The article is devoted to revealing the ways of organizing the metropolitan celebrations in 1894–1924. The author focuses on the city’s metropolitan area, which was the ‘stage’ for preparing public celebrations, first by the autocratic monarchy, then by the Provisional government, and finally by the Soviet government. Based on organizational documentation, the article shows the transformation of the influence on the choice of the triumph vector from centralization to decentralization and vice versa. Using sources of personal origin, the ambiguous process of ‘erasing’ the past is traced.