Russian Empire in the Near East under Alexander II and Alexander III - a creation of Russian Palestine (1860-1882)
The beginning of the formation of Russian Palestine - i. e. of the system of Russian temples and monasteries, metochia and schools, which existed in the territory of Palestine and Syria - falls to the time of Alexander II reign, but of this formation belongs to the time of Alexander III reign. The beginning of the realization of these plans was the result of the activities of Boris P. Mansurov (1828-1910). He was at ﬁrst a functionary in the Navy Ministery, at the end of his life - a senator and member of Gosudarstvenny Soviet (State Council). Different factors helped the creation of Russian Palestine - the support of Monarch Family (the head of the Navy Ministery was one of the grand dukes), as also a good publicity of the necessity of the public support for the needs of Russian pilgrims going to the Holy Land. Beside this after the Crimea war the problem of the support of Russian pilgrims was considered as important for the whole state which is natural. For the foreign policy of European States of the middle and of the second part of XIX-th century is typical the great interest for the Holy places of Christianity, as also the desire to protect the Christian population of Ottoman empire.