The Alexander Palace Time Machine Discussion Forum

Here are pics I took In early Sept 2007 of the Alexander Palace exteriors and of the Park.
The pics relate to several topics (Bridges, Childrens' Island, Nazi Graves, etc.), so I decided to post them all here.

TATYANA









This is a wonderful old tree at the front of the Alexander Palace, on the far side of the driveway -- this tree has seen EVERYTHING!!

I visited St. Petersburg & environs in September 2007, but have not had time to edit & post any pics until now.
But not for this list, I'm not sure i would have visited Feodorovsky Gorodok, so here are my photos, in appreciation!

I'll be posting my Alexander Palace Park, Catherine Palace Park, Peterhof Palace Park & other relevant pics in the next week.

TATYANA

Alexandre:

Dites-moi, s'il vous plait, quand sera l'enchère?

Tatyana

I'm not sure where the "driveway" is, but I visited the Alexander Palace on 15 September, and walked all around, and I didn't see such a monument.
TATYANA

Brett --

I think you may be thinking of Photographs for the Tsar, "The pioneering color photography of Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii commissioned by Tsar Nicholas II." edited by Robert H. Allshouse, Dial Press, 1980  ISBN: 0-8037-6996-2
It's on eBay from time to time, and not too expensive. Worth every penny!

TATYANA

I'd love to see the Sokolov photos, but for me there are only RedX's....

Tatyana

I've ridden sidesaddle quite a bit, and it IS pretty uncomfortable, compared to riding astride. You feel a bit like you're on a perch on top of the horse, because sidesaddles sit quite a bit higher than cross saddles and there's no way to have contact with the horse.
There are 2 curved, padded brackets protruding on the left side of the saddle: one curving up to hook your right leg over, and one curving down to put your left leg under, and one stirrup for your left foot. You can grip your right leg quite well around the upper bracket.  It's pretty hard to fall off: if something really bad happens, the horse and you both fall. Many women got internal injuries from having the upper bracket jammed into their abdomen.
Trotting is very uncomfortable, bumpy if you don't "post" (rise up & down with the strides), but it's hard to "post" sidesaddle because the leg brackets hold you down. Ladies' sidesaddle horses were picked for their smooth gaits. Cantering & galloping is not bad. Jumping fences is pretty awful, kind of a minor whiplash jerk.
Let me know if there are any other questions.

TATYANA

In 1934, at the behest of Felix, Irina Youssoupoff started a lawsuit against the film company MGM:

The claimant, Princess Irina Alexandrovna Youssoupoff of Russia, bought an action against the defendant filmmaker in defamation. Her claim was that in the film Rasputin and the Empress, she was recognizable in the character of the princess Natasha, who was seduced by the mad monk. The defence included, among other things, a claim that the princess had not been seduced, she had been raped. So, even if the character of Natasha was recognizable as Irina, no blame could be attached to her, and the depiction was not defamatory. However, the CourtOfAppeal found that she had been defamed. While a statement that a person had been raped might not fall within the traditional formula of `exposing the claimant to hadred, ridicule, or contempt' -- it might evoke sympathy rather than any of these reactions -- it was still damaging to a person's reputation. A better test was whether the defamation could cause the claimant to be `shunned and avoided'.

Therefore, Every Time you see any variation of the disclaimer "no resemblance to persons living or dead"  in connection with a TV show or a movie, it is because of Felix Yousoupoff's diligence in defending his wife's reputation.

TATYANA

A lot depends on your budget: hiring English-speaking guides & cars can get very pricey very fast.
For your first trip, you really ought to consider a small group tour -- take a look at some that Mir offers. They can also do a personalized trip for you, for a price!
I've travelled to Russia almost every year since 1979 & still haven't seen all I want to. The first few times I took group tours & went off on my own when I wanted to. Groups build in a lot of wasted time around meals, so pack a snack & rejoin the group later.
Tatyana

Yes, that's right: my mother-in-law was a member of the (large) Vanderbilt family. The house in NYC where she grew up is now the Russian Consulate, in the "it's a small world department"!

TATYANA

My mother-in-law's second husband was Audrey Emery's brother, Jack. My mother-in-law was born in 1904 & was very hip for her generation (her sister married Benny Goodman) -- She wanted to marry Jack Emery as her first husband, but her parents refused, because he was a "Card Gambler" (?). According to her, Audrey was a charming girl, but who was regarded by "the older generation" as being Fast, because it was rumoured that she "snapped her garters" at young men. So, it may be that Audrey & her siblings were regarded as Fast by the conservative older generation of the time.
My mother-in-law felt that Dmitri was so absorbed by the losses and responsibilities of his heritage that he could not be the "gay blade" (her words -- no homosexual inference intended) that Audrey desired, and their marriage just drifted apart.

TATYANA

Hi Alex --

I'm glad to try to help. There seem to be a fair number of pre-1918 Russian items in Australia: I'm not entirely sure why. A few years back, I bought a couple of IPF Order Plates (19th century additions to the original 18th century Gardner services) on eBay from an Australian seller. Sadly, such finds are not around any longer.
However, your Gardner porcelain for the Islamic market turns up on eBay & elsewhere from time to time. I found a plate matching your items in Inverness, Scotland, about 12 years ago, probably because many Scottish women went to Russia as governesses in the late 19th-early 20th centuries. Good LucK!

TATYANA

Yes, how different indeed, unless he has access to unpublished collections. The standard work on this subject has been "Joyaux du Tresor de Russie" (Paris: La Bibliotheque des Arts. 1990), the best catalog of the Diamond Fund.

I'm a lurker, with a large collection of Gardner and IPF Russian Porcelain. In my opinion, your items appear to be nicely authentic late 19th-early 20th century Gardner factory porcelain, made for the Islamic market: note the Arabic lettering at the base of the mark. These items are somewhat less marketable than Gardner porcelain not made for the Islamic market, but nonetheless quite popular with Pakistani and other Islamic collectors, and with some Russian porcelain collectors.
TATYANA

PATRIARSHY DOM (http://russiatravel-pdtours.netfirms.com/) gives Excellent tours of the Kremlin Palace complex. Check their website for their tour schedule, and then tell them what tour you want & when you will be arriving in Moscow. It doesn't seem possible to book a place in one of their tours from outside Russia, but if you let them know ahead of time of your interest in a tour, and then contact them as soon as you arrive in Moscow, it works out. I've done this several times, with great success.
TATYANA