Restoration

Tags

Alexander Palace, Russia, St-Petersburg, tsar Nicholas II

All around the world many cultural sites are being restored by Governments and private groups in order to rediscover history and appreciate the beauty and value of architecture.

In Athens a 25 year program restored many important buildings of the Acropolis, the work requires expertise and scholars, archeologists, historians and artisans and buckets of money.

Barcelona will complete the Sagrada Familia Church in 2026 with the donations of tourists who pay an entrance fee.

Versailles continues its restorations of the chateau bringing back elements that were neglected for decades with a comprehensive program of restoration of furniture, the gardens and fountains and other buildings.

Berlin has done much work in the last 30 years since reunification changing the look of the city making it more people friendly and restoring its 18 Century look.

Everywhere you go it seems much is done to enhance the heritage component of cities. All this work also brings more tourist dollars or Euros as the case may be.

Russia under Vladimir Putin has also done much to enhance its heritage. Restoring countless monasteries, churches and palaces. Last week the Alexander Palace re-opened to the public after 8 years of restoration.

In the case of the Alexander Palace which is located in Tsarkoye Selo some 25 Km from St-Petersburg, it was a gigantic effort and a costly one. The original palace was built by Catherine the Great for her grandson Alexander I and his wife. They did not like living in the palace and so remained in their suite of rooms at the Great Catherine Palace across the street. Around 1820 the palace became the Official Summer Residence of the Heir to the Russian Throne. Finally in 1894, Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra moved in and made it their private residence. They would live there until August 1917, when they were exiled to Siberia. The Palace was closed by the Bolcheviks and turned into a museum until 1939 when the invading Nazis and Spanish Fascists troops laid siege to St-Petersburg (Leningrad) for 900 days.

Before the arrival of the Nazis, the Soviet Government rapidly emptied the palaces all around Tsarkoye Selo of their most valuable contents shipping them East for safe keeping. In the case of the Alexander Palace not all the contents could be shipped off due to time constraints. Some less important art works where hidden in the basement. This did not stop the looting and vandalism by foreign invaders. In 1945 with the end of the war, the damage was assessed and no one believed that the Alexander Palace and its park would be restored given the amount of destruction. However some officials of the Culture department started to work on saving and restoring what they could. The Palace was re-opened to the public with limited displays but it all had a very sad look. The roof leaked and some rooms were beyond salvage.

Only in 2014 did very serious work start to restore the palace to its former glory as a private residence of the last Tsar and his family. On You Tube, you will find recent videos of the opening of the Palace to the press and experts explain how the final results were achieved. Some 6000 personal objects, from clothing to paintings, vases, other bibelots, books, even personal diaries kept by the Tsarina until 2 hours before her murder are in the collection returned to the Palace and placed in the various rooms. The Bolcheviks kept everything and catalogue it all. It is in many way ghoulish and says a lot about Lenin and company. The children’s toys are particularly poignant, they will eventually be placed in their bedrooms on the second floor.

The work done in the restoration is spectacular, fragments of tiles, fabric and wallpaper have all been reproduced meticulously. In one room, rare Brazilian Rosewood called Palisander, panel the walls. The Tsar and his family could walk back into those rooms today and find them as they left them in August 1917, in all its splendor with all their personal items, clothing, family photos etc.

The Palace will be their memorial, though the family was murdered in a dark cellar some 103 years ago, this refurbishment is eerily real.

https://youtu.be/zwN2L-ySpwg

No washing machine

Tags

art., beijing, Berlin, history, life, Rome, St-Petersburg

Our washing machine died with a clunk and a whine last Thursday, we were able to secure a new washing machine almost within one hour. The drawback delivery takes 7 days, oh my! So the clothing has been piling up as well as sheets and towels. We are really dependent on this machine, now we know. But the delivery will be made by Friday so patience and no panic.

I really miss good conversation with friends face to face and the laughs and gossip. Zoom is NOT the same thing.

