Nikolai Pavlovich Ignatiev was one of the most outstanding figures of Russian diplomacy in the second half of the 19th century. His career peaked between 1864 and 1877, when he held the post of Russian ambassador to Constantinople and played a key role in the conduct of Russian policy in the Balkans and the Orient.
Golden watch of Count Nikolay Ignatiev
Nikolai Pavlovich Ignatiev was one of the most outstanding figures of Russian diplomacy in the second half of the 19th century. His career peaked between 1864 and 1877, when he held the post of Russian ambassador to 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 the peace negotiations with the Ottoman Empire, which resulted in the signing of the Treaty of San Stefano on 3 March 1878, which laid the foundation for the modern Bulgarian state. However, the culmination of Ignatiev’s career also became his turning point. The unfavourable international situation created for Russia after the end of the war and internal intrigues led to his falling into disgrace and his removal from the diplomatic field. In Bulgarian historical memory, however, the name of Count Nikolai Ignatiev is permanently associated with the creation of the Third Bulgarian State and its national ideal, which remained unattainable – San Stefano Bulgaria. In 1908, Count Ignatiev died at his ancestral estate in the village of Kupoderintsi in present-day Ukraine.
Among the personal belongings of Count Ignatiev kept in Bulgaria today is the gold pocket watch, made by the Swiss company International Watch Company from the town of Schaffhausen. The “Pallweber” model appeared in 1884 and its main distinctive feature, defining its futuristic design for the time, is the presence of separate displays for the hours and minutes. This particular specimen is made of 18-carat gold, and its cover is engraved with the monogram of Nikolai Ignatiev. After being passed down through the male line of the Ignatyev family for over a century, in 1994 the watch was donated to the National History Museum by Leonid Leonidovich Ignatiev, a grandson of Count Nikolai Ignatiev.
