Russia’s new culture minister, Vladimir Medinsky has proposed the changing the name of two streets in Moscow in honour of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and his wife, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna.

Speaking at the opening of the exhibition Russia in the Holy Land, which marks the 130th anniversary of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society in Moscow, he said that the names of the Romanov family members “should replace the names of terrorists and murderers.”

Medinsky believes that changing the names of these streets will help educate the citizens of Moscow about two members of the Romanov dynasty, each of whom made a major contribution to the history of the city and its inhabitants.

Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich - the son of Emperor Alexander II, from 1891 was the military governor-general of Moscow. He headed the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society, was the honorary chairman of the Russian Historical Museum, and a trustee of the Moscow Theological Academy. He was assassinated by terrorists on February 17, 1905. His remains were exhumed in 1995 and reburied in a vault of the Novospassky Monastery in Moscow.

A fire broke out at the former St. Petersburg residence of the Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and his wife, the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna.

Situated on the Nevsky Prospect, the palace is today more commonly known as the Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace.

The fire broke out about noon and quickly spread to the attic and the roof. The cause of the fire or the extent of the damage to the interiors and the facade is not yet known. Further updates will be posted as information becomes available.

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© Paul Gilbert @ Royal Russia. 28 February, 2012

The seal of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich was made in 1898, by B. Reimer. The seal is made of gold and topaz, and topped with an Imperial crown. The seal was believed to have been stolen in 1922, but returned to the Armory Museum in Moscow in 1926, by the an employee of the Moscow Association of Jewelry.

It will be on display in the Exhibition Hall of the Assumption Belfry, from 6 April to 24 July, 2011, as part of an exhibition dedicated to Faberge and his contemporaries.

© Royal Russia. 21 March, 2011

Israel is handing back ownership of a czarist-era landmark in the heart of Jerusalem to Russia, defusing a long-simmering dispute between the two countries right before Israel's leader visits Moscow.

The hewn stone building, built in 1890 to accommodate Russian pilgrims to the Holy Land, is a prominent edifice on the Jerusalem landscape with its soaring turret and lush garden.

The site was named for Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, a son of Czar Alexander III, and is part of a complex known as the Russian Compound. Israel bought most of it from the Soviet Union in the early 1960s, paying with oranges because it didn't have hard currency.

Israel seized control of it after the Soviet Union severed ties with the Jewish state following the 1967 Mideast war. The two countries restored ties in 1991 and negotiations to return the courtyard ownership to Russia began in the 1990s.

© Associated Press. 21 March, 2011