http://s534.photobucket.com/albums/ee348/Sian_Turner/I do hope the above link works. I have finally got round to loading up the photos I took when I was at the AP in mid-July.
The reason I've posted them in this area is that it most suits my feelings having been there, and having had time to assess my feelings and impressions gained in my visit.
I have to say - and I realise this will upset some people - that I was seriously, seriously dissappointed with the level of restoration and reproduction at the AP. As you can see from the photos the paintwork is seriously in need of work. The wing containing the so-called "reproduction" of the rooms is not too bad on the outside but the other wing is in a dreadful state, including a hole in the roof. The whole area is overgrown and badly looked after and has quite obviously suffered from the fact that all the money has been put into the Catherine Palace - which is gaudy, overblown and headache inducing in its colours. It would appear to me that previous Romanovs had little in the way of taste (The Winter Palace suffers from this to a great degree as well).
I can quite understand why Alexandra would have chosen the AP as her home. It is much more homely and in terms of size is far more like a good Georgian country house in Britain. It is simple in it's lines and layout and shows that she had an appreciation of scale and architecture. For those of us used to visiting the low key stately homes of Britain I'm afraid the Russian delight for "all that glisters" and insistence on packing rooms with things that don't match or complement the colours is somewhat sickening. I also found it hard to reconcile my understanding that this wealth and opulence in the CP and Winter Palace was created whilst millions of ordinary Russians starved.
The AP is very different and, I have to say, that I hadn't appreciated how close to the road it was. Alexandra's balcony would, I think, have been easily viewed from the road and her view from the Mauve Boudoir would have been onto the road and other houses. This rather contradicts the impression I had of the family cloistering themselves away in the AP.
As for the AP interiors I have to say that I found the experience frustrating, badly thought out, seriously un-friendly to non-Russian speakers and somewhat disappointing. My historian's eye was constantly irritated by the fact that they have put the huge photo's on the wall at the back but have then used completely the wrong furniture in an attempt to "recreate" the room. N&A's bedroom is a prime example where they've gone to great lengths to show the wall paper and curtain material but have then put beds against the side walls, icons in the wrong place and you have a tiny sheet of paper in one corner with an explanation in English of what the room is. A's mauve boudoir suffers from the same issues. If you look closely at the photo on the back wall you can see that there are perhaps two pieces of original furniture currently in the room, a desk and chair in a pale pistachio green colour which have been hidden on one side of the room and covered up with a velvet throw.
The other rooms all suffer from the same with the glorious exception of the Tsar's study which is a stunning reproduction where attention to detail is obvious and which delighted me. I was also delighted by the fact that there were objects from Garf on show including the piece of wall with the "Balshatsar was in ...." quote on it. Also's Alexei's arithmetic exercise books (he got all his sum's correct!) and also a collection of some of the girl's dresses - formal ones from I think about 1911, however none of these things were labelled in English - and I was by no means the only non-Russian tourist there that day.
Simple things like putting photo's or paintings next to the costumes would give a much greater appreciation of their history and also a far greater feeling of linkage with the past. All in all I came away feeling rather cheated.
So I'm delighted to hear that the AP is to be fully restored - it deserves it. It is a lovely building and it is heartbreaking to see it so shoddily presented. I can only hope that original furniture can be found (I appreciate that 90 years will have seen a great deal of it destroyed) or properly recreated so that we can all fully appreciate the eye for detail and design that Alexandra undoubtedly had. It may not be to our taste today but the Study shows what can be done, and brilliantly done, when the money and time is taken.
The Feodorovsky Gorodok is obviously undergoing repair but again a great deal of it is in a very sorry state. However the cathedral there is wonderfull, I stayed for a service which was affecting and moving. Let us hope that the same effort that has been put into that is put into the AP.
