GRAND DAUCHESS'S BEDROOMS

[Geniebeanie]

Does any pictures excist of the bedrooms of the grand duchess today.    I was wondering what the rooms look like now.

[pastpalacelife]

The children's floor of the Alexander Palace is not open for visitors, in fact only a few rooms are public.  I don't know if anyone knows the condition of the upstairs, but I do remember reading Bob Atchison was able to go upstairs for a meeting in Alexei's room (I think) several years ago.  It would be interesting to hear his description of that room and the rooms he may have walked past. 

[Sarushka]

This is a photo of the meeting pastpalacelife mentioned:



I'm not sure how long ago that was, but I believe it was taken in Aleksei's rooms. For what it's worth, I've never seen another contemporary photo of any of the upstairs rooms.

[pastpalacelife]

Thanks for that pic, do you happen to know what the wooden structure is in the background?  And also, has Bob ever discussed what the condition of the room was? 

[Sarushka]

Thanks for that pic, do you happen to know what the wooden structure is in the background?

Nope.

  And also, has Bob ever discussed what the condition of the room was? 

I'm not sure. I saved this photo from an old thread, so it's possible Bob might have mentioned something about the rooms' condition in that discussion. It would take some sleuthing to find it, though -- can't remember what the title of the original topic was.

[NAOTMAA Fan]

Thanks for that pic, do you happen to know what the wooden structure is in the background?  And also, has Bob ever discussed what the condition of the room was? 

It could be a Grandfather clock, you can see ( what may be) the brass chime hanging in the centre. Either that or some decorative sideboard with some objects sitting on its shelf : D

[Sarushka]

Thanks for that pic, do you happen to know what the wooden structure is in the background?  And also, has Bob ever discussed what the condition of the room was? 

It could be a Grandfather clock, you can see ( what may be) the brass chime hanging in the centre.

I think you're right!

[Sarushka]

From Yakovlev's 1928 description of the Little Pair's bedroom:

In a closet at the back wall the childhood belongings of the princesses are stored, such as: dresses, coats, umbrellas, shoes, baptismal bonnets, hats, knitted blouses and so on.

Based on that information, I believe this photo, which has been labeled as Olga and Tatiana's bedroom, is in fact the rear wall of Maria and Anastasia's bedroom:



Olga and Tatiana's bedroom had a similar set of doors at the rear of their room, but those doors led out into the central corridor. You can see them in this photo of Maria and Nicholas in 1917:


The nearly identical style and position of the iconostases in each corner has probably duped us into thinking these two photos are the same room, but as you can see, the panels of the doors to the left of each iconostasis don't match -- they can't be the same doors. In the Little Pair's bedroom there's even a cot blocking the cabinet doors -- something you probably wouldn't do if you had a doorway leading out into the hallway. In fact, the Little Pair's bedroom had no access to the central corridor:

[Ortino]

I think you are right, Sarushka. Based on Yakovlev's description---he mentions the Little Pair's room having maple iconostasis' and the closet--the first photo appears to be of the bedroom of Marie and Anastasia, not Olga and Tatiana. Good eye!

[NAOTMAA Fan]

I thought people had realized this before D :

[Joanna]

The second floor is being used by the Tsarskoe Selo State Museum for restorers' area. They used to be in the Zubov Wing of the Catherine Palace working on the Lyons, Arabesque rooms etc but the space has now been opened as Alexander II exbition. The restorers are using even #1-2-3 of the second floor.

Joanna

[RomanovMartyrs]

So the post above me is to explain why there is not access to the children's floor?

It seems quite odd that it is not open to the public- I'd think many a tourist would love to see the area.

Very odd indeed...

Is there no better explanation? (No offense Joanna, I appreciate your information, I'm rather being demanding of those keeping this place locked away from us history fans.)

[Sarushka]

I don't recall seeing this photo before. It's a view from the playroom, looking into Maria and Anastasia's bedroom:



(From Yakovlev's 1927 book on the AP, page 105)

[EmmyLee]

Thank you Sarushka! It's great to get a new view of the room, however slim it is.

[historyfan]

Are these the rooms in which the Grand Duchesses were ill with the measles during March of 1917?