Nicholas I

One and a half centuries have passed since the death of Nicholas I, but even today, a mounted sculpture of the Russian autocrat towers over Isaac Square in St. Petersburg. The monument, crafted by Auguste Montferrand, has withstood the test of time and survived the Soviet era in its original form. Unfortunately, this cannot be said about the image that history conveys in distorted, almost caricature-like descriptions of the emperor and his time.
The book of the outstanding Russian historian Alexander Nikolaevich Bokhanov reflects the historical truth about the personality and reign of Nicholas Pavlovich, whose rule spanned a full three decades of a complex, yet in many ways brilliant, 19th century for Russia.