During the Crimean War, the state of wounded soldiers defending Sevastopol was extremely severe. Without proper care, many died of wounds and disease.
Therefore, the Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna Romanova called on unmarried St. Petersburg women to help the defenders of the homeland. She established the Exaltation of the Holy Cross Community of Nurses — the world’s first women’s medical unit that helped the wounded during the war.
In society, this initiative was met with mockery and disapproval: before that, women worked in hospitals only in peacetime, and they were not recruited to help in combat conditions. However, 30 women responded to the Duchess’s call. On November 8, 1854, she notified the Minister of War Prince Vladimir Dolgorukov about this, and the next day, Emperor Nicholas I gave his permission to establish the community.
It included representatives of different classes: widows and daughters of landowners, nobles, merchants, collegiate and titular counselors, officers of the Russian army and navy. The number of sisters gradually increased, the charter was approved in the Exaltation of the Cross community: the nurses were forbidden to accept any rewards and gifts from the soldiers whom they helped. After a short training, the Duchess presented each of the nurses with a specially instituted cross on the blue St. Andrew ribbon. There were two inscriptions — “The God is my fortress” and “Take My yoke upon you.” They meant that women who dedicated themselves to mercy made a vow with all their might to serve their brothers in Christ.
202 nurses went to Sevastopol. The first unit arrived in Crimea on November 20, 1854, the second and third — in the winter of 1855.
A Russian surgeon Nikolay Pirogov supervised the work of the community. The nurses were divided into groups that assisted in surgical operations, applied dressings, provided safekeeping of medicines, personal belongings and money that belonged to the wounded soldiers. The first experience in the world, when women aided soldiers in difficult war conditions, was very successful. Pirogov wrote about this, “No one can sympathize with the suffering of patients and take care of them better than women, who do it in a way unknown and, so to speak, unusual for men.”
After the defense of Sevastopol in 1854–1855, the nurses of the Holy Cross Community worked in Bakhchysarai, Perekop, Mykolaiv, Kherson and the camp hospital in the Inkerman hills, where up to 100 surgical operations were performed per day. From December 1854 to January 1856, 17 nurses died in the line of duty.
At the end of the war, the nurses were awarded special gold and silver medals. The collection of the museum contains both types of awards made in 1856. The obverse shows the monogram of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna under the imperial crown. It is surrounded by a stamped floral pattern, which separates the inscriptions “КРЫМЪ” (Crimea) at the top, “1854” on the right, “1855” at the bottom and “1856” on the left.
Therefore, the Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna Romanova called on unmarried St. Petersburg women to help the defenders of the homeland. She established the Exaltation of the Holy Cross Community of Nurses — the world’s first women’s medical unit that helped the wounded during the war.
In society, this initiative was met with mockery and disapproval: before that, women worked in hospitals only in peacetime, and they were not recruited to help in combat conditions. However, 30 women responded to the Duchess’s call. On November 8, 1854, she notified the Minister of War Prince Vladimir Dolgorukov about this, and the next day, Emperor Nicholas I gave his permission to establish the community.
It included representatives of different classes: widows and daughters of landowners, nobles, merchants, collegiate and titular counselors, officers of the Russian army and navy. The number of sisters gradually increased, the charter was approved in the Exaltation of the Cross community: the nurses were forbidden to accept any rewards and gifts from the soldiers whom they helped. After a short training, the Duchess presented each of the nurses with a specially instituted cross on the blue St. Andrew ribbon. There were two inscriptions — “The God is my fortress” and “Take My yoke upon you.” They meant that women who dedicated themselves to mercy made a vow with all their might to serve their brothers in Christ.
202 nurses went to Sevastopol. The first unit arrived in Crimea on November 20, 1854, the second and third — in the winter of 1855.
A Russian surgeon Nikolay Pirogov supervised the work of the community. The nurses were divided into groups that assisted in surgical operations, applied dressings, provided safekeeping of medicines, personal belongings and money that belonged to the wounded soldiers. The first experience in the world, when women aided soldiers in difficult war conditions, was very successful. Pirogov wrote about this, “No one can sympathize with the suffering of patients and take care of them better than women, who do it in a way unknown and, so to speak, unusual for men.”
After the defense of Sevastopol in 1854–1855, the nurses of the Holy Cross Community worked in Bakhchysarai, Perekop, Mykolaiv, Kherson and the camp hospital in the Inkerman hills, where up to 100 surgical operations were performed per day. From December 1854 to January 1856, 17 nurses died in the line of duty.
At the end of the war, the nurses were awarded special gold and silver medals. The collection of the museum contains both types of awards made in 1856. The obverse shows the monogram of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna under the imperial crown. It is surrounded by a stamped floral pattern, which separates the inscriptions “КРЫМЪ” (Crimea) at the top, “1854” on the right, “1855” at the bottom and “1856” on the left.