Scaffolding coming down this week at the main gate portal of the City Palace. Friday is the capping off of the building which can be followed on webcam. Starting at 6 am Berlin time, weather permitting.

https://cam01.berlinerschloss-webcam.de

For the last few postings I have been writing about the City Palace in Berlin and its final phase of re-construction. You may have wondered why so much interest in this one building. In fact I have been following several other projects in Europe.

One such projects is Buckingham Palace in London, the Official Residence of the Queen. There is little info on what is going on, but it is a major refit of the place from plumbing to electrical system to cleaning and painting and general repairs. Rooms have been dismantled and furniture and paintings removed for safe keeping. The Queen left London because of the pandemic but also because her London Residence was under repair and not fit to live in due to all the noise and workmen etc… Windsor is her real home, private and comfy. She and her husband only live in a suite of rooms in one wing of the Castle and not in the entire place as you might see it from the outside, still it is pretty grand. Many other people live at Windsor in what is term Grace and Favour apartments. The Queen also has other relatives live in London at Kensington Palace and St-James Palace again in apartments, all are at the pleasure of Her Majesty.

Another project is the Alexander Palace built in 1793 in an Italian/Palladian style in Tsarkoye Selo outside St-Petersburg, the work is now reaching completion after many years of complete reconstruction of what was essentially a ruined building. The last private home of Tsar Nicholas II and his wife and children before their arrest and deportation in 1917. This has been a massive work of research and archeology, restoration of furniture, original fabrics, flooring, tiling, etc. all this made possible because of voluminous archives kept on the building. This site has a huge following in Russia and around the world.

The Roman Forum is another place I love to explore and read about, about 95 years ago it became the pet project of Benito Mussolini who poured financial resources and had the best academic work on unearthing this area of what was ancient Rome. To this day several Universities and team of archeologist work for years and sometimes a life time on one area. Even now with the building of the new Metro Line crossing the Forum under Via Dei Fori Imperiali more treasures are discovered. I had the good fortune to visit some of those sites being under study and excavation, it is a real marvel.

While in Beijing, I visited various sites around the former Imperial Capital, temples, palaces and the Forbidden City compound. I lived there about 3 years prior to the Olympics. The City itself was under massive construction and re-building. Entire neighbourhoods of 3 million people each would be vacated in a matter of 48 hours with the help of the Police and Army. The Temple of Heaven and the great park around it was a favourite site. The Communist Party with the increase in tourism re-discovered the roots of Chinese culture and its historical past. So recreation was the name of the game, unfortunately so much had been lost between 1967-1976 under Mao ills advised but politically convenient cultural revolution, that doing studies and repairing the damage proved difficult, so the repairs were done very quickly and often of poor quality. What really mattered to the Communist party was money from Western tourists and pushing a re-written history of China always glorifying the Party and the leadership.

In Jordan, I would visit just outside Amman about 35 km away the antic city of Jerash or Gerasa in the Bible. Built by the Romans and prospering as an important commercial link and military city, the Jordanian Government had archeologists work at restoring the extensive ruined city, its temples and theatres. There was a lot of archeological material artefacts just lying on the ground forgotten by time.

Istanbul and the Topkapi Palace grounds is also well worth exploring and how well preserve it is, including the treasury with its incredible amounts of precious stones. If you take a look in the once private areas you will discover a Polo Pavilion and grounds enjoyed by the Sultan, the entire place as a very Oriental feel. The Turkish people migrated from Central Asia one thousand years ago, keeping their Oriental culture.

I am endlessly fascinated by architecture, archeology and factual history. It has always been a hobby of mine.

Websites and comments

Tags

Hohenzollern, Humboldt, museum, palace, Russia, St-Petersburg

Readers of this blog will know that I have a fascination for historical renovations of famous places. Among the many blogs on architecture and history I am following, two blogs one in Russia and one in Germany have large number of followers from around the world. Gropus who specialize in architecture, people sharing ideas and photos of specific projects underway, some discussions are esoteric and interesting, many bring specialize knowledge.

Russia since 1990 has seen a full blown restoration of countless Orthodox churches, monasteries, palaces, monuments of Imperial Russia. Yes the Romanov are back with a vengeance.

