Image Details

Igor Bogdanov

Schliemann and Ekaterina were married at St. Isaac’s Cathedral (shown here) in St. Petersburg in October 1852—only months after Schliemann had returned from a year-long stay in the United States. The grand Orthodox cathedral was still incomplete, and unconsecrated, at the time of the wedding, but Schliemann arranged for the ceremony to take place there anyway.The union produced three children but little happiness. In 1856 Ekaterina wrote to her husband accusing him of being a colossal “egoist” and stating that “we … will never understand each other.” After spending much of his married life apart from his wife, Schliemann traveled to the United States in 1869 and got a divorce. Three months later, he married 17-year-old Sophia Engastromenos, the daughter of a Greek prelate Schliemann knew in St. Petersburg.