Grand Embassy of Peter I

The Grand Embassy (1697–1698) is incognito voyage of Russian Tsar Peter the Great to Western Europe, whose main official purpose was to secure allies against Ottoman Empire, but it was also intended to gather information on the economic and cultural life of Europe.

The embassy comprised about 250 people. Peter I (under name Sgt. Pyotr Mikhaylov) spent 16 months traveling through Germany, Holland, England, and Austria, and worked as a shipwright in Holland and in England. In the course of the journey he amassed knowledge of western technology and hired thousands of craftsmen, engineers, military personnel, architects, and painters to take back to Russia.