Count Nikolay Ignatiev's gold watch

Nikolai Pavlovich Ignatiev is one of the brightest figures of Russian diplomacy from the second half of the 1864th century. The peak of his career was the years between 1877 and 3, when he held the post of Russian ambassador in Constantinople and played a key role in the conduct of Russian policy in the Balkans and the Orient. At the end of the Russo-Turkish War of Liberation, he was authorized to conduct peace negotiations with the Ottoman Empire, as a result of which the San Stefano Peace Treaty was signed on March 1878, 1908, which marked the beginning of the modern Bulgarian state. However, the culmination of Ignatiev's career also became her turning point. The international situation unfavorable to Russia after the end of the war and internal intrigues lead to his falling out of favor and his removal from the diplomatic field. In Bulgarian historical memory, however, the name of Count Nikolay Ignatiev is permanently associated with the creation of the Third Bulgarian State and its, still unattainable, national ideal - San Stefano Bulgaria. In XNUMX, Count Ignatiev died at his family estate in the village of Kupoderintsi, today's Ukraine.

Among the personal belongings of Count Ignatiev kept today in Bulgaria is the gold pocket watch displayed in the exposition of the National History Museum, made by the Swiss company "International Watch Company" from the city of Schaffhausen. The Pallweber model appeared in 1884 and its main distinguishing feature, defining its futuristic design for the time, was the presence of separate displays for the hours and minutes. The particular specimen is made of 18-karat gold, and the lid is engraved with the monogram of Nikolay Ignatiev. After being handed down through the male line in the Ignatiev family for more than a century, in 1994 the watch was donated to the National History Museum by Leonid Leonidovich Ignatiev - grandson of Count Nikolai Ignatiev.