Order of Holy-Catherine

Ordre imperial of Holy-Catherine, Great Martyrdom - Order of Libération (delivery), is a honorary Ordre Russian founded by Pierre Ier in 1713 in the honor of his wife, the future empress Catherine Ire, to commemorate the services rendered by his wife at the time of the Russo-Turkish war of 1711. Its currency was: For the Love and the Fatherland ( Za lioubov I otchestv ).

First of all distributed to the men, it was as of the reign of Catherine Ire exclusively reserved for the ladies of the nobility. Very prestigious, it was decreed a little more than eight hundred times apart from the imperial family, until in 1917.

Uniclasse in the beginning, the order comprised two classes as of 1797: Grand Cross and small-cross.

The ladies of 1st class carried a plate to the left side and the badge of Grand Cross suspended to a cord passing on the right shoulder.

The ladies of 2nd class carried the badge of small-cross suspended to a node of ribbon to the left side.

This distinction was removed in 1918.

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