Nicholas II | Nicholas II

‘Nicholas II: The Last Orthodox Tsar of Russia’ with Paul Gilbert

Posted on August 4, 2024 by Paul Gilbert

CLICK on the above image to watch the VIDEO
Researched, written and narrated by Paul Gilbert
Duration: 20 minutes. Language: English

Emperor Nicholas II reigned for 22+ years – from November 1894 to February 1917. With his murder, the last Orthodox Christian monarch, along with the thousand-year history of thrones and crowns in Russia, ended, ushering in an era of lawlessness, apostasy, and terror, one which would sweep Holy Orthodox Russia into an abyss which would last more than 70 years.

This new video production is based on the research of project colleague and independent researcher Paul Gilbert, who also narrates this video.

In the first 24 hours of it’s release on YouTube, some 3,000 people had watched the video! Since it’s release in July 2020, it has been viewed by more than 134.000 people.

The creators have done a remarkable job of incorporating a wonderful collection of photos – both vintage B&W and colourized by Olga Shirnina (aka KLIMBIM) – historical newsreel film footage and music.

Vintage B&W photo of Nicholas II colourized by Olga Shirnina (aka KLIMBIM)

One viewer noted on social media: “Only 20 minutes long, this is the BEST portrayal of the last Tsar’s Orthodox faith I have ever seen. Very well-made, historical and moving.”

The crowning moment of this video is near the end, which shows film footage of the actual canonization ceremony of Emperor Nicholas II and his family, performed on 20th August 2000 by Patriarch Alexei II (1929-2008) in the Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow. You can hear His Holiness calling out each of the names of the Imperial Family. The footage is extremely moving to watch.

This 20-minute video is presented in the framework of the production of the book The Romanov Royal Martyrs: What Silence Could Not Conceal published by Mesa Potamos Publications in 2019.

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The Romanov Royal Martyrs is an impressive 512-page book, featuring nearly 200 black & white photographs, and a 56-page photo insert of more than 80 high-quality images, colourized by the acclaimed Russian artist Olga Shirnina (Klimbim), and appearing here in print for the first time.

Click HERE to read my review Romanov Book of the Year: The Romanov Royal Martyrs

Click HERE to explore the book. Click HERE to order the book

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I am truly honoured to be a research colleague of this important publishing project. I am most grateful to Father Prodromos Nikolaou and the Holy Monastery of St. John the Forerunner of Mesa Potamos in Cyprus for giving me the opportunity to be a part of this new video which tells the story about Russia’s last Orthodox Christian monarch.

NOTE: my name is now inscribed as a project colleague in the 2nd edition of this book, which also includes several corrections, which I suggested to the publisher after reading the 1st edition – PG

Below, is my second video produced within the framework of the production of the book The Romanov Royal Martyrs: What Silence Could Not Conceal published by Mesa Potamos Publications in 2019. My first video The Conspiracy Against Nicholas II was released in 2018 with more than 32,000 views to date:

CLICK on the above image to watch the VIDEO
Researched, written and narrated by Paul Gilbert
Duration: 7 min. 36 sec. Language: English

Is it true that Nicholas II wanted to move the Russian capital to Crimea?

Posted on August 3, 2024 by Paul Gilbert

Emperor Nicholas II was all very fond of his residence in Livadia, a magnificent white limestone palace perched on a ledge overlooking the Black Sea on the southern coast of Crimea.

The old Large wooden palace[1] was demolished to make way for the new Imperial Residence. Construction on the new palace began on 21st January 1910, and after only 17 months, was inaugurated on 11th September 1911. The Tsar spent about 4 million gold rubles – from his own funds – to finance it’s construction. The palace had 116 rooms, with interiors furnished in different styles, and surrounded by beautifully landscaped gardens.

The Imperial Family stayed in the new Livadia Palace in the autumn of 1911 and 1913 and in the spring of 1912 and 1914, their visits lasting months at a time.

But, is it true that Nicholas II wanted to move the capital of the Russian Empire to Yalta?

PHOTO: Northern facade of the Livadia Palace
Watercolour by Nikolay Petrovich Krasnov (1864-1939)

A diplomat, a Russian general, Alexander Mossolov[2], wrote in his diary, noting a conversation he had had with the Emperor, who told him about his idea of transferring the capital from rainy St. Petersburg to sunny Crimea.

