Rasputin's "Powers" and His Family Name.

[_Rodger_]

He was cremated upon orders of the Empress so that his remains wouldn't be desicrated.

[Antonio_P.Caballer]

hello Rodger,
I´ve never read about Alexandra´s ordering that. It´s against everything i´ve read. There are many witnesses of the funeral and even that the Empress put an icon inside the coffin, signed by all the family members if i remember well. The body was searched for and discovered in the first days of the revolution by a group of soldiers an then it´s reported to have being cremated and the ashes scattered in a near wood(i think Pargolovo). Since i know now that a human body cannot be cremated in such circumstances his body should have been left somewhere...

Antonio.

[_Rodger_]

It was in the Victoria Lewis/Peter Kurth Documentary.  

Ask Peter.

I believe he has a pretty good idea of the circumstances and whether it was successful or not.  I know they tried.  If I remember correctly, it was ordered by the Empress but I don't have primary or even secondary sources sitting in front of me right now.  I'm going by memory, sorry.

[Greg_King]

To clarify:

R was interred in the crypt of AV's hospital chapel, then under construction.  His body was exhumed after the Revolution by soldiers, who took it to a remote forest and there burned it.

Vicky's documentary, "Mystery of the Last Tsar" (a splendid work, by the way) simply conveys the above info as far as I know.

Greg King

[Antonio_P.Caballer]

Hello Greg,
I´ve always assumed that information as true but why then did Nicholas write in his diary about the field to the right of the photography builbing in wednsday 21th of December?
And then, if the body was not cremated to become  ashes, could Grigory´s remains be still in Tsarskoe?
I´ve never seen any photograph of that hospital or the chapel. I supposed the chapel was never finished due to the revolution, however, do you know the location of that hospital and chapel? I imagine it was just behind Anna´s house and therefore nearer to the palace. Do you have any more information???

Antonio.

[Greg_King]

I'm afraid I don't know where Anna's hospital was being built-her book (which I don't have at hand at the moment) might be more specific though if I recall she merely said "in a corner of the park," which would indicate a location with the Park at Tsarskoye Selo.  Maybe Bob has further information?

Greg King

[BobAtchison]

The Photography building was the former Llama House.   As you can see from this map I made Anna's hospital was to the right of the Llama House outside the park.  Because this area was wooded and surrounded by the park it would have seemed to people who didn't know the area that it was inside it.

Nicholas 's description is correct - it is on the right of the Photographic pavillion (Llama House) as you head out Riding Road or Edge Road across the pond.

Bob

[Antonio_P.Caballer]

Hi Bob,
Thanks again, you´ve just solved what i thought was impossible for me to know! Now i understand my confussion...I assume that nothing remains of Anna´s hospital, however i will look for it and the grave next time i ´m in Tsarskoe. Still i ´cannot help thinking what became of Grigory´s remains...
 Antonio.

[BobAtchison]

I am thinking - maybe next summer we should do a trip to Tsarskoe and go to all of these places together.  That would be fun.

Bob

[Antonio_P.Caballer]

WOW, being there with you all!!! Just GREAT!!! I would need however to know it sometime in advence to save the proper amount of money...I was last time in Russia last summer for a month and is always so sadly expensive....

Antonio.

[Reed]

Name the date.....if possible I would LOVE to go back.

[Silja]

I very much agree about what has been said about Radsinsky's writing, but I don't think he sensationalizes to sell more books but because of his inability to discard his playwrighting style and perspective.

[_Rodger_]

Greg,

I agree.  I find 'The Mystery of the Tsar' to not only be a fine production, it's useful too.

The US Army's Parsons and Weedn claim that the huge strands of DNA they along with Gill tested were as a result of 'permafrost' at the Ekaterinburg site.  Freezing without thaw (permafrost) does indeed preserve DNA a bit better than warmer temperatures.

However 'The Mystery of the Tsar' clearly shows the removal of the remains from a very muddy bog, in a dense aspen and coniferous forest.  

Trees do not grow in permafrost.

[Joanna]

There was a pamphlet published last year on the Serafimovsky Infirmary of Anna Vyrubova in the Alexander Park with photographs.  Has anyone seen this?  And am I right that Loman was the architect of the infirmary and the church or was it Danini perhaps?

Joanna

[BobAtchison]

Rodger:

Having been there in July, down in some holes in the forest there and at the mine I can tell you it is very, very cold just a few feet down.  I don't know how the trees manage to grow..  It is incredibly beautiful - a carpet of grass with small daisies and mushrooms - nettles.... it's almost all birches as far as I remember it not too close together.

Also, don't forget they found fairly large sections of preserved tissue of Botkin and - it has been speculated - Anastasia...

Bob