The Making of the Road Hotels and Providing Services for Travelers (the case of the Postal Road’s Infrastructure from St. Petersburg - Moscow in the First Half of the 19th Century)

The research is dedicated to functionating road hotels in the context of postal infrastructure development. In general, the establishment, functioning, and reorganization of the postal hotel space take place in the context of state processes: changing the system of bureaucracy and modernization of the country. The main interest in terms of sources compound materials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which are stored in the Russian State Historical Archive (RGIA). Moreover, the analysis of travelogues allows identifying some of the services provided for travelers. This study set out to determine the features of the establishment, functioning, and implementation of road hotel services. One of the more significant findings to emerge from this study is that administrative structure included several state institutions, sharing responsibility. The procedure of renting demonstrated a similar practice albeit the houses and inns were presented by different institutions. The evidence from this study suggests that the postal hotel integrated into the system of other institutions, although it had differences. The current findings add substantially to our understanding of the functioning of the road hotels, as well as the infrastructure of the first half of the 19th century.