Many of the Coats of Arms of the Russian nobility include the ciphers of sovereigns and charges taken from the Arms of the Romanov emperors. One of the most augmented Coat of Arms of all time were those of Count Alexander Suvorov-Ryminsky, commander of the Russian Armies, whose brilliant strategies helped bring about the eventual defeat of Napoleon. As commander-in-chief of the Russo-Austrian Army during the Second Coalition, he drove the French out of northern Italy in 1799 and was created Prince Italiysky. He had also previously defeated a Turkish Army on the banks of the River Rymnik in Turkey in 1789. The augmentations on his Coat of Arms included a rendering of the map of Italy, an escutcheon (small...
Olavinlinna (The Castle of St. Olaf) was founded in 1475. It originally had five towers, but only three of them remain today. The castle stands on a small rocky island in lake Saimaa, the largest lake in Finland.In the beginning of the 14th century a peace treaty was signed between Sweden and Novgorod (Russia), according to which the eastern border of Sweden passed through the Savonlinna region. At this time Finland was part of Sweden. However, the border constantly changed and caused continuing disturbances between these two nations. In the 15th century Grand Duchy of Moscow became more powerful and used this strength to flex it's political muscle in this region.There was only one castle, situated in Wyborg further down to the south-east, to protect the...
