The Maykovsky oil above of Nicholas II depicts him on the parade grounds of Sophia. The Cathedral of St Sophia (architect: Charles Cameron) can be seen in the background. This painting is in the collection of Tsarskoe Selo Museums.
The Pensioners' Stables (for retired horses) can be found on the northern perimeter of the Alexander Park, just west of the Farm.
Shortly after his accession, Nicholas I decided that the eight horses which had been owned and ridden by his late brother, Alexander I, be brought to Tsarskoe Selo from their St Petersburg stables. He wanted them to to spend the rest of their lives, literally in clover. In the summer months, the horses were put out to pasture - to a field specially planted with clover.
In 1827, Nicholas instructed the architect Adam Menelaws to build stables for the horses - accommodation at the nearby Farm was now insufficient.
The Pensioners' Stables is a two-storeyed building, constructed of red-brick in the, then fashionable, neo-Gothic 'English' style. On the ground floor there were eight stalls - only for horses ridden by an Emperor. There was also a tack room. The upper floor contained accommodation for grooms as well as for the watchman. The courtyard was surrounded by a series of wooden storage huts.
Just south of the Pensioners' Stables is the Horse Cemetery. Here the horses ridden by Emperors after living out their old age in the nearby stables and meadow, have found eternal rest.
Rows of slabs mark the graves of horses ridden by Russian Emperors - from Alexander I to Nicholas II. Their names and details are carved into the granite. The earliest graves can be found in the eastern section of the cemetery. The last graves were dug shortly before the Revolution.
In the cemetery one can find the graves of L'ami, the horse Alexander I rode, triumphantly, into Paris: Flora - one of Nicholas I's favourite steeds: Cob the horse ridden, very reluctantly - he had a phobia of horses - by Alexander III. Cob survives in the famous equestrian statue by P.P. Trubetskoy and was previously sited in the centre of Znamenskaya Square. (This statue was unveiled in 1911 by Nicholas II when he was accompanied by Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna. It portrays the very large, barrel-chested, Alexander III mounted on Cob - an inappropriately small, horse.
After the Revolution, the 'new regime' appended the following legend -
'My son (Nicholas II) and my father (Alexander II), were executed in their prime.
But I have obtained posthumous glory.
I stand here an an iron scarecrow for the country
Which has forever thrown off the yoke of autocracy.)
The statue can now be found, standing a little forlornly in the courtyard of the Russian Museum. The 'joke' has been removed.
tsaria