Monthly a new monument, monastery, church or palace opens completely renovated to its former glory, even Putin has his own pet project, the former palace of Grand Duke Konstantin which he rebuilt as the Official palace of the Russian President. The Konstantinovsky Palace was destroyed in 1944 now it lives again.

St-Petersburg and its outskirts was occupied between 1942-1944 by the Nazi army, the region experienced the death of a million citizens and the virtual destruction of its most historical buildings. But since 1990 the Government of Russia has given back to the Russian Orthodox Church its monasteries and churches and helped them financially with restoration, all of which is complicated due to old building techniques and material used.

All this restoration is going towards tourism promotion, the Soviets destroyed on purpose many historical places, looting and selling off assets, in some cases using once beautiful gardens to bury the millions of victims of the purges of Stalin, thus polluting waterways and gardens with the stench of human decay.

Putin changed all that and St-Petersburg being his hometown lavishly benefitted from monies to massively rehabilitate the city and its sights. Armies of artisans, construction trades of all kinds, architects and historians are at work. Many have taken photos of their work and share them with the public, creating excitement in the process.

In Germany many cities have seen vast restoration in what was East Germany. Many of the websites I read are in German and great discussions take place on how to proceed or why not do this or that. Of course cost $$$ is always a huge factor and in most cases the public has made substantial monetary donations, the Federal Government cannot do it all and also the political aspect comes into play. Former communists and socialists oppose for historical and ideological reasons some restorations, an example the memorial to the first German Emperor Wilhelm I (1870). Same in Potsdam with the Garnison Church which is being rebuilt now with donations from the Lutheran Church and other members of the public. The socialist on the Potsdam town council oppose this project for ideological reasons. German Newspapers carry articles and opinion pieces and no project is not without controversy. In Brunswick the former ducal palace destroyed during the war was rebuilt however to make it economically viable the inside is a shopping mall.

Not to forget that many of the old nobility is still around and have opinions on what has happened to their former homes. In Russia the Romanov descendants some of whom have returned to live are paraded by the authorities who cater to them on the theme of the good old days, romantic mythology for the masses. The Church and Russian Christian Orthodox who support the Romanov Family is courted by Putin for votes and support through such endeavours. Finally the tourists also love to see the sights restored.

Germany does the same thing, the old nobles now have wineries, renovated castle turned into B&B or appear at public events, photoshoots etc to lend a sense of the authentic. Even the old Imperial family, Hohenzollern have gone into commercial ventures, one created a jazz band, appear at cultural events, run museums in their family chateau, talk to the tourists who are awe struck.

Here are some photos of today and yesterday to illustrate the point of the discussions going on websites. I find this interesting because we do not have those discussions here in Canada, no one is really interested, heritage is not understood in the same way.

It also gives an idea of what people are thinking and how they see their country and themselves today compared with 90 years ago in what was to become a very dark chapter for Germany.

One big discussion on the reconstruction of the City Palace now called Humboldt Forum. the Architect Franco Stella,  imagined a re-built palace with historical facade on 3 sides and one very modern facade on the East side. He wanted to show past and present and since this re-built palace will be a museum to world culture, there is a mix of two visions, from where we were to where we are now. The inside rooms will not be recreated, the rooms are designed for a modern museum with no reference to its imperial past. Again the contrast between former use and new use, it does not prevent the debate about why not recreate the historical rooms.

The East facade of 1445 on the Spree River around 1920 with its private garden.

The East facade of the Palace was the private living quarter of the Imperial Family. The Eastern portion of the Palace will expand as of 1701 when the Kingdom of Prussia is proclaimed.

The old Apothek or Pharmacy wing of the palace across the street from the Lutheran Cathedral. This oldest portion of the palace will not be rebuilt, instead we now have this modern new wing. This was a compromise with the various political parties in the Bundestag. It was never meant to be a reconstruction of the Imperial Palace or a memorial to the Kaiser. The three historical facade, South, West and North fit with all the other buildings in the area of the same era, whereas the Eastern facade is facing across the river the modern area of Alexander Platz.

