Protecting the health of subjects
In 1697-1698, during a diplomatic mission to Europe, which was called the “Grand Embassy”, Tsar Peter Alekseevich became seriously interested in medical affairs. During his stay in the Netherlands, he began attending anatomy classes, watching the dissection of corpses, and also learned to pull teeth by purchasing a dental box from one of the local masters.
When they returned to their homeland, new knowledge required practice. So the Grand Duke of All Russia began to participate in autopsies and surgeries in hospitals, and even tried to perform simple surgical procedures himself. For example, he helped amputate limbs and was very pleased with it.
Peter the Great adored dentistry, much more than surgery. But in his understanding, dental treatment was their elimination. As soon as the tsar hinted at the sick “sixes” or “eights”, he tore the teeth of everyone who came to his hands – both boyars and ordinary residents. Sometimes Peter was so taken aback that completely healthy teeth fell under the warm hand. The king put them all in a special bag. Now St. In the Kunstkamera in St. Petersburg – the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography – a kind of “trophy” is stored, where a “record of teeth pulled by Emperor Peter I” was created.
All “freaks and monsters” – to the king
Not only the teeth extracted by Peter Alekseevich are stored in the oldest museum in the country. In principle, it was the tsar who collected all the main exhibits of the museum collection, and for them can be thanked, as well as the opening of the Kunstkamera, the special passion of the monarch for physical anomalies and “deformities”.
During the same “Embassy”, the tsar noted the fashion for collecting antiques among educated people in Europe, and he himself was very pleased with them. It all started when he met the collection of the Amsterdam pharmacist Albert Seba, who collects plush animals from different parts of the world. Peter I liked some of the exhibits so much that I took them to St. Bought to send to St. Petersburg. So, in exchange for 15 thousand guilds (an ancient currency of the Austrian Empire), Stuffed armadillos, frogs, pangolins, as well as various birds, lizards and snakes went to the northern capital in two ships.
But despite his fascination with various species, the king became even more interested in human anatomy and its quirks. Seeing the collection of the Dutch doctor and anatomist Frederick Ruysch, whose exhibits include dismembered bodies and organs, fetuses and pathological babies, Peter bought them for 30,000 guilds. Then St. Petersburg, and to this day they are hiding in the Kunstkamera.
After that, Peter had a real obsession with various anomalies. Even in 1704, all manner of “human, animal, beast, and bird” monsters from different parts of the country were found in St. Petersburg and the transfer of “monsters and monsters” born in 1718. it imposes a penalty on the state, in addition to setting a fee for them. Thanks to this king, Siamese twins, cyclops, two-headed lambs and many other deformed exhibits were delivered. Soon, by order of Peter, they were to be exhibited in the museum – the same Kunstkamera, which, unfortunately, the emperor did not live to see its opening.
Dwarves are for laughs, giants are for war
Non-standard people, and especially dwarves, aroused a somewhat perverted interest in Peter I. It even got to the point that he decided to participate in their “breeding”.
The Tsar first encountered “little people” when he was presented with court dwarves at the age of 10. With one of them – Yakov Volkov – the future emperor almost never parted. And for himself, he invented various holidays according to his own scenario.
Tsar Peter arranged role-playing games with the participation of the Lilliputians, forcing them to depict past wars and campaigns: the dwarves were dressed in uniforms and forced to march together. At palace weddings, the dwarves jumped off huge cakes and staged dance performances.
When the autocrat grew up, he did not stop there – as already mentioned, it was decided to “breed” the dwarves for “fun”. To do this, Peter Alekseevich arranged with Yakov Volkov the wedding of his wife’s beloved gnome. By order of the king, all the dwarves of the country were called to the celebration – always in festive clothes. The bride and groom were then married in their presence at the church, and then gathered for a banquet at the home of Prince Alexander Menshikov.
Peter I and all the “normal” guests at that time “blow their heads”, as those who were there noted, watching the holiday of “freaks”. And when it was all over, the autocrat escorted the newlyweds to their rooms and made sure that the wedding night went according to all traditions.
But neither then nor later on having children from the newly minted couple did not work. Volkov’s wife was much older than him and soon went to the afterlife. After a while, the same fate befell the alcoholic Yakov. Peter I, on the other hand, tried for a while to establish Lilliputian families and marry them almost by order, but failed to increase the number of dwarves. Therefore, the king decided to “breed” the giants.
It all started in France in 1717, when Peter Alekseevich met the almost 2.3-meter-tall giant Nicolas Bourgeois on the street. The monarch came up with the idea to assemble an army of giants and make him invincible.
So Peter I took Nicolas from France, took him into his service and married him to the longest “chukhonka” (that’s how the Finns and Estonians living around St. Petersburg were called). But this plan also failed, as the Bourgeois soon went to another world. The tsar decided to get at least some benefit from the giant, and therefore his remains were transferred to the Kunstkamera.