Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna  

The Grand Palace at Oranienbaum opened four newly restored rooms to the public today. This brings the total number of rooms open to visitors to fourteen.

Elena Kalnitskaya, CEO of the Peterhof Palace Museum Complex greeted visitors this morning with a brief welcome speech.

"Restoration at Oranienbaum can not be stopped, and I have no doubt that it will continue at a rapid pace," she said.

Video: shows the opening day ceremonies, and the newly restored interiors 

Five years ago the palace was in a terrible state of disrepair. The experts sounded the alarms and it was at this time that the palace administration decided to bring the palace back to life.

Reparing cracks in the walls, installing a new heating system, and re-planting the Lower Park were just a few of the problems that had to be addressed. The palace opened its doors last year to coincide with the 300th anniversary of Oranienbaum. Ten rooms had been restored and decorated with many original items from the Oranienbaum storage and archive facilities.

The four newly restored rooms focus on the private life of the Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna (wife of Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich), nicknamed "the Freedom Princess" due to her support of the abolition of serfdom in Russia.

She lived at the Grand Palace for more than ten years. It was here that the former Princess of Wurttemberg, discussed such topics as Peasant Reform, her exhaustive charitable work, and the arts. Her palace was "cozy" and reflected the trends of the time. Visitors to the palace can now see her bedroom, decorated in pink, her favourite colour.

There are now plans for the restoration of the rooms of Princess Elizabeth Vorontsova, the mistress of Emperor Peter III.

© Paul Gilbert @ Royal Russia. 4 August, 2012

Emperor Nicholas II inspecting a Vityaz, designed by Igor Sikorsky and built at the Russian Baltic Railroad Car Works in St. Petersburg. Sikorsky's aspirations for the aircraft were short-lived. While parked on a runway on 23 June, 1913, the Vityaz was crushed by an engine that fell off another aircraft coming in for a landing. Sikorsky decided not to repair the seriously damaged Vityaz and began working on his next project. The photograph was taken at Krasnoye Selo in 1913.

© Paul Gilbert @ Royal Russia. 3 August, 2012

The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, the Ob River at Novonikolayevsk in the early 20th century 

Novosibirsk was founded in 1893 at the future site of a Trans-Siberian Railway bridge crossing the Ob River in Siberia. It was originally named Novonikolayevsk, in honour of both Saint Nicholas and Tsar Nicholas II.

The Russian Civil War took its toll on the city, with wartime epidemics claiming thousands of lives. The city was captured and recaptured numerous times: the Soviets took control of the city in December 1917, the Whites took back the city in May 1918, and the Red Army took the city in 1919, retaining it for the duration of the Civil War.

Novonikolayevsk began rebuilding in 1921, including the reconstruction of the Ob River Bridge and numerous other buildings destroyed during the war. In 1926 the city's name was changed to Novosibirsk (trans. New Siberian City).

A poster about Nicholas II, near the monument to Alexander III at the River Station, Novosibirsk 

Today, Novosibirsk is Russia's thrid largest city, as well as the administrative center of the Siberian Federal District.

Since the fall of the Soviet Union many city and street names have reverted back to their Tsarist era names. The political party Fair Russia is now calling for the city to change its name back to its founding name of Novonikolayevsk, and is apparently receiving wide support.

In June of this year a monument to the Emperor Alexander III was unveiled in the city, and a campaign is now under way to erect a monument to his son, the Emperor Nicholas II. The city may be moving ahead into the future, but it seems it does not want to forget its Imperial past either.

© Paul Gilbert @ Royal Russia. 2 August, 2012

Four newly restored rooms of the Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich (1798-1849) and his wife, the Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna (1807-1873) are scheduled to open this week in the Grand Menshikov Palace at Oranienbaum. This follows an extensive restoration of ten rooms in the central part of the palace which were opened to the public in 2011.

The unique historical interiors of the grand ducal couple will offer visitors examples of the rich aristocratic lifestyle enjoyed by members of the Russian Imperial family in the early to mid-18th century.

