Abkhazia to the Federal Republic of Germany, Hibla Amichba, who attended the opening of the exhibit, invited the Head of the Russian Imperial House, H.I.H. the Grand Duchess Maria of Russia, to visit Abkhazia, which she gladly accepted. See: http://m.apsny.ru/news/?ID=25166.

The exhibition will run until January 29, 2017, and features more than 130 items relating to the dynastic ties between the Russian Imperial House of Romanoff and the German Imperial and Prussian Royal House of Hohenzollern.

For more information, see: P. Korobov, “Gogentsollerny priglasili Romanovykh [The Hohenzollerns have invited the Romanoffs],” in Kommersant, 23 October 2016: http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/3124669.

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