St. Petersburg officials have determined that the remains of victims of the Red Terror, found in an unmarked mass grave on the grounds of the Peter and Paul should be examined by forensic experts. The remains of the Grand Dukes Nicholas Mikhailovich, Dmitry Konstantinovich, Paul Alexandrovich, and George Mikhailovich are believed to be among the remains found on the Hare Island in December 2009. 

After the Revolution, the four grand dukes were imprisoned at the Peter and Paul Fortress. They were subsequently all taken out and shot by the Bolsheviks in the early morning hours of January 30th, 1919. Their bodies were thrown into an unmarked mass grave.

To date a total of 106 human remains have been unearthed. Local government officials believe it is only right to make an effort to determine the identity of the remains through DNA and genetic examinations.

In April 2012 historians and forensic scientists were able to identify the remains of Alexander Rykov, a hero of the Russian-Japanese War 1904-1905.

The Committee on Culture, headed by the Deputy Governor Vasily Kichedzhi has decided to conduct an expert study of the remains with the cooperation the Central Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia. He has also recommended that blood samples from the descendants of the grand dukes should be requested and compared with the remains.

Officials of the Peter and Paul Fortress Museum have agreed to allocate funds in their 2013 budget to search for further remains of the Red Terror. The Committee for Youth Policy has already offered to provide volunteers to assist with the search, under the guidance of professional archaeologists.

For more information on this subject, please refer to the following articles;

||| Bodies of Grand Dukes Found at Peter and Paul Fortress? + VIDEO |||

||| Historians Unearth One of St. Petersburg’s Darkest Periods at the Peter and Paul Fortress + PHOTOS |||

© Paul Gilbert @ Royal Russia.

A unique collection of colour news clips of Tsar Nicholas II and his family. The background music includes the Russian Imperial national anthem God Save the Tsar, followed by the Preobrazhensky Regiment and Semenov Regiment Marches.

© Royal Russia. 03 July, 2012

An exhibit called Catherine II: the Path to the Throne, dedicated to the 250th anniversary of the Russian empress’s ascension to the throne opens today, July 3, at the State Historical Museum in Moscow. The exposition focuses on the early period of Catherine's life in Russia: from her arrival in Russia to the time she became empress, ITAR-TASS reports.

The key sections of the exposition tell about the origins of the German princess Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg and her upbringing, arrival in Russia, conversion to the Orthodox faith, marriage to the heir to the throne, birth of her son and the palace coup on June 22 and subsequent coronation on September 22, 1762.

The creation of the exhibit was made possible in part by the Russian Museum, Tretyakov Gallery, Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts, State Archive of the Russian Federation, Peterhof museum reserve, and others.

© ITAR-TASS. 03 July, 2012

Photo: St. John arriving in Shanghai in 1934 

Today, July 2, the Russian Orthodox Church commemorates the life of St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco – one of the most venerated saints of the Russian diaspora. Services will be held in his honor at churches around the world.  However, this is a particularly special occasion for the Church of John the Baptist in Washington DC. This is the only parish personally founded by St. John in the United States for emigrants in 1949, ITAR-TASS reports.

On July 2, 1966, St. John died while visiting Seattle at a time and place he was said to have foretold. He was entombed in a sepulcher beneath the altar of the Holy Virgin Cathedral he had built in San Francisco dedicated to the Theotokos, Joy of all who Sorrow on Geary Boulevard in the Richmond district. In 1994 he was solemnly glorified on the twenty-eighth anniversary of his death, and 14 years later his canonization was confirmed by the Russian Orthodox Church.

His feast day is celebrated on the Saturday nearest to the 2nd of July. He is beloved and celebrated worldwide, with portions of his relics located in Serbia, Russia, Mount Athos, Bulgaria, United States, Canada (Holy Trinity Serbian Orthodox Church, Kitchener), England (Dormition Cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church, London) and other countries of the world.

© ITAR-TASS. 02 July, 2012

A unique exhibition dedicated to the Sovereign Military Order of Malta opened in the Moscow Kremlin on Monday.

On display are about 200 artifacts which were delivered to Russia from Italy, Malta and France

The goal is to give visitors a better understanding of the Order of Malta which was founded in Jerusalem in 1113. The world’s oldest surviving order of chivalry, the Order of Malta currently deals with a variety of issues, including those pertaining to the humanitarian sector.

Enhancing ties with Russia remains the organization’s priority, especially given that in 1798 Russian Emperor Paul I became the Grand Master of the Order of Malta.

© The Voice of Russia. 02 July, 2012

The Time of Empire Style exhibition has opened in the Palace Pavilion of 1825 in the Kolomenskoe Memorial Estate in Moscow.

It will represent over 100 rare exhibits dating back to the luxurious epoch of the 19th century.
      
Some items will be displayed for general public for the first time, such us, for example, a rare collection of bronze clocks of that period. All these period pieces, among them furniture, palace interior furnishings, sculptural compositions, portraits and graphic works are united by the Empire style, which was especially popular in France under Napoleon and in Russia during the reign of Alexander I.

The exhibition is dedicated to the 200th anniversary since the Patriotic War of 1812, which put an end to Napoleon's policy of grab. The choice of the exhibition venue is not accidental: the Palace Pavilion of 1825 is the only remaining construction of the Palace of Alexander I. In childhood the future emperor often visited Kolomenskoe with his grandmother Catherine II.