The palace has a rich history. Peter the Great presented the land to Prince Alexander Menshikov around 1710. Three years later, Menshikov began construction of his palace. After his arrest and exile in 1727 the Oranienbaum estate was passed to the State, and became a naval hospital. In 1743, the estate was presented by the Empress Elizabeth to her nephew, the future Emperor Peter III. Peter commissioned the architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli to renovate the palace, who left the exteriors untouched, but created sumptuous interiors. Numerous other architects made further alterations and the palace continued to change owners within the Romanov family.

Video: shows the final preparations for the opening of the four new rooms of the Grand Palace    

Between 1857-1873, the Grand Duchess Elena (nee Princess Charlotte of Wurttemberg) commissioned her architects, L. Bosse and H. Preuss Bonshtedt to redesign many of the interiors to reflect her own personal tastes.

The four newly restored rooms are decorated with items from the vast Oranienbaum storage collection (some 7,000 items!), including furniture, mirrors, portraits and other personal items of the grand duchess .

It has been many years since I was at Oranienbaum. I recall the Grand Menshikov Palace which was very impressive, though its interiors were in a perilous state, some parts on the verge of collapse. In the past decade, major restoration work has been carried out on the palace's facade and interiors which has saved this beautiful palace. I look forward to seeing the palace and its newly restored historical interiors on my next visit to St. Petersburg.

© Paul Gilbert @ Royal Russia. 01 August, 2012

In the next couple of weeks I will be receiving four new titles imported from Russia on the Romanovs and their palaces.

All of them are beautiful pictorials, richly illustrated with text in both ENGLISH and RUSSIAN.

The titles featured in the photograph will be listed in my online bookshop. An e-mail will be sent out to all who subscribe to Royal Russia news and blog updates.

© Paul Gilbert @ Royal Russia. 01 August, 2012

The Faceted Chamber of the Moscow Kremlin has reopened for visiting after restoration. For many centuries, the palace played a significant role in the country’s life: sessions of the Zemsky Sobor, which was the 16th and 17th century Russian parliament, were convened there and Russian noblemen met there to take crucial decisions. At present, the Faceted Chamber is one of the Russian president’s reception rooms. The building has survived numerous fires and reconstructions. The architects’ goal was to restore the 17th century interiors when the frescoes were painted by icon painter Simon Ushakov.

The Faceted Chamber was laid down by Italian architect Marco Fryazin as a throne room for ceremonial receptions in the new palace of Grand Prince Ivan III. The construction was completed by Lombardy architect Pietro Antonio Solari in 1491. The palace is built of bricks and the reception room is located on a high basement level. The Holy Vestibule adjoins the reception room from the west and the Red Porch is on the southern side of the Holy Vestibule.

The name of the palace comes from the design of the main eastern façade facing Cathedral Square in the Kremlin. The facade is covered with white stone blocks each of which has four facets. This stone dressing was typical of Italian architecture of the Renaissance period.

Restoration lasted for a year. The previous restoration was carried out in the 1960s, representative of the Federal Security Service Sergey Deviatov said.

“It was necessary to examine the foundation on which the palace rests and to prevent possible deformation and destruction. Certainly, it was important to preserve the unique appearance of the palace,” Sergey Deviatov said

All the vaults, ceilings, interiors and the inner volume of the palace have been restored according to the 15th century descriptions. The building has suffered from fire and has been reconstructed many times. Now it has assumed its original appearance, we can see it as the Italian architects built it.

In the 16th century the walls and arches of the palace were covered with frescoes which were painted over later on. Before painting his icons over the old patterns, painter Simon Ushakov made a detailed description of these patterns which was used by today’s restorers. As for the restoration of unique carpets and parquet floors, it required the effort of a large team of researchers. The parquet was made of over 10 kinds of wood according to samples which experts found in pictures and photographs. Experts from the UK were employed for the restoration of furniture fabrics.

