On 14th January 2024, with the blessing of His Eminence Tikhon, Metropolitan of Simferopol and Crimea, the photo exhibition The Tsar’s Family. Love and Mercy, opened at the Livadia Palace in Crimea.

The exhibition presents more than 100 vintage photographs that tell about the close relationship within the family of the last Russian emperor Nicholas II. The photographs reflect many aspects of the life of the Tsar’s family during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including the upbringing of the children, and the warm and loving relationship, which they shared with both their parents and each other.

In addition, the photo exhibition also shows the Tsar’s Family’s dedication to acts of charity and their service to the Fatherland, and a wonderful example of Russian family traditions and unshakable spiritual values.

The rector of the Church of the Exaltation of the Cross, Archpriest Dimitry Gotskalyuk, in his welcoming speech noted the special symbolic and cultural significance of the photo project for Crimea. For many decades, the inhabitants of the blessed land of Taurida have revered the Holy Royal Martyrs as the patron saints of the family. The life of the Imperial Family is not only an example of service to people and the Fatherland, but also an example of Russian family traditions and unshakable spiritual values.

The photo exhibition is a joint project of the Church of the Exaltation of the Cross [the Imperial family’s church adjacent to the Livadia Palace], and the Livadia Palace State Museum, with the support of the Sretensky Monastery in Moscow.

The photo project The Tsar’s Family: Love and Mercy was created in 2016 by the Sretensky Monastery in Moscow. The travelling exhibition has already been presented in Serbia, Germany, Italy, Canada, Argentina, New Zealand, South Africa, Romania, Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, and the Czech Republic. The exhibition has also been presented in many cities of Russia: Moscow, Voronezh, Kursk, Ryazan, Penza, Krasnodar, Belgorod, Velikiye Luki, etc.

The exhibition runs until 19th May 2024, in the Music Salon of the Livadia Palace

*As I have noted in previous posts, I support any initiative – big or small – to help keep the memory of Nicholas II and his family alive in 21st century Russia – PG

© Paul Gilbert. 20 January 2024