The delegates laid wreaths to the seaside monument of the Rusalka crew, and attended a Town Hall gala lunch, to which Mayor Tonis Palts had invited them.
The Rusalka wreck was among the world's worst tragedies of the 19th century. The Russian battleship was launched in 1868. Doom awaited it in a storm of September 7, 1893. Bound for Helsingfors, now Helsinki, the Rusalka went down as soon as it left Revel, today's Tallinn. The entire crew of 177 perished. Investigating experts ascribed the disaster to designers' blunders, though the vessel had made successful voyages before.
Tonight's charitable ball will come as one of the central Assembly events. It re-creates the most praiseworthy traditions of high society balls from the time of Peter the Great to this day.
Hosting the gala is Kadriorg, Tallinn's best-known historical place. Peter the Great ordered the exquisite palace built as gift to Martha Skawronska, his second wife. She accepted the name of Catherine in conversion from her Lutheran denomination to Russian Orthodoxy, and ascended the throne as Empress Catherine I after Peter's death in 1725.
Donations will be collected during the ball to restore two monuments-to Peter the Great's soldiers fallen in the Battle of Narva during the Northern War with Sweden, and the Rusalka memorial.
Steering the charitable event are the State Duma (the Russian parliament's lower house), Estonia's Culture Ministry, and the Tallinn and Narva city halls.
Arranging Assembly events on the host country's side are the nonprofit societies Estonia's Peter Assembly Foundation and the Russian House.
Estonia intends to arrange Peter assemblies regularly. The organizers are planning charitable actions to promote culture and youth initiatives. Prizes will be awarded, starting next year, for outstanding contributions to Russian-Estonian economic and cultural partnership, which is making good progress.
