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Comedy value from seeing Rasputin nursing a super sized soda, but otherwise I agree with the other reviews. My biggest objections were portraying Anastasia as knowing little English and not knowing how to eat spaghetti
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The Alexander Palace / Re: Pictures of the Interiors as they were
« Last post by EmHarms on June 13, 2025, 03:33:49 PM »
This photo - summer 2012. I have a photo of this place to our great tragedy of the great Patriotic war of the USSR against the Nazis.
On the photo - a corridor on the 2nd floor above the Front halls and the Windows of the corridor look at the colonnade. This hall you can see the layout of the Palace.


I don't see how this could be the Alexei hallway if the windows look out on the colonnade.  It seems to me it is some part of room 40 on the plans, or maybe some rennovated version of rooms 24, 25 or 26.

BobG

Hi, all. Sorry to dredge up old threads (assuming anyone will see this), but hoping for the best...

I'm wondering if we could revisit some of the defunct photo links, if anyone still has photos handy. I'm hoping to find any photos of the upstairs rooms, particularly Alexei's corridor. Nagorny's room, specifically, but any of the corridor, Derevenko's room, Gilliard's room, etc., would be helpful. If they exist.
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The Alexander Palace / Re: Children's rooms. 2nd floor. Foto. Rooms 7 -11.
« Last post by EmHarms on June 12, 2025, 07:15:29 PM »
I know this is dredging up a thread from the sands of time, but I'm just curious if OP might be willing to share updated links to these photos?
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Tsarskoe Selo Palaces / Re: War Damage of Tsarskoe Selo and Peterhof
« Last post by ArchitectCS on June 02, 2025, 10:41:02 PM »
Hi Akira,

It is the church of St. Alexis in Taytsy, which is about 25 kilometers southeast of Peterhof. The church is still standing but the area looks very different, with many more trees than in your photograph. If you'd like to message me, I could give you a little bit more information.

Thank you for posting all your slides; they are fascinating.

-Chad
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Watched this on Tubi yesterday.  As we all know, the plot involves Rasputin sending Anastasia to 1989, where she makes a new friend, before returning to the past, where she saves her family. As fantasy comedy, it's fine.  But if historical accuracy is what you want, well, where do I begin!?

The movie opens in Russia of 1917, at a ball at the Winter Palace, in which Gregory Rasputin is attending.  A neat trick, as Gregory Rasputin was killed in 1916.

And there were certainly no balls happening in 1917, not with the war happening.  Of course, you could be forgiven for not realizing a war is happening by watching this movie, as there is no sign of it.

This movie's version of the Russian Revolution is Lenin and about ten mooks storming the palace during the aforementioned ball.  WHAT!?  And there were two revolutions, the first, that deposed the Imperial Family, was led by Kerensky.  Lenin's revolution happened later.   I don't think Lenin and Nicholas II ever met face-to-face like the movie shows.  And the IF were not killed at the Winter Palace in 1917, as this movie hints (albeit we don't see it actually happen).

And there was this nonsense about an evil witch backing Lenin.  Believe me, Lenin needed the help of no evil witch to do terrible things.

Brandon Routh is a good actor, I liked him in Superman Returns and Legends Of Tomorrow, but he looks as much like Nicholas II as Jughead Jones looks like Clark Kent. 

Anyway, magic happens and the Imperial Family is saved.  Yeah...

The ending has the friend Anastasia made in 1989 meeting the now aged Anastasia, who says she is 83 years old.  Had Anastasia lived until 1989, she would have been 88.

As I said, they could have made up a character to travel to the future and told the same story.  They didn't need to use Anastasia who, by the time this was made, was confirmed to have been murdered in 1918, with the whole family.   

