SPAIN 1889
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SPAIN 1889
MARQ
INSTITUTE OF HISTORY OF MATERIAL CULTURE OF THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
As a result of the close collaboration between the MARQ and the Institute of History of Material Culture of the Academy of Sciences of the Russian Federation, based in St. Petersburg, it has been possible to offer Spanish society a careful edition of the album of photographs of Spain, taken in 1889, which was jealously guarded by the Russian Institute in its archives. The publication contains more than two hundred photographs of Spanish cities, commissioned by the French photographer J. Laurent and other famous national and foreign masters. The exceptional graphic memory preserved in Russia takes us back to Spain at the end of the 19th century, through beautiful images of Spanish cities such as Madrid, Toledo, San Sebastián and Tarragona, and especially Andalusia.
The important and unpublished collection of photographs of Spain held in the Scientific Archive of the St Petersburg Institute reflects the fascination that Russian travellers felt for our country during the 19th century and the early years of the 20th century. In the words of E. Soler, "visitors who shared the idea that Spain and Russia had been the only two countries capable of stopping the Napoleonic army in its tracks and who, on the whole, were faithful admirers of Cervantes' Don Quixote".
The materials in this important graphic archive were taken from Spain to Russia by prominent figures in Russian history. Among these visits, often unknown to the general public, was that of Prince Konstantin Nikolayevich Romanov of Russia, second son of Tsar Nicholas I, commander-in-chief of the Russian fleet, Minister of the Navy and Viceroy of Poland, who stayed at the Washington Irving Hotel in the Alhambra. Two pioneers of Russian photography, N.Y. Marr and Yakov Ivanov. Marr and Yakov Ivanovich Smirnoff, who also visited our country, are responsible for part of the holdings of this photographic archive on Spain through the Russian gaze.
The careful edition of these images also includes an analysis of the graphic documentation in two articles, published in Russian and Spanish, by Dr Galina Dluznevskaya, Director of the Scientific Archive of the Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Dr Emilio Soler, from the Department of Modern History at the University of Alicante, who is also an expert in travel books.
The publication, to which the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation has added its collaboration, will be presented on 22 February, both in our country and in Russia, coinciding with the events scheduled for the Spain-Russia Dual Year 2011.
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