ipatiev house – The Romanov Family

November 14, 2017Helen Azar No Comments

THE ROMANOV FAMILY: LAST PRAYER SERVICE AT THE HOUSE OF SPECIAL PURPOSE.

THE ROMANOV FAMILY: LAST PRAYER SERVICE AT THE HOUSE OF SPECIAL PURPOSE

Testimony of Father [Protoirei] Ioann Storozhev (as given to investigator Nikolai Sokolov)

Father [Protoirei] Ioann Storozhev, who performed the last prayer service to the Romanov family at “The House of Special Purpose”

Around 8 o’clock in the morning on 14 July, a soldier came to see me, and requested I serve obednitza at the Ipatiev house. At 10 o’clock, I was already at the Ipatiev house with deacon Buimirov. Inside, behind the fence, at the bottom of stairs and inside the house, there were lots of armed young men, standing on guard. When we entered the commandant’s room, we saw disorder, dust and mess. Yurovsky was sitting at the table, drinking tea and eating bread with butter. Another man was sleeping on the bed, fully dressed. Having entered the room, I said to Yurovsky: “The clergy was invited here, so here we are. What do we need to do?” Yurovsky directly stared at me without a greeting, and said “Wait here, then you will serve obednitza” I asked “Obednya or obednitza?” “He wrote obednitza”, said Yurovsky. Read more THE ROMANOV FAMILY: LAST PRAYER SERVICE AT THE HOUSE OF SPECIAL PURPOSE.

November 30, 2015Helen Azar No Comments

ROMANOV FAMILY: STREET WHERE THEY WERE MURDERED IN EKATERINBURG WILL BE RENAMED

Ipatiev house or "House of Special Purpose" - the last residence of the Romanov family. — Ipatiev house or “House of Special Purpose” – the last residence of the Romanov family.

Members of the committee of the Ekaterinburg street naming decided to rename the street to Tsarskaya. On this street once stood the house of engineer Ipatiev once stood – where the entire Russian imperial family and their servants had been murdered in 1918. On the same spot the Cathedral on the Spilled Blood had been erected at the turn of the 21st century. The new street name is a tribute to the murdered Romanov family, according to participants of the meeting. The decision to rename the entire street or only a segment of it will be based on a survey of local citizens.

November 6, 2015Helen Azar No Comments

ROMANOV FAMILY: “HOUSE OF SPECIAL PURPOSE” – THE IPATIEV HOUSE IN EKATERINBURG

In spring of 1918, the Romanov family was moved to Ekaterinburg, a city in Russia’s Urals. There they were held captive in a house which belonged to engineer Ipatiev, where they would ultimately be killed.

The words “Ipatiev house” have since become associated with the murder of the Russian imperial family.

Below are the descriptions of the house from the letters of Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna, as well as photographs and rare contemporary video footage of the last residence of the Romanov family.

November 3, 2015Helen Azar No Comments

ROMANOV FAMILY: THEIR REAL “KITCHEN BOY” – LEONID SEDNEV

Leonid "Lyonka" Sednev. the Romanov family's kitchen boy. — Leonid “Lyonka” Sednev, the Romanov family’s “kitchen boy”, the last playmate of Tsarevich Alexei, and the only survivor of the House of Special Purpose.

In 2004 author Robert Alexander published a novel called “The Kitchen Boy“, which shortly became a bestseller. About 10 years later, a Hollywood movie with the same title went into production, to be released in late 2015.

But who was the real “kitchen boy” – Leonid Ivanovich Sednev – a boy who was just a year older than Tsarevich Alexei and the latter’s last friend and comrade. The boy who faithfully served the Romanov family at the Ipatiev House, their last household in Ekaterinburg, until just a day before their murder.

Leonid “Lyonka” Sednev became the only human survivor from the “House of Special Purpose”- the last residence of the Romanov family, where the family of the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II, met all their deaths. Read more ROMANOV FAMILY: THEIR REAL “KITCHEN BOY” – LEONID SEDNEV

October 23, 2015Helen Azar No Comments

ROMANOV FAMILY: BOOKS THEY LEFT BEHIND (EKATERINBURG)

As a librarian, of course this topic is of great interest to me: which books did the Romanov family bring into exile with them and what did they read during their dreary days of captivity? About 10 years ago, in 2005, I was very fortunate to have the chance to work with the Romanov family books directly – when I did an internship at the Rare Book Department of The Tsarskoe Selo Museum. Their collection consisted of numerous books, many of which had inscriptions of the Romanov family members in them. I will do another story on those later! Read more ROMANOV FAMILY: BOOKS THEY LEFT BEHIND (EKATERINBURG)