They didn't need to trample all over real history to tell this story.
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Imperial Claimants Post Here / Re: Anna Anderson Annyonace
« Last post by TimM on May 06, 2025, 12:33:53 AM »
An early 90's episode of Unsolved Mysteries took a swing at this.  Of course, everything in it as been totally debunked.


https://tubitv.com/tv-shows/448076/s06-e03-episode-3


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Tsarskoe Selo Palaces / Re: War Damage of Tsarskoe Selo and Peterhof
« Last post by Akira Takiguchi on April 19, 2025, 06:27:40 PM »
I hope this message will be read by someone in the future.

Anyone create to identify the church in the X message?

https://x.com/atakiguchi/status/1913714222938157382/photo/1
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Ekaterinburg diocese posted this on their VK account a few months ago:

'Opponents of the authenticity of the Tsar's remains sometimes speak on behalf of all Orthodox Christians and predict a new church schism if they are recognized as relics. What can be said in response to this? ? The fact that some of these people make such loud statements "on behalf of the Orthodox," emphasizing the "possible schism" is truly a terrible statement for them. By doing so, they already separate themselves in advance from the Holy Mother Church. Recently, some people have been holding their own conferences, where they express their opinions and evidence "about the falsity of the Tsar's remains," and at the same time they report in the media that they are doing this allegedly "in pursuance of the resolution of the Bishops' Council." I doubt that they received a blessing for these conferences from the ruling bishop of the city of Moscow ? His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia. I can say for myself that the Holy Church has experienced numerous schisms and disorders over the course of two thousand years, but one thing remains unshakable - these are the words of Christ the Savior, spoken to the Apostle Peter: "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18). Saint Cyprian of Carthage said very simple words accessible to the human mind and heart: "For whom the Church is not a Mother, God is not a Father." If the Bishops' Council recognizes the "Ekaterinburg remains" as the relics of the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers, and it is written "It was the will of the Holy Spirit and us...", then the entire Fullness of the Russian Orthodox Church must accept this holy news with reverence and joy. When the holy relics of the Royal Passion-Bearers are placed in reliquaries, and due honors are rendered to them, and numerous worshipers and pilgrims come to them, then, by the ineffable mercy of God, they will show us, sinners, their help, miracles and healings. And then Great Russia will shine in even greater glory and grandeur. Archimandrite Tikhon (Zatekin)'

So here's my take. The point the Archimandrite makes at the end is key: if & when the remains are officially recognized, they'll be prepared in reliquaries and pieces will be sent to multiple churches. The Orthodox Church operates today the same as it did in the 4th century, and decisions are made on a timeline that might not fit into our understanding. That the remains will be treated as relics is part of the delay; just the reality of things taking time rather than a matter of disrespect.
It's going to be a "Catch-22" for people who don't want further disturbance of the bones: when officially confirmed, there will be pieces of the bodies sent to churches. So either way, there's not going to be the simple matter of just putting the remains back in the tombs. That they haven't been reburied yet is probably a realistic indication that they ARE going to be officially recognized soon, since they wouldn't want to go through the whole rigamarole of exhuming them all over again when that time comes. So it could actually be a good sign of a nearing conclusion.
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BeNeLux Royalty / Prince Frederik Has Died
« Last post by Akira Takahashi on March 10, 2025, 02:28:34 PM »
Quote
Prince Frederik, the youngest son of Prince Robert of Luxembourg and Princess Julie of Nassau, left behind a lasting legacy following his death at age 22 this month.

The beloved royal died on March 1 from POLG Mitochondrial disease ? a rare genetic disorder that affects approximately one in 5,000 people.

The genetic disorder affects multiple organ systems and the mitochondria, the energy-producing parts of cells.

RIP. It makes me think a little of Alexei.

https://nypost.com/2025/03/10/entertainment/prince-frederik-of-luxembourgs-heroic-final-act-revealed-before-death-at-22/
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Well, I’m going to go out on a limb here and give this film a very mixed review. There’s no question but that, as others have noted here, it’s visually stunning, a veritable feast for the eyes. The interior and exterior shots of the Alexander Palace are gorgeous, the sets and costumes are not only beautiful but also as historically accurate as possible (for example, Nicholas and Alexandra’s bedroom is recreated so faithfully that it is almost indistinguishable from photographs of the real thing posted here at the AP site). But that’s it for historical accuracy. The minute you start paying attention to what the characters are actually saying, you realize that what this film presents is not an episode of Russian history but a new Russian national myth about the last tsar and his family. ? 