According to Mossolov, while returning from Uchan-Su[3] along a path high above the highway with a beautiful view of Yalta, the Emperor noted that he was tied to the southern coast of Crimea and did not want to leave. And when Mossolov inquired whether the Emperor would have liked to transfer the capital to Yalta, Nicholas II replied: “This idea has flashed through my mind more than once.”

True, after a few minutes the Emperor admitted that it was impossible to do this.

“And if it were the capital, I probably would have stopped loving this place.” Some dreams, the diplomat quoted the emperor.

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Any one who has ever visited Livadia, and stood at the windows on the balconies admiring the magnificent views of both the mountains behind and the Black Sea in front, can appreciate why this place was so loved by the Imperial Family.

Following the Tsar’s abdication in February 1917, the Imperial Family were held under house arrest in the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoye Selo, until the end of July. It was the decision of the Head of the new Provisional Goverment Alexander Kerensky who decided to send the Imperial Family into exile. Nicholas hoped that they would be allowed to settle in Livadia, where they would be far removed from the capital, however, Kerensky had other plans – he sent them to Tobolsk in Siberia.

Sadly, the Imperial Family’s “peace” would have been short lived. During the First World War, Crimea was occupied by German forces. On 30th April 1918, German troops entered Livadia, and immediately began to plunder the palace, many of its artefacts lost forever. The Imperial Family would have been forced to flee or be captured by the enemy.

NOTES:

[1] The Large or Grand Imperial Palace was constructed between 1862-66 by the famous Russian architect Ippolit Antonovich Monighetti (1819-1878) for Emperor Alexaander II, his wife Empress Maria Alexandrovna and their children. Emperor Nicholas II and his family resided in the nearby Small or Maly Palace (where Nicholas’s father Emperor Alexander III died on 2nd November (O.S. 20th October) 1894). from 1894 until 1911. The

[2] Lieutenant-General Alexander Alexandrovich Mossolov (1854-1939) served as Head of the Office of the Ministry of the Imperial Court. He was one of the few people of who remained faithful to Nicholas II. Mossolov is the author of ‘At the Court of the Last Tsar.’ The English language edition was published in 1935, the content of which is somewhat different from the Russian version.

[3] Uchan-Su is the highest (98 metres /322 ft) waterfall in Crimea, situated 7 km from Yalta, on the southern slopes of the Crimean Mountains.

The myth that Nicholas II’s death was met with indifference by the Russian people

Posted on July 24, 2024 by Paul Gilbert

PHOTO: Revolutionaries burning the Tsar’s portrait in 1917. Artist: Ivan Alekseevich Vladimirov (1869-1947)

NOTE: this article was last updated on 24th July 2024 – PG

Contemporary historians have led us to believe that news of Nicholas II’s death was met with indifference among the Russian people. Rather than conduct their own research on the matter, they choose instead to rehash the popular Bolshevik version of events – this is in itself is not the sign of a good historian.

Recall that following the abdication of Nicholas II in February 1917 and the October 1917 Revolution, which resulted in a Bolshevok coup, it was clear that a return of the monarchy in Russia was hardly possible. But no one in Russia expected the brutal murder of the Tsar and his family. Earlier, the Bolsheviks had planned to hold an open trial of Nicholas II – in order to draw a symbolic line under the era of Tsarism in Russia. In particular, Trotsky advocated such a trial. Lenin, in turn, feared that the Romanovs were still loved by the people, and therefore the trial might not bring the fruits that the Bolsheviks would have wanted. Lenin considered that based on the events of the Civil War it would be more expedient to secretly kill the entire Imperial Family and remain silent about it as long as possible.

While the elation exhibited by the revolutionaries is indeed true, it did not reflect the heartfelt sentiments of millions of Orthodox Christians, monarchists and others in the former Russian Empire.

Patriarch Tikhon (1865-1925), openly defended the Imperial family, by condemning the Bolsheviks for committing regicide.

When the tragic news of the murder of the Tsar and his family came, the Patriarch immediately served a memorial service at a meeting of the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church; then served the funeral Liturgy, saying that no matter how how the Sovereign was judged by his enemies, his murder after he abdicated was an unjustified crime, and those who committed him should be branded as executioners.

