Visiting the Palace

[NAAOTMA]

Like others on this thread, I hope to visit St. Petersburg this summer. My husband is Estonian, and we will be in Tallinn, Estonia for a family wedding. My late father-in-law was a young pharmacy apprentice at the Imperial Pharmacy in Tsarkoe Selo during the First World War. Does anyone know where the Imperial Pharmacy was located? My father-in-law, at the very end of his life, told family members that when he made up the medicines that went to the Alexander Palace the bottles were marked with fictional names so no one knew who the medicine was actually for... safety and security reasons. Would love to see the site of where he worked if possible this coming summer.  He left St Petersburg on the last train out to the Estonian Border during the October Revolution and later served as a medic during the Estonian War of Independence. I wish he had shared his stories with us, but he was very reticent to discuss the past. Melissa K.

[David_Weaver]

Two items for Bob Atchison:  

1. When you get a chance, this reader would welcome your descriptions of further visits to the Alexander Palace. The more detailed the better.

2. Helen's idea of a group trip to St Petersburg sounds pregnant with potential. If I may build on her idea: It seems a carefully-planned tour providing indepth content oriented to those with significant interest would be attractive; a tour avoiding the touristy approach in favor of one for reflection, questions and insightful exploration of this era, its issues, sites and people.

[helenazar]

David,
The kind of tour you mention, a less touristy-more reflective one, already does exist, it is organized by Suzanne Massie, the author Robert Massie's wife, through  Exeter International (www.russiatours.com/grouptour.html?tour=3120472504161154), but it is VERY EXPENSIVE... I think it would be awsome to go there with Suzanne's group, but not that many people can afford to drop the $7K, not including the flight, for nine days . I was also thinking of a tour along the same lines you mentioned, and I know it can be done for a much more affordable price, albeit not as luxurious. If we can get an interested group together for this, I think it can be planned fairly easily....
helen

[LisaDavidson]

While I cannot speak for Bob, I can tell you that he has always been generous about being willing to travel with people to Russia who are interested in the Palace. I helped to organize one such trip in the 1990's.

Exeter is willing to package trips for us. It is not, however, as easy as it may look to do this. For starters, we generally need a minimum of 20 people, but the group can't get too big, or there can be problems. The rub is the money - with the airfare cost, it doesn't make sense to have the trip be too short, but needing to stay longer means that the lowest cost I could ever come up with was $5000 per person. That's alot of money, as most people would want to bring someone with them.

I am willing to help organize a trip, but before I do, I'd like to have plenty of input on what people want beforehand.

[M_Breheny]

I, for one, would  like to learn more about a possible trip to Russia organized by some of the Alexander Palace folks.  Such a tour would be fascinating since it would be geared toward our specific interests (the Alexander Palace, the Romanovs, etc., etc.), unlike most of the usual Russian tours.  I think I could even convince my husband to come along too, since he has always been sorry he didn't accompany me when I went to the former Soviet Union in 1976.

Mary

[LisaDavidson]

I should also clarify that Suzanne Massie is Robert Massie's former wife, as well as being a good friend of Bob's and the Alexander Palace's. I understand she did significant research on Nicholas and Alexandra.

[amy]

Hello,

I'm not really sure where to start, but my husband and I will be visting St. Petersburg this summer.  Visiting the Alexander Palace is TOP on my list of must see places while we're there. Needless I say, I'm very excited about this trip.  (I still can't quite believe we're going!)

I'd also like to add a HUGE thank you to Bob Atchison.   About five years ago, shortly after I finished reading Robert Maisse's Nicholas and Alexandra (my first exposure to the Romanovs!), I stumbled upon your site. I'm not exactly sure how to word this, but the work you did, and continue to do with your team, irrevocably changed my world. I won't detail the extent to which this subject has influenced my life, but I will state that at the very least I wouldn't be visiting Russia this summer!  

Thank you so much for all the effort you (et al.) have put into bringing this family to life.  

Amy K

[BobAtchison]

Wow, thank you - that was very kind of you, Amy -

Bob

[londo954]

I have to agree with Amy ...ever since reading Nicholas and Alexandra in Grade 12 I have been a passionate Russian historian. I took course in University toward my degree in History and wherever possilbe I worte on Russia and the World of Nicholas and ALexandra. My honours thesis in art was on The Art and Architecture of Imperial Russia. This was pre internet   I only wish I had access to the wonderful and extensive research on your site. It has been a joy to see the world that I had only read about come to life again.... Keep up the good work. For those of us not fortunate enough to visit it yet yours is the only window into that world.
As an added footnote my Russian History Professor was one of the few western historians allowed into the archives in Moscow. His specialty was Catherine the Great and he told me wonderful stories of reading books from her library that conained hand written annotations from her.

[leslie]

I've been a lurker on this site for many years and, after reading Amy's kudos to Bob, I feel compelled to add my comments to hers.  I read "Nicholas and Alexandra" as a very young teenager over 30 years ago and it changed my life.  When I first stumbled onto the Alexander Palace website in the mid-90s I thought I was in hog heaven.  Thanks Bob for such a great website and for keeping so many of our dreams alive by keeping us up-to-date on this fascinating subject.  It is the dream of my life to visit the Alexander Palace and I would be interested in joining a group composed of members of this discussion group.

I do have a question -- we never hear much about the second floor rooms, i.e., the nurseries.  What (or who) is currently occupying these rooms and what condition are they in?

[Antonio_P.Caballer]

My late father-in-law was a young pharmacy apprentice at the Imperial Pharmacy in Tsarkoe Selo during the First World War. Does anyone know where the Imperial Pharmacy was located?.

Hello Melissa,
There were around 1912 five different pharmacies in Tsarskoe Selo.
- The Court Hospital´s pharmacie (I think this could be what you are looking for),  in Gospitalnaya ulitsa nº 38.
- Local Hospital Pharmacie.
- Deringer ( corner Kaniushenaya with Moskovskaya ulitsa nº 45/ 20 )
- Kassk ( corner Oranzhereynaya with Moskovskaya ulitsa nº 17/27 )
- Walther ( corner Pavlovskoe schosse with Volkonskaya ulitsa)

The first and most interesting for you is still preserved and is now the city hospital.
I hope you will find the information useful!

Antonio.

[Antonio_P.Caballer]

I do have a question -- we never hear much about the second floor rooms, i.e., the nurseries.  What (or who) is currently occupying these rooms and what condition are they in?

hello Leslie,

The second floor as well as the rest of the palace save Nicholas and Alexandra´s rooms still belongs to the Baltic Fleet and no one, not even the museum curators, can visit those rooms. Their present condition is as far as i know unknown...

Antonio.

[Forum Admin]

"I do have a question -- we never hear much about the second floor rooms, i.e., the nurseries.  What (or who) is currently occupying these rooms and what condition are they in?"

Bob answered this same question earlier in the thread of "Alexander Palace Interiors". Go there and you can read his account of visiting the second floor.

[Antonio_P.Caballer]

Hi Joanna!

The Court Hospital had two floors and a basement. It also had a little portico with two columns, so it´s different to that in Anna´s book. However,  the hospital could have another auxiliary building where they took that photograph...but it seems unlikely...

[NAAOTMA]

Dear Antonio,

How can I thank you for the information regarding the Court Pharmacy! I will be there this summer and take pictures so the children can see where their grandfather and greatgrandfather served the Imperial Court of Nicholas and Alexandra. With gratitude, Melissa K.