God Save the Tsar!

"God save the Tsar!" was a national anthem of Russian Empire, used from 1833 to 1917. The melody of the anthem was composed by Alexei Lvov, and lirycs was written by Vasily Zhukovsky.

Bozhe, tsarya khrani!

English: God save the Tsar!
Боже, Царя храни!
Former anthem of Russian Empire
Lyrics	Vasily Zhukovsky, 1833
Music	Alexei Lvov, 1833
Adopted	1833
Relinquished	1917
Audio sample
God save the Tsar (1915) file help

History

In 1833 the emperor Nicholas I was visiting Austria and Prussia with Alexei Lvov. The Nicholas was greeted by english marches which he didn't liked. When he came back to Russia he had Alexei compose song that would became a national anthem. The composer: Alexei Lvov and the lirycist Vasily Zhukovsky created anthem that was first played in december 1833. After that, song became a national anthem of Russian Empire, with a name of God save the Tsar! Anthem was used untill revolution in 1917. The song were succeeded by the "Worker's Marseillaise" and later by the "Internationale".

Lryics

During Imperial Russia mostly were played only first stanza, easy to remeber, usually repeated three times.

Short version	Romanized lirycs	English translation
Боже, Царя храни! Сильный, державный, Царствуй на славу, на славу намъ! Царствуй на страхъ врагамъ, Царь православный! Боже, Царя храни!	Bozhe, Carja hrani! Sil’nyj, derzhavnyj, Carstvuj na slavu, na slavu nam! Carstvuj na strah vragam, Car’ pravoslavnyj! Bozhe, Carja, Carja hrani!	God, protect the Tsar! Strong and majestic, Reign for glory, For our glory! Reign to foes’ fear, Orthodox Tsar. God, protect the Tsar!