During his sermon at the Kazan Cathedral in Moscow, Patriarch Tikhon said:

“… a terrible thing has happened: the former Tsar Nikolai Alexandrovich was shot, by decision of the Ural Regional Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies, and our highest government, the Executive Committee, not only approved it but deemed it as legitimate. But our Christian conscience, guided by the Word of God, cannot agree with this. We must, in obedience to the teaching of the Word of God, condemn this act, otherwise the Tsar’s blood will fall not just on those who committed it, but on all of us.

“We will not evaluate and judge the deeds of the former Sovereign: an impartial trial of him belongs to history, and now he faces the impartial judgment of God, but we know that he, abdicating the throne, did so with the good of Russia in mind and out of love for the Motherland. He could, after his abdication, have found security and a comparatively quiet life abroad, but he did not do so, choosing to stand with Russia. He did nothing to improve his situation, instead he meekly submitted to fate,

“… and suddenly he is sentenced to death somewhere in the depths of Russia, by a small handful of people, not for any guilt, but only for the fact that someone allegedly wanted to kidnap him [the Bolsheviks claimed that the Tsar’s family and supporters were attempting to rescue him]…

“Our conscience cannot be reconciled to this, and we must declare it loudly, as Christians, as sons of the church. Let them call us counter-revolutionaries for this, let them imprison us, let them shoot us. We are ready to endure this in the hope that the words of the Savior will be attributed to us: “Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it.”

PHOTO: Emperor Nicholas II with Archbishop (future Patriarch) Tikhon
at the Transfiguration Monastery. Yaroslavl, 21 May 1913

And others condemned the regicide . . .

Eugenie Fraser, born and raised in Russia writes about her years in Petrograd and news of the tsar’s death: “In August, filtered through from Siberia, came the news of the slaughter of the Royal family by the sadistic thugs of the Bolshevik party. Horror and revulsion touched every decent thinking citizen in the town. To execute the Tsar and his wife in this barbaric fashion was bad enough, but to butcher the four young girls and the helpless boy was the work of mindless criminals. In churches people went down on their knees and openly wept as they prayed for the souls of the Tsar and his family.”

“Even in all this turmoil and confusion, and even among those with little sympathy for the abdicated tsar, the brief five-line announcement in July 1918 of the execution of Nicholas II and his family in Ekaterinburg caused a terrible shock,” writes Serge Schmemann. He further notes “Prince Sergei Golitsyn recalled in his diary how people of all levels of society wept and prayed, and how he himself, as a nine year old boy, cried night after night in his pillow.”

Major-General Sir Alfred Knox further noted in his memoirs: “An old soldier . . . breathed into my ear that the Emperor was a good man, and fond of his people, but was surrounded by traitors.”

It is important to recall that it was in the summer of 1918, when Lenin unleashed the first Red Terror. People lived in fear of punishment from the thugs and criminals of the new order, for showing any sympathy for the murdered tsar. Many hid their framed portraits of the tsar, and kept their grief and monarchist sentiments to themselves.

NOTE: This article has been excerpted from my forthcoming book Nicholas II: A Century of Myths and Lies [publication date yet to be announced]

The sakkos from the coronation of Nicholas II on display in Russia for the first time

Posted on July 10, 2024 by Paul Gilbert

A new exhibition Russian Masters. Artistic Traditions and Ideals has opened at the State Museum of the History of Religion in St. Petersburg. The exhibition presents objects of the Orthodox liturgy and reveals their symbolic meaning, including vestments, censers, lampadas, crosses, icons in luxurious casings, and items of Russian silversmithing of the 19th-early 20th centuries.

Among the 100 items on display is an episcopal liturgical vestment – sakkos – which was made for the Orthodox clergy who participated in the Holy Coronation of Emperor Nicholas II, held in Moscow on 27th May (O.S. 14th) May 1896. It is made of a rich brocade fabric and intricately decorated with traditional Russian eagles. The sakkos is being exhibited for the very first time.

The exhibition Russian Masters. Artistic Traditions and Ideals runs until 25th January 2025.

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The sakkos is a vestment worn by Orthodox bishops instead of the priest’s phelonion. The bishop wears the sakkos when he celebrates the Divine Liturgy and other services when called out by the rubrics.

Efforts to locate the remains of Nicholas II and his family during the Brezhnev era

Posted on July 9, 2024 by Paul Gilbert

PHOTO: Nikolai Anisimovich Shchelokov (1910-1984)

Nikolai Anisimovich Shchelokov (1910-1984) was a Soviet statesman. From 1966 to 1982 he served as Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR. He was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) from 1931 to 1984, and member of the Central Committee of the CPSU from 1968 to 1983.

