Description: Through analysis of garden design at Pavlovsk Park, this book articulates the previously overlooked impact Empress Maria Fedorovna had on 19th-century Russian politics.
Brief description: Ekaterina Heath is Research Fellow at the University of Sydney, Australia. She is the serving President of the Eighteenth-Century Russian Empire Studies Association.
Review Quotes:
"We are indebted to Ekaterina Heath for expanding our understanding of Maria Feodorovna's considerable power and reminding us of the critical role she played in Russian history." --Russian Review
"Women, Gardens and Agency in Imperial Russia presents a highly original study of Empress Maria Feodorovna through the lens of garden culture and spatial politics, offering a gendered and material perspective on power in late 18th and early 19th century Russia. By centring the study on Empress Maria Feodorovna and her transformation of Pavlovsk Park into a political and autobiographical landscape, the book offers a rare intersection of imperial Russian history, landscape architecture, and gender studies. This innovative historical focus allows for a fresh reading of power relations in the Russian court and draws attention to the spatial strategies employed by female figures historically underexplored." --Anna Ananieva, Head of Digital Editions, Klassik Stiftung Weimar "This fascinating book opens a new perspective on the landscapes of imperial Russia, showing how gardens provided women with opportunities to demonstrate political and cultural agency. By bringing together gender analysis and garden history, it deepens our understanding of Maria Feodorovna's world and the green spaces of Pavlovsk Park, shaped under the influence of Catherine the Great." --Jennifer Milam, University of Waikato, New Zealand