I suspected this would be the case at the very beginning of the film, when we’re informed that, despite the loss of 2 million men at the front, in February 1917 the power and prestige of the imperial dynasty remained unaffected! Well, that’s news to me and to anyone else who’s ever read anything about the Russian Revolution. Not surprisingly, no mention is made here of Rasputin, recently murdered, or of his deleterious effect on the Romanovs’ reputation. Because as it turns out the Romanovs were "really" brought down not by their own actions or by the Russian people themselves but by the treacherous, lily-livered elite and a conspiracy of "outside" agitators. Thus the outbreak of protests in Petersburg is presented as peaceful and of no danger to the monarchy until two mysterious men (German agents? socialists?) are shown throwing a bomb into the middle of a demonstration. The implication being that the March Revolution was the handiwork of agents provocateurs, and not a "real" expression of the popular will.

Admittedly, maybe I missed something somewhere: my Russian is not what it used to be, so I didn’t always understand all the dialogue, not to mention the fact that the sound in this film is truly lousy – I had to turn the volume up to maximum to hear anything! But as the movie unfolded, my worst suspicions tended to be confirmed… More than once I caught a whiff of bad old Russian anti-Semitism. Didn’t anyone else notice how all the Moscow Bolsheviks had dark beards and long noses and looked suspiciously like every anti-Semite’s stereotypical idea of what a Jew should look like? Lenin conspiring with Sverdlov and Trotsky (!) to kill the Romanovs (no controversy here about who’s idea it actually was! Moscow was fully in charge)… meanwhile a devoted Russian soldier is giving his blood to save the tsarevich’s life… How symbolic!

Also note how the filmmakers are at great pains to show how very Russian the imperial family was… not only in their religious faith but also down to singing Russian romances together and dancing about to the strains of a balalaika (played by the devoted Russian soldier). It’s all beautifully done, of course, and very emotionally affecting, but somehow so manipulative, too, it kind of bothered me. For example, I didn’t understand why the grand duchesses’ hair still hadn’t grown out when over a year had passed since their heads were shaved, unless this was supposed to remind us subliminally of concentration camp victims… Then, cut from the brutal, bloody execution scene to the year 2000 and the ceremonial burial of the imperial family in the cathedral, with everyone in the congregation holding up images of the holy martyrs... I found myself with tears in my eyes… it was all so very effective! But in the end I’m still not quite sure how I feel about this movie. It left a bad taste in my mouth. Kind of like biting into a beautiful, juicy red apple and discovering it’s poisonous.

I finally got to see this movie and I say I have to agree with you. Visually, it was excellent, but everything about it is so white-washed. The politics were glossed over and the Romanovs portrayed as very saint-like. I disliked Alexei in particular. Anastasia had some personality, but it feels really toned down. I suppose that if you come at it from an Orthodox standpoint, it's a great film, but I didn't care for it that much.

Things were bad in Russia, and it was because the system just didn't work and Nicholas refused to reform it. It wasn't because of a few bad men instigating things, it was because Nicholas was an autocrat who responded to unrest with force of arms.

I thought it also did a poor job of showing how the family suffered during their captivity. I was reading "The Race to Save the Romanovs" and the telegrams going out about the royal family's living conditions painted a very different picture than we're shown here. The family was relying on money from the underground monarchists and the soldiers at Ekatrinburg were cruel, particularly to the four GDs. In this movie, there are a few rude soldiers, but until they all get killed at the end, everything seems quite pleasant. They're just such saintly people that they can't help but win everyone except the really bad guys over to their side!
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