September 10, 1725

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Martin Antonenko

A Fixture
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Jul 11, 2008
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8,994
An order outlives times and rulers...


On September 10, 1725, Tsarina Catherine I...

Ekaterina_I.jpg


... awarded the newly created “Aleksandr Nevsky Order” for the first time.



It is the anniversary of the transfer of the relics of the legendary Rurikid prince Aleksandr Nevsky (c. 1220-1263) to the Vladimir Cathedral there. The prince was canonized in 1547.

A total of 21 people received this new order on this day, including the Polish King August II ("August the Strong")...



… and the Danish King Frederick IV…..



The new order can only be awarded to people with at least the rank of Major General!

Members of the tsar's family receive the order automatically upon reaching the age of majority, Russian grand dukes and tsar's sons immediately after baptism.

Men who marry into the royal family receive the order on the day of their marriage.

During Catherine's reign, about 300 people attained the order.

Like all Russian awards, the order is awarded in several classes - up to the Grand Cross...:



During the Napoleonic Wars, 48 people received the Order, including generals after the Battle of Borodino, like Dimitriij Dochturow...



…Aleksandr Count Ostermann-Tolstoj…



...Mikhail Miloradwitsch…



… as welll as Nikolaj Rajewskij…:



They all receive the Grand Cross, of course, as can be clearly seen in the pictures above...!

There are brilliantly decorated medals for very important medal bearers...:



An extra version for non-Christians is sensitively created, which shows the Russian double-headed eagle in the center and not the saint Aleksandr Newskij...:



After 1830, the - originally red - order's cross then became black, following a "fashion". In addition, the image of Prince Neskij in the center of the order was now countered...:



Until the order is abolished with the 1917 revolution, only 3,674 people will receive the award.

Shortly before the collapse of the tsarist empire, the order will be awarded in an almost inflationary manner: the year 1916 records 105 awards!

On June 22, 1942, Stalin reintroduces the "Aleksandr Nevsky Order" - albeit in a different appearance, because the originally Christian cross is replaced by the iconography of the red star...:



In the supposedly "classless" Soviet society, however, the order remains a class privilege, as under the tsars:

It could only be awarded to senior officers (theoretically from the colonel upwards, in reality only generals got it!) of the Red Army, like here General Konstantin Korotejew...:



After the fall of the Soviet Union, the order was initially retained unchanged for the Russian Federation.

The "Aleksandr Nevsky Order" was reconfirmed as a state award by the then President Dimitrij Medvedev on September 7, 2010 - albeit from then on it was designed differently and based on the original tsarist version - and is now also accessible to civilians...



One of the first (more precisely, the third) recipients of this award is Colonel Aleksandr Sokolow, a participant in the "Great Patriotic War" and Honorary Chairman of the Veterans' Council of the 104th Guards Airborne Regiment.

The picture shows Sokolov's award by President Medvedev on February 8, 2011.



The Alexander Nevsky Order has survived all political systems, rulers and times to this day.

I don't know whether there were any considerations under the tsars about automatically awarding the order to members of the ruling family when they reached majority or - in the case of sons - immediately after birth...
 
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