The exhibition is open for public from June 29th to September 29th, 2012.

© Ria.ru. 29 June, 2012

The Tsarskoye Selo State Museum-Preserve has reported on the restoration of the Agate Rooms which began in January 2011. The progress of the restoration is monitored quarterly. This year’s second quarter checkup was carried out by representatives of the TransSoyuz Charitable Foundation (sponsor), the St Petersburg Committee on Monuments Preservation and the State Hermitage Museum.

The monitors approved of the ongoing renovation in the Large Hall and the Jasper and Oval Cabinets, and of the work of the Tsarskoye Selo Amber Workshop restoring the pavilion’s doors, lamps, and unique 18th-century parquets of rosewood, ebony, boxwood, hornbeam, teak, amaranth, etc.

In April–June 2012, the Large Hall of the Agate Rooms had its marvelous stuccowork cleaned and fixed firmly, 60 painted fragments re-installed on the ceiling, the cultured marble facing carefully restored on the walls and in the niches (with the original finish and the post-war restoration inserts carefully preserved), 

Works in the Large Hall are scheduled for completion in the late September 2012. In the Jasper Cabinet, the stone inlays on the walls are yet to be restored, while the wooden domed ceiling’s reinforcement has been accomplished.

© Tsarskoye Selo State Museum-Preserve. 28 June, 2012

Vladimir Tolstoy, the great-great-grandson of Leo Tolstoy, has been appointed a cultural adviser to the Russian President Vladimir Putin. The appointment was made in May, shortly after Putin returned to the Kremlin as president after serving as the prime minister for four years.

Since 1994, Vladimir Tolstoy has been the director of Yasnaya Polyana, the writer's estate and museum. Situated near the city of Tula, south of Moscow, the writer's house and grounds were turned into a museum in 1921. Leo Tolstoy's daughter, Alexandra, was the first director of the museum, where the writer is buried. The house and grounds are famous for preserving the atmosphere of pre-revolutionary Russian country life.

In his new role as a cultural adviser to the president, Vladimir Tolstoy told The Art Newspaper that he will be addressing a range of cultural issues, from literature to music, theatre, cinema and museums, especially those in protected zones such as Tolstoy's museum.

While he was the director of the museum, he made it more accessible to tourists, scholars and Tolstoy family members, whom he gathers there regularly for reunions. Tolstoy's wife, Yekaterina Tolstaya, who has worked at the museum for years, has been named its new director. She told the Russian media that one of her first tasks as the director will be to build a store for the estate's collection. Museum stores have become a sticking point for Russian museums, and the question has been addressed by Putin at meetings with museum directors and the minister of culture.

Tolstoy told The Art Newspaper that stores are “a ripe, even over-ripe topic”, as so many museums are forced to keep their collections in poorly equipped memorial buildings. He said that he had managed to get Yasnaya Polyana on a federal funding programme to help build a museum store and visitor centre by 2018.

Tolstoy said he did not take on the role of adviser solely to advance the Tolstoy museum's cause, but that he will be keeping a close eye on the situation there. Vladimir Gruzdev, the regional governor of Tula, visited the estate in June and said that Leo Tolstoy must be promoted as the region's greatest brand for developing the local economy through tourism.

One of Vladimir Tolstoy's suggestions, supported by Gruzdev, is to unite the towns and villages surrounding Yasnaya Polyana into a single administrative entity, which would make it easier to gather support for the Tolstoy brand and to build hotels and transport links to bring more visitors to the estate.

The main house alone has reached its maximum capacity of 100,000 visitors a year (no more than 30-35 groups a day of no more than 15 people each are allowed in). Overall, 300,000 people a year visit the estate, but a museum store open to the public would increase visitor numbers.

“This way, while preserving the house and not subjecting it to any additional stress, we'll be able to increase the number of visitors to Yasnaya Polyana by almost five times, that is from 100,000 [people a year] to half a million over the next five to seven years,” Tolstoy told The Art Newspaper.

© The Art Newspaper. 28 June, 2012

In 1914 Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna stand on the balcony of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg to accept salutes and homage from Russian troops departing for the Front.

More bad news for Lenin supporters this week as Russian President Vladimir Putin places the blame for Russia’s defeat in the First World War on Bolshevik policy that he calls ‘national treason’.

Speaking in the Upper House of the Russian Parliament Putin said the Bolsheviks, especially the ruling elite of the party, betrayed Russia’s national interests and allowed Germany to win the war with Russia even though eventually Germany was defeated. The President added that Bolsheviks had been so reluctant to admit their mistakes that in the Soviet period the First World War was called “the Imperialist War” and the authorities deliberately ignored the heroism of Russian soldiers in art and propaganda. Putin added that in reality the First World War was not an imperialist one.

The topic was raised when the upper house discussed the possibility of funding the maintenance of the Russian necropolis in Serbia – the burial place of at least 3,000 Russians, including 124 generals of the Tsarist Army. Putin stressed he supported the idea to fund the monument.

President Putin traditionally opposes the Communist Party of the Russian Federation – the heirs to the CPSU, but at the same time he has called the breakup of the Soviet Union ‘the biggest geopolitical disaster of the century.” Recently Russia is taking steps against what it sees as the ‘revisionism of history’ – manipulations that question the universally accepted opinion on most questionable issues of the past.

© Russia Today and Paul Gilbert. 27 June, 2012