The Humboldt Forum will open to the public as a Museum, conference centre, city library and a rooftop restaurant in October 2020.

 

 

Continuing to read

Tags

history, Romanov, Russia, St-Petersburg, Tsarkoye Selo

One of the many interest I have is too look at cities who have gone through calamities of war or natural disasters and see how they re-built or re-imagined their cities. Europe some 75 years ago saw the end of the Second World War leaving behind millions of dead, shattered lives and countries, refugees looking for a new start like in Canada and ruined cities now under the grip of new political masters.

Russia in 1917 went through the social upheaval of a disastrous engagement into the First World War and falling into the hands of murderous politicians who in 70 years of rule manage to kill 40 million of its own citizens through repression. A way of life was scrubbed out completely. Since 1999 and the assent to power of Vladimir Putin, a movement has been in full swing to bring back the past of Tsarist Russia for commercial and tourist reasons. It also helps to promote Nationalism in Russia by bringing back old symbols and monuments.

Just 30 Km outside of St-Petersburg is the royal settlement of Tsarkoye Selo (Tsar’s village) a collection of palaces, cathedrals, train station, academies and barracks devoted to creating a place for Russian royalty to live and play far from the hoi polloi, it event has its own gate in Pharaonic Style on the main road from St-Petersburg.

Built in 1827 by Adam Adamovich Menelaws in egyptian revival style.

At the end of the Second World War the German army had inflicted massive damage to Tsarkoye Selo, burning down palaces and destroying parks, what the Russian government could not take away before the German advanced on the area was either stolen and brought back to Germany or simply vandalized.  When visiting St-Petersburg and Tsarkoye Selo today has been re-built and renovated by an army of artists and artisans doing meticulous work in re-creating palaces of the 17th century. Luckily voluminous archives existed to help in this work. Fragments also survived sometimes surprising the restorers. Most if not all the Palaces in Tsarkoye Selo where built by Italian architects who brought with them that style of architecture so coveted by the Russian Aristocracy.

One palace which is being re-built since 2005 is the Alexander palace which stands in a vast park across the street from the Great Catherine Palace most visitors are more familiar with.

The Alexander Palace (New Tsarskoselsky) was presented as a gift by Catherine II to her eldest grandson, the future Emperor Alexander I, on the occasion of his marriage to Grand Duchess Elizabeth Alexeevna. According to the idea of Catherine II, the palace had to be similar to the château at Ferney, where the great thinker of that time – Voltaire – lived. But in 1792 the architect Giacomo Quarenghi presented another project to the Empress and convinced her of its advantage. The palace construction was completed in May of 1796, and in June the then Grand Duke Alexander, his spouse Elizabeth and his Court moved into the New Palace.

The Alexander Palace in the classical style is considered to be the pearl among all the creations of Giacomo Quarenghi.

The Alexander Palace was a summer home for the Imperial Family in the 19th century, but it became a real home for the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra during the last 13 years of their reign. From this palace the family of Nicholas II was arrested and sent into exile in Tobolsk and ultimately to their deaths in July 1917.

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.

Later the left wing was turned into a rest home for the  Secret Police NKVD, while on the second floor of the right wing the former rooms of Nicholas II’s children became an orphanage named the “Young Communards”.

In the first months prior to the Nazi invasion chandeliers, carpets, some items of furniture, eighteenth-century marble and porcelain articles were evacuated from the Alexander Palace. Most of the palace furnishings remained in the halls.

During the occupation the palace housed the German army staff and the Gestapo. The cellars became a prison and the square in front of the palace a cemetery for members of the SS. In 1951 a Soviet government decision handed the Alexander Palace to the Naval Department of the USSR, while the palace’s surviving furniture went to the Pavlosk Palace nearby where much of the collections remain to this day. In late 2009, the palace recovered its museum status and restoration work started and continues to this day, it is to be completed in 2021. It will then be a memorial to Tsar Nicholas II his wife Alexandra and 5 children, a rather sad place knowing their fate.