Shchelokov was the first person who began the search for the remains of Emperor Nicholas II and his family. When asked about the initiative, Shchelokov told the film director, screenwriter, acclaimed author Geliy Trofimovich Ryabov (1932-2015): “We, as Russian people, must fulfill our duty and find the remains of the Tsar”. Shchelokov ordered the head of the Sverdlovsk Internal Affairs Directorate for their full cooperation in the search.

What made the representative of the highest echelon of Soviet power, who had been building communism all his life, deviate so radically from the general line of the party and make every effort to resurrect one of the darkest pages of early 20th century Russian history?

PHOTO: Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev (1906-1982)

Acquaintance with Leonid Brezhnev

Born on 13th November 1910 in the family of a metallurgist, Nikolay Shchelokov got his first job as a horseman in a mine at the age of 16, and at the same time received a higher education at the Dnepropetrovsk Metallurgical Institute.

After spending a year at the Dnepropetrovsk Metallurgical Plant, Nikolay Shchelokov was elected 1st Secretary of the Krasnogvardeysky District Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine in Dnepropetrovsk. It was during the years 1938-39 that he first met with Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev (1906-1982), who later took the post of General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, and persuaded his old acquaintance to move to Moscow and head the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Nikolai Anisimovich received this offer in 1966, and before that he managed to become a participant in the Great Patriotic War (1941-45), after which he was appointed to the post of executive secretary of the party commission at the political department of the Carpathian Military District, where Leonid Brezhnev served as the head.

From August 1946, Shchelokov held a position in the Ministry of Industry of the Ukrainian ASSR, worked in the apparatus of the Communist Party of the same republic, and in 1951 he was sent to the Moldavian ASSR, where he rose to the post of second secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party.

In Moscow

Having lured the energetic leader to Moscow, Brezhnev set him the task of reviving the Ministry of Internal Affairs abolished in 1960 by Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (1894-1971).

His mandate was to restore the fallen authority of the police in Soviet society To do this, among other things, he used the power of art. It was during this period that many detective stories appeared in bookshelves, where law enforcement officers where depicted to the reader in a positive light, and films about the daily exploits of ordinary employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs were released on cinema screens.

Shchelokov coped with the duties assigned to him brilliantly, for which he was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor of the USSR.

PHOTO: Nikolai Shchelokov with his daughter Irina Shchelokova

Friendship with dissidents

An interesting fact about Nikolai Anisimovich was his open friendship with dissidents who had liberal and monarchist views.

Among the disgraced personalities with whom he had warm relations were the musician Mstislav Rostropovich, the singer Galina Vishnevskaya, the writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the artist Ilya Glazunov, and Archbishop Pimen of Saratov and Volsk.

Perhaps it was after communicating with them that Shchelokov had the idea to find the remains of the murdered Imperial Family and bury them according to the Christian rite.

According to the memoirs of Irina Shchelokova (d. 2021), the daughter of the Minister of Internal Affairs, her father could not be convicted of dissent. She explained his interest in the last Tsar and his family by his high level of erudition, a keen sense of justice, as well as the fact that her father got hold of materials -which were classified at the time – regarding the investigation of the circumstances of the death of Nicholas II and his family.

At the same time, Boris Konstantinovich Golikov, an assistant to Shchelokov, believed that his boss became obsessed with the idea of finding the remains of the Romanovs after a meeting with a former NKVD officer, a certain “Snegov”. The latter was taken into custody in the 1930s and sat in the same cell with a prisoner who participated in the burial of the bodies of the Imperial Family in July 1918. Subsequently, this man was shot, but he managed to tell “Snegov” about the burial place of the remains, which the latter later told Shchelokov, and even handed him a hand-drawn map.

PHOTO: Geliy Trofimovich Ryabov (1932-2015)

Help for filmmakers

To implement his plan to find the remains of the Romanovs, Nikolai Anisimovich sought the help of Geliy Ryabov, co-author of the book “Born by the Revolution”.

