CINCINNATI Exhibition: At Home with the Last Tsar

[Laura Mabee]

Has anyone gone to this yet? What kinda things are they offering at the gift shop? Is it well done? or does it look like a un-professional, slapped together job?  

Edited: For language and adding "sar" at the end of the T

[mek]

I live in Cincinnati and went the first weekend.  Very nicely done exhibit.  I've seen better gift shops, but some interresting books were available for purchase. Anything in particular you are looking for?

[Laura Mabee]

I'm mostly looking for DVD's or good picture books (as they are my favorite!) Any kind of little trinkets, like postcards, stickers, little things like that.

Do you know if Camera's were allowed in to this exhibit, since it's moved to Cincinnati?

[mek]

Sorry, no cameras.

[Laura Mabee]

Sorry, no cameras.

Damn, I really wish there was camera's allowed! Especially if you can take the flash off. My question is... can they tell if you have a camera? Are there folks that browse the exhibit to make sure there are no cameras?

[helenazar]

Damn, I really wish there was camera's allowed! Especially if you can take the flash off. My question is... can they tell if you have a camera? Are there folks that browse the exhibit to make sure there are no cameras?

You can have the camera there but you can't take pictures. There are guards in every room (at least this is the way it was in Newark, so I am assuming it's the same in Cincinatti), and if they see you taking pictures they will yell at you. But of course you can bring your camera in....

[Laura Mabee]

You can have the camera there but you can't take pictures. There are guards in every room (at least this is the way it was in Newark, so I am assuming it's the same in Cincinatti), and if they see you taking pictures they will yell at you. But of course you can bring your camera in....

Good to know.. I didn't know they had guards in each room, Wow! Hard-core protection man!  

[Elizabeth]

A group from my church -- Russian Orthodox -- is taking a trip to Cincinnati in the next few weeks to see the exhibit.

For those who have seen it, are there a lot of religious items (icons, etc.), or is it mainly the family's personal things.  I'm concerned that a number of people in our group are going to see "the icons," while not realizing that it's about the IF, and not about Orthodoxy.

Thanks!

[mek]

Definately about the IF and the Alexander Palace
- some religious items, but that's not the main focus.

[NAAOTMA]

Kay, thank you for the beautiful post! Melissa K.

[Sunny]

Kay Tanaka wrote: It would seem that to try to separate orthodoxy from the Imperial Family, especially Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna, would be quite impossible. Once Alexandra had relinquished her own faith in order to marry Nicholas, she embraced the Russian Orthodox Church with all her being. Because of her shyness and the indelible sadness caused by the many tragedies of her youth including the death of her young brother and the loss of her mother, she found herself ill-suited to the pomp and decadence of the Russian Court. In addition, Alexandra was a serious and proper young lady whose life had been greatly influenced by her grandmother, Queen Victoria and thus, Victorian England. Isolated and lonely in her new homeland of Russia, she turned to her new church and its teachings which became even more her refuge after the birth and subsequent illness of the Tsarevich for which she felt most responsible and for which she also shouldered the blamed directed toward her by certain members of her husband's family who, fearing the possibility of hemophilia (passed through the lineage of Queen Victoria) had opposed their marriage.

This should be required reading for anyone interested in Alexandra. Many thanks, Kay.

Sunny

[strom]

I saw the show this past week.  For all those who care about the last Russian Imperial family the show is essential.  By the way, I was in the Alexander Palace two years ago and noticed that the original frame for the Marie Antoinette tapestry was missing.  (I presume it was lost in the war.)  I noticed that for the tapestry as displayed in Cincinnati it has been given a frame very like that it formerly had in the Empress's Corner Audience Chamber! Incidentally, this tapestry is very fine.  It is late, but nevertheless a masterpiece.  

Also the very fine French chairs that once formed a suite for this room and of which one was used to seat the Emperor in a famous photograph from about 1914 were also on display.  This chair is marked with the monogram of Catherine I.  I assume they were originally ordered for the Catherine Palance and possible brought to the Alexander Palace by Alexandra.  Does anyone have any info on this particular suite of chairs, how many survive, their provenence and manufacture.  They appear very fine to me.    

Best wishes to all who love the Russian Imperials and Russia.  

[Shvibzik]

You can have the camera there but you can't take pictures. There are guards in every room (at least this is the way it was in Newark, so I am assuming it's the same in Cincinatti), and if they see you taking pictures they will yell at you. But of course you can bring your camera in....

   I went to the Cincinnati one, and there were no guards I was aware of.  It is really unfortunate they did not allow cameras , there was so much to see!  There were home videos, lots of pictures, religous icons, letters (a lot asking for stamps), notes between the family, gowns, paintings, toys, books, lots of personal belongings (too many to list), and a video of the Romanov decentants.  And I agree with mek, there have been better gift shops!  It was great.  My history teacher went too.
  Oh, sorry if I got carried away...!
  As for the chairs, I don't know much about them, sorry. :-/

[kamlowsky]

Thank you Kay for sharing the Cincinnati Exhibition with us.

Nearby are the Imperial couple's bed linens above which hang icons including the Icon of St. Barbara with a particle of the saint's relics.

Can anyone tell me the connection of St Barbara with N and A?
I am named after my Russian Grandmother Barbara and am interested in anyone's reply.

[bluetoria]

Is it Barbara, Ella's companion, who was murdered with her at Alapaevsk (hence the likelihood of a relic?) Or the 4th century (legendary) St. Barbara who was martyred in Rome (& is the patron saint of the Italian navy??)  Or another of the Orthodox Church??