CHILDHOOD IN THE PALACE
On October 17-18, 2022, the XIII scientific and practical conference "Childhood in the Palace" was held at the Peterhof State Museum Reserve in a mixed format. The conference was dedicated to understanding the children's world of palace spaces in the 18th — 20th centuries.
The year 2022 has united the anniversaries of several representatives of the Russian Imperial Family at once, the ones of Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna, Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna, and Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna, born in Peterhof, Grand Duchess Ekaterina Mikhailovna (Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz) and her daughter Elena Georgievna (Duchess of Saxe-Altenburg). They spent their childhood in the palaces and parks of Peterhof and Oranienbaum, which enabled the Peterhof State Museum-Reserve to devote the conference of this year to this topic.
The conference was attended by 30 employees of federal museums and archives, universities and research institutions from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yaroslavl and Novosibirsk.
The speakers' presentations were devoted to the objects and interiors in which children grew up, the interaction between adults and children, as well as the reflection of childhood in personal documents: letters, diaries and memoirs. A separate section was devoted to the education and upbringing of the heir to the throne. An important place in the conference was occupied by a section about the fate of palaces in the childhood of Soviet schoolchildren.
Thanks to serious research, it was possible to consider the theme of childhood in the palace spaces for three centuries: to see the conditions and details, feelings and opinions of the children themselves, their environment and the objective world.
A collection of articles will be published based on the materials of the conference.
A video recording of the 1th day of the conference:
A video recording of the 2nd day of the conference:
You can watch a specific presentation by selecting it in the conference program.
Conference Work Group:
Anna Vladimirovna Liashko, Candidate of Sciences in Cultural Studies, Head of the Service for the Preservation and Study of Cultural Heritage Monuments
Pavel Vladimirovich Petrov, Doctor of Sciences in History, Head of the Museum Research Department
Svetlana Alekseevna Prantsuzova, Specialist of the Museum Research Department
E-mail: research@peterhofmuseum.ru