Character Catalog

A text of 526 articles inspired by Montesquieu and Beccaria, intended to reform Russian law. It proclaimed principles of tolerance and humanity, although the reforms did not come to fruition.

Catherine creates one of the world's greatest museums by accumulating more than 3,000 paintings, sculptures, and works of art. The Hermitage is today the second most visited museum in the world.

A legislative text guaranteeing the privileges of the Russian nobility (exemption from compulsory service, rights over their estates). It reinforced the manorial system and serfdom.

A reform granting Russian cities a municipal organization and rights to the bourgeoisie. Inspired by Western models, it aimed to modernize urban administration.

Catherine founds the Russian Academy to standardize and enrich the Russian language. She entrusted its presidency to Princess Vorontsova-Dashkova, the first woman to lead a scientific academy.

Through two victorious Russo-Turkish wars, Catherine considerably expanded the Russian Empire southward, gaining access to the Black Sea and annexing Crimea.

I have made it a rule to neglect nothing that could win me the affection of the Russian people... I have worked to make myself worthy of the crown I wore.

Russia is a European state... The sovereign is the source of all political and civil power. Liberty is the right to do everything that the laws permit.

You have shaped my mind and my way of thinking since my early years. I am your most devoted pupil.

We, Catherine II, by the grace of God, Empress and Autocrat of All the Russias... The danger of the dismemberment of the Empire has obliged us to take the government into our hands.

Your zeal for the arts and letters, and your friendship for me, are equally precious to me. Come then to Saint Petersburg, you will be received there as you deserve.

Official residence of the Russian tsars, where Catherine exercised her power for 34 years. She arranged the adjoining Hermitage to house her fabulous art collection.

Imperial summer residence where Catherine had the Alexander Palace built and the Catherine Palace expanded. She spent every summer there and received European philosophers and diplomats.

Birthplace of Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst in 1729, in what was then Prussia. Catherine never returned to her hometown after leaving for Russia.

Peninsula annexed by Russia in 1783 through Catherine's expansionist policy. She made a triumphal journey to Crimea in 1787 to inspect her new conquests.

Site of Catherine II's coronation in September 1762. Although she preferred Saint Petersburg, Moscow remained the symbolic and religious heart of Russia.

Emblem of Russian autocratic power, the sceptre topped with the Orlov diamond was given to Catherine by her favourite Grigori Orlov. It symbolised her legitimacy to rule an empire she had seized through a coup d'état.

Catherine II was a prolific letter-writer and author, composing more than 6,000 letters to European correspondents including Voltaire and Diderot. She also wrote plays, memoirs, and legislative texts.

During the harsh winters of Saint Petersburg, Catherine travelled in gilded, heated sleighs, sometimes racing at full speed across the frozen Neva. These lavish conveyances were a much-admired spectacle at court.

Catherine owned a copy of the Encyclopédie and funded its distribution. This work symbolised her adherence to Enlightenment ideals and her ambition to modernise Russia through reason and knowledge.

Catherine personally managed a large part of her diplomacy, dictating or drafting her own instructions to ambassadors. Her diplomatic archives bear witness to an ambitious and calculated foreign policy.

Numerous official portraits of Catherine, commissioned from painters such as Vigilius Eriksen and Johann Baptist Lampi, depict her in armour or court dress, emphasising both her femininity and her military authority.