Botik of Peter the Great

The Botik of Peter the Great (also called St. Nicholas) is a miniaturized scaled-down warship discovered by Peter the Great at the Royal Izmaylovo Estate in 1688. It was restored by Karshten Brandt, and Peter learned to sail using the boat on waters near Moscow. It was stored in the Kremlin of Moscow by Peter and later enshrined in St. Petersburg. Peter continued to use it in state ceremonies and ordered that the boat be sailed down the Neva River on 30 August of every year. It was used in state ceremonies of later Russian monarchs, including the wedding of Catherine the Great and Peter III of Russia, as well as the centennial celebration of St. Petersburg. Catherine built a boathouse in the 1760s to store it.

The boat became less important under Soviet rule, along with other objects from the Russian Empire; however, patriotism during the outbreak of the Second World War led to a renewal of the importance of Peter the Great and the botik along with him. The boat was moved by the Soviets to the Central Naval Museum where it remains today. In 1997, the boat left Russia for the first time to be displayed at the World Financial Center.

The botik (small boat) was constructed, either in England or by Danes in Russia using an English design, in the 1640s, and was then called the St. Nicholas. The boat originally belonged to Peter the Great's grandfather; an earlier theory held that the boat was a gift from Queen Elizabeth to Ivan the Terrible in the 1580s. It is the last remnant of the fleet of wooden boats maintained by Peter's father, Alexis; the rest rotted from neglect or were destroyed during the rebellion of Stenka Razin.

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