Tsar Nicholas II and his son and heir, Alexei. © The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
A flavour of rich and tragic Russian heritage is at the Royal Museum in Edinburgh until October 30, 2005. Pairing up with the State Hermitage Museum of St Petersburg, the museum is staging a display of beautiful and breathtaking items that were once part