Alexander I and Napoleon's summit on the river at Tilsit (Sovetsk), 25 June, 1807
“At 9pm on [the 24th], the order was given to build two floating ‘houses' for the meeting of the two sovereigns, which was supposed to take place in the centre of the river Memel. 150 French carpenters immediately started work on the ‘houses' and the first was finished and floated by midday on 25 June. [According to eyewitnesses, the ‘maisonette' was exceedingly well furnished and included a large finely decorated ‘salon' with two facing doors, beyond which stood two antechambers. The walls were covered with garlands of flowers and foliage, and on the roof were two weathercocks, one with a Russian eagle and the other with a French eagle.] This ‘house' was anchored in the middle of the river [Neman] near the old bridge. The second ‘house' was not yet completed. At half-past midday, Napoleon, accompanied by his marshals and 100 guards, reached the river bank and got into a small boat. The Russian guard formed up on the opposite bank. At a signal given by the Russian trumpets the two boats set off simultaneously and arrived both at the same time, Napoleon on the south side and Alexander on the north. They embraced and entered the ‘house'. The conversation lasted three-quarters of an hour and they then returned in the same order as before.“
(Extracts from the previously unpublished journal of Ernst Ludwig Siehr, Councillor of the Commission of Justice in Tilsit, for the period June-July 1807, published in the brochure 200 years treaty of Tilsit, ed. Bartheldruck, Arnstadt, 2007)
Napoleon and Czar Alexander meeting on the raft on the Niemen, 25 June, 1807
