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This printed scroll (stolbets) depicts the order of the Alexander I funeral
ceremony. The scroll is comprised of 18 sections, each 20 inches long and 3
inches wide. Each section describes a sequence of the mourning procession, for
instance, a mourning procession being held on the occasion of a transfer of the
deceased Emperor, Alexander the First, from the Our Lady of Kazan Cathedral to
the Peter and Paul Cathedral. After the Master of Ceremonies there will be His
Imperial Majesty's Personal Convoy, etc.
This type of funeral ceremony was introduced by Peter the Great. The
Tsar-Reformer had borrowed many details from Western funeral tradition such as
horses, shields with coats-of-arms, helmets, gold spurs and swords. The last
Emperor buried according to the adopted tradition was Alexander III (1881).
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