FINANCING OF THE GRAND DUCAL RESIDENCES CONSTRUCTION: INTERSECTION AND CONFLICT OF POSSIBILITIES OF THE MINISTRY OF THE IMPERIAL COURT AND WISHES OF THE AUGUST CUSTOMERS
The article is aimed at scrutinizing the possible difficulties and frictions that arose during the construction of residences for the youngest son of Nicholas I and the sons of Alexander II between the grand dukes themselves as final customers and the Ministry of the Imperial Court as an organizer and executor. The author reveals the nature and degree of the financial participation of the Grand Dukes in the erection of palaces. As examples, the author selected the suburban residence of Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich “Mikhailovskaya Dacha” and the metropolitan palaces of Grand Dukes Vladimir Aleksandrovich and Aleksei Aleksandrovich. Considering the first example, the author notes that the Ministry of the Imperial Court was able to satisfy the main wishes of the customer without much financial difficulties, although the latter, nevertheless, had to take a certain monetary part and then subsequently received appropriate compensation. The article states that since the 1860s, the Court Department moved to a policy of reducing the provision for new palaces for the imperial family members. However, the decision made by Alexander II on the financing limit of 600 000 rubles did not pass the verification of reality, and Grand Duke Vladimir Aleksandrovich, having spent more than four hundred thousand rubles on his palace, ultimately sought reimbursement of this amount from the treasury. Nevertheless, the idea of tightly restricting appropriations for palace construction was then supported by Alexander III, who introduced new payment limits in 1886. At the same time, the attempt of Grand Duke Aleksey Aleksandrovich to obtain additional funds by presenting the house allocated to him for the future palace and sold by him as a gift, which did not fit into the general calculation, failed, since the Court Department, as the author shows, this time firmly adhered to the boundaries established by law.