Here are some recent photos of the work in progress, it is truly remarkable, careful and  meticulous work.

An old photo of the Palace in 1945 after the German retreat. The Palace is heavily damaged and the park surrounding it destroyed.

The reconstructed and redecorated Imperial Bed Chamber of Nicholas and Alexandra. All this fabric was reproduced from original supplies saved and stored at Pavlosk Palace and Gatchina Palace in 1939 by the then Curators of the palace. You can see the view from the bed looking straight out towards the windows. You also have to remember that when the reconstruction of the Palace started the walls were bare and damaged nothing else existed. Russian television was filming for the news broadcast.

Here is the Palisandre or Rose wood drawing room of Her Majesty. Again recreation of this room was done from many photographs prior to 1914 when the Imperial Family lived in the Palace. Everything had to be rebuilt, the rose wood paneling, the fireplace, the silk wallpaper, the curtains, floors and all the ceiling decoration.

The study of the Tsar, rebuilt completely and not quite finished an exact replica of the original. Still the furniture that was salvaged and evacuated for safe keeping in 1939 can be brought back to the palace. The Chandelier will be reproduced and re-installed.

The Mauve boudoir of Her Majesty, reproduced including the furniture from photographs and archive material. Missing at the moment the fireplace which will be re-installed.

One of the more fascinating room of the Palace, the Turkish Bathroom of the Tsar. The room was destroyed during the war and only a few tiles survived. With the fragments artists reproduced them all, including the re-built fireplace in front of which is a huge pool filled with sea water and the beautiful wood work.

Close-up look of the fireplace with the bronze covering, a work of art.

this photo shows what the palace looked like prior to 2005 when little had been done. These rooms are not part of the imperial suite and will be rebuilt but probably used as office space for the curators of the palace.

Detail of the curtains made for the mauve drawing room. The original fabric was saved in parts in the archives. Incredible amount of work has gone into reproducing original material.

The ceiling area with its original decorations reproduced by artisans.

the Maple Drawing-Room’s wooden decoration elements! Behold, the finial of the newel post (and the beginnings of the staircase) that will be installed for the room’s Entresol (Mezzanine) and staircase. All hand carved.

The Maple Drawing-room is probably one of the more famous rooms of the palace and was photographed many times while the Imperial family still lived in the Palace and again after 1919 when the palace became a museum. The room was completely destroyed during the war, nothing survived except for some small pieces of furniture and objects which had been taken away by the curators for safe keeping.

 One of the few surviving pieces of furniture from the Her Majesty’s apartments. This chair in particular, comes from the shared Bedchambre of Their Majesties. It still sports its original chintz upholstery which is damaged, the pink ribbon has all but faded but the wreathes are still there. You can see the damaged, white enameled woodwork as well. It’s amazing to know that even after the War, things like this were somehow saved.

Photo by Andrei Zeest taken in 1917 before the Imperial family was arrested and exiled of the Maple Drawing room. The room was totally destroyed and in currently under reconstruction and will by 2021 look again as it does in this old photo. Recently the metal box containing the plants and made of copper re-surfaced, it was kept with other objects at Pavlosk Palace.

Today still under reconstruction the Maple Drawing room. The plaster work of rose vines all around the ceiling and other decorative elements being recreated is a huge task.

An artist here working on the plaster work in the Maple Drawing room, delicate painstaking work.

Soviet staff visiting the palace after the war, damage is apparent in this room. It will be interesting to visit the Alexander Palace in 2021 when all the restoration work is complete. It will in all likely hood be a huge draw given how popular the tragic figures of the Tsar and his family have become in Russia and elsewhere. Now acknowledge by the State as victims of Bolchevik terror and canonized as Holy Martyrs by the Russian Orthodox Church, the Alexander Palace could become a pilgrimage site like other sites in Russia where the family was imprisoned and killed.

Morning photos

Tags

Berlin, capitals, photos, Rome, St-Petersburg, World

Here are photos of 3 cities in the world this morning. I have visited and or lived in these capitals.

