Video tour of the Museum of Emperor Nicholas II in Moscow

CLICK on the image above to watch the VIDEO

Duration: 2 minutes, 57 seconds. Language: Russian

For English subtitles: please click on the closed captioning button [cc] and then use translate [i.e. Google]

NOTEl: at the beginning of the video, please note the bust of Emperor Nicholas II on a pedestal, situated to the left of the museum.

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Situated in a quiet side street in the Basmanny district, situated in northeastern Moscow, is a small museum dedicated to Russia’s last Tsar. The Museum of Emperor Nicholas II, which is part of the Nicholas II Cultural Foundation was established in April 2018.

The Foundation was created to support the Museum of Emperor Nicholas II and his family, as well as other initiatives to restore and disseminate the historical truth about the life and reign of Emperor Nicholas II.

Both the Foundation and the Museum were fojnded by the famous Russian art historian Alexander Vasilyevich Renzhin. It was during the 1990s that Renzhin began to collect, bit by bit, everything related to Emperor Nicholas II and his family. During that time, he managed to amass a collection of more than 3,000 authentic items which reflect on the private lives of the Imperial Family from 1868 to 1918.

The museum’s collection includes sacred relics and unique icons that belonged to the Imperial Family: church utensils; rare books; ceremonial portraits of Emperors Alexander II, Alexander III, and Nicholas II; more than 500 original photographs; authentic autographs; state documents; porcelain and glassware; personal items of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna; memorial items of the Romanov dynasty; a complete set of state awards established by Nicholas II; postcards; chromolithographs; engravings and much more.

Of particular note is unique memorabilia from the Holy Coronation of Emperor Nicholas II in May 1896: earthenware glasses and plates decorated with the coats of arms and monograms H II [Nicholas II] and AF [Alexandra Feodorovna], miraculously preserved fine crystal glasses with engravings and paintings, cups, plates and saucers from the service with the new coat of arms introduced in 1856.

In the spring of 2008, Renzhin donated his collection as a gift to the Nikolo-Ugreshsky Monastery.

In February 2021, the Museum of Emperor Nicholas II was forced to close its doors, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the museum’s mounting debt of almost 9 million rubles (more than $13,000 USD) in arrears of rent.

A Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeev, and founder of the Tsargrad TV channel, came to the rescue by providing Renzhin’s rare collection with a new venue in which to display his vast collection. The Museum of Emperor Nicholas II re-opened in the Museum of Russian Art, the former manor house of Nikolai Eremeevich Struisky (1749-1796) – situated in Moscow’s historical district – on 10th February 2021.

FURTHER READING:

The Great Pilgrimage of Emperor Nicholas II in 1913 + VIDEO

Museum of Emperor Nicholas II in Moscow + VIDEO

Museum of Emperor Nicholas II re-opens in Moscow + PHOTOS