Editing Elizabeth of Russia (section)

==Reign==
[[File:Coronation-Procession Elisabeth by Ivan Sokolow.JPG|thumb|Coronation procession of Empress Elizabeth, Moscow 1742]]
Elizabeth crowned herself Empress in the [[Dormition Cathedral, Moscow|Dormition Cathedral]] on 25 April 1742 (O.S.), which would become standard for all emperors of Russia until 1896. At the age of thirty-three, with relatively little political experience, she found herself at the head of a great empire at one of the most critical periods of its existence. Her proclamation explained that the preceding reigns had led Russia to ruin: "The Russian people have been groaning under the enemies of the [[Christianity|Christian]] faith, but she has delivered them from the degrading foreign oppression."

Russia had been under the domination of [[Germans|German]] advisers, so Elizabeth exiled the most unpopular of them, including [[Andrey Osterman]] and [[Burkhard Christoph von Münnich]].{{sfn|Antonov|2006|p=106}} She passed down several pieces of legislation that undid much of the work her father had done to limit the power of the church.{{sfn|Talbot Rice|1970|p=149}}

With all her shortcomings (documents often waited months for her signature),{{sfn|Antonov|2006|p=107}} Elizabeth had inherited her father's genius for government. Her usually keen judgement and her diplomatic tact again and again recalled Peter the Great. What sometimes appeared as irresolution and procrastination was most often a wise suspension of judgement under exceptionally difficult circumstances. From the Russian point of view, her greatness as a stateswoman consisted of her steady appreciation of national interests and her determination to promote them against all obstacles.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}}

{{center|<gallery>
File:Carle Vanloo, Portrait de l’impératrice Élisabeth Petrovna (1760).jpg|The Elizabeth portrait by [[Charles-André van Loo]] in [[Peterhof Palace]]
File:Portrait of Empress Elizaveta Petrovna by Ivan Vishnyakov.jpg|The Elizabeth portrait by [[Ivan Vishnyakov]] in [[Tretyakov Gallery]]
File:Elizabeth of Russia (Rostov museum).jpeg|The Elizabeth portrait in [[:Ru:Ростовский областной музей изобразительных искусств|Rostov museum]]
</gallery>}}

===Educational reforms===
[[File:Elizabeth of Russia visiting Lomonosov's mosaic workshop by A.V.Makovskiy (priv.coll.).jpg|thumb|Elizabeth visits Russian scientist [[Mikhail Lomonosov]].]]
Despite the substantial changes made by Peter the Great, he had not exercised a really formative influence on the intellectual attitudes of the ruling classes as a whole. Although Elizabeth lacked the early education necessary to flourish as an intellectual (once finding the reading of secular literature to be "injurious to health"),{{sfn|Bain|1899|p=137}} she was clever enough to know its benefits and made considerable groundwork for her eventual successor, Catherine the Great.{{sfn|Hoetzsch|1966|p=83}} She made education freely available to all social classes (except for serfs), encouraged establishment of the first [[University of Moscow|university in Russia founded in Moscow]] by [[Mikhail Lomonosov]], and helped to finance the establishment of the [[Imperial Academy of Fine Arts]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Russian Academy of Arts – History |url=https://en.rah.ru/academy/history/ |access-date=13 November 2022}}</ref>

===Social welfare===
It was during Elizabeth’s reign that parishes became common.  These were places that provided (as noted by one study) “shelter, food, clothes and care for orphans, elderly people and people with disabilities belonging to peasant families.” These were financed through a special tax.<ref>[https://www.social-protection.org/gimi/ShowRessource.action;jsessionid=wDfAGRuff8Z26ttpQQv9JgnhSvGtxmrJ5ezTLxpbtnaMkiYH2RWT!2012212631?id=55579 Historical development of social protection in Russia, by Artiom Sici, Loveleen De, 2019, P.2]</ref>

===Internal peace===
[[File:Imperial Monogram of Empress Elizabeth I of Russia.svg|thumb|100px|Imperial monogram, often present in peace treaties.]]
A gifted diplomat, Elizabeth hated bloodshed and conflict and went to great lengths to alter the Russian system of punishment, even outlawing [[capital punishment]].{{sfn|Talbot Rice|1970|p=150}} According to historian [[Robert Nisbet Bain]], it was one of her "chief glories that, so far as she was able, she put a stop to that mischievous contention of rival ambitions at Court, which had disgraced the reigns of Peter II, Anna and Ivan VI and enabled foreign powers to freely interfere in the domestic affairs of Russia."{{sfn|Bain|1899|p=142}}

