How much original pieces, furniture is really still survived?

[Robert_Hall]

 I do not agree, that the Soviets were careless  regarding the palaces. They took great care  to inventory and  preserve  the  "Russian Patrimony".  They  looked at it as the product of the Russian people's work and sacrifice [admittedly for tyrants]. The hostility to the family itself was   quite different to  what was considered the assets of the Russian people's heritage.
 They opened up palaces and put many of them to good use, with varying success, admittedly.
 But today, the Russian people and everyone else,  can enjoy the museums packed with more that they can display and fabulous parks & gardens, because the Soviets preserved and restored them. It has been a long and difficult chore, but  what would we have without those efforts ?

[londo954]

Very true but I understood that they took less care with things that belonged to Nicholas and his family, selling off items deemed "of no historical value" I believe was the phrase they used. I suspect that where a lot of Alexander Palace items from their wing ended up. Would they take care with the furniture of Nicholas II as they would of other Tsars and Tsarinas... I was referring to an atimpathy towards the last family not tsardom in general. Hence the reason  not to restore the AP to a museum after the war!!!

[Robert_Hall]

Again, I disagree. Their clothes were preserved, so were the  personal items such as pictures and such. I imagine there was a lot of  chokes that  were  ignored, sentimental souvenirs that  meant nothing to anyone but them. But that is the same in any family, royal or otherwise. Just go around your local garage sales or swap meets, see what I mean ?
 Evey regime change, no matter what system, has a  "house cleaning". And, frankly,  the curators and historians made those distinctions.  And they were in place  BEFORE the revolution ! Many former servants and staff were employed to help determine provenance and  estimate worth, historical  and otherwise.
 Yes, a lot was sold off, but even then, there was so much, that made barely a dent in the vast collections. Except for silver, which was melted down for productive  use.
 What do you tink, londo954 is missing that  was so important ?

[pastpalacelife]

Robert, do you know if the exterior doors to the left wing are original and also the doors just inside that close off the hallway in the left wing? 
Also  off subject, what was the name of the London book store that you recommended?

[Robert_Hall]

Sorry, PPLife, I do not know about the doors. I am sure someone on the Forum does though. I would imagine they have been replaced due to varying uses since 1917,  But that is just my guess
 London bookstores... Well, I use Hatchard' on Piccadilly, as well as Foyle's on Charing Cross. I seem to be finding more at Foyles lately.  All along Charing Cross, though, are   some used book stores  Easily  found.

[pastpalacelife]

Thank you Robert, that was fast!  I also meant to ask about the doors leading into the maple room, are they copies?  Also, would the mountain slide be considered part of the furniture of the palace?  Wonder what happened to it?

[londo954]

Your point is well taken Robert I was merely offering an explanation why some original items mght not be available... only time will tell what truely is left as the other museums and outside sources will undoubtably return the items that they have as the museum restoration continues. Judging from what I have seen of the amazing resoration work the Russians have done in the past I have no doubt of the return to her former glory the Palace will enjoy in the years to come !!!

[londo954]

