The Imperial Family's travels around/across Russia

[duke felix]

Does anyone know what parts of Russia the imperial family (Nicholas, Alexandra and children) would have visited during their lives? Russia is a vast country and Imperial Russia even more so and it seems odd that Nicholas would never have visited the Caucasus or Central Asia although I get the impression that they rarely strayed from European Russia and the Ukraine. I believe Nicholas however had ceremonially laid a section of track on the Trans-Siberian railway in perhaps Vladivostok?

If anyone has any idea it would be appreciated!

Thanks

Felix

[nena]

Does this link help you:

http://forum.alexanderpalace.org/index.php?topic=9008.60

 I believe Nicholas however had ceremonially laid a section of track on the Trans-Siberian railway in perhaps Vladivostok? If anyone has any idea it would be appreciated!

Thanks

Felix

Yes, on May 31, 1891. Also, I believe that Nicholas was near Caucasus during visiting Eastern Russian Front in 1915. See the link above.

[LisaDavidson]

Alexandra's travels were limited to the Western parts of the Empire as the sheer size of the Empire made it impossible to see all of it.

Nicholas saw a bit more because he took a grand tour in the early 1890's. He travelled to Japan and came back via (I believe) the Trans Siberian Railroad and actually got to see Tobolsk, for example. Yurovsky recalled that he was excited to see him when he appeared in the city in Siberia where he was living.

Emperors had to rely on other family members to be aware of what was going on in the far reaches of the Empire. The Michailovichi spent many years in Georgia, for example.

I don't know if Nicholas ever visited his favorite brother, George, who spent nearly a decade in Abbas Tuman in the Caucasus due to his tuberculosis.

[Svetabel]

Emperors had to rely on other family members to be aware of what was going on in the far reaches of the Empire. The Michailovichi spent many years in Georgia, for example.

I don't know if Nicholas ever visited his favorite brother, George, who spent nearly a decade in Abbas Tuman in the Caucasus due to his tuberculosis.

Nicholas didn't visit Georgiy during that decade, but he did visit the Caucasus in 1915.

[Empire]

I have been specifically researching Grand Duke George's life for some years and can confirm that Nicholas did in fact visit his brother whilst he was living in the Caucasus. One such occasion was November 1892, there was a great deal of fun had by all, and the brothers seem to have reverted to the playful antics of their youth. I have not however, come across any record of him returning in later years, after he became Tsar and was married, but will let you know if I come across anything further.

[Svetabel]

I have been specifically researching Grand Duke George's life for some years and can confirm that Nicholas did in fact visit his brother whilst he was living in the Caucasus. One such occasion was November 1892, there was a great deal of fun had by all, and the brothers seem to have reverted to the playful antics of their youth. I have not however, come across any record of him returning in later years, after he became Tsar and was married, but will let you know if I come across anything further.

Did you find info on Nicholas' visit to Georgiy in Nicholas' diary?

[Empire]

No, I haven't checked Nicholas's diary but it was recorded in Georgiy's diary and more details were given in Nicholas's letter to their mother.
Would you happen to know if Nicholas's diary is published anywhere online for that time? I know it is available online in Russian from 1894 - 1896 but can't find anything for earlier years, either online or in print.

[Svetabel]

No, I haven't checked Nicholas's diary but it was recorded in Georgiy's diary and more details were given in Nicholas's letter to their mother.
Would you happen to know if Nicholas's diary is published anywhere online for that time? I know it is available online in Russian from 1894 - 1896 but can't find anything for earlier years, either online or in print.

Some extracts from his earlier (before 1894) diaries were published in various books, but there's no a whole edition.

[RomanovMartyrs]

Anyone have more information on this, or perhaps photos of them making the trip?

I visited the cathedral about a year ago and was surprised to find a plaque on the wall saying NOTMA had visited there in 1912.

Here's a photo I took:

http://malinajagoda.deviantart.com/gallery/36705532#/d4wvfhd

TIA.

