Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license.
Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat.
We can research this topic together.
Originally, the Order of Saint Anna was a dynastic order of knighthood; but between 1797 and 1917 it had dual status as a dynastic order and as a state order. The Order of St. Anna continued to be awarded after the revolution by Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich, Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich, and Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna. Today, the Russian Imperial Order of St. Anna, awarded by Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna is recognized as an order of chivalry by the privately operated ICOC as a continuation of the pre-Revolutionary order, and has been approved for wear with military uniform by the Russian Federation, but not by some members of the Romanov Family Association.
Membership of the Order was awarded for a distinguished career in civil service or for valour and distinguished service in the military. The Order of Saint Anna entitled recipients of the first class to hereditary nobility, and recipients of lower classes to personal nobility. For military recipients, it was awarded with swords. It is now usually awarded for meritorious service to the Imperial House of Russia.
Recipients of the Order of St. Andrew (K.A.) (including grand dukes, who received the order at baptism, and princes of the Imperial blood, who received it at their majority) simultaneously received the first class of the Order of Saint Anna. The Emperor himself was the hereditary grand master of the Order.
The motto of the Order is "Amantibus Justitiam, Pietatem, Fidem" ("To those who love justice, piety, and fidelity"). Its festival day is 3 February (New Style, 16 February). The Head of the Imperial House of Russia always is Master of the imperial Order of Saint Anna.
History
At first, the Order had but one class and was named the "Order of Anna". The statutes of the Order promulgated in 1735 established as the principal insignia a red-enameled gold cross, with an image of Saint Anne imposed upon the centre of the cross; the reverse bore the initials "A.I.P.F." (for "Anna Imperatoris Petri Filia": "Anna, Emperor Peter's daughter" in Latin). The same letters also abbreviate the Latin motto (as the letter "J" did not exist in Latin, "Iustitiam" was the original spelling of the word now rendered "Justitiam").
In 1742, Karl Peter Ulrich, Duke Karl Friedrich's son, was declared the Russian heir apparent. After arriving in Russia, he presented the Order to several courtiers. On 15 April 1797, his own son, Emperor Paul I of Russia, established the Order as part of the Imperial Russian system of honours and divided it into three classes, renaming it the "Order of Saint Anna". Emperor Alexander I added a fourth class in 1815.
The title of Chekhov's well-known story Anna on the Neck refers both to the Order and to the heroine.
In Chapter IV of Crime and Punishment, Raskolnikov guesses that Luzhin must have, "...the Anna in his buttonhole and that he puts it on when he goes to dine with contractors or merchants."
Insignia
Order of St. Anna, 1st class
Order of St. Anna, 2nd class (The example shown is "with swords", for bravery in battle, and crown)
Order of St. Anna, 3rd class
Order of St. Anna, 4th class (The insignia with imperial eagle would have been awarded to a non-Christian, for whom a Christian cross was deemed inappropriate)
Methods of wear
1st class: Cross worn at the bow of a broad ribbon (ten centimeters wide, worn over the left shoulder), on the right hip; star of the Order (about 95 millimeters in diameter) worn on the right breast
2nd class: Cross worn on a neck ribbon, 45 millimeters wide
3rd class: Cross worn on the left ribbon, suspended from a ribbon 28 millimeters wide
4th class: Cross borne on the pommel of an edged weapon, together with a silver-tasselled sword-knot of the ribbon of the Order
The medal ribbon was red with narrow yellow edging.
A recipient of higher classes of the Order would not wear the insignia of lower classes, unless he had also been awarded the fourth class (the insignia of which was borne on the hilt of a sword or other edged weapon).
Bibliography
Alan W. Hazelton, The Russian Imperial Orders; New York: The American Numismatic Society, 1932 (Numismatic Notes and Monograms, No. 51).
Guy Stair Sainty (Ed.) “World Orders of Knighthood and Merit” London: Burke's Peerage, 2006.
Star of the Order
Head of the House of Romanov
Order of St. Anna, 1st class
Order of St. Anna, 2nd class (The example shown is "with swords", for bravery in battle, and crown)
Order of St. Anna, 3rd class
Order of St. Anna, 4th class (The insignia with imperial eagle would have been awarded to a non-Christian, for whom a Christian cross was deemed inappropriate)