According to Ryabov’s memoirs, who held the position of consultant of the Ministry of Internal Affairs on cultural issues, in 1976, he was supposed to visit Sverdlovsk (now Ekaterinburg) on a working trip. Before embarking on his journey, he was summoned by Shchelokov and casually told that not so long ago he had visited the Ipatiev House, where the Imperial Family had been murdered by the Ural Soviet (Bolsheviks) on 17th July 1918. He communicated this information to Ryabov in the hope of getting him interested in the case and was not mistaken.

The writer, having arrived in the capital of the Urals, also wanted to visit the site where the Tsar and his family had been murdered, and somehow without any problems received the appropriate permission. After making a tour of the house, Ryabov was inspired by the idea of finding the remains of Nicholas II and his family.

Returning to Moscow, Ryabov turned to Shchelokov with a request for assistance in this dangerous assignment. The delighted Minister of Internal Affairs contacted Leonid Brezhnev and asked him to provide Ryabov with access to the “Tsar’s Archive”.

A month later, the Secretary General gave his go-ahead, and Ryabov plunged headlong into the study of classified documents, trying to find at least some clue.

As a result, his efforts were crowned with success aftern he discovered the “Yurovsky Note” – written by the commandant of the Ipatiev House and chief executioner of the the Imperial Family, which contained the coordinates of the burial place of the bodies of the Tsar and his family.

Having provided Ryabov with accurate topographic maps of the area, and having organized his protection and unhindered work, Shchelokov began to wait for news of the investigation. On 1st June 1979, Geliy Trofimovich and geologist Alexander Avdonin, who helped him in the search, found the sought-after remains.

However, Shchelokov did not manage to organize a dignified reburial of the Imperial Family’s remains, he was forced to abandon his search by a discrediting campaign that began against him.

Alternate versions

At was at this time, that several more interpretations of why the Minister of Internal Affairs abandoned the search for the remains of the Imperial Family.

Some researchers argued that he did not act on his own, but carried out the order of higher authorities who wanted to find and destroy the bones of the murdered Imperial Family.

Other theories included an outrageous claim insisting that Shchelokov wanted a royal burial in order to find and remove any jewelry from the gravesite.

Even more ridiculous was from Igor Bunich’s work of fiction “The Tale of Lawlessness, or the Syndrome of Nicholas II” a hypothesis is put forward that Shchelokov launched a search for the remains of the Romanovs in order to secretly sell them to the West. The buyer was allegedly a certain monarchical structure associated with the British Royal Family. For the deal, the Home Secretary was allegedly offered £200,000, of which £30,000 was given to him as an advance and spent by him on the organization of the search operations.

It was not until 1991, that the remains of Emperor Nicholas II and his family were exhumed and later buried in the SS Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg on 17th July 1998.

Caucasian sword belonging to Nicholas II to be auctioned in London

Posted on July 8, 2024 by Paul Gilbert

Despite Western sanctions against Russia, which include the cancelation of all cultural exchanges [i.e. exhibitions, auctions, etc.], works of Imperial Russian art continue to break records at British, American and French auctions. Paintings by Aivazovsky, Vereshchagin and Repin, luxurious pieces of jewelry made by Fabergé, find their new buyers. Despite the political chaos, the antique market continues to thrive.

On 13th July 2024, a unique Caucasian shashka, which, according to researchers belonged to Emperor Nicholas II, will be sold at the Apollo Art Auctions in London,

The extremely fine-quality Caucasian shashka given to Nicholas II, when he was Tsesarevich (heir apparent). Research suggests the saber was presented to Nicholas during a tour of the Caucasus with his father Emperor Alexander III, in 1888. An Arabic inscription in gold on the blade translates to: (M)ay the dominance of the owner of this sword grow, and his life, and his greatness, and may Allah bless his family, and he will achieve his goal.

It is also monogrammed with the Cyrillic letters “HA” – “NA” in English – (for Nicholas Alexandrovich), surrounded by a golden laurel and surmounted by the Imperial Russian Crown. Its wonderfully-decorated scabbard bears a calligraphic Arabic inscription that would be the equivalent of a European maker’s mark. Translated, it says “Abdullah worked.”

Held in consecutive European private collections, including the Eugene Mollo collection (Switzerland), it is the first royal sword ever to be offered for public sale. It requires an opening bid of £1,200,000 ($1,516,300 USD).

