The memorial cross at the AP

[ChristineM]

I entirely agree Viv.   The memorial may be 'tacky' but at least they are being remembered and it is no more tacky than the feeble attempt to create a museum in the Imperial Family's private apartments.

When I first began visiting the Alexander Palace in the late 1980s, it was impossible, with one exception, to find anyone who would admit the last Imperial Family ever lived there - far less that it was their home - and ultimately their prison.   So I congratulate whoever decided to draw the attention of visitors - even Russian visitors - who might not realise its significance.

Tsarskoe Selo Museums authorities must be aware of the memorial's existence.   Whether or not they gave approval, I cannot say, but if they disagreed with its existence, it would be destroyed in the flash of an eye.   The Alexander Palace is a bit of a thorn in their flesh.

I would far rather leave this memorial and get rid of the infinitely more tasteful black granite obelisk at the end of the Triple Alley which commemorates the drunken mob which broke into the Park in March 1917.   Some of them perished in what the Bolsheviki made out to be a massacre, but closer to the truth, a number of indviduals, probably fewer in number than the members of Nicholas and Alexandra's family, died of drunkeness and hypothermia.   This is left standing in a prominent place - the junction of the Catherine and Alexander Parks and is noted in travel books as a memorial to 'freedom fighters'.   I have repeatedly asked that this entirely inappropriate marker be removed, but it is a political hot potato.   It really still is impossible for Russia to come to terms with her history.

The most important thing to my mind is that someone at least, as tried.   It might not be to our taste, but we do not know the economic base of its initiator,   In my opinion it is better than nothing and might just be the start of something much greater.

tsaria

[dmitri]

I guess your guides were giving you a Russian impression. Perhaps that is something you were not necessarily aware of. Certainly Nicholas and Alexandra are mainly remembered for their execution in Ekaterinburg and the status given long after their deaths by the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad and the main Russian Orthodox Church indicates that. There are others in Russia who believe that the status given by the church was inappropriate. I don't take a stand on the issue. Certainly the Russian Empire collapsed during the reign of the last Tsar for many different reasons, the main being poor rule and the consequences of war.

[ChristineM]

Dmitri, I have been working with Tsarskoe Selo Museums for fifteen years.   'Russian guides' are superfluous to my requirements.

tsaria

[vivrosendahl]

I guess your guides were giving you a Russian impression. Perhaps that is something you were not necessarily aware of.

Well, I think that the above quotation speaks volumes about you rather than me!   

Viv

[Belochka]

...To judge from the remarks of the two Russian guides
I was in contact with, the AP and the last IF were best
forgotten!

Viv

How did those two guides give you that impression?

Margarita

[Sarushka]

However I take it that the memorial was placed in the
drive/driveway with every good and honest intention, and
there is no need to be patronizing about that!

My sentiments exactly. Someone's tried to express a fondness for the imperial family and all I've seen here are snap judgements and snide remarks.

[Belochka]

However I take it that the memorial was placed in the
drive/driveway with every good and honest intention, and
there is no need to be patronizing about that!

My sentiments exactly. Someone's tried to express a fondness for the imperial family and all I've seen here are snap judgements and snide remarks.

When we visited the A. P. in 2002 and then again last year, we expressed our sentiments privately.

My impression that the erected "monument" which appears to have been a private installation was ghastly still remains. It was neither a "snap judgement" or a "snide remark" on my part.

Your inferences are not appreciated.

Margarita

[Robert_Hall]

I am sure there are many here that would happily re-write the Russian's history for them. My opinion remains- the "monument" looks like it belongs in Disneyland, not a museum. If someone finds that "patrionising", so be it.

[ChristineM]

What a horrible hornet's nest is being built out of some committed soul leaving, and probably doing without the basics in food and clothing to do so, an item which he/she believed honoured the last Imperial Family.   What have any of you ever done to show commitment to the Alexander Palace or to its last occupants?

Never lose sight of the fact that this is why this Forum, in which we all partake and participate freely, exists.

Not everybody in Russia can be latter-day Faberges or in a position to purchase or create articles which appeal to western visitors.   I thought the Soviet-style statue of Nicholas II erected in the grounds of the Feodorovsky Sobor was horrendous - despite it being the first statue to Nicholas II ever erected in Russia.   Then I discovered that the Alexander Palace Association was the major financial contributor to this work.   I very quickly changed my opinion.   This was reinforced when I met the widow of the man who was responsible for the sculpture.   A young man in his 30s, he was gunned down as he left his flat to go to work one morning.   DEAD - he left a young widow with children to bring up alone.   Ask Bob, he will confirm this.

Viv made a point to which she is entirely entitled.   It so happens I agree with her - and I learned MY lesson the hard way.

tsaria

[helenazar]

 I thought the Soviet-style statue of Nicholas II erected in the grounds of the Feodorovsky Sobor was horrendous - despite it being the first statue to Nicholas II ever erected in Russia.   

I didn't think it was that bad, not the best thing I ever saw, but ok for what it was. The story behind it puts things more in perspective I guess, and besides, it was not supposed to be a work of art, but a "labor of love", in a sense... In a way, we can look at this new memorial that way too, even if it's not to everyone's taste.

[ChristineM]

Exactly Helen.   

tsaria

[Greenowl]

I don't know what all the fuss is about. While it is not an architectural gem by any means I don't find it offensive or repulsive and it resembles the many roadside crosses here (south west Germany) which were erected by grieving relatives at the site of their loved one's fatal traffic accident. There was an issue about these crosses, as usually the relatives just erected them without obtaining planning permission. However, in view of the circumstances the local councils turned a blind eye so to speak. Anyway, I think the cross is a nice thought and rather sweet, as it has something naive and innocent about it. Just my opinion...

[dmitri]

I stand by what I said. I find the responses largely unwarranted and extremely unknowledgable. Surely if there is to be a memorial to the last Romanovs it should be dignified and not tacky, whatever the sentiments of those who chose to leave it were. Nicholas and Alexandra and their children were hardly roadside victims and deserve far better. 

[Robert_Hall]

That is exactly it, Dmitry.   The thing looks like roadside memroial to car accident victims.  Why not add plush toys and plastic flowers? And what does "Faberge taste" have to do with anything?  The AP is simply a museum, and a pretty lousy one at that. The family did not die there, any "memorial" is inappropriate, in my opinion. More fitting would be a plaque INSIDE the rooms they lived in, marking their residence. Cheap sentimentality is just tacky.

[Belochka]

... I thought the Soviet-style statue of Nicholas II erected in the grounds of the Feodorovsky Sobor was horrendous - despite it being the first statue to Nicholas II ever erected in Russia.   Then I discovered that the Alexander Palace Association was the major financial contributor to this work.   I very quickly changed my opinion. 

tsaria

I actually liked the memorial on the grounds of Fedorovskii Sobor located beneath the remaining trees which were originally planted by the Grand Duchesses and Nikolai II.

Since the Fedorovskii Sobor was constructed during Nikolai II's reign and frequented by the Family, it was by this memorial where we laid our fresh flowers on the grass and silently paid our respects because here on these grounds it was most appropriate to have done so.

Margarita