Celebrations marking the 100th anniversary of the Feodorovsky Cathedral at Tsarskoye Selo were held on September 2nd, which included a divine liturgy attended by local parishoners, visiting dignitaries and representatives of the St. Petersburg diocese.

Construction of the Cathedral began in 1908, in  a meadow of the north-east corner of the Alexander Park, the location having been selected by Emperor Nicholas II.

The foundation of the Cathedral was laid on 20 August, 1909 in the presence of the Imperial family. The construction was financed by the tsar himself who contributed 150,000 gold rubles from his own personal funds.

The Feodorovsky Sovereign's Church became the household church of the last Russian Imperial family. The Cathedral consisted of two churches, the upper consisted of the main altar dedicated to the Feodorovsky Icon of Our Lady and a side chapel consecrated in honour of the Moscow Metropolitan Alexis, the All-Russia Miracle Worker. The lower part of the building housed the Cave Church with the altar dedicated to Saint Serafim of Sarovsk the Miracle Worker, and the private chapel of Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna.

The Feodorovsky Icon of Our Lady, the main icon of the Cathedral, was regarded as a symbol of the Romanov dynasty and the crown itself.

During the Soviet years the Cathedral was descrated and pillaged before it was finally closed in 1933.

After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 the Feodorovsky Sovereign Cathedral was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church. It was consecrated again on February 29th, 1992. Restoration of the Cathedral lasted nearly 20 years, and once again, the Cathedral is the crown jewel of Tsarskoye Selo. Due to its history and association with the last Russian Imperial family, regular services are held in memory of Nicholas II and his family, all of whom were murdered on July 17th, 1918.

Emperor Nicholas II is also commemorated with a bronze bust erected in the garden located in behind the Cathedral in 1993.

© Paul Gilbert @ Royal Russia. 05 September, 2012

Photo Credit: RIA Novosti 

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev attended the solemn unveiling on Tuesday of the newly-restored Arch of Triumph in Moscow.

Through that arch Russian regiments made their victorious return to Moscow after defeating Napoleon in the war of 1812.

One of the first monuments built to commemorate that glorious victory, the Arch of Triumph symbolizes a great patriotic upswing in the consciousness of the Russian people, the prime minster said.

© Interfax and RIA Novosti. 05 September, 2012

Photo Credit: tverlife.ru 

The restoration of the Imperial Traveling Palace at Tver has begun with the symbolic ceremony of the transfer of the keys to the 18th-century monument over to the builders and restorers. Residents of Tver and the entire Tver Region have been waiting for this day for 20 years.

The palace was constructed in the Classical style with some elements of Baroque.  It was intended as a resting place for members of the Russian Imperial family as they travelled from St. Petersburg to Moscow. It also served as a residence for the Grand Duchess Catherine Pavlovna (1788-1819) and her spouse, Duke George of Oldenburg (1784-1812), who served as governor of the region up until his death in 1812 due to typhoid fever.

The historic interiors and décor will be restored in the former Romanov palace over the next three years. These will be based on surviving sketches, photos and inventories of the pre-war period. The palace garden and surrounding landscape will also be restored.

Restoration costs will amout to three billion rubles; most of the amount - 1.8 billion – has been allocated by the World Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The rest of the money will be provided from the budgets of Tver and the Tver Region.

© Russia Info-Center. 05 September, 2012

Dimitri Silbermann, a Berlin-based collector and researcher, has shared with the Tsarskoye Selo State Museum-Preserve the digital copies of nineteen photographs from his private collection showing Tsarskoye Selo in about the end of 1941.

Mr Silbermann established that the original 6 x 9 cm pictures were made by an amateur photographer from the 58th Infantry Division, a unit of the German Army (Wehrmacht) under Generalleutnant Friedrich Altrichter then quartered in Uritsk (now South Western St Petersburg).

Being of historical importance, these photographs greatly compliment the Museum collection which so far has had wartime pictures taken as early as 1942, when a number of the Tsarskoye Selo monuments were already destroyed and the objects left behind were looted and moved to Germany.

The photos of 1941 show the Nazis posing complacently on the background of yet intact interiors of the Catherine Palace and having a coronation mockery scene possibly in one of the Antechambers. We can see the pre-war décors in the park pavilions, the later completely destroyed icons in the Palace Chapel, the bronze Hercules and Flora still on their pedestals at the Cameron Gallery.

Many details from the history of the German occupation of Pushkin town are unknown yet. Archived in hundreds of places around the world, the documents of that period are still waiting to be researched. That is why any photographic materials showing Tsarskoye Selo with its palaces and parks during 1941–44 are so important.

© Tsarskoye Selo State Museum-Preserve. 04 September, 2012

On August 22 (September 3), 1875 on the Red Square in Moscow in the presence of Alexander II and a large crowd of people in ceremonial atmosphere there was laid the foundation stone of Historical museum – the largest national historical museum of Russia. Its collection reflects the history and the culture of Russia from ancient times to our days.

The museum was founded by initiative of the public in 1872. The first displays were from historical and Sevastopol departments of Polytechnic exhibition of 1872. According to “General regulations of the museum” established in 1873 its main goal was “to serve as visual history”. Thus the museum started to acquire “all the monuments of significant events of the Russian state history”.

In April 1874 the Moscow state Duma assigned a ground for the museum construction on the Red square where once was situated the first Moscow University. As a result of the competition the project of the architect V. Sherwood and engineer A. Semenov was approved. The construction lasted six years.

From the very beginning the museum was granted with generous gifts and donations from state and social organizations as well as from people of different rank and estate. The Moscow state Duma presented it with Golitsyn and Chertkovsky libraries rich of numerous unique manuscripts. The nobles such as Golitsyny, Bobrinskye, Kropotkiny, Obolenskye, Masalskye, Shcherbatovy, Uvarovy also made a significant contribution as well as merchants-sponsors Bakhrushiny, Buryliny, Grachovy, Postnikovy, Sapozhnikovy. Several hundreds of antique pieces were presented by a famous collector P. Shchukin. Another source of collections was expeditionary finds and acquisitions. In the Soviet age the collections of the State museum fund and closed down museums such as “Old Moscow”, Rumyantsev museum, Military-Historical museum, etc. were handed over to this museum.

By subject exposition of the museum is divided into six sections: History of the primitive community in the territory of Russia, History of the peoples of Russia from the year 1000 BC to 10th century AD.; Kievan state and the period of feudal fragmentation; Muscovy in 16th-17th centuries.; reforms of Peter I and the education of the Russian Empire, Russian Empire in the period of 1725-1762.

State Historical Museum has 7 branches. Each of them is a monument of ancient architecture and an independent museum of the age to which it belongs. Moscow Branches of the State History Museum are: St. Basil's Cathedral, the Museum of Boyar way of life in 17th century; Trinity Cathedral in Nikitniki; Novodevichy Monastery; royal manor of 16th-17th centuries in the village of Kolomna.

Outside Moscow: Alexander Sloboda (in Alexandrov, the Ivanovo region) and the Genoese fortress in of 14th century in Sudak, on the southern coast of Crimea.

© Russkiy Mir. 03 September, 2012

The famous monument of Tsar Osvodboditel (Liberator King) in downtown Sofia will be temporarily removed from its location in front of the building of the Parliament to undergo full restoration.

The legs of the horse will be replaced with new bronze ones due to the many cracks.

The project is implemented by the Bulgarian Construction Chamber with financial assistance from the Pokolenie (Generation) Foundation.

The entire sculpture – the horse and rider, Tsar Alexander II, will be dismantle and sent to an atelier near the capital Sofia. Top Bulgarian and Russian restorers will be engaged for the works, along with a number of scientists. The sculpture will be cleaned from the patina while the foundation will be stabilized and also cleaned. The area around the monument will be renewed as well.

The cost of the project is estimated at BNG 1.1 M, but Russian experts say this amount will end up being by 40% larger.

The dismantling of the monument will happen at some point next week, most likely in the evening when there is less traffic in downtown Sofia. The restoration works will last about 2 months. During this time, pictures of the monument will surround the location.

The restored sculpture will be revealed on March 3 2012, which is Bulgaria's National Holiday, marking the gaining of its independence from Ottoman rule.

The Monument to the Tsar Liberator was erected in honor of Russian Emperor Alexander II who liberated Bulgaria of Ottoman rule during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78.

The Neoclassical memorial's author is Italian sculptor Arnoldo Zocchi, who won the project in competition with 31 other artists from 12 countries in the end of the 19th century. Bulgarian architect Nikola Lazarov participated in the monument's architectural design.

The foundation stone was laid on 23 April 1901, St George's Day, in the presence of Knyaz Ferdinand I of Bulgaria, and the monument was completed on 15 September 1903.

Ferdinand also attended the monument's inauguration on 30 August 1907.

Erected of black polished granite from the nearby Vitosha Mountain, the monument consists of a pedestal, a middle part with figures and a massive Neo-Renaissance cornice finished with the sculpture of the Russian Tsar on a horse. The bronze wreath at the foot was donated by Romania in memory of the Romanian soldiers that died during the war.

The main bronze bas-relief in the middle part depicts a group of Russian and Bulgarian soldiers led by Nike, the Ancient Greek goddess of victory, who raises her sword high above. Portraits of Grand Duke Nicholas Nicolaievich, Count Ignatiev and the generals Joseph Vladimirovich Gourko and Mikhail Skobelev surround the group.

Other bas-reliefs feature scenes from the Battle of Stara Zagora, the signing of the Treaty of San Stefano and the opening ceremony of the Constituent National Assembly in Veliko Tarnovo, as well as portraits of prominent Bulgarian figures from the period.

© Sofia News Agency. 03 September, 2012

We received a large shipment of books from Russia earlier this week, including four new photo books on the Romanov palaces and residences. Each title offers text and/or captions in English. For more information or to place an order, please refer to the following links;

||| Bialowieza: An Imperial Residence (Czestnych and Kettering) |||

||| Palaces Destroyed: Nazi Occupation of Leningrad Region 1941-1944 (Irincheev and Zhukov) |||

||| Spala: An Imperial Residence (Czestnych, Kettering and Sloniewski) |||

||| Tsarskoye Selo in Old Photos: The End of the 19th - Beginning of the 20th Century (Lebedinskaya and Plaude) |||

© Paul Gilbert @ Royal Russia. 02 September, 2012

The Imperial yacht Standart was always escorted by several vessels of the Russian Imperial Navy. It was customary during the inspection of these vessels that Tsar Nicholas II tasted the food from the crew's mess--an essential part of Russian military inspection proceedure. This photo dates from 1912.

© Paul Gilbert @ Royal Russia. 01 September, 2012

On display at the two exhibitions dedicated to the 200th anniversary of Russia’s victory over Napoleon in the Patriotic War of 1812, due to open in Moscow on August 31st, are various items, including letters of the Russian Emperor, and also drawings of the crowned heads dating back to their childhood and their poems.

One of these exhibitions is prepared by the Federal Archival Agency of the Russian Federation and the other – by the House of Russia Abroad.

The majority of exhibits are put on view for the first time. Studying the authentic documents, visitors can easily gain an understanding of both the political reasons and consequences of the war against Napoleon. Reports from the battlefields, the plans of the battles, and officers’ service records are very helpful in studying the developments in the Patriotic War of 1812. Visitors can also see Russian and French firearms and orders. The exhibition staged by the House of Russia Abroad is dedicated rather to observing the memory of the Patriotic War of 1812 by the Russian immigrants of the first wave, including the military first of all, than to the war as such.

One of the most exciting exhibits is the file of the St. Petersburg newspaper “Severnaya Pochta” (“Northern Mail”) for 1812 that has survived by some miracle, including the issue where the Russian Emperor declares the beginning of the war against France.

By the way, 50 years ago when the 150 anniversary of the war against Napoleon was celebrated, the Society of the Lovers of Military Antiquities that existed in Paris at that time struck a medal with the head of Emperor Alexander I of Russia, the winner in that war. This medal is exhibited too, and Emperor Alexander I is called the blessed on it. “This was the initiative of the historian of the Russian army who emigrated from Russia Anton Kersnovsky”, another historian, Igor Domnin, says:

“After Emperor Alexander I made a serious blunder and broke off relations with Napoleon, he started acting irreproachably. He defended Russia’s honour and dignity in the Patriotic War of 1812, proving that he was really blessed in his life”.

There are sensational materials at the exhibition in Moscow too. Meaning a series of drawings showing the guardsmen of Emperor Alexander I of Russia in the 1812 uniforms.

"What created a sensation at the exhibition was the fact that all these drawings were made by the next Russian emperor - Alexander II, at that time the Cesarevitch (Crown Prince in tsarist Russia)."

For 19th-century Russia the war with Napoleon became an unprecedented example of the unity of the Russian people. And now the memory of the past war should add something to this too, the organizers of the two exhibitions say.

© The Voice of Russia. 31 August, 2012