Then and now (Locations, clothes, etc)

[TimM]

I would so love to visit these sites myself.  First, however, I'd have to win the lottery to afford it.

[Kitt]

An amazing collection. Some like the wing chair in the AP looks like it is just waiting for one of the family to come in and sit down. Thank you very much.

[edubs31]

These are remarkable.The survival and mostly good appearance of these places, both buildings and their  natural physical settings,often from more than a century ago, is striking to me. That they have done so after experiencing two devastating wars and a revolution and civil war in some cases is almost unbelievable.

I' ve seen photos of my small typical American hometown from  about sixty years before my time there and  it seems to have changed more than have early twentieth century Central Europe and Russia.
Great job ,Bryndis!

Well it was mainly the Nazi that did the real damage. Before that everything seem to be well preserved and mostly respected. Chances are it would have continued. Can you imagine what it would look like if the Nazi never stepped foot there! It's rather amazing that despite how well it looks now it could have been even more so.  

And your right about the America and Europe thing. It seems like in the United States when they make change they go full force and leave very little of the former in its path. The only thing left are the pictures and film. In Europe on the the other hand they seem to have done a wonderful job blending the modern with the old.

True, but the fact that the Nazi's did so much damage in the first place to the infrastructure of many a European town - or the U.S. having destroyed mainland Japan - basically forced those places to rebuild. At which point they were give the choice of creating brand new structures or rehabbing old ones. I would argue that the finances, the incentive, and the need were all there in part because of the destruction caused. A sort of "we shall rise again" spirit. In ordinary late-19th/early-20th century American towns by contrast this wasn't necessary. They we're left to decay and subjected to the elements.

[Rodney_G.]

Good points,Erik and MariaSisi, though in the last sentence of my post I had a different idea in mind.Namely that the physical landscape we are familiar with from an earlier time can also be transformed to the point of near unrecognizability by benign or at least not malign intentions.
I have in mind simply the tearing down of existing buildings to build other, better structures, schools or hospitals, or bus stations where families used to live; urban parks where there used to be commercial buildings (and sometimes vice versa), housing tracts where there used to be farmland.None of my grandparents'  childhood  homes exist. There is a school administration building now where I lived afrer college.A horse corral adjacent to my boyhood home is now a suburban two story.
This is not unusual, but it does challenge historical and even personal memory..
So yes it is with pleasure that I can see the Alexander Park where OTMAA and cousins played still intact and enjoyed by the public. Likewise for the palaces and residences in these great photos.And similarly for Anna Vyrubova's residence, though not shown here..I can well imagine such a modest building not surving such a tumultuous century

[Bryndis]

A photo of Anna Vyrubova's house is among the other photos. Here it is again:




And here's Rasputin's apartment for those who haven't seen it

[TimM]

Good to see that a lot of these places are still around today.

[Sanochka]

It's amazing how unprepossing Vyrubova's house is, especially the main entrance.  In looking at the main entrance, the last people I would imagine entering and exiting the place would be NAOTMAAA.  The thought of any one of them alighting from one of the luxurious Romanov automobiles and stepping through the house's front door is incongruous, to say the least. 

Thank you so much for posting.  The picture of the house taken from across the intersection puts the place in a whole new perspective.

[amelia]

I saw her house the first time I went to Russia, 2003. It is really small inside, but it is just accross from Alexander Palace. The living room specially is so small and I wonder how could she entertain the Tsar and family there.

Eva McDonald
(Amelia)

[Kalafrana]

Nicholas and family liked domesticity, so they probably enjoyed it.

Ann

[Nictionary]

These pictures are so interesting.  I'm surprised that so many of the IF's palaces and possessions were preserved by the Bolsheviks.  One would expect the Bolos to do the opposite, given the countless old churches and statues that they destroyed.  I suppose one reason they kept the Romanovs' palaces and belongings intact was for their propaganda value, so they could teach future generations how "decadent" the old regime had been.
I was able to see Tatiana's uniform up close when Nicholas & Alexandra: At Home With The Last Tsar and His Family came to Santa Fe, and I was impressed how well-preserved it was. 
Speaking of my hometown, I think it may be an exception to what Rodney was saying.  There are still many buildings around from the 19th century, and in 2 or 3 cases even from the 18th century.  Partly this is because the city zoning code requires the preservation of historic structures.  I have a book called Santa Fe Then & Now which is filled with these same kind of photos, and it is striking how not much has changed.  The streets in the older parts of town are still quite narrow.  Another good illustration of this is my dad's childhood home.  It was originally built in the first quarter of the 1800's as a shepherd's home.  You can still see the shepherd's name where he carved it into the kitchen wall.  The house next door was originally built as a stagecoach station.  Today, both houses are still occupied, and their appearance has changed very little.
The one thing that has disappeared completely are the drive-in theaters, of which there are only two or three left in the whole state.

[Bryndis]

Yelagin Palace (Minnie, today, Stolypin's children)

[TimM]

To the past, then the present, and back again.

[JamesAPrattIII]

Very impressive!

[Lochlanach]

I would so love to visit these sites myself.  First, however, I'd have to win the lottery to afford it.

I think a visit to Hesse this year might be feasible for me . I am trying to catalogue places the IF visited over the years in the region  ; there is a photographic record of some of the places they visited on this thread , others not , and obviously some of these places are destroyed (much of Darmstadt) or generally not open to the public (Wolfsgarten). If there is a known itinerary for the 1910 Hesse trip available somewhere I would appreciate it if a member could point me in the right directiion , or make corrections or additions to the list below (in no particular order);
Schloss Friedberg - Bad Neuheim ; Reinhardskirche, Schwalheim Brunnenhaus - Kastell Saalburg - Lich - Schloss Munzenberg - Wolfsgarten - Darmstadt ; Orthodox Church , Schlossmuseum ? .

[TimM]

Well, if you do mange to get there, have a nice trip.