Alexander Palace Restoration

[dmitri]

Well time will reveal all no doubt.

[Robert_Hall]

Tsaria, I have no doubt that what you say is true. I just find it bizarre behavior on their part, that is all.  My Russian friends are a  lost less rarefied than yours, I am afraid, and think very little, if at all, of the Romanov family.  And interest in the AP itself is minimal.  Restoration ? Why ?  To them, Gatchina and Oranienbaum and the Alexandria Park  "cottages" are a  much higher priority. I imagine these may offer better enjoyment to Russians and tourists alike.

[Vladimir_V.]

I was privileged to be invited to the official opening of the Family Wing.

I was there also. I remember there were 100-150 people, navy officers. Sautov was ill. Shvydkoy donated small vase to the museum.
Where did you stay during the meeting in front of the wing?

[Vladimir_V.]

Like Dominic Albanase, I think that the acute problem for the Russians is
that Nicholas II was a weak ruler. They don't like weak rulers,
so why create monuments for them?

He was not a weak ruler.
He was DEADLY weak!

why create monuments for them?

Why some Russians do not like NII?
There is very simple way to understand it.
Imagine the same situation in your country today.
For example:
Mr Bush – a weak president (sorry, it is my imagination). But he rules only 8 years.
Image that he rules 22 years. War, victims, catastrophic problems in economic and (in the end) US decays on different parts.
Is he a hero for the Americans? No.
Is he a hero for foreign people? Why not. (For Latin America, Cuba or Arabs.)

[Arleen_Ristau]

Very well explained Vladimir.  (We will be thrilled to get rid of Mr. Bush here and could NEVER understand any tourists wanting to visit anything that pertained to him!)

I have a very dear Russian friend and she could care less about the Romanov's and she laughs at me for my great interest in them. She cannot understand it at all. 

Compaired to the other palaces the AP is very little, I can sort of understand the Russians not caring to restore it.  There is no comparison to the Winter Palace or Catherine Palace, or etc.  We are obsessed with THE IMPERIAL FAMILY and that is why we are so keen to see it as it was in their days of living there.  Their ghosts are there even......

Arleen

[vivrosendahl]

Vladimir,

I do think I understand why Nicholas II is not being held high in the esteem of the Russians,
and also, that it may be one of the reasons why Alexander Dvorets is low-priority
regarding restoration and preservation.   
 
My point is that I hope that the Russians will reconcile themselves to the
Nicholas II- chapter of their history some fine day.
It will take time, I understand that too!

There are so many great palaces near St. Petersburg, and I'm glad to hear that
they are being restored, funds permitting. Each of them tells a story, some of these
stories being more illustrious than others! 

Today the AP seems to be perceived by most Russians as the ghostly reminder of an inept and tragic ruler,
I can follow that! What I could hope for - as a foreigner with a general interest in the Romanovs - is that it would
be preserved as a small part of the great Russian heritage for better and for worse.  No country whatsoever has a history and
heritage without bad times and bad rulers!.
But whoever they were or whatever they managed to mess up, they are still a part of a particular 
national history. 

And at the bottomline, there is more to the history of Alexander Palace than Nicholas II and his family.

Viv   

[ChristineM]

I was privileged to be invited to the official opening of the Family Wing.

I was there also. I remember there were 100-150 people, navy officers. Sautov was ill. Shvydkoy donated small vase to the museum.
Where did you stay during the meeting in front of the wing?
[V/quote]

Vladimir - what a coincidence.   I have photographs of it somewhere.   You are right, IP was in hospital with his first heart attack.   But the Mayor (was it Sobchak at the time) wasn't there either.   Afterwards, we spent a lot of time with Mikhail Shvydkoi because of our mutual professions in the media - even discussing possible joint projects.   (We share a mutual friend in Vladimir Posner)   I don't remember the vase and certainly don't recall having seen it since.  I wonder what they have done with it?   I'm pretty certain it isn't in the AP.

We were at the foot of the steps, if I recall correctly, slightly to the right of the door.   Unusually, I do remember what I was wearing, but I doubt that would help you make an identification!   I'll have a search for these photographs.

Malinki mir.

tsaria

[dmitri]

Whatever any of us think, there are countless reminders of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna in Russia. If you visit the Armoury Museum of the Kremlin in Moscow you are reminded of them. It is fascinating to see clothes from Nicholas II and Alexandra on display there. They are part of a much wider picture. It is an incredible tragedy that Alexander III died so young. Nicholas might just have learned more if his father had lived longer. Certainly the country would have avoided many disaster if Alexander III had lived longer. He knew to keep Russia out of wars. That was her only hope for survival.

[LisaDavidson]

Whatever any of us think, there are countless reminders of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna in Russia. If you visit the Armoury Museum of the Kremlin in Moscow you are reminded of them. It is fascinating to see clothes from Nicholas II and Alexandra on display there. They are part of a much wider picture. It is an incredible tragedy that Alexander III died so young. Nicholas might just have learned more if his father had lived longer. Certainly the country would have avoided many disaster if Alexander III had lived longer. He knew to keep Russia out of wars. That was her only hope for survival.

What ifs of history are very tricky. I do think that Nicholas and Alexandra's desire for privacy (or a more private life) may have been less of an issue had they not had the rulership of Russia to deal with. However, I think there was also a chance that the monarchy may have collapsed completely in 1905 had there been a different ruler - such as Alexander III.

[dmitri]

Well there is no evidence of that. I doubt he would have become involved in a disastrous war.

[LisaDavidson]

Well there is no evidence of that. I doubt he would have become involved in a disastrous war.

dmitri, there could be no evidence of that - we were speaking hypothetically! And, if you want to continue this conversation, let's do it on another thread and not on one that's supposed to be about the AP restoration.

[dmitri]

by all means

[Vladimir_V.]

My photo of the official opening of the Family Wing.



It will be interesting to see your photographs, Tsaria.

[anitchkov]

I am so glad the palace is being restored.  I walked around the outside of the palace in 1986 and was so distressed at its condition.  When I went up to the door there was this military person sitting at an old wooden vintage WW II desk with an old goose necked lamp, so I assumed that it was being utilized as some sort of government building, but the condition was deplorable.  However, even walking around the unkept grounds, I could see why the Imperial family sought refugee there, it was exceedingly peaceful. It was a very moving experience for me.

[ChristineM]

We must have been standing within a few metres of each other, Vladimir.   I'll try to find the pictures which echo yours.    I had forgotten it was Nicholai Nagorsky who stood in for Ivan Sautov who was in hospital recovering from a heart attack at the time.

tsaria