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Catherine the Great

Cultural  
  1. An empress of Russia in the late eighteenth century who encouraged the cultural influences of western Europe in Russia and extended Russian territory toward the Black Sea. She is also known for her amorous intrigues, including affairs with members of her government.


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Once owned by Catherine the Great, “Diana” was acquired by Gulbenkian, along with many important works, in 1930, when the Soviets sold pieces from the Hermitage.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026

Crimea was first annexed by Tsarist Russia under Catherine the Great in 1783 and largely remained part of Russia until Khrushchev's decision.

From BBC ● Apr. 24, 2025

She credits much of her fearlessness as a performer to her time spent on the Hulu series “The Great,” on which she played a fictionalized version of Russian empress Catherine the Great.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 17, 2024

If he finishes the term, he will become the longest-serving Russian leader since Catherine the Great in the 1700s.

From New York Times ● Mar. 18, 2024

In this unfashionable region Catherine the Great, always indifferent to precedent and thrifty of purse, had built herself in her youth a many-peaked and cross-beamed cottage-orne on a bit of cheap land overlooking the bay.

From The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

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