World Monuments Fund Report on the Alexander Palace Now Online

[BobAtchison]

As many of you know I was involved with the WMF - World Monuments Fund - to get the Alexander Palace on the list of 100 endangered sites for 1995.  This lead to a major effort by myself, the WMF, the museums of Tsarskoe Selo and others to get the palace reopened and raise fiunds for urgent repairs and other research work.  American Express and the Kress Foundation gave $250,000 for urent repairs to the roof over the Imperial wing.  Well it has been 10 years since the WMF issued its report on the palace - and it is still waiting to be implemented.  I have just put the report online at:

http://www.alexanderpalace.org/wmfreport/

Many thanks to Preston and Scott for their pictures - I have placed three ZOOMs with the report and hope to add 2 more tomorrow.

[Jim_Wilhelm]

What a beautiful job of making this report a pleasure to look at and read. This is why I first visited this site and this is the kind of information that brings me back time and again. Thanks to Bob and those whose material he used to present this information in an attractive and interesting way.

Jim Wilhelm
Albuquerque, NM USA

[Reco]

I am sorry to throw a stone in the pond.

The frontage of the Palace Floorplan is not in horizontal straight line nor in vertical straight line.

[BobAtchison]

It was scanned from a photocopied page - maybe there was a distortion.  Sorry - I will check that out...

[Scott]

You're very welcome for the photos.  Let me know if I can do anything else to help.

[BobAtchison]

Scott - your photos have been a HUGE help - you really have shown us how the palace looks today - I plan to use them on our International Petition for the Restoration of the Alexander Palace.  Scott, do you have any video?

Bob

[Scott]

No, I didn't take any video.

[BobAtchison]

Any plans for a return trip, Scott?

Bob

[Scott]

No current plans for another trip, but I'm sure I could be talked into it without too much trouble.  My current frequency of visits wouldn't call for another trip to Petersburg until 2012.  I seem to go every 7 years -- 1991, 1998 and 2005.

[ArchitectCS]

Hello

Has any work been done to the roof since the last posting, or is this treasure still deteriorating?

[LisaDavidson]

Hello

Has any work been done to the roof since the last posting, or is this treasure still deteriorating?

Sadly, still deteriorating. Because it was primarily a family home, which is something that even those who don't live in a palace can relate to, the restoration of the AP has not been a high priority.

[TheAce1918]

Sadly, still deteriorating. Because it was primarily a family home, which is something that even those who don't live in a palace can relate to, the restoration of the AP has not been a high priority.

I just can't understand why it isn't a priority.  This is Russian history we're talking about, you would expect a bunch of support from native Russians to help preserve some of their heritage. 
And before y'all correct moi, I do know a little about the financial and governmental conditions in Russia right now, and the fact that post-Soviet generations are still getting used to Democracy...and survival with the Putin government. 
I'm sorry, but it just seems too sad. 

[ChristineM]

I'm afraid I am at odds with Lisa's post.

The Winter Palace was a 'family home' along with a number of other palaces some of which have survived and others not - the Lower Dacha at Petergof being a case in point.   Although there are plans to reconstruct the Lower Dacha, despite its close association with the last reign, it is not nearly as politically significant as the Alexander Palace.   

The reason behind the lack of attention paid to the Alexander Palace, is Russia's unwillingness, which could be interpreted as discomfort, to confront this area of her past.   Where previously, cost implications were used as a suitable, easy, obvious excuse, this is no longer the case.   The reason is political NOT financial.   Having worked directly with the administration of Tsarskoe Selo Museums for over fifteen years, I can state this without fear of contradiction.   However, there is some movement.   There is, nowadays, a degree of will.    There is an awareness that a restored Alexander Palace would prove a huge financial asset not just for TSM, but for the entire oblast - including St Petersburg city.   However, they are corseted by inertia.   An inertia not likely to move until post the 2008 presidential elections.

tsaria

[Douglas]

Tsaria is correct.  The whole thing about a neglected Alexander Palace is Political. What else could it be?

A restored AP would draw tourists like  honey bees to flowers.

[TheAce1918]

It seems like an ongoing personal feud between Russians and their past.  Political reasons?  Good Lord it was nearly a century ago! 

EX: The American Civil War was 146 years ago, and there are monuments for both sides, as well as personal issues amongst some Americans still.

I'm not saying Russia should be more like the US, but these buildings are parts of a nation's heritage, whether the government or public like it or not.  If being hostile towards mortally silent structures of days gone by, means something...then someone over there needs to point it out on an international level.