PHOTO: each kokoshnik is crowned with an embroidered double-headed eagle (top); the kokoshniks of Grand Duchesses Tatiana, Olga and Anastasia Nikolaevna (bottom)
In 1913, the Romanov Dynasty celebrated it’s 300th anniversary. In February of that year, Emperor Nicholas II presided over the celebrations marking the Romanov Dynasty tercentenary. On 6th March (O.S. 21st February), a ‘Te Deum’[1] was performed in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan in St. Petersburg, followed by a state reception at the Winter Palace.
Between 15th to 28th May 1913, the Emperor and his family made a pilgrimage across the Russian Empire, retracing the route down the Volga River that was made by the teenage Michael Romanov from the Ipatiev Monastery in Kostroma to Moscow in 1613 when he finally agreed to become Tsar.
The Imperial Family travelled on the Mezhen from Nizhny Novgorod to Kostroma to take part in the events marking the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty that year.
The Governor of Kostroma Gennady Nikolaevich Botnikov greeted Emperor Nicholas II at the pier, with the traditional bread and salt[2] during the Imperial Family’s visit to the historic Russian town.
On the occasion of the celebrations marking the Tercentenary of the Romanov dynasty, Emperor Nicholas II ordered four kokoshniks, one for each of his four daughters. It was during their visit to Kostroma, that the grand duchesses were presented with the kokoshniks, made by the nuns of the Nikolaevsky Starotorzhsky Monastery[3].
The kokoshniks were made of velvet in a colour scheme typical of the Art Nouveau era: the kokoshnik of Grand Duchess Olga was a peach colour, Grand Duchess Tatiana’s is lilac, Grand Duchess Anastasia is in shades of rose. The colour of Maria’s kokoshnik is not known.
The kokoshniks were embroidered with gold threads and mother-of-pearl beads with stylized images of a double-headed eagle, mythical birds and floral ornaments. The kokoshniks looked elegant and delicate, emphasizing the youth of the grand duchesses. Each kokoshnik came in a case with a metal plaque on which dedicatory inscriptions were engraved. They were kept in the children’s rooms, located on the second floor of the Eastern Wing of the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoye Selo.
What happened to the kokoshniks after the 1917 Revolition? The Kokoshniks of Grand Duchesses Olga and Maria, were sold abroad in the 1930s. The kokoshniks of Grand Duchesses Tatiana and Anastasia, were evacuated during the Great Patriotic War (1941-45). All four kokoshniks have miraculously survived to the present day.
The kokoshniks of Grand Duchesses Tatiana and Anastasia are today in the collection of the Pavlovsk State Museum; the kokoshnik of Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna is in the collection of the Tsarskoye Selo State Museum; and the kokosnkik of Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna is today in a private collection in the United States. Many years back, the author of this article saw a photo of Maria’s kokoshnik, but it has since been lost.
PHOTO: the kokoshniks of Grand Duchesses Tatiana and Anastasia Nikolaevna
The first time the author of this article saw the kokoshniks of Grand Duchesses Tatiana and Anastasia was in the Costume Museum, which is located in one of the wings of Pavlovsk Palace. The museum showcases elegant evening gowns, dresses, fans, shoes and other personal items of members of the Russian Imperial Family, from the 18th to early 20th centuries.
It was here, that the kokoshniks were displayed, surrounded by glass display cases containing a number of elegant gowns and dresses from the wardrobes of the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. I thought it odd that they were among the collection of Pavlovsk Museum, especially given that neither the Dowager Empress, nor her son Nicholas II and his family, ever lived at Pavlovsk. As it turns out, they are all part of the collection of the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoye Selo.
PHOTO: the kokoshnik of Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna
In 2014, the kokoshnik belonging to Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna came up for auction in New York. It was purchased by the Tsarskoye Selo State Museum for $15,000 USD. The Sotheby’s auction house acted as an intermediary in this deal between the private collector and the museum.
Like the others, the headdress is made in a traditional Russian style in the shape of a crown, covered with peach-coloured velvet, embroidered with silk and silver threads and decorated with precious stones: rubies, emeralds, moonstone and mother-of-pearl. In the center of the crown there is an embroidered double-headed eagle. On the inside, the kokoshnik is covered with peach-coloured silk fabric, with long satin ribbons along the edges.
The packaging of the headdress with the Cyrillic inscription has also been preserved: “To the Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna, Nikolaevsky Starotorzhsky Convent, the city of Galich, Kostroma province. 1913».
“The acquisition of this relic is of particular importance for our museum, since the collection of memorial items of members of the last Tsar and his family is a priority for us. This kokoshnik will be displayed in the exposition of the Alexander Palace,” says Ekaterina Potselueva, curator of the women’s costume collection of the Tsarskoye Selo State Museum.
It is hoped that the kokoshnik of Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna will one day be returned to Russia, and that the two kokoshniks in the collection of Pavlovsk Palace will also be returned to the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoye Selo, from where they were all originally kept before the Revolution and the Great Patriotic War.
NOTES:
[1] The Te Deum is an early Christian hymn of praise. The title is taken from its opening Latin words, Te Deum laudamus, rendered as “Thee, O God, we praise”. In the Orthodox Church, it is sung as part of the moleben of thanksgiving.
[2] When important, respected, or admired guests arrive, they are presented with a loaf of bread (usually a korovai) placed on a rushnyk (embroidered ritual cloth). A salt holder or a salt cellar is placed on top of the bread loaf or secured in a hole on the top of the loaf.
[3] The Nikolaevsky Starotorzhsky Monastery has not survived to the present day. In 1936, the monastery was closed by the Soviet authorities. In the 1950s, the monastery buildings were transferred to the Galich Pedagogical School. In 1994 work began on the restoration of the monastery’s Trinity Cathedral, based on archival drawing, documents and photographs. Sadly, work was suspended due to lack of funding.
© Paul Gilbert. 10 November 2025
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