Women, Gardens, and Agency in Imperial Russia

Empress Maria Feodorovna's Pavlovsk Park

AvEkaterina Heath,Stephen M. Norris

Inbunden, Engelska, 2026

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Beskrivning

This book draws on the rich historical record of the Russian royal court to demonstrate how green spaces have been used as an instrument of diplomatic and political influence. Ekaterina Heath convincingly argues that parks like Pavlovsk are a fruitful new primary source, here revealing the previously obscured evidence of women’s political activities. In 19th-century Russia, green spaces gave women voice and agency, frequently taken away from them by the patriarchal power structures. Women, Gardens, and Agency in Imperial Russia challenges the preceding narratives of these structures as being solely masculine. It also argues for the need to consider consorts in the analysis of political life at the Russian court. Their soft power strategies were deployed through their gardens, the main tool of political propaganda in the long 18th century.Ekaterina Heath discusses Pavlovsk’s use for building relationships, promoting virtues, mounting political arguments, and writing Russian history. She explores the strategies used by Empress Maria Fedorovna to influence Catherine II and Paul I to maintain her access to power in a precarious political environment. Heath then goes on to analyse Dowager Empress Maria Fedorovna’s use of her garden to grow her power after the death of her husband, Paul I, and her son Alexander I’s ascension to the throne.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2026-05-14
Mått:134 x 208 x 14 mm
Vikt:260 g
Format:Inbunden
Språk:Engelska
Serie:Russian Shorts
Antal sidor:144
Förlag:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
ISBN:9781350544505

Utforska kategorier

Genusvetenskap inom Samhälle och politik
Europas historia inom Historia och arkeologi

Mer om författaren

Ekaterina Heath is Research Fellow at the University of Sydney, Australia. She is the serving President of the Eighteenth-Century Russian Empire Studies Association.

Recensioner i media

Women, Gardens and Agency in Imperial Russia presents a highly original study of Empress Maria Feodorovna through the lens of garden culture and spatial politics, offering a gendered and material perspective on power in late 18th and early 19th century Russia. By centring the study on Empress Maria Feodorovna and her transformation of Pavlovsk Park into a political and autobiographical landscape, the book offers a rare intersection of imperial Russian history, landscape architecture, and gender studies. This innovative historical focus allows for a fresh reading of power relations in the Russian court and draws attention to the spatial strategies employed by female figures historically underexplored.

Innehållsförteckning

Introduction 1. Imperial Family: Building Bridge 2. Plants in the Garden: Growing the Power Base 3. Diplomacy: Weaving the Networks of Power 4. Grief: Turning Defeat into Victory 5. Pavlovsk Panopticon: Arguing against Abolishing Serfdom 6. Charity: Creating Legacy through Rewriting History ConclusionBibliographyIndex