Fine recent photos of AP

[Mike]

Many fine recent (last Sunday's) photos of AP, outside and inside, see here.

[Arleen_Ristau]

Mike, I have never seen so many splendid photos in one place!  They are absolutely magnificent.....thank you so much for posting them along with the WW II shots inbetween.

Who is Periskope and is this his website or yours?  Mike, did you take these wonderful pictures?  They look like your beautiful work....

Arleen

[Michael HR]

Dear Mike,

What great photos of the Palace. I hope to get there in the next year or so myself.

When you took the photo looking down the corridors from the Imperial bedroom what is the end room you can see? I didn't realsise all the internal doors from the family rooms lined up and this gives the impression that your looking into the Tsarina's formal reception room. From the plans I saw in the past I did not know that you could walk from the bedroom in one line to the formal reception room. I always thought you had to come out into the main corridor and then enter from there.

Kindest regards,

Michael HR

[Sarushka]

Yes, all the rooms between the imperial bedroom and the Maple Drawing Room interconnect, so it's possible to walk the length without using the hallway at all.  On the other side of the corridor, everything from the tsar's reception room to the New Study is connected. (I'm not certain about Alexandra's formal reception room or the small library. Those end rooms appear separate from the rest on my plans, which makes sense -- she could receive guests without them having access to the personal rooms.) The children's rooms were set up the same way -- you could walk from their dining room to the playroom without entering the corridor. I presume this could have had something to do with allowing access to the servants without compromising the IF's privacy.

[Laura Mabee]

Thanks for the post! Great pictures!

And, thank you Sarushka for the info!!

[BobG]

One correction on the web site Mike linked to:

The Photo labeled (in Russian) as "А это его вид в 1944 г., после вынужденного сьезда из дворца немецкого штаба."  Refers this picture to the one previous labeled (In Russian) "Рабочий Кабинет Николая II. Воссоздан большей частью."  Meaning this is a photo of the Tsar's Working study(as seen above) after the war.
Actually this is a photo of the Tsar's New Study with the staircase removed.  You can see the fireplace and the stairs with the columns on the mezzanine on the photo several pictures before labeled (in Russian) " Наиболее полно воссозданный зал дворца находится за концертным, если двигаться по часовой стрелке – Новый кабинет Государя.". 

Can anyone read the words written on the wall?  I'm thinking it is typical of builders or architects to put their names where they will not be seen once construction is complete.

But otherwise the photos are wonderful

Thanks again Mike for posting the link.

BobG

[Mike]

The photos belong to "Periskop", a Russian blogger who often publish high-quality photos of various interesting places in and around SPb. By the way, at the end of his AP post he has written the encouraging "To be continued...".

[susana]

    What a treat to see these photos; I first visited the AP in July 1997 and then again in March 2003. The work that has been done is wonderful and is making it look nd feel much more like it must have been. The first visit there were no large wall-size b&w photos at all nd workmen and ladders were all over. In 2003 the large room-size photos hd been added but very little else although there was a big glass case containing a few items of clothing from the family. I actually stood at the bottom of the stairs leading to the childrens' rooms above and thought about sneaking up there to see what it looked like but I had already seen a documentary on Russian prisons and was too scared to try it. Is the upstairs open now?  Thank you for the photos.         Susana

[granduchessmariska]

WOW!!! Thank you for adding this site! I have always wondered what the inside of the palace would look like now (I've never been) and the images are just AMAZING!!! *gasps* I really have to go there now. 

[Alixz]

The palace is so beautiful even in disrepair.

The grounds are magnificent.  No wonder that N&A chose to live there.

Thank you for the link.

[EmmyLee]

Thank you for pointing us to that website, Mike! Those are amazing photos. I always love it when photographers not only take shots from a distance but also zoom in to show the details of the palace and its contents. I hope the poster addes more soon.

[Joanna]

Further to Sarushka's comments on the enfilade of rooms looking from the Imperial bedroom, there is an extra wall/doorway as the Maple room has been divided into two rooms. The last door to the Formal Reception Room was created possibly either for the 1948 Pushkin Exhibition or the 1952 Naval Cadet School. On the wall had been the Marie Antoinette picture which now hangs between the two doors leading to the Small Library. In the main corridor, the door to the Maple room has been closed up but the Palisander door is still there. It was open and the view has a similar feel c1900s with the drapery over the door. The view from the entrance looking down the long corridor to the Formal Reception room is the same with the lower elevation for the mezzanine to the New Study.

Bob, I wonder if the word written on the wall is German such as Gruppenfuehrer or derogratory term that was left for the Russians? It appears that there was an attempt to wipe it as the photo was taken in the first days of the breakthrough of Pushkin. It is incredible how the stairs appear to have been wrenched out of the supports. The upper mantle by their feet may have been restored and is original to the room of what we see today.

Susana, the upper floor of the left wing is being used by the TS State Museum Pushkin as space for the curators/craftsmen restoration work. It is overflow from the Ekaterina Palace.

The roof of the semi-circular has been restored similar to the metal that was used on the left wing. The institute is still occupying the centre (though the walls of the parade rooms have been removed to the original layout) and right wing but I am not sure of the right wing which has its own problems if ever to open within the next few years. My understanding is that the issue of contamination/hazardous materials will need to be addressed. The exterior of the small right wing (of rooms 22-23) is being restored and possibly other parts as there is great deal of building materials stored in the enclosed area of between rooms 21 and 54. There was no other visitor in the AP when I was there in May and the Tsar's room were closed from rooms 63 to 67 for a new exhibition Tsars' Crosses. The exterior has deteriorated considerably and there were approx 10 large wild dogs roaming all around the entrance stairs which was scary. They are within the park areas so beware. Even the AP gate had a forlorn look. The fence still surrounds the palace and the scrap heap behind the Kitchen building remains.

Joanna

[Michael HR]

Thank you so much for your information it answered many questions.

Michael

[Laura Mabee]

The Author of the "Periskop" Livejournal account went back to the Alexander Palace and took pictures artifacts inside the Alexander Palace:

Here is the update:
http://periskop.livejournal.com/333368.html

[yolanda]

I have never visited Alexander Palace and might be a little while before I do, (one day, Sigh) I loved seeing how the Palace looks today, thanks for posting the pic's Mike, fantastic!