300th ANNIVERSARY
Portrait of Tsar Nicholas II and his family, from the series of pictures taken to mark the Romanov tercentenary in 1913. The pictures were produced by the
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Tercentenary of the Accession of the House of Romanov (1913). This film was released to commemorate the Note: The last part of the film offers vintage film footage of Emperor Nicholas II and his family
The House of Romanov was the second and last imperial dynasty to rule over Russia,
The ascendant boyar (aristocracy in old Russia) parties of the Godunovs, Shuiskiys, Vorotynskiys and Trubetskoys exhausted one another in political and military tussles, and they eventually abandoned the battlefield, leaving it to countless rogues who vied to be successors to the Russian throne. They were all replaced and superseded by the Poles. On 27 August, 1610, Moscow swore allegiance to Wladislaw, son of Sigsmund III of Poland. There seemed to be no power able to rescue this vast country from devastating internal dissension, popular disorder, plunder and violence.
 The Russian Imperial family in Moscow during the tercentenary celebrations.
Hetman Gonsevski, having been defeated in the battle of Moscow, soon afterwards the Poles were driven away from Russia. Now the main problem had to be faced. In January 1613, the Zemsky Sobor, the Russia's national assembly, convened to elect the tsar. First and foremost, it was resolved not to elect any bogus foreigners. Then the contenders were to be nominated. The claims by Princes Shuiskiys, Trubetskoys and Vorotynskiys, the surviving descendants of the Rurik dynasty, which had been ruling Russia hitherto, were rejected in the fear that their candidates may have led to a recurrence of the dreaded Time of Troubles.
 In 1913, the first postage stamps depicting Russian tsars were issued.
The eight year-old Tsarevich Alexei recorded this event in his history exercises: "Before he was elected to reign Mikhail Feodorovich had lived with his mother in the village of Domnino. At that time a band of Poles was scouring about the countryside. They wanted to ruin Mikhail. The Poles wanted to get to the village, but they did not know the way. There was a thick forest around. So they demanded that the village elder show them the way. Ivan Susanin saw what they were after. He sent his son-in-law Sabinin to Domnino to warn Sister Martha of the danger. And he himself led the Poles through the forest. He brought them to a thicket in the very heart of the forest so that it was impossible to find a way out. Susanin stopped and said: 'Nobody will get out of here.' So the Poles sabred him to death . . . but they, too, all perished."
 Invitation to Gala Dinner and Ball at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, 23 February, 1913.
In 1613, within the walls of the Ipatyev monastery, the reign of the Romanov dynasty began and was to last for three centuries. The dreadful Tumult was over, and gradually, order was established and consolidated. It took an incredible effort for Russia to overcome the grim times which had seemed insurmountable, and now the realm was striving towards grandeur. There were many more great challenges to be met and glorious pursuits to accomplish. That was what this little boy with big sad eyes may have been thinking about, while he painstakingly traced every letter in the names of his ancestors, the Russian monarchs.
There were two jubilee dinners held in Moscow, one for 700 persons at the Kremlin on May 25,
The celebrations for the Terecentary of the Romanov House were coming and Russia was preparing for the festivities while Tsarevich Alexei was assiduously learning the history of his forefathers. He was to continue the succession of the Russian monarchs and become the 19th Tsar. But the boy was most likely to have been thinking about that. "Dear Daddy" would be governing Russia for many years to come. Even in a nightmare, he could not have dreamt of the fatal events of a July night in 1918.
 Silver 1 Rouble coin, minted 1913, Tsar Nicholas II and Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich, 300th Anniversary of Romanov Dynasty
The Imperial procession to the Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan was a lavish, picturesque sight. Ahead of the procession rode the Sotnia (Cossack squadron) of His Imperial Majesty's Own Escort, the horsemen dressed in red Circassian coats. Behind them, in an open carriage, travelled His Majesty the Tsar with the Heir Tsarevich, Grand Duke Alexei Nikolayevitch seated next to him. Alongside rode the Escort Commander, Prince Trubetskoi. The Dowager Empress and the Tsarina travelled in a luxurious carriage with a high coach-box, drawn by four white horses in traditional Russian harness, a postilion and Chamber Cossacks standing on the footboard. The four Grand Duchesses came in a barouche drawn by a pair of horses. Another Cossack Sotnia brought up the rear of the procession. The noise in the streets was unabating--coach wheels rumbled, horses' hoofs clattered, banners dipped and fluttered, music played, church bells peeled and people exultantly cheered their Tsar.
