In 1890–1891, a long, more than 300 days, trip of Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich, the future Emperor Nicholas II, to the East took place. The direction and choice of route for this grand tour were dictated primarily by the political realities of the time. One of the first countries that the heir visited was Egypt. On November 10–27, 1890, he and his companions traveled along the Nile to Aswan and back, getting acquainted with ancient monuments. One of the strongest impressions on travelers was made by the capital of the country, where the antiquity of millennia and the present day were combined. E. Ukhtomsky wrote: «The Cairo of Arab fairy tales and the last word of European civilization, transplanted onto African soil — Cairo, which one admires from the almost unattainable height of the nearest pyramids». Soon after the end of the trip, a richly illustrated publication in three volumes by Prince E. Ukhtomsky «Journey to the East of His Imperial Highness the Sovereign Heir Tsesarevich, 1890–1891» was published (St. Petersburg; Leipzig, 1893–1897). Despite the fact that among those accompanying the heir was the artist Nikolai Gritsenko, who performed about 300 sketches on the trip, the illustrations for the book were ordered from Nikolai Karazin. By this time, he had established himself as a professional illustrator, working extensively and successfully in this genre for Russian periodicals and books. Karazin's monochrome illustrations captured the most important sights, often representing a combination of images of several monuments on one sheet. A number of illustrations were dedicated to Egyptian landscapes, in particular views of the Nile.