How did Russian nobility spend their summers around 1900? For many members of Russia’s aristocracy, summer meant leaving the cities behind and heading for a family estate, a dacha (summer home), or a resort. The change of scenery offered an opportunity to escape the bustle of St. Petersburg and Moscow and enjoy the pleasures of long summer days: horseback riding, boating, tennis, fishing, picnics, swimming, leisurely walks, and long afternoons spent outdoors.

Over the last several months, while cataloging archival collections at the Russian History Museum, we have sorted through hundreds of photographs documenting the lives of Russian families at the turn of the 20th century. Many come from collections relating to members of the Russian nobility and their extended families. Taken by family members and friends, these photographs offer an intimate glimpse into how Russia’s elite spent their leisure time.

The people pictured include members of the imperial Romanov family and representatives of prominent families such as the Naryshkins, Dolgorukovs, Vorontsov-Dashkovs, and Fersens — families whose lives frequently brought them into contact with the imperial court — as well as members of lesser-known noble and professional families, including the Roehrbergs, Kmitas, and Gutans. These photographs reveal something that formal portraits and grand images of imperial ceremonies rarely show: the Russian aristocracy relaxing.

Summer Through a Personal Lens

There is another reason these photographs are particularly fascinating. Photography itself was becoming an increasingly popular pastime at the turn of the 20th century. While professional photographers produced the formal portraits and carefully composed images that we might associate with the Russian aristocracy, many of the photographs in these collections were taken by amateurs.

The camera became a way for families to document their own lives. Instead of posing only for official portraits, people photographed one another on excursions, at the dinner table, beside the water, on country roads, and around their summer homes. The resulting snapshots are sometimes technically imperfect, but precisely because they are informal, they give us a more personal view of life among Russia’s upper classes.

Foreign Yet Familiar

More than a century later, these photographs are glimpses into a vanished world: the clothing, social customs, and modes of transportation are unmistakably of another era. Yet the pleasures they capture remain remarkably familiar: a sunny afternoon, beautiful surroundings, good food, and time spent with family and friends. Some things haven’t changed much at all.

So, how did the Russian nobility spend their summers? Let’s take a look.

Outings, Adventures, and a Little Friendly Competition

Summer offered countless opportunities to get outside. The Russian nobility enjoyed horseback riding, long walks, carriage excursions, and increasingly popular sports such as tennis. These informal outings provided a chance to explore the countryside and spend time with family and friends.

By the Water: Boats, Fishing, and Summer Swimming

Whether at a lake, river, or the seaside, water was a favorite destination. The Russian Empire’s enormous geography offered countless destinations for these activities, from the lakes and waterways of northern Russia to the Black Sea coast and the rivers that crisscrossed the empire. Boating, fishing, and swimming offered welcome relief from the summer heat.

Relaxing with the Romanovs

The imperial family enjoyed many of the same summer pastimes as their aristocratic relatives and friends. Nicholas II and his family particularly enjoyed yachting aboard the Shtandart, cruising among the picturesque Finnish skerries, the maze of islands and rocky outcroppings along Finland’s coast. Away from the formal world of the imperial palaces, time aboard the yacht gave the Romanovs an opportunity to spend time together, explore the landscape, and enjoy a welcome respite from the demands of court life.

Summer at the Estate—or the Dacha

For many aristocratic families, summer meant leaving the city for a family estate or dacha. A dacha might be a relatively modest summer house outside Moscow or St. Petersburg, while a noble estate could encompass a grand residence, gardens, forests, and extensive surrounding lands. At the other end of the spectrum were the magnificent palaces along the Crimean coast, summer retreats of some of the Russian Empire’s wealthiest and most prominent families.

Whatever their size, these properties offered a welcome escape from urban life. During the summer months, they became places for family gatherings, entertaining, recreation, and simply enjoying the surrounding landscape.

A Table in the Garden: Summer Meals and Picnics

What better way to savor a summer day than gathered around a table outdoors? Meals might be served beneath the shade of a garden, on a veranda, or spread out for a picnic in the countryside. Tea was a cherished ritual, with the indispensable samovar providing a steady supply of hot tea as family and friends lingered together. Seasonal treats, from fresh fruit to slices of watermelon, added to the simple pleasures of a summer afternoon.

Petr Fedorovich Roehrberg describes the daily menu served at their family estate in Nikopol:

The schedule of the day was always the same: in the morning, after bathing, came tea or coffee, with a choice of pyshki [light, fluffy fried pastries], dranye korzhi [thin, crispy fried pancakes], or orishki [small, flour-based pastries of enriched dough fried in oil]. There were, of course, the freshest cream and butter, as well as our own wonderful honey and preserves.

At one o’clock came lunch, beginning unfailingly with aromatic borshch. On especially hot days, the borshch was replaced by okroshka [chilled soup made with chopped vegetables] served with crayfish tails. The main course was a roast, usually poultry, and less often meat. We children were especially delighted when dessert was homemade ice cream crowned with spun caramelized sugar, a masterpiece of Zakhar Fedorovich [the chef].

At five o’clock came tea, accompanied by little cakes and sweet buns, preserves, and honey. Dinner was served at nine or ten in the evening.

We almost always ate lunch beneath the linden tree, at a round table mounted on the stump of another linden that had been its “sister” tree. Dinner, by contrast, was served on the balcony on the front, formal side of the house, with its columns