tsarskoe selo – The Romanov Family

December 22, 2017Helen Azar No Comments

ROMANOV FAMILY: FIRST CHRISTMAS AT THE ALEXANDER PALACE

Christmas tree “upstairs” at the Alexander Palace

Since 1904 Christmas holidays were celebrated at the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoe Selo. Because the children’s rooms were on the second floor of the palace, on 24 December, the Christmas tree was set up for the first time “upstairs”. That same day, in the evening, the entire family rode to see Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna at Gatchina Palace. There, after vsenoshnaya, they had a general Yolka [Christmas party] downstairs. Around 11 at night, Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna returned to Tsarskoe Selo, where they had “our own Yolka, in Alix’s new room”.

December 8, 2017Helen Azar No Comments

ROMANOV FAMILY: RUSSIAN TRADITIONAL DOLLS AT THE ALEXANDER PALACE

Tsarskoe Selo Museum had recently acquired at a Paris auction these eight rare dolls wearing Russian and Ukrainian traditional costumes. The dolls were created in 1896 to commemorate the official visit of the young ruling Romanov family to France.

June 14, 2017Helen Azar No Comments

MARIA ROMANOV: STRANGE EPISODE WITH BREAKING WINDOWS (THE CAPRICE)

MARIA ROMANOV: STRANGE EPISODE OF BREAKING WINDOWS (THE CAPRICE)

The Big Caprice and the Podkaprizovaya Road in Alexander Park.

The Grand Duchesses in Tsarskoe Selo circa 1915

In a 1915 letter from Grand Duchess Maria to her father, she described a very strange episode of the grand duchesses breaking glass panels with their parasols on the Caprice overpass in Alexander Park.

“15 September… We walked to the Caprice and walked up the stairs. You know [a diagram drawing]. And then, when we got up there, Olga took her parasol and attacked one of the windows viciously, and broke 3 glass panels, then gave me the parasol, and I broke a window too and Anastasia [did] too. “”

For a long time, I was very confused by these lines, and could not figure out what happened, or why the girls would engage in an act that was nothing short of vandalism. So when I got back to Tsarskoe Selo last December, I decided to take a careful look at that area to see if I could find any clues.

June 11, 2017Helen Azar No Comments

ROMANOV FAMILY: TIME TRAVEL TO TSARSKOE SELO (VIDEOS)

Below are the video “podcasts” made by me during my visit to Tsarskoe Selo in December of 2016. Travel through time with me and learn what the familiar places from pre-revolution photos look like today. Have a good trip!

June 9, 2017Helen Azar No Comments

GRAND DUCHESS MARIA NIKOLAEVNA: BRETHREN CEMETERY OF TSARSKOE SELO

In 1914, soon after the start of the First World War, near the Kazan Cemetery, a special section of land was assigned for burial of deceased soldiers from Tsarskoe Selo infirmaries. Originally the cemetery contained 400 graves and was named “The Heroes’ Cemetery”, but by early 1915 it was renamed ‘The Brethren Cemetery of Tsarskoe Selo”. From this time it came under the special patronage of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna.