I have just returned from an 11-day journey which took me to Ekaterinburg and St. Petersburg in Russia, as well as Helsinki, Finland. I flew a total of more than 18,000 km and I walked many miles more exploring the Romanov and tsarist wonders that each of these cities and their surroundings had to offer.

Despite the fact that this was a business trip, I would have to rate this as one of my most enjoyable and memorable to date because I saw many new things related to the Romanovs and their legacy which I had not seen on previous trips.

The highlights of my visit to Ekaterinburg include;

(1) The Church of All Saints (Church on the Blood), built on the site of the Ipatiev House.

(2) Ganima Yama, the monastery complex built at the site of the Four Brothers Mine where the remains of Tsar Nicholas II and his family were thrown in July 1918.

The highlights of my visit to St. Petersburg include; 

(1) The Alexander Palace at Tsarskoye Selo, where I saw the State Rooms, and the second floor of the palace which once housed the childrens rooms.

(2) The Feodorovskoye Cathedral at Tsarskoye Selo, where I saw the completed interiors and iconostasis of the main church and the Lower Church.

(3) The Alexandria Park at Peterhof, where I visited the Farm Palace, the Gothic Chapel, and the ruins of the Lower Dacha.

(4) Peterhof, where I arrived by hydrofoil and visited the newly restored Palace Church, the Imperial Yacht Museum and the Treasury which houses new acquisitions including jewellery, costumes (dresses and uniforms), personal items of the Russian emperors and their families, from Peter I to Nicholas II. The treasures in this museum are housed in the former private apartments of Catherine the Great and updated on a regular basis.

During my stay, I did a tremendous amount of research, and complied over 50 large sheets of notes, and took nearly 600 photographs, some of which are shown above. I look forward to sharing them with Royal Russia subscribers on my web site and blog, as well as the pages of Royal Russia Annual* in the coming weeks and months ahead.

*My visit to Ekaterinburg will be featured in Royal Russia Annual No. 2 (due August 2012), and include photographs which I took during my 4-day visit.

I also met with the company in Russia who supply my online shop with a steady stream of photo albums, biographies and palace guidebooks. I brought back samples of more than a dozen new books on the Romanovs and their palaces, many of which I have placed large orders for and will offer in my online shop upon receipt from my supplier in St. Petersburg in the coming months.

© Paul Gilbert @ Royal Russia. 06 June, 2012

Today marks the birthday of the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (nee Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine) who was born on June 6th, 1872.

During her life, she had a great love of flowers, particularly lilacs which often filled the rooms of the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoye Selo.

This year, in honour of the Empress' birthday, the former rooms of the Empress at the Alexander Palace will be adorned with the fragrance of her favourite blossoms. In keeping with tradition, the Mauve Boudoir and two adjoining drawing-rooms will be decorated with lilacs which are now in full bloom throughout Russia.

Alexandra loved all shades of the colour mauve, which is why the Mauve Boudoir (or Lilac Study) became her favourite room in the palace. Each spring, and on the Empress' birthday, vases full of lilacs and lily-of-the-valley would fill this room. Her other rooms would be decorated with flowers year round. The Maple and Palisander Drawing-Rooms were decorated with gorgeous bouquets of lilacs grown in the nearby greenhouses at Tsarskoye Selo or Livadia in the Crimea.

Note: I have only just returned from St. Petersburg where I spent an entire day at Tsarskoye Selo. I was overwhelmed by the abundance of lilacs growing wild in the parks surrounding the palaces. I counted four shades in the Alexander Park including lavender, dark purple, white and pink. No matter where I stood in the park, the gentle breezes continually carried the fragrance of these beautiful flowers.

© Paul Gilbert @ Royal Russia. 06 June, 2012

A selection of the enormous treasure recently found in the former Naryshkin Mansion in St. Petersburg have been put on display at a temporary exhibition in the Constantine Palace at Strelna.

The exhibition, The Secrets of St. Petersburg features more than 300 items of the more than 2,000 located and include silverware, crystal, jewellery, medals and decorations. Many items include the hallmark of some of Russia's most noted craftsmen of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including Ovchinnikov, Khlebnikov, the Grachev Brothers, and Faberge.

President Vladimir Putin and members of the EU-Russia Summit were among the first visitors to the exhibition.

Olga Taratynova, Director of the Tsarskoye Selo State Museum-Preserve organized the exhibition which has been making headlines in the Russian media since its discovery on March 27th by workers carrying out restoration of the former Naryshkin Mansion on Tchaikovsky Street in St. Petersburg.

The collection has yet to undergo a thorough examination and assessment, and then catalogued. This will apparently take about a year to finalize.

© Paul Gilbert @ Royal Russia. 06 June, 2012

A new exhibition, The Golden Age of Russian Porcelain and Glass has opened at the State Historical Museum in Moscow.

This unique exhibition, one of the largest of its kind hosted by a Russian museum features more than 600 pieces of porcelain and glass created by Russian Imperial and private manufacturors during the heyday of porcelain and glass production from the Tsarist period.

Visitors to the exhibit learn about the history of porcelain and glass production before the Revolution and can view splendid examples of items produced for the Imperial palaces, as well as for the members of the Russian nobility.

© Paul Gilbert @ Royal Russia. 06 June, 2012

The investigation into the murders of Tsar Nicholas II and his family, considered as one of the worst crimes of 20th century Russian history lasted nearly 100 years.

An exhibition devoted to the investigation has opened in the Exhibition Hall of the State Archives of the Russian Federation (GARF) in Moscow.

Visitors to the exhibition learn about the final months in the lives of the Russian Imperial family in the Ipatiev House at Ekaterinburg. This is followed by the difficult, confusing, and often contradicting findings of the investigation in their murders and the disposal of their remains.

The exhibition offers the most comprehensive study of an event that has Russia for the past century. Rare photographs, film footage, documents, and personal items are on display. The details of the shootings on the night of July 16/17 are have been painstakingly recreated from photographs taken in the Ipatiev House. 

A stunning 175-page catalogue of the exhibit has been produced in Russian, and is richly illustrated throughout with photographs from the items on display at the exhibition.

||| Click Here for More Information on This Exhibition |||

© Paul Gilbert @ Royal Russia. 06 June, 2012

© Paul Gilbert @ Royal Russia. 23 May, 2012

In October 2011, I published a short biography about myself on Royal Russia. I felt that as both the Founder and Web-Site Administrator of Royal Russia that it would be a perfect opportunity to introduce myself to both old and new visitors to my web site and blog. I receive many emails, letters and phone calls from people all over the world with their questions about the Russian Imperial family, their legacy, and Imperial Russia. I always think it nice to be able to put a face to a name. My biography has recently been updated, and includes some new photographs. I hope this article will give you some idea of my background, as well as my goals and aspirations for Royal Russia.

|||Click Here to Read Introducing Paul Gilbert, Son of Old Russia|||

© Paul Gilbert @ Royal Russia. 23 May, 2012

I am pleased to announce that our highly anticipated new title,  A Romanov Diary: The Autobiography of the Grand Duchess Marie Georgievna was received from the printers on Friday, 11th May.

For those of you who took advantage of the Pre-Publication Order promotion back in February and March of this year, these orders have now been packed and shipped. No further orders will be accepted until my return from Russia on Monday, 4th June. Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience that this may cause some of you. 

This title will be made available at our online bookshop beginning Tuesday, 5th June. You are then welcome to order this title securely online using PayPal or credit card, or by telephone with a Visa or MasterCard. The price is $25.00 CAD + postage.

Mail orders are also accepted! Click on the link below, download and print a copy of our Order Form and mail it to our office along with your payment.

This title can also be purchased from Booksellers Van Hoogstraten (The Hague, Netherlands) and Librairie Galignani (Paris, France).

|||Click Here for More Information About This Book |||

© Paul Gilbert @ Royal Russia. 23 May, 2012

The Alferaki Palace at Taganrog and Emperor Alexander I 

The Alferaki Palace at Taganrog is the venue for the new exhibition, Emperor Alexander I, The Reign That Ended in Taganrog.

Its opening is timed to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812 in which Russia, led by Alexander I defeated Napoleon's armies.

On display will be a collection of weapons and medals from the War of 1812, documents bearing the Russian Emperor's signature, and a unique collection of furniture, and objects of decorative art from Alexander I's palace at Taganrog. Also on display is a unique vase with the portrait of Alexander I, donated by his brother and successor, Emperor Nicholas I.

The Alferaki Palace is a beautiful example of the Russian Empire style. It was built in 1848 by the famous Russian architect Andrei Stakenschneider, for the merchant N.D. Alferaki.

© Paul Gilbert @ Royal Russia. 23 May, 2012

Treasures stolen from a Russian museum during WWII have found their way back home. Two crates with hundreds of rare exhibits stolen in 1941 were voluntarily returned to Russia by a Wehrmacht doctor’s son, Russia Today reports.
 
A museum in the city of Tver, north of Moscow, received the unexpected parcel. The 480 objects including a collection of crosses, archeological findings and icons stunned employees – many of the objects are extremely rare and valuable.

“We are still opening the parcels and are already bowled over,” Tver State United Museum leading scientific employee Svetlana Gerasimova told KP daily. “The collection of crosses alone has around 100 items… We are still exploring the contents.”

Before the outbreak of WWII, the museum stored its exhibits in a local cathedral. In 1941 when the city was captured by Nazi troops, the collection disappeared.

According to KP Daily, a Wehrmacht doctor who was with the troops, got access to the storage and saw that the museum’s objects were real treasures. He sent them to Germany. The man died in Russia in 1942, yet the treasures survived.

The doctor’s widow asked her son to return the stolen objects where they belonged. It took him a while however to settle all legal issues and complete the deed. The man who returned the treasures to the Russian museum wished to remain anonymous.

© Russkiy Mir Information Service. 23 May, 2012