Photos provided in this post are courtesy of the Apollo Art Auctions

New museum dedicated to Nicholas II to be built in Mogilev

Posted on July 3, 2024 by Paul Gilbert

PHOTO: Emperor Nicholas II reviews his troops on the square in front
of General Headquarters in Mogliev during the First World War

A new museum complex is to be constructed in Mogliev, situated in eastern Belarus, about 76 kilometres (47 miles) from the Russian border. The complex will be built on a hill in Gorky Park, next to the Church of the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers – the family of the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II, who were canonized as saints in 1981 by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR), and in 2000 as passion-bearers by the Moscow Patriachate.

On 8th August 1915, the Headquarters (Stavka) of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Russian Empire was transferred from Baranovichi to Mogilev. From August 1915 to March 1917, Emperor Nicholas II, served as Commander-in-Chief[1].

The Tsar travelled back and forth on the Imperial Train, from Tsarskoye Selo to Mogilev, where he settled in the Governor’s House, situated on Gubernatorskaya Square. He was often accompanied by his son and heir Tsesarevich Alexei Nikolaevich.

The new museum will be dedicated to the events of the early 20th century: the First World War, the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army, the stay of of Emperor Nicholas II in Mogliev, the Knights of St. George, and the February Revolution of 1917.

The timing of the project has yet to be announced, however, the following architectural drawings gives us a first glimpse of the museum complex. As you can see, the building complements that of the adjoining Church of the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers:

NOTES:

[1] On 5th September (O.S. 23rd August) 1915, Emperor Nicholas II assumed personal command of the Russian Imperial Army, after dismissing his cousin, Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich (1856-1929) from the post.

NEW BOOK – Sovereign No. 13 (Summer 2024)

Posted on June 13, 2024 by Paul Gilbert

*You can order this title from most AMAZON outlets, including
the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia,
France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and Japan
*Note: prices are quoted in local currencies

CLICK HERE TO ORDER THE PAPERBACK EDITION @ $20.00 USD

English. Large format 8-1/2″ x 11-1/2″. 130 pages. 132 Black & White photos

The No. 13 Summer 2024 issue of SOVEREIGN, features 20 articles about Russia’s last Tsar, his family, the Romanov dynasty and the history of Imperial Russia. These articles have been researched and written by independent historian and author Paul Gilbert. His works are based on new research from Russian archival and media sources.

In an effort to preserve his 30+ years of hard work, the author has reproduced a selection of the nearly 800 articles he has written for his blog in a printed format for the first time. The author has updated many of these articles with new facts and photos. In addition, this issue includes new works translated from Russian, and published in English for the first time.

The No. 13 issue, features 20 articles, richly illustrated with more than 130 photographs, English text. Many of the following articles have been reproduced from the author’s blog, and presented in a printed format for the very first time:

[1] Imperial Yacht Standart: Nicholas II’s palace on the sea

[2] The Soviet Navy’s use of the Imperial Yacht Standart during the Great Patriotic War

[3] Nicholas II, Wilhelm II and the 1905 Treaty of Bjorkö

[4] Traitors or Heroes? Nicholas II’s officers During the Great Patriotic War 1941-45

[5] Lost architectural monuments of the Moscow Kremlin

[6] Nicholas II attends opening of a sanatorium in Alupka, 1913

[7] Nicholas II and the Boy Scout Movement in Russia

[8] Update on the restoration of the Imperial Railway Pavilion at Tsarskoye Selo

[9] Healthcare reform under Nicholas II

[10] “Judge not, lest ye be judged” —In defence of the last Russian Empress

[11] The Veneration of Tsar-Martyr Nicholas II

[12] Nicholas II’s personal battle with typhoid in 1900

[13] Nicholas II records his memories of Pascha (Easter)

[14] On this day – 26th (O.S. 13th) April 1918 Nicholas II makes his final journey

[15] Nicholas II’s grave was an “open secret” in 1920s Soviet Russia

[16] Two new bust-monuments of Nicholas II Installed in Russia

[17] The Imperial Route: In the Footsteps of Nicholas II

[18] The myth that Nicholas II’s death was met with indifference by the Russian people

[19] The Romanovs in the Urals Ekaterinburg

[20] Putin’s negative assessment of Nicholas II

SOVEREIGN No. 12 (Winter 2024) – published January 2024

NOTE: The No. 14 issue of Sovereign is scheduled for publication in December 2024

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#1 NEW RELEASE in AMAZON’S RUSSIAN HISTORY

On 14th June, less than 24 hours of its release on AMAZON, the No. 13 issue of SOVEREIGN was the ‘#1 NEW RELEASE in the RUSSIAN HISTORY‘ category!