The October 1996 World Monuments Report identifies some 200 objects belonging to  the Alexander Palace at Pavlovsk and a further more at the Catherine Palace both of which have integrated them into their collections. Here is an exerpt:
A number of decorative art objects, paintings, and
other personal belongings of the Imperial Family,
which once constituted the interior decoration of the
Alexander Palace, are known to exist - and some are
even on public display - at several Russian museums
and in private collections. During their 1995 visits to
St. Petersburg, World Monuments Fund team members
visited two prominent locations, the nearby Catherine
Palace and Pavlovsk Palace, where the largest
number of pieces from the Alexander Palace collection
are known to be held.
Alexander Palace which were observable appear to
be in good condition and are protected from overhandling
by the public or staff.
In the state rooms of the Catherine Palace, a fine fulllength
portrait of Nicholas I by Kruger, once housed
in the Portrait Hall of the Alexander Palace's formal
enfilade, is on display. Also on display are two
exquisite neoclassical pier tables decorated on all
surfaces with lapis lazuli, along with floral details
in other semiprecious stones. A group of French
neoclassical gilded wood chairs, attributed to the
menuisier George Jacob (1739-1814), is in superb
condition. Lastly, on the ground floor of the
Catherine Palace, a magnificent large-scale porcelain
urn and stand is on display, with its gilded bronze
attacrunent of flowers. This unusual piece of great
refinement, following a design of Karl Friederich
Schinkel, appears in a watercolor of the Alexander
Palace's Crimson Drawing Room, painted by Luigi
Premazzi in 1863, where it stands impressively in
front of a window.
Historic clothes from the Imperial Family's
collection which are now at the Catherine Palace
include some of the Tsar's navy uniforms and several
belonging to the Tsarevich Alexis - including a
traveling chest with his uniform of the 12th Eastern
Siberian Shooting Regiment, his sword, gloves, and
epaulettes.
Along with clothes of the Tsarina Alexandra are ball
gowns of her daughters Anastasia, Olga, and Maria.
All of the clothes inspected appear to be remarkably
well preserved and kept in good storage conditions.
At Pavlovsk, several objects from the Alexander
Palace, generally in very good condition, are currently
part of the furnishings of the formal and private
apartments. Three neoclassical hall lanterns in the
vestibule of the palace were at the Alexander Palace
during the reign of Nicholas II. On the ground floor in
the private apartments is an exceptionally fine
writing desk by, or in the manner of, David Roentgen,
of about 1780, in very good condition. On the third
floor there are about two hundred artifacts from the
Alexander Palace: several paintings and sculptures, a
group of twelve or more Art Nouveau Galle glass vases
probably from Alexandra's Mauve Room, several very
good Art Nouveau gilded metal vases, and suites of
seat furniture.
At the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoe Selo, several
objects once at the Alexander Palace are currently
shown. In the palace's storerooms, considerable
collections of the clothes of Nicholas II, Alexandra,
and their children are held, as well as paintings -
mainly nineteenth-century portraits - from the
Alexander Palace.

[PAVLOV]

They copy anything is Russia, and very well. The Hermitage will copy almost anything at a price. They also make copies of the Imperial portraits among other things.
I have a wealthy friend who made enquiries as to the reproduction of a particular painting and the Heinrich Gambs commode which stands in front of it. Apparently the people at the museum were so thrilled about the impending commission that they took him down to the basement storerooms of the Winter Palace, and gave him a tour of what pieces were available for reproduction. The basement is stuffed with original furniture from many of the palaces, and also different periods.

I seem to recall him telling me that they had a table with matching chairs original to the AP but that they refused to reproduce it.
The tour of the basements, which is enormous, was a revelation to him.

I wonder how much AP stuff is still down there ?       

[Douglas]

Every object that was taken from the AP should  be returned.  There of many things in storage that can fill any empty space at the other palaces.

[PAVLOV]

I think that they have so much stuff, stored in so many store rooms, that they have lost track of the provenance of many items. If this is the case, I will be very surprised because the Russians are usually scrupulous about recording everything.
But everything seems to move at a snails pace in Russia, as we have seen !

[lilianna]

Floor lamp in the corner of a semi-circular Hall of the Alexander Palace.

[lilianna]

What is left of the Maple Room after the war with the Nazis and was able to keep Anatoly Kuchumov.
http://pavlovskmuseum.ru/museum/palace/3_et/index.php?ELEMENT_ID=2096

[PAVLOV]

Unless I have lost it, that blue room is not in the Alexander Palace. Where is it ? Without dragging all my books off the shelf, I would say Catherine Palace or Peterhof.There was only 1 semi-circular room in the AP and this is not it.

[Vladimir_V.]

Unless I have lost it, that blue room is not in the Alexander Palace. Where is it ? Without dragging all my books off the shelf, I would say Catherine Palace or Peterhof.There was only 1 semi-circular room in the AP and this is not it.

It is Catherine Palace.

http://eng.tzar.ru/museums/palaces/c_atherine/blue_drawing_room