The restorers have also reconstructed the secret room from which members of the royal family watched solemn events held in the Faceted Palace, Sergey Deviatov said.

“A window was cut in the wall for the children to be able to watch all ceremonies and acquire experience,” Sergey Deviatov said.

While the restorers painstakingly refurbished the interior décor, construction workers fortified the supporting frames and installed climate-control equipment.

During the restoration, architects discovered over 3,000 unique artifacts which are now at the disposal of Kremlin researchers.

© The Voice of Russia. 31 July, 2012

One of the first members of world royalty to participate in the modern Olympic Games was the Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich—the grandson of Emperor Alexander II and cousin of Emperor Nicholas II.

As a child, Dmitri was weak and sickly; however, this did not prevent him from enlisting in the army as a guardsman. It was at the 1912 Olympic Games held at Stockholm, Sweden that he became a participant. He entered in the equestrian events: first in the individual show jumping competition, and then in the team competition. In the individual competition he finished in fifth place, and in the team competition in ninth place.

Grand Duke Dmitri returned to Russia without laurels, but to his credit as an organizer of sporting events, he showed himself to be bright and enthusiastic. Not only was he the president and driving force behind many other sports clubs, he became the pioneer of the Olympic Movement in Tsarist Russia.

The first Russian Olympic Games were held at Kiev from 20-25 August, 1913. Prizes were awarded to the winners from the grand duke’s own personal fortune. The outbreak of World War One in 1914 brought an end to the Russian Olympic Movement.

© Paul Gilbert @ Royal Russia. 30 July, 2012

The restoration of the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoye Selo will drag on for years as the Ministry of Culture is unlikely to provide the necessary funding to carry out the restoration work before 2018.

Despite this setback, work is “ongoing though far from complete,” according to Nikita Yavein, of Studio 44, the firm who are carrying out the restoration of the palace. The ground (basement) floor of the building is currently being renovated.

To date, the palace facades and roof have been repaired. In 2010, the three State Halls were restored and opened to the public. Once the restoration is complete, the Alexander Palace will rank among the most important museums to visit in the St. Petersburg region.

For more information on the master plan to restore the Alexander Palace, please refer to the following link;

||| The Revival of the Alexander Palace |||

On July 12th, a liturgy in honour of the Saints Peter and Paul was held at the church of the Grand Palace at Peterhof. The service was conducted by Bishop Markell of Peterhof.

At the end of the liturgy the Bishop spoke about the importance of the event and thanked Elena Kalnitsky, Director General of the Peterhof Palace Museum Preserve. He thanked her for the opportunity to conduct the service in the church and for her work in the restoration of the historical monument. Kalnitsky replied that she hoped that the service would be held annually.

After years of restoration, the church was reopened as a museum on July 12th, 2011.

The SS Peter and Paul Church was built by the architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli on the orders of the Empress Elizabeth (1709-1762). The church was consecrated in 1751 abd became one of the main venues of celebrations for the Russian Imperial family, including birthdays, name days, baptisms, and marriages.

For more information on the restoration of the SS Peter and Paul Church at Peterhof, please refer to the following page on our web site;

||| Palace Church at Peterhof Reopens After Restoration + VIDEO |||

||| Peterhof: Restoration of Palace Church Nears Completion + 2 VIDEOS |||

© Paul Gilbert @ Royal Russia. 28 July, 2012

Russia has presented Fort Ross State Historic Park in the United States with a collection of 12 Orthodox icons.

Fort Ross, a former Russian establishment on the west coast of North America, is celebrating its 200th anniversary.

The icons were presented during a ceremony which took place at the Russian Center in San Francisco, California.

Fort Ross founded at the beginning of the 19th century was the hub of the southernmost Russian settlements in North America and was built to supply Alaska with food.

It is a National Historic Landmark and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1837, Fort Ross became the first systematic weather monitoring site.

© TASS. 28 July, 2012