THANK YOU to every one for supporting this important publishing project.

Léopold Bernstam’s busts of Nicholas and Alexandra (1895)

Posted on June 5, 2024 by Paul Gilbert

PHOTO: Biscuit Porcelain Busts of Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. by the famous Russian sculptor Leopold Adolfovich Bernstam (1859-1939). From the Collection of the State Russian Museum in St. Petesburg.

Leopold Adolfovich Bernstam was born to a Jewish family in Riga, on 20th April 1859. At the age of 13, he studied under the famous Danish-Russian sculptor David Ivanovich Jensen (1816-1902). The following year, at the age of 14, Bernstam entered the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, where he earned several awards.

From 1885 he lived in Paris where he worked as a sculptor at the Grévin Museum. He is credited with being the author of some 300 sculptures in his lifetime, including at least 5 monuments to Emperor Peter I of Russia.

In the early 1880s he temporarily moved to Russia, where he made about 30 busts of celebrated Russians, including authors, playwright and composers. In 1885 he settled in Paris, often returning to St. Petersburg.

PHOTO: Leopold Adolfovich Bernstam (1859-1939)

In 1895 Léopold Bernstam received a commission to create portrait busts of members of the Imperial Family. Among them was the new Tsar and Tsarina, who were crowned in Moscow in May 1896.

In his diary, dated 20th September and 21st, 1895, Nicholas II wrote: “… after breakfast spent more than an hour sitting for Bernstam…” and on 21st September: “sat for the sculptor again”.

At the beginning of 1896, Bernstrom was invited to Tsarskoye Selo, where he completed busts of several members of the Tsar’s family in less than three weeks. Among them were a pair of marble busts depicting the August Couple, which served as excellent models for mass-produced copies, which were installed in the lobbies or foyers of all government buildings, as well as educational charitable institutes, hospitals, etc.

Bernstam’s last work in St Petersburg was a bust of Emperor Alexander III, which was installed in 1914, in the garden of the Russian Museum of His Imperial Majesty Alexander III [renamed State Russian Museum]. It was removed in 1918.

Leopold Adolfovich Bernstam died at the age of 79, on 22nd January 1939, in Menton (France), a town located on the Mediterranean Sea at the Franco-Italian border.

‘The Romanov Family Album’ exhibition opens in the Moscow District

Posted on May 28, 2024 by Paul Gilbert

On 19th May 2024 – the day marking the 156th anniversary of the birth of Emperor Nicholas II – a new exhibition The Romanov Family Album, opened in the House of Scientists in Pushchino, a town in the Moscow region.

The highlight of the exhibition is a group of seven portraits of the Imperial Family, by the contemporary Russian artist and Honorary Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts Evgeny Schaeffer [b. 1954], who now lives in Germany.

According to Schaefer, “The Romanovs. Family Album exhibition, is not just a collection of paintings and photographs, it is an attempt to comprehend the tragic story of the murder of the the Tsar and his family in Ekaterinburg in 1918. The exhibition, is also an opportunity to rethink history through the prism of modern research and aesthetics”.

PHOTOS: Evgeny Schaeffer’s portraits of the Imperial Family are on display in the exhibition (above); detail of his portrait of Emperor Nicholas II (below)

Evgeny Schaeffer recreates history, transfers it to a modern context, inviting those attending the exhibition to think about the eternal questions of justice, power and fate.

Of particulate importance, is that the artist not only depicts the tragic events, but also immerses the viewer in deep reflection on the role of history in our lives, on how the past affects the present and the future.

The opening of the exhibition was attended by the director of the Department of Culture of the Russian Nobility Assembly Alexander Schaeffer, members of the clergy, parishioners of the Pushchino Church, among others. A cleric of the Church of St. Michael the Archangel in Pushchino, Sergiy Girilovich, served a moleben [supplication prayer service] to the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers.

The Romanov Family Album exhibition runs until 31st May 2024, at the House of Scientists in Pushchino. Admission is FREE.

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*As I have noted in similiar posts, I support any initiative – big or small – to help keep the memory of Nicholas II and his family alive in post-Soviet Russia – PG