Grand Duke Nicholas Constantinovich of Russia

What people wore

Uniform Men's Shirts and Diverse Women's Finery

Men's clothing remained relatively uniform, featuring a signature shirt with a side-fastening collar worn untucked and belted. In contrast, women's festive attire was highly diverse, often intricately decorated with embroidery, lace, ribbons, and precious metal threads.

Getting around

Railways revolutionized long-distance travel speed

The railway between St. Petersburg and Moscow, opened in 1851, reduced travel time between the two cities from four days by carriage to 22 hours by train.

At the table

Staple foods of the Russian peasantry

The peasant diet relied heavily on cabbage soup (shchi), often made from fermented grey cabbage, along with rye bread, potatoes, and porridge. Meat was rare and typically reserved only for major religious holidays like Christmas and Easter.

Music

Improvised percussion for fast dances

During fast dances called pliaska, performers sometimes used improvised percussion instruments like wooden spoons, a metal pot, or even a scythe.

Daily life

Weekly Steam Baths and Water Access

The home had no plumbing or running water; families relied on pails of water and prioritized a weekly steam bath, often held in the stove itself or a dedicated bath-house. If a steam bath was unavailable, peasants would crawl into the heated oven to bathe.

What it cost

Daily food cost for a worker

In the mid-19th century, a worker's daily diet of 3 pounds of bread, a pound of meat, and simple porridge cost about 26.5 kopecks per day.