Souvenir box in memory of the visit of the French squadron to Kronstadt in 1891

Original commemorative candy box (?), made especially for the visit of the French squadron in Russia, held in 1891. All sailors of the squadron received this type of boxes. The inscriptions are made in French and Russian. Cardboard, crowding. Size 180*95*50 mm. Very good preservation. Guarantee of authenticity.

On July 13, 1891, a French military squadron came to Kronstadt on an official visit. Her visit was an impressive demonstration of Franco-Russian friendship. The squadron was met by Alexander III himself. The Russian autocrat, standing with his head uncovered, humbly listened to the revolutionary anthem of France "La Marseillaise", for the performance of which in Russia itself people were punished as a "state crime". Following the squadron's visit, a new round of diplomatic negotiations took place, which resulted in a kind of consultative pact between Russia and France, signed by two foreign ministers - Girsa and Ribot. Under this pact, the parties pledged to agree on joint measures that could be taken "immediately and simultaneously" in the event of a threat of an attack on one of them. Indeed, the royal reception given to the French navy in Kronstadt became, as it were, an event of the year with far-reaching consequences. The newspaper "St. Petersburg Vedomosti" stated with satisfaction: "Two powers connected by natural friendship have such a formidable force of bayonets that the Triple Alliance must involuntarily stop in thought." The German attorney Bulov, in a report to the Reich Chancellor, assessed the Kronstadt meeting as "a very important factor that falls heavily on the scales against the renewed Triple Alliance."