[Inok Nikolai]

Well, at the end of June 1912, the Russian Imperial family travelled on the Standart to Port Baltic (present-day Paldiski), which is located west of Tallinn (then called Revel), in order to meet with the German Imperial family.

They were in Port Baltic from June 21- June 22, so perhaps while in the area, they went to Revel afterwards, and Tsar Nicholas II and his daughters visited the St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral.

The church had been built to commemorate the miraculous escape of Tsar Alexander III and the Imperial family from the train wreck at Borki in October 1888.

Also see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paldiski

http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Александро-Невский_собор_(Таллин)

Here are some photos taken at Port Baltic on that occassion:
http://vrtu-vvkure.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=4028
(scroll down at bit to see them)

[Inok Nikolai]

Here is some more information from another site in Russian:
http://turizm.lib.ru/n/nowak_anatolij_wladimirowich/tallinn-1.shtml

The text below confirms that the last Russian Tsar visited the church in 1912, and he gifted the church an icon of St. Nicholas of Myra, the Wonder-worker.


-В честь чудесного спасения царской семьи строящийся храм решено было назвать именем небесного покровителя Александра III, Св. Александра Невского. В 1895 году состоялась торжественная церемония освящения закладки храма, а спустя пять лет (в 1900 году) - торжественное освящение самого собора, в церемонии которого принимал участие Св. прав. о. Иоанн Кронштадтский.
   -Храм построен в стиле московско-ярославского зодчества 17 века. Фасады собора украшены мозаичными панно работы академика архитектуры А. Н. Фролова. Того самого, кто сделал мозаики для храма Спаса-на-Крови в Санкт-Петербурге.
   -В 1912 году последний российский император Николай II, приехав в Ревель, подарил собору икону, изображающую Святителя Николая Чудотворца со стоящими сзади Святителя святыми. На той же колонне в храме висит икона Александра Невского, в которой находится частица мощей из Александро-Невской лавры.

[Inok Nikolai]

And yet further confirmation of the visit in 1912:

http://baltija.eu/content/2997

"25 июня 1912 года Таллинский Кафедральный собор в честь Святого Благоверного Князя Александра Невского посетил Государь Император Николай II."

(On June 25, 1912, the Soverign Emperor Nicholas II visited Tallinn's Cathedral Church of Saint Prince Alexander Nevsky.)

Photo at the same cathedral, but in 1908:
http://www.vfs.ee/photo_pam/Al_Nevsk_imperator_na_vihode.jpg

Here's a better version of same 1908 photo:
http://www.eha.ee/raamatud/Tuna/lk104-106%20fotoarhiiv%20Tuna_vene.pdf

This Russian site states that on June 29, 1912, Tsar Nicholas II laid the cornerstone for the new Naval base in Tallinn (which means that the Imperial family was still in the area).
http://www.histrodamus.ee/index.php?event=Show_event&event_id=3352&layer=212&lang=rus#3352

[Inok Nikolai]

An interesting discovery:

In the posting No. 2 above, the fuller translation concerning the icon of St. Nicholas gifted to the church by Tsar Nicholas II states that the icon depicts St. Nicholas with other Saints behind him, and that on that same column hangs an icon of St. Alexander Nevsky which has a small relic of the Saint embedded in it.

Voila!

Here is a 360 degree view of the interior of the cathedral.
http://www.360pano.eu/show/?id=538

If one begins by facing the iconostasis, and then rotates the picture to the right, one comes to the column mentioned above.
On the left side of the column is a large, full stature icon of St. Alexander Nevsky, and in the bottom left-hand corner of the icon is a small metal star containing the relic.

While on the right side of the column is an icon of St. Nicholas, with other Saints depicted behind him. No doubt that is the icon presented to the church by Tsar Nicholas II.

By the way, I believe that the Imperial family had attended the consecration of the church in 1900.

And they also visited it again in 1908 while in Revel / Tallinn to meet the King and Queen of Great Britain.

Well, enough detective work on this one question for now...