A fountain in Trastevere, Rome

A view of St-Petersburg, Russia with of the St-Nicholas Naval Cathedral

A view of the dome of the Lutheran Cathedral of Berlin, extensively restored after the Second World War. The modern wall on the left is the East side of the City Palace being rebuilt now. The interior of the Cathedral are as they were in 1918.

Who do you support the Alexandrovich or the Vladimirovich Branch of the Family?

Tags

Canada., Holstein Gottorp, Imperial Russia, Romanov, Russia, St-Petersburg

Who would have thought that 97 years after the Russian Revolution which saw the end of the Russian Empire and downfall of the Romanov Dynasty we would be back at square one. Yes folks, believe or not the news this week from Russia is for the re-instatement of the Imperial Family on the Throne of all the Russias. This news comes from a Member of the Russian Parliament and a supporter of Vladimir Putin, President of Russia.

I know that if you took a passing interest in Russian History you would believe that according to the movie Dr. Zhivago and all other Soviet propaganda movies, the Romanovs were dead and gone, end of story, the country is now run by the little people. Well not quite, it’s complicated as they say.

It is true that the Tsar Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra and their children and servants were shot in July 1918 in Yekaterinburg at the Ipatieff House. BUT! because there is a but, the rest of the family all fled in exile, thanks to their cousins in the various Royal Houses of Europe. Many left including the mother of Tsar Nicholas on war ships sent to the Crimea by King George V of England. That is quite a few uncles and aunts and nieces, nephews, cousins etc. with their servants and the sister of the Tsar, Grand Duchess Olga who ended up in Toronto with her husband and children.

On top of that, for all their rhetoric Lenine and other revolutionaries kept everything they found in the Palaces including the personal objects left in the Ipatieff house by Tsar Nicholas and his wife and kids. All of it which includes, children’s toys, clothing, personal diaries and all manner of other personal items, preserved in vaults at the Kremlin or in other locations. It is one of those contradictions of history that is very difficult to explain. In France when the revolutionaries arrested Louis XVI and his wife Marie-Antoinette and the children, the palaces were emptied and everything that could be sold was put on the auction bloc. You can see much of it nowadays in London in museum like the Wallace Collection at Hertford House. The French would love to have it back now, too late.

The Soviets were a little more thoughtful, thinking that the people had to see what the revolution was all about and artefacts from the past was an important reminder, though ghoulish given the fate of the Tsar and his family.

So fast forward to 1990 and the fall of Communism and the collapse of Soviet Russia. First, Boris Yeltsin then President opens a special enquiry on the fate of the remains of the Tsar’s Family, will follow 10 years of DNA examination and expertise with numerous scientists in Forensic Pathology and historians. Members of the Royal Families in Europe were involved, Prince Philip who with other Princes is a close family relative gave blood for DNA matching. The results confirmed the grave site in an abandon field as those of the Tsar, his family and servants. In turn President Yeltsin arranged an elaborate State National Funeral for the Tsar and his family for their remains to be returned to St-Petersburg with a guard of Honour, 21 gun salute, broadcasted on Russian TV. He also invited the Romanov Family to come as his guests to the Cathedral in the Peter and Paul Fortress in St-Petersburg to witness the internment in a chapel amongst all the other Romanov Tsars and Grand Dukes. Many other governments also sent delegations and Queen Elizabeth II was represented by a personal family member. Suddenly the Romanovs are back in style and well the Bolcheviks and Lenin are criminals and terrorists.

Funeral Chapel and Mausoleum in the Cathedral of the Peter and Paul Fortress in St-Petersburg. The Imperial family is interred below the floor.

Now when the Romanov family departed Russia in 1918 for various countries in Europe and Canada a deep division occurred amongst them. You had the main branch the Alexandrovich who were headed at the time by Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna who was originally a Danish Princess and widow of Tsar Alexander III father of Tsar Nicholas II.

Today the Alexandrovich branch is headed by Prince Andrew Andreyevich Romanov who lives in California and is 93 years old. He belongs like all Romanovs to a German-Danish Princely House, the Holstein-Gottorp House. There are no Russian Romanovs since the days of Tsarina Catherine II the Great who was a Prussian Princess and married the heir to the Throne of Russia, Peter III who himself was a Holstein-Gottorp. This family is linked to the Romanov by marriage and Law of Succession.

Coat of Arms of the Holstein-Gottorp Romanov Family used by the Romanov Family Association to this day.

So when the news of a possible return of the Monarchy was broadcasted on Russian news outlets and around the world the old Feud between the two branches of the family came back full force.

The other branch is the Vladimirovich Branch headed today by Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovich who also styles herself as Her Imperial Highness and Head of the Imperial House, she has a son George.

Her great grandfather Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich, the direct male-line patrilineal descendant of Alexander II of Russia, claimed the headship of the defunct Imperial House of Russia, and assumed the pretender title “Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russians” in 1924 when evidence that all earlier claimants had been killed was final. He was followed by his only son Vladimir Kirillovich. Vladimir’s only child, Maria Vladimirovna, is the current pretender; her only son from her marriage with Prince Franz Wilhelm of Prussia, George Mikhailovich, is her heir apparent, dynastically about to found a new branch Hohenzollern-Romanov, while other descendants of junior side branches of the Holstein-Gottorp-Romanovs are still living.

The Romanov Family Association, a private association of most of the remaining descendants of Emperor Paul I of Russia, makes no claim to the defunct throne, and disputes the current headship of the house. These two groups continue to have differences of opinion. Maria Vladimirovna is treated/described coldly as that other cousin of ours. Kirill Vladimirovich is seen as a traitor since he was in charge of the Regiment guarding the Alexander Palace where the Tsarina Alexandra and children lived. He deserted his post to join the revolution and make a claim for the Throne Nicholas had just vacated. By doing so he sealed the fate of the Imperial Family who were arrested.

Maria Vladimirovna has been very active by forming alliances with the Russian Orthodox Church in Russia and organizing events to promote herself and her cause. She is often photographed with the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church and supports the Church’s agenda. She visited Pope Benedict at the Vatican, she also met with Putin and other Russian Politicians. Putin has been watching this evolving situation and what he has in mind is to use a possible restoration of the Monarchy to enhance his own position. The new Sovereign would be a titular head,  a living symbol of Russia and have a ceremonial role only. Already a suitable palace is being scouted in the St-Petersburg region, there are quite a few palaces available. President Putin has been since 2000 restoring many palaces and historical sites. A forest of Statues to former Tsars are sprouting up everywhere quickly replacing Bolchevik monuments. Always in attendance at the unveiling are members of the Romanov Family and representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church, on display the old Imperial Flag and of course military band to play God Save the Tsar. This reunification with the past does not stop at the Romanov it also includes all the other old aristocratic families and they too are being wooed to return to Mother Russia. The Tolstoy family has returned and now manage their old estates. The Fabergé are not aristocrats but still everyone loves their creations. Putin also offers to any Romanov Princes to be buried in Russia in the Crypt of the Grand Dukes with their ancestors. Each funeral is given an Official sanction. The Church has made the Tsar and his family Saints and Martyrs, they are now venerated. Each year on 17 July marking the date of their execution, hundreds of thousands of Pilgrim attend the special Mass for the Nicholas II and his wife and family in the new Cathedral in Yekaterinburg built on the site of their execution.

The Russian government is betting that Russians will feel a bond with the old days and since religion and ruler in Russia has always been a uniting factor this might just be the thing for Putin. Tourism wise, having a Romanov to show to the tourists is not a bad thing, look at England, it brings hard cash.  As for World Opinion, for purely sentimental reasons might just see such a return to the old ways as a softening up of that hard regime image Russia has, how bad can they be if they return the Romanov to the Throne? All is forgiven and not quite forgotten. This could be quite the game changer.

Imperial Coat of Arms used by HIH Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna.

So stay tuned folks more to come on this evolving story line.