Romanovs

“In the house of the Romanovs… a mysterious curse descends from generation to generation. Murder and adultery, blood and mud, the fifth act of a tragedy played in a brothel. Peter I kills his son; Alexander I kills his father; Catherine II kills her husband. The block, the rope, and poison - these are the true emblems of the Russian autocracy,” Russian novelist Dmitry Sergeyevich Merezhkovsky commented. The Russian royal family, like most royal families, was never a warm and welcoming group. To maintain power requires acts that to most would be unthinkable. The coveting of wealth was one thing, though, that the Russian royal line did well. With money stained in their people’s blood, the Romanovs built an empire and a legacy. Although they were ultimately ended, structures of their status still remain today - structures such as the Alexander Palace, the last home of the Romanovs. From the Alexander Palace’s construction in 1796 until the Russian Revolution, the palace was an intimate space for the royal family and was an agent that contributed to the fall of the monarchy. In the past and present, it serves as a stage reflecting the nature of and mirroring Russia.

The Alexander Palace was built on a plateau in Tsarskoe Selo, 30 miles south of the imperial capital of St. Petersburg. It is in Alexander Park, not too far from the Catherine Palace. It was commissioned by Catherine the Great for her grandson, the Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich, who later became the Tsar of Russia, to celebrate his marriage to the Grand Duchess Elizaveta Alexeievna of Baden, Germany. The structure was designed by architect Giacomo Quarenghi who was described as the “last of the great architects of Italy.” He tended to design in a neoclassical style that shines true in the Alexander Palace. Giacomo Quarenghi had worked with Catherine the Great previously on the English Palace which is no longer standing today. After the Alexander Palace, he was appointed as the court architect. Still, most agreed that the Alexander Palace was his greatest masterpiece. Quarenghi’s son wrote that the Alexander Palace was “an elegant building which looks over the beautiful new garden” and “was designed and built by my father as a summer residence for the young Grand Duke Alexander, our present sovereign. In keeping with the august status of the person for whom the Palace was conceived, the architect shaped it with greatest simplicity, combining both functionality with beauty. Its dignified façade, harmonic proportions, and moderate ornamentation are also manifested in its interiors without compromising comfort in striving for magnificence and elegance.”

The Alexander Palace is a C-shaped building, with its wings fanning forward and ushering you in to the front doors. With a light yellow tinge that on any lesser structure may be compared to the color of urine, on the Alexander Palace, the only thing to compare it to is a grand and royal light gold color. Railings adorn the roofline in splendor, though a rail line may be more useful below so one doesn’t fall back staring up at the glorious columns supporting the weight of Russian politics. The watchful green eye, seeing the guests come and go. The trees around the palace burn fall colors, all carefully groomed for the palace’s aesthetic. If you were to enter through the front doors and walk straight through and out the back doors, you would miss a lot of interior splendor, but you would find yourself out back walking between two lines of fiery nature. Out front, only low bushes and flowers grow, giving full tribute to the glory that is the Alexander Palace. The low bushes and flowers emphasize the checkered-patterned walkway leading you up, making you wonder if it was placed to reflect the chess game of the Russian Tsars or if a beautiful design simply got a darker metaphor when it was stained with royal blood.

It was this building where the last Tsar of Russia was born. On May 6th, 1868, Maria Feodorovna was rushed to the Alexander Palace, set up on a couch in a room in the right wing known as Blue Boudoir, and gave birth to her son, the future Emperor Nicholas II. The child’s father, Alexander III, wrote later that day that, “At long last, the final minute arrived and all suffering ceased at once. God has sent us a son whom we named Nicholas. What a joy it is.” Quarenghi designed the quiet Blue Boudoir room to be part of the Imperial apartments. It was adorned in many styles, from many time periods, but the last furniture in the room was in the Louis XVI style.

The Blue Boudoir was first used by Maria Alexandrova, the wife of Alexander II. She spent as much time as she could at the Alexander Palace in rooms such as the Blue Boudoir to isolate herself from the public in embarrassment of her husband’s affair with his young ward, Catherine Dolgorukaya, who lived with him at the Winter Palace. There was a 28-year age gap between Catherine and Alexander II. Alexander II’s child with Catherine lived on the floor below Maria Alexandrova in their home, and the woman could hear everything, furthering her spending more time at the Alexander Palace away from them. A week after Maria’s death, Alexander II married his longtime mistress on July 18th, 1880, and Catherine became Princess Yurievskaya. On March 1st, 1881, not even a year later, Alexander II died in the palace due to wounds inflicted by a terrorist bomber in the arms of Princess Yurievskaya, who never remarried despite living 40 more years.

The last Tsar of Russia, Emperor Nicholas II's paternal grandparents were Alexander II and Maria Alexanderova. Nicholas never wanted the throne, though, and his lack of care clearly showed through to the people. “I am not prepared to be tsar. I never wanted to become one. I know nothing of the business of ruling,” he said. The throne was supposed to go to Nicholas II’s brother George, however George passed away only five years before their father did, leaving the royal title to Nicholas. It was under the rule of Nicholas II that the fraying monarchy of Russia finally tore, resulting in Nicholas, his wife, and their children to be shot dead and buried in an unmarked grave. The Alexander Palace was their home and the location where Nicholas II made errors that would result in him witnessing the deaths of all his children.

During the reign of Nicholas II, a new technology was rapidly growing - the camera. As the camera grew in popularity, the Romanovs embraced it as a way to show the world the people behind the doors of the Alexander Palace. Grand Duchess Anastasia, Nicholas II’s youngest daughter, took many selfies using mirrors, and all these photos were seen by the public. It showed the people of Russia the Romanovs’ world of privilege and how severe the wealth gap was between them and the royal family. Nicholas II used the Alexander Palace as a stage to show the people the perfect royal family - a model to copy in your own family - forming a rift not seen before. Nicholas II showed the photos as something to model, yet Anastasia’s behavior was not necessarily something he wanted the people to model. “She undoubtedly held the record for punishable deeds in her family, for in naughtiness she was a true genius,” said Gleb Botkin, the son of the court physician. Princess Nina Georgievna said that, “Anastasia was nasty to the point of being evil.”

Grand Duchess Anastasia took after her father in the sense that she wrote during her time in the Alexander Palace. Through her writing, we see more about the palace and the conditions the family lived in. Anastasia and her sister Maria shared a bedroom in the palace and in the summer they would move their beds into the middle of the room so the open windows would cool them better. One September Anastasia wrote, “It’s so disgusting! There lives a mouse in Maria’s and my bedroom. I saw it in the morning and at night I heard it make a scratching noise. Now I am sitting in Mother’s big room.” In her writings closer to the families execution, we also get a glimpse into her and her sisters recreational activities. “In the evenings Olga and Maria and I sometimes ride our bicycles about the rooms at full speed. Olga tried to catch up to me or vice versa. We fall down sometimes but are still alive. The lessons are over.”

At the start of the revolution, the people just wanted to be heard. They planned to march onto the grounds of the Alexander Palace and yell to their Tsar what they wanted him to hear. It was to be a peaceful protest, but the military wouldn’t let the people get near the palace. The people were shoved back, which led to a violent protest resulting in thousands of civilian deaths. The event went down in history as “Bloody Sunday.” The people of Russia wanted to be allowed into the Alexander Palace as a means of bridging a gap between the elite and working classes. Nicholas II didn’t see the symbolism behind the request, and he was detached from the citizens of Russia. In his diary, he spoke of the riots and demands of the people in one line, and then mentioned who he had lunch with in the Alexander Palace in the next, as if both held the same magnitude. While there was barely any food for his people, he joined with dignitaries in stuffing his face. His actions that day widened the gap between him and his people, who were feeling like they had no voice and no public civic space in which to speak to him. By not opening the palace to the people and trying to see things from his subjects’ point of view, he signed not only his death warrant but his family’s.

In March of 1917, the Russian army joined the striking workers who were demanding socialist reform. It was clear then that the people no longer wanted the monarchy, and as Nicholas realized he was to abdicate and give up the throne, he said, “I’ll go to Livadia. If the people want me to, I’ll abdicate [the throne] and retire to Livadia to my garden. I love flowers.”

Nicholas and his family never were given the chance to make a home in their summer palace in Livadiya, Crimea, and chances are Nicholas saw very few flowers after making that statement. To the public, he wrote in a formal document abdicating the throne that, “We have thought it well to renounce the Throne of the Russian Empire and lay down the supreme power.” He abdicated not only his right to the throne but the right of his then 12-year-old son Alexi, with his intent to take the family and flee. But the time to flee had passed, and soon the royal family would be held prisoner in their own home.

The Alexander Palace was the Russia Royal Family’s last true home -- and first prison. They were kept there under careful watch as the Romanov children kept falling ill, preventing the family from fleeing the palace, until they were no longer allowed to. When the then minister of justice, lawyer Alexander Kerensky, came to examine the palace, he spoke of his visit, saying, "I clearly remember my first interview with the former Tsar, which took place in the middle of March at the [Alexander] Palace. Upon my arrival … I inspected the entire palace thoroughly and inquired about the regulations of the guard and the general regime under which the imperial family was being kept. On the whole, I approved of the situation, making only a few suggestions for improvement to the commandant of the palace.” Apparently, one of the suggestions was to put the family on a shorter leash, as, soon after the visit, the family was put on house arrest. The decision came after rumors were spread that the Imperial family was getting all the same privileges as they did when they had the throne. Kerensky wanted the family to be more isolated and forced to respect authority. The family wasn’t even allowed to dine together in the palace anymore.

As conditions in Russia worsened, the royal family was forced into exile in Tobolsk for eight months before being transferred to Ekaterinburg. As they were leaving the Alexander Palace for the last time on August 1st, 1917, Alexei, age 14, tripped on the stairs. As the would-be heir to the Russian throne, Alexei had been rather sheltered throughout his life to prevent any type of injury. Alexei was a hemophiliac, and tripping going up the stairs would have killed him. Even eight months later, he still could not straighten his knee, his father, Nicholas II, wrote in his diary. Four days after the entry, the Russian royal family, including Alexei, was assassinated. Had they not been killed, it’s clear the Alexander Palace would have ended the heir to the throne. DNA testing in 2008 supported the timeline.

Following the Russian Revolution of 1917, and the passing of the Russian Royal Family, the Alexander Palace was dismantled on the inside. The Tsar’s possessions and wealth were destroyed, stolen, or sent to other locations. By the end of 1917, the outdoor space was opened to the public, an act that could have changed the tide if done sooner. People want to feel heard, and by keeping the gates closed until the royal family was gone, they didn’t.

By 1918, the Alexander Palace opened as a museum. The building faced numerous threats from the Soviet regime to close the museum and sell its contents. In 1919, the west wing was turned into a rest home for the staff of the People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs and the second floor of the east wing, where Anastasia had lived two years prior, became an orphanage. The rest of the structure remained a museum hated by the Soviets. Despite this hate, the museum stayed open until 1941 when it was occupied by the Nazis who turned the once-stunning home into a headquarters. In the basement of the Alexander Palace they had torture chambers and in the front lawn they burred SS officers. More than two-thirds of what was left inside the palace when the Nazis came was destroyed or stolen before the end of World War II.

In 1946, the palace was given to the USSR Academy of Sciences, which started the restoration process of the building between 1947 and 1951. Although it saved the palace from complete disrepair, the renovations of the time ended in the modification, and therefore loss of the Maple drawing room, Rosewood drawing room, and Moorish bathroom by designs of soviet architect Lev Moiseevich Bezer.

In 1951, the Alexander Palace became property of the Ministry of Defense, specifically for use by the Naval Department. For the next 45 years, the palace was closed to all visitors, including historians, as the Naval Department used it as a top-secret submarine tracking research institute.

In 1996, restoration began and the old rusting roof was removed, though the ducks in the nearby pond could not see the difference. The presence of ducks is the only thing that has stayed the same since the build was first completed in 1796. Even the ducks, however, would notice the influx of people one year later as the building hosted a museum in the east wing. By 2009, the palace was once again a museum, this time administered by the Tsarskoye Selo State Museum-Reserve. Renovations continue today as the curators try to get back lost items. Stolen items are being found regularly, and descendants of German soldiers have stepped forward to give back stolen goods from the Nazi occupation. Other museums are more hesitant to give back the goods, fearing losing the items would devalue their own museums. Still, restorations and curations continue, set to end no earlier than 2024.

What started as a beacon of growth and love, the Alexander Palace became a prison for the family that built it. A hive of wealth, betrayal, and family secrets, the Alexander Palace was much more than just a building. From its construction in 1796, the palace was an intimate space for the now fallen Russian tsars. It was also an agent in the fall of the monarchy. In the past and present, the C-shaped structure has served as a stage reflecting the nature of and mirroring the world of Russia. As preservation continues today, and visitors are limited due to Covid-19, the structure will only continue to show back to us the face of Russia.

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