page_title: Russians in France
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Russians in France / History
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Église Saint-Nicolas-et-Sainte-Alexandra à NiceEnglish: Church Saint-Nicolas-et-Sainte-Alexandra at Nice
context_page_description: Russians are a small diaspora in France but one of the most important groups in the Russian diaspora.
context_section_description: The French Riviera was a favorite spot, where the European aristocracy had launched the fashion of the rainy season. Some also came there to treat tuberculosis which was then rampant. The Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, wife of the late Nicolas I, liked to stay there to rest since her widowhood. She raised money in 1856 to build a church for the parish. The Église Saint-Nicolas-et-Sainte-Alexandra was consecrated on December 31, 1859 in the city of Nice, which at that time had more than 45 000 inhabitants and was part with its County of the Kingdom of Sardinia, belonging to the House of Savoy, before being annexed to the French Empire by plebiscite a few months later in April 1860. In December 1912, half a century later, the Russian Orthodox Cathedral would be consecrated in memory of Nicholas Alexandrovich, Tsarevich of Russia, who died in Nice. The building itself and the parcel of land on which it stands has been the property of the Russian state to this day.
caption: The Église Saint-Nicolas-et-Sainte-Alexandra
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