What happened to the Alexander Palace?

From this palace the family of Nicholas II was sent into exile in Tobolsk. In 1918 the Alexander Palace was opened to visitors as a state museum . The display included the historic interiors in the central part of the building and the living apartments of the Romanov family in the east wing of the palace.

Which tsar was imprisoned in Alexander Palace?

Over the course of WWI, Russia endured major losses on the war front and suffered abject poverty and high inflation at home. The Russian public laid the blame squarely on the monarchy. On 15 March 1917, Nicholas II abdicated the throne and was placed under house arrest, initially at Alexander Palace.

Is the Romanov bloodline still around?

Nicholas II and his immediate family were executed in 1918, but there are still living descendants . The house consisted of boyars in Russia (the highest rank in the Russian nobility at the time) under the reigning Rurik dynasty, which became extinct upon the death of Feodor I in 1598.

Are there any surviving Romanovs?

There are no immediate family members of the former Russian Royal Family alive today. However, there are still living descendants of the Romanov family . Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and husband of Queen Elizabeth II is the grandnephew of Tsarina Alexandra.

Which tsar killed his son?

It depicts the grief-stricken Russian tsar Ivan the Terrible cradling his dying son, the Tsarevich Ivan Ivanovich, shortly after the elder Ivan had dealt a fatal blow to his son's head in a fit of anger.

Were the Romanovs good or bad?

The death of the Romanovs was, in fact, brutal and arguably unnecessary . However, it does not negate the fact that the Romanovs were incompetent rulers of Russia. The fact is that the Romanovs fell from grace on their own accord.

How was Paul assassinated?

The conspirators pulled him out, forced him to the table, and tried to compel him to sign his abdication. Paul offered some resistance, and Nikolay Zubov struck him with a sword, after which the assassins strangled and trampled him to death .

Who owns Alexandra Palace now?

Alexandra Park and Palace remains held in Trust for the public forever by the Act of Parliament , which is our key governing document. The Trust was recognised as charitable in the 1960s and we are therefore subject to Charity Law and regulation.

What happened to the palace after the Romanovs died?

After the war, the palace was briefly made into a museum again before being turned over to the Soviet navy in the 1950s , which used it as a headquarters and academy until the 1990s. Many Romanov palaces, including the Winter and Catherine, were restored and turned into museums during Soviet rule.

Who took Alexander the Great's palace?

Romans destroyed the palace in 148 BCE and it was frequently looted in the coming years. Restoring the birth place of such an impressive empire was no easy task.

What happened to the Romanovs' belongings?

The Soviets, as brutally and thoroughly as any foreign invader, looted the Romanov collections of art, jewelry, furniture and books . In the 1920s and '30s aged Russian scholars and curators were forced to catalog treasures, so that foreigners could browse and buy them from the Communist government.

And when they had gone - Autochromes of the Alexander Palace, by Andrei Zeest, 1917. (2024)

And when they had gone - Autochromes of the Alexander Palace, by Andrei Zeest, 1917. (1)

The Palisander Drawing Room.

The Alexander (Alexandrovsky) Palace - generally considered the favorite home of the last Imperial family of Russia, and where they spent the first five months of their captivity after the start of the Revolution - was commissioned by Catherine the Great for her favorite grandson, the future Alexander I, on the occasion of his marriage. It was built to the design of Giacomo Quarenghi and constructed between 1792 and 1796. After his accession in 1801, Alexander chose to reside in the nearby, larger Catherine Palace and gave the Alexander Palace to his brother, the future Nicholas I, for summer usage. From that time it was the summer residence of the heir to the throne; even after coming to the throne, Nicholas I was very attached to the building, though his successors less so. Several members of the family would die while in residence, and the future Nicholas II was born there in 1868.

And when they had gone - Autochromes of the Alexander Palace, by Andrei Zeest, 1917. (2)

Another view of the Palisander Drawing Room.

And when they had gone - Autochromes of the Alexander Palace, by Andrei Zeest, 1917. (3)

The Imperial bedroom.

And when they had gone - Autochromes of the Alexander Palace, by Andrei Zeest, 1917. (4)

Another view of the Imperial bedroom.

It was Nicholas and his wife, the Empress Alexandra, who would make the biggest impact on the palace, and the home life they established there has become an enduring part of their legend. With a growing, close-knit family, the Empress devoted much energy to the redecoration of the private rooms. Designed in a mix of late Victorian, Art Nouveau, and an Edwardian neoclassicism, the rooms were always filled with flowers, the tables and shelves laden with art objects and framed photographs. Though the renovations would be much criticized by the Empress' detractors for being middle class and insufficiently "Imperial", the rooms as they were then had a feminine charm and, most importantly for her and her family, were pretty, cozy, and practical.

And when they had gone - Autochromes of the Alexander Palace, by Andrei Zeest, 1917. (5)

The Mauve Study, aka "the Mauve Boudoir", "the Lilac Study".

And when they had gone - Autochromes of the Alexander Palace, by Andrei Zeest, 1917. (6)

Another view of the Mauve Study. Although these rooms still seem quite full by modern standards, many items have already been removed.

And when they had gone - Autochromes of the Alexander Palace, by Andrei Zeest, 1917. (7)

The Maple Drawing Room.

And when they had gone - Autochromes of the Alexander Palace, by Andrei Zeest, 1917. (8)

Another view of the Maple Drawing Room. The plants have yet to be removed from the room.

Soon after the Imperial family was transported to Siberia in August of 1917 the palace was turned into a museum; it continued as such until the beginning of the Second World War. Tsarskoe Selo was occupied during the war, and the palace was used as headquarters for the German military command. In the German's retreat, when so many other Imperial residences were burned - including the adjacent Catherine Palace - the Alexander Palace, though looted and heavily damaged, was spared destruction. The real destruction came after the war, when most of the historic interiors vanished, the rooms altered to make up plain exhibition halls for a proposed museum to Pushkin. When that plan came to nothing, the building was turned over to the use of the Soviet Navy. At the end of the twentieth century, with Perestroika, the fall of the Soviet Empire, and an increasing interest in Russia's last Imperial family, the Navy was finally induced to vacate. A museum dedicated to the family was soon instituted and important restoration work began immediately - the structure was in a precarious state - and continues to this day. In 2015 the museum was closed to the public for a major renovation, a multi-year project to include, among other things, the recreation of the private rooms of the Nicholas and Alexandra.

And when they had gone - Autochromes of the Alexander Palace, by Andrei Zeest, 1917. (9)

The Empress' Formal Reception Room.
The large portrait at center is a tapestry copy of Vigée Lebrun's celebrated group of Marie Antoinette and her children, a gift
from the French government. Rather an unfortunate choice, considering the similarly unpleasant fate of the two women....