===Construction projects===
[[File:Winter Palace Panorama 2.jpg|thumb|right|Built by her court architect [[Bartolomeo Rastrelli]], the Winter Palace is Elizabeth's most famous monument and the residence of her successors.]]
[[File:1 Rouble à l'effigie d'Élisabeth Ire de Russie.jpg|thumb|Coin of Elizabeth of Russia, whose beneficial but numerous buildings required heavy taxation.]]

Elizabeth enjoyed and excelled in architecture, overseeing and financing many construction projects during her reign. One of the many projects from the Italian architect [[Bartolomeo Rastrelli]] was the reconstruction of [[Peterhof Palace]], adding several wings between 1745 and 1755. Her most famous creations were the [[Smolny Convent]] and the Winter Palace, though she died before its completion. The Palace is said to contain 1,500 rooms, 1,786 doors, and 1,945 windows, including bureaucratic offices and the Imperial Family's living quarters arranged in two enfilades, from the top of the Jordan Staircase. Regarding the Smolny Convent, historian Robert Nisbet Bain stated that "No other Russian sovereign ever erected so many churches."{{sfn|Bain|1899|p=138}}

The expedited completion of buildings became a matter of importance to the Empress and work continued throughout the year, even in winter's severest months. 859,555 [[Russian ruble|ruble]]s had been allocated to the project, a sum raised by a [[tax]] on [[state property|state-owned]] taverns, but work temporarily ceased due to lack of resources. Ultimately, taxes were increased on salt and alcohol to completely fund the extra costs. However, Elizabeth's incredible extravagance ended up greatly benefiting the country's [[infrastructure]]. Needing goods shipped from all over the world, numerous [[road]]s in all Russia were modernised at her orders.{{sfn|Talbot Rice|1970|p=148}}

===Selection of an heir===
[[File:Donationsurkunde B. von Campenhausen.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth's donation to the Russian lieutenant general Balthasar Freiherr von [[Campenhausen]], 27 May 1756]]
As an unmarried and childless empress, it was imperative for Elizabeth to find a legitimate heir to secure the [[Romanov dynasty]]. She chose her nephew, [[Peter III of Russia|Peter of Holstein-Gottorp]].{{Sfn|Antonov|2006|p=103}} The young Peter had lost his mother, [[Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna of Russia|Elizabeth’s older sister]], shortly after he was born, and his father, [[Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp]], at the age of eleven. Elizabeth invited her young nephew to Saint Petersburg, where he was received into the [[Russian Orthodox Church]] and proclaimed the heir to the throne on 7 November 1742.{{sfn|Antonov|2006|p=110}} Keen to see the dynasty secured, Elizabeth immediately gave Peter the best Russian tutors and settled on [[Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst|Princess Sophia Augusta Frederica of Anhalt-Zerbst]] as a bride for her heir. Incidentally, Sophie's mother, [[Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp]], was a sister of Elizabeth's own fiancé, who had died before the wedding. On her conversion to the Russian Orthodox Church, Sophie was given the name Catherine in memory of Elizabeth's mother. The marriage took place on 21 August 1745. Nine years later a son, the future [[Paul I of Russia|Paul I]], was born on 20 September 1754.{{sfn|Antonov|2006|p=119}}

There is considerable speculation as to the actual paternity of Paul. It is suggested that he was not Peter's son at all but that his mother had engaged in an affair, to which Elizabeth had consented, with a young officer, [[Sergei Vasilievich Saltykov]], who would have been Paul's biological father.{{sfn|Coughlan|1974|p=108}} Peter never gave any indication that he believed Paul to have been fathered by anyone but himself but took no interest in parenthood. Elizabeth most certainly took an active interest and acted as if she were his mother, instead of Catherine.{{sfn|Coughlan|1974|p=111}} Shortly after Paul's birth the Empress ordered the midwife to take the baby and to follow her, and Catherine did not see her child for another month, for a short churching ceremony. Six months later, Elizabeth let Catherine see the child again. The child had, in effect, become a ward of the state and, in a larger sense, the property of the state.{{sfn|Coughlan|1974|p=112}}