#Tsarskoe selo

[livesunique]

Alexander Palace, Tsarskoye Selo, Russia, 1917,

A rare and unique set of Autochrome color photograph plates, taken by Alexander Zehest in 1917 of the interiors of the Alexander Palace, including both the Parade rooms and the personal rooms of the Imperial Family.

The Autochrome process was a rare and difficult one, invented by the Lumiere Brothers of France in 1903 and marketed in Europe and the US starting in 1907. The autochromes, 140 in total, were made in 1917 by the military photographer Andrei Zeest, who was invited by the art historian George Loukomski, Head of Tsarskoye Selo Inventory Commission. The Alexander Palace interiors were photographed in August-September, soon after the Tsar’s family left for exile.

[krasivaa]

Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna Romanova in captivity in Tsarskoe Selo, Russia, April 1917. 💔💘

[thestarik]

Nicholas and Alexandra with their daughters, Olga and Tatiana in the Alexander Park.

[wgm-beautiful-world]

THE CATHERINE PALACE - RUSSIA

[worldoftheromanovs]

Alexandra Feodorovna on her balcony in Tsarskoe Selo, 1898

[foreverinthepagesofhistory]

“We went up to the first floor and immediately saw the Emperor and Empress and all their children who were in the dining room, sitting around the table as though they were having a meeting. We bowed politely, and they responded with a friendly smile. The Grand Duchesses got up immediately and all four rushed into their bedroom to help move their beds for us. As I remember it, they were neither in the least scared, nor in the least sorrowful. Their bright eyes gleamed with happiness, their short hair was in disorder, their cheeks were rosy like apples. They were not dressed like princess in a fairy tale, but wore simple black dresses that weren't very short, with lightweight white silk blouses with rather high necklines.”

— Evdokia Simeonova, cleaning lady at the Ipatiev House, July 1918

(Image from captivity at Tsarskoe Selo 1917)

[romanovsmurdermystery]

On the photograph: Nicolas II and Alexandra Feodorovna, Tsarskoe Selo, summer 1917

[...] In June and July 1917,  Alexandra Feodorovna made several more appearances, all recorded in her husband’s diary and not a word in hers – on the 2nd of June: ‘In the afternoon, Alix was present during our working at yesterday's place’;  on the 14th of June: ‘In the morning I walked with all the children in the park. The weather was great. At 12 o'clock went to the prayer service. In the afternoon, Alix came out with us’; On the 21st of June: ‘During the working in the park, Alix was present in her chair’; and finally, the 23rd of July: ‘During the day we worked on a narrow path, cut down and sawed two spruce trees. Alix was sitting there in the forest.’

From the above it appears that the activities of Nicolas II and others outside did not interest Alexandra Feodorovna much. At least, she did not wish to be directly associated with them. It seems that her intentional withdrawal manifested the dislike and disagreement with her changed status, - she was not the wife of the Emperor anymore, but the wife of the abdicated Emperor who was under home arrest and to add to this was doing the activities of a simple ‘peasant’. Hence, her resistance. [...] - Seraphima Bogomolova

Read more in Part One: 'Like Kings and Queens, Like Princes and Princesses'

[foreverinthepagesofhistoryy]

Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia playing with her little brother Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich and a camera (also with Maria Pavlovna the younger looking on), 1905 🤍

[nadziejacher]

Tsarskoe Selo

@nadziejaestel

[lesyoussoupoff]

The Youssoupoff Dacha

[roses-of-the-romanovs]

Marie of Romania's Account of the Romanovs

"The Imperial couple lived so entirely for themselves, shut away from the outside world, that, although my mother and sister were both at St. Petersburg, neither of our hosts ever thought of inviting them whilst we were there. In former days the Imperial Family had come together on all occasions, and I found it difficult to get accustomed to this new order of things.

"Much had changed in Russia and a feeling of dissatisfaction lay over all things. Tsarskoye Selo seemed to sleep, but beneath that sleep lay something uncanny which we sensed without being able to explain it.

" ... Tsarskoye Selo was looked upon as a sick man refusing every doctor and every help. And it was always Alix’s name which was mentioned as the chief stumbling-block.

"And of course also the name of Rasputin was on every lip."

[livesunique]

Church of the Resurrection, Catherine Palace, Tsarskoye Selo, Russia

[krasivaa]

Tsar Nicholas II, Grand Duchesses Olga Nikolaevna and Anastasia Nikolaevna, Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich in Tsarskoe Selo, 1917. Olga’s and Anastasia’s heads are shaved due to measles they caught in the early month that year.

[thestarik]

Nicholas, Alexei, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia with Andrei Derevenko and Maria Vishnyakova, Tsarskoye Selo 1907.

[wgm-beautiful-world]

Big Pond and the Grotto Pavilion in Catherine Park, Tsarskoe Selo Museum, Saint Petersbug, RUSSIA

[worldoftheromanovs]

Maria Nikolaevna, Olga Nikolaevna, Anastasia Nikolaevna, Alexei Nikolaevich, Sofia Ivanovna Tyutcheva, and Tatiana Nikolaevna on the steps of the Catherine Palace, May 1911