 Poster proclaiming the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty
Later that day there was a great reception in the Winter Palace. The ladies were wearing traditional Russian gowns. "Though she was very tired", recollected Vyroubova, Her Majesty looked amazingly beautiful in her blue velvet Russian gown, wearing a tall kokoshnik (a traditional tiara-shaped headdress for married women in old Russia) and a veil beaded with pearls and diamonds. There was a pale blue ribbon of the Order of St. Andrew across her breast, and the Grand Duchesses were wearing the Order of St. Catherine on a scarlet ribbon". The ball was magnificent and crowded. The following evening Their Imperial Majesties and Her Imperial Highness Olga Nikolayevna graced the Mariinsky Theatre's opera performance of Glinka's A Life for the Tsar with their presence. The opulence of the evening dresses and the pageantry of the theatre decorations were dazzling. Among those present were the Emir of Bokhara and the Khan of Khiva, wearing their national costumes, and accompanied by their replendent entourages. Starring in the performance were the leading ballerinas Pavlova, Preobrazhenskaya, Kschessinska and Gerdt, singers Nezhdanova, Zbruyeva, Kotorski, Yershov, Sobinov and Figner. Napravnik conducted the orchestra. The four days of celebrations in St. Petersburg were a dense schedule of receptions, meetings and balls. Summing up his impressions, Nicholas II wrote in his diary: “Thank Lord God who shed his grace upon Russia and us all so that we could decently and joyously celebrate the days of the tercentenary of the Romanov's accession". The Easter of 1913 saw the continuation of the celebrations. On 15 May, 1913, the Imperial Family started on a tour of old Russian towns to trace the route taken by the first Romanov Tsar three centuries before. The family visited Vladimir and Suzdal (where they went to see the burial place of Prince Dmitriy Pozharskiy in the Spasso-Yefimovsky monastery). On 16 May, Nicholas admitted in his diary: "With delight and interest I inspected the wonderful treasures kept in the vestries, and the churches of ancient Russian architecture. On our way there and back people came out from villages with icons. I was not tired at all. The impressions were so strong and good." The next stops on their pilgrimmage were Bogolyubovo and the town of Nizhniy Nogorod, where they visited the burial place of Kozma Minin, the other hero of the anti-Polish liberation movement. The Tsar was present at the ceremony of laying the foundation for the monument to Minin and Pozharskiy. All along the route of the Imperial Family's jourey, people of all classes came out with bread and salt, the traditional Russian welcome, to salute the Tsar.
The Romanov Tercentenary Egg by the Russian jeweller Peter Carl Fabergé in 1913. It was presented by Nicolas II as an Easter gift to his wife,
On 19 May, they reached Kostroma, the memorial place of the Romanovs. The streets were crowded with people and Archbishop Tikhon welcomed the Imperial Family with the renowned icon of Our Lady of Feodor. The days were crowded with meeting delegations and sightseeing: they visited cathedrals, the Romanov chambers in the Ipatyev moanstery; and the New Romanov Museum. One of the ceremonies was dedicated to laying the foundation of the Romanov House Memorial. Then they sailed to Yaroslavl, where they took a train for the next part of their itinerary--the old Russian towns of Rostov the Great, Pereyaslavl-Zalesskiy and Sergiev Posad, the seat of the Troitse-Sergievskaya Lavra (of St. Sergius and St. Trinity), the Orthodox monastery of the highest rank.
 A number of monuments were built to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty, including Moscow and Kostroma.
The terse entries in Nicholas II's diary were a minutely detailed report of the crowded schedule of receptions, ceremonial meals, services, worship of the relics and sightseeing. On the last day of the celebrations in Moscow, Monday, 27 May, the exhausted, yet very happy Tsar admitted in his diary: "Finally I sat on my feet because of tiredness." The fortnight of the celebratory journey was over. Russia seemed to have recovered after the upheavals of 1905-1907, and it looked as though the Romanov dynasty was to reign for centuries. But Fate decreed otherwise. Like a mortally sick patient who sometimes seems revived for a short period before he relapses into agony, the feasting empire irretrievably approached its collapse. The Dynasty would manage to make only five more steps towards their quadricentenary and the progress would be tragically cut short in the dirty basement of the Ipatyev house in Yekaterinburg . . . What a macabre coincidence of the names: the Ipatyev monastery saw the birth of the Romanov dynasty and the Ipatyev house saw its annihilation.
 Emperor Nicholas II and his family in Nizhny Novgorod
The People's House, St. Petersburg
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