Russian diaspora | Nicholas II

800 items from the era of Nicholas II auctioned in Paris

PHOTO: military uniform from the era of Emperor Nicholas II

Last month, the famous Hôtel Drouo auction house in Paris was the venue for the sale of 800 items of Russian Imperial art from the era of Emperor Nicholas II. Among these remnants of Russia’s glorious past are items which belonged to Emperor Nicholas II, Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich and other members of the Russian Imperial Family.

The auction is based on the collection of “Monsieur. G.”, a French historian and collector of Russian origin, formed over more than 50 years. “Mr. G.” devoted a significant part of his life to the search for objects, archival documents and memorabilia that survived the Russian Revolution and the exodus of tens of thousands of White Russian Empires.

This outstanding collection features a marvelous pieces of Imperial Russian militaria worthy of any museum: uniforms, headgear and regimental badges, regimental flags, swords, daggers, orders, jetons and historical memorabilia spanning up to 1918.

In addition are portraits, paintings, photographs, icons, porcelain, silverware, jewelry, books and more. Of particular note are some 29 lots from the Collection of Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich (see pages 96-103 in catalogue No. 1).

Recall that after marrying Natalia Wulfert (later Countess Brasova) without Tsar Nicholas II’s permission, Mikhail and Natalia left Russia in 1912 and briefly lived in exile in France. They returned to Russia following the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. After Mikhail was executed by the Bolsheviks in Perm, Russia, in 1918, Natalia and their son Georgy later spent time in France (where Georgy died in a car accident in Sens in 1931, and Natalia died in Paris in 1952).

The auction was held over two days: on 17th and 18th September 2026. The auction raised a total of 4.3 million Euros [$4.8 million USD].

Below, you can download, review and print ALL three French language catalogues, I have provided a link underneath each of the auction catalogue covers . . .

Click HERE to download, review and print catalogue No. 1

Highlights include items belonging to Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich

Click HERE to download, review and print catalogue No. 2

Highlights include swords and Imperial Orders, medals and jetons

Click HERE to download, review and print catalogue No. 3

Highlights include splendid uniforms and headgear of the Russian Imperial Army

‘History Returned’ exhibition opens in Moscow

Posted on May 5 by Paul Gilbert

On 28th April 2026, a new exhibition History Returned opened in the Exhibition Hall of the State Archives of the Russian Federation (GARF) in Moscow. The exhibition is dedicated to the Russian diaspora during the aftermath of the Bolshevik Revolution and the Russian Civil War.

After the Great Patriotic War (1941-45), the Prague archive of the Russian Foreign Historical Archive (RZIA) was transferred to the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, and in 1946 it became part of the funds of the Central State Archive of the October Revolution, now the State Archive of the Russian Federation (GARF).

This is the largest of the archives of the Russian emigration in Europe of the interwar period, from 1923 to 1945. During the Nazi occupation of Bohemia and Moravia, employees of the RZIA, did not abandon their noble cause in those difficult years, by safeguarding the archives for the history of Russia.

PHOTO: The premises of the Russian Foreign Historical Archives. Prague. 1924

The State Archive of the Russian Federation (GARF) stores a unique collection of documents on the Russian diaspora which followed the Bolshevik Revolution in October 1917 and Russian Civil War (1917-1922).

In addition are documents of political, public organizations and institutions of the Russian emigration, printed publications, drawings, photographs, leaflets, posters, maps, banknotes. The archive is further complemented by documents from the personal archives of prominent Russian state, political and military figures and well-known representatives of science and culture of the Russian emigration.

PHOTO: Registration form No. 3169 of Marina
Ivanovna Efron-Tsvetaeva, Prague, August 23, 1922

The first section of the exhibition displays documents that tell about the decades of work by the Prague Archive staff, who carried out “the collection, storage, systematization and scientific processing of materials on the history of Russia and its peoples.

Among the valuable exhibits: documents of the poetess Marina Tsvetaeva (1892-1941) and drawings of the artist Yuri Artsybushev (1877-1952), as well as documents of the First Russian Cadet Corps, the Union of Russian Military Invalide.

Of particular note are exhibits dedicated to the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church [today known as the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR), which united Russian emigrants in foreign lands. These document’s became part of the RZIA in 1934, and include the note-testament of Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow and All Russia (1865-1925) of 23rd November 1923, a medal and badges made in honour of the 950th anniversary of the baptism of Russia, which was celebrated by the Russian Orthodox diaspora in 1938, are presented. .

PHOTO: Poster for the grand ball organized by Grand Duchess Kira
Kirillovna to benefit Russian military invalids in France. May 7, 1937.

The exhibition is further complemented by documents, letters, diaries and photographs, gifted to GARF by the descendants of prominent members of the Russian diaspora.

On display are documents and personal items that belonged to General Anton Denikin (1872-1947), transferred in 1992-2000 by his daughter Marina Denikina-Gray (1919-2005), as well as materials from the family collection of Admiral Alexander Kolchak (1874-1920), which were preserved for many years Paris by his widow Sophia, and subsequently acquired for the Civil Aviation of the Russian Federation by a wealthy Russian entrepreneur Leonid Mikhelson. In the same section are documents of Anna Kniper-Timiryova (1893-1975), preserved in the family of her nephew I.K. Safonov and subsequently transferred to the Civil Aviation of the Russian Federation by his son V.I. Safonov and widow L.N. Zubareva.

Exhibition documents reveal the fate of representatives of the Imperial House of Romanov, who were forced to leave Russia after 1917: photographs and other items from the archives of Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich (1879-1956) and collection of the Yusupov-Romanovs.

Among the key exhibits, vistors can see diaries and photographs taken onboard the British battleship HMS Marlborough, when some of the most prominent members of the Russian Imperial Family left Russia from the Crimea. Among them were Nicholas II’s mother the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna (see photo below) and her daughter Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna.

PHOTO: General Anton Ivanovich (1872-1947) Denikin
in his office at Stavka [Headquarters]. Mogilev, 1917.

The exhibition History Returned runs until 21st June 2026, in the Exhibition Hall of the State Archives of the Russian Federation (GARF) in Moscow.

PHOTO: Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna leaves Russia
onboard the battleship HMS Marlborough. 1919