Austrian prince Charles-Joseph de Ligne was one of the most prominent figures of the French Enlightenment. A talented writer, a witty and lively man, he communicated with many outstanding people of his time. His social circle included the Russian Empress Catherine II. De Ligne was one of the foreigners who were part of the Empress’s retinue during her famous “Taurida Voyage” of 1787, and later received from her as a gift the estate “Parfenitsy”, which included the lands of Partenit, Kuchuk-Lambat and Nikita.
De Ligne’s memoirs about the 1787 journey are described in the book “Letters to the Marquise de Coigny”. These letters were allegedly written during the trip, but in fact they were written later – and represent a mixture of truth, stereotypes and orientalist fantasies of the author. Nevertheless, this work determined the perception of Crimea in French culture for many years and set the ideological vector of the perception of the peninsula as the “Russian Alhambra”.
Based on the article by N. Khrapunov “The Crimea of Prince de Ligne”.