The entire Romanov family loved to listen to music, especially what were known as the Russian “romance” songs”, but also opera arias. According to Tatiana Botkin-Melnik, daughter of the Romanov family physician, even during the war years singers from Imperial Theaters often came to the infirmaries and gave performances and concerts, which the Grand Duchesses and Tsarevich Alexei loved to attend.
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)
“… [We] had tea on the balcony then swung in the hammock. It is hanging between two trees behind the path by the balcony. The trees there are very strong….” “Had tea with Shvybz and the same swung in a hammock…”
~Maria Romanov~
Grand Duchess Maria Romanov in a hammock
“…Maria and I swing in the hammocks sometimes and she almost always turns me over…” “…Maria and I… keep swinging in the hammock. ” “…We cut off old branches with dull knives and with our hands, and then swung in hammocks. Now there are two hammocks, as Marie has one too and they are hanging in a kilivatorny column…”
New study on the remains of the Romanov family should be completed by February, 2016
Left: the shallow grave with the remains of the Romanov family, unearthed in 1997 in Ekaterinburg. Right: one of the last photographs of the members of the Romanov family – in exile in Siberia after the Russian revolution.
October 16, 2015 – The Russian government hopes that all the work on the remains of the Romanov family and plans for their reburial will be completed by early February 2016, said a Cabinet source. “By early February, we expect the completion of all tests, the completion of all procedures, to have prepared a report from the investigative team, and furthermore, the restoration of the original appearance of the sarcophagus of Tsar Alexander III”. Read more ROMANOV FAMILY REMAINS: UPDATE – 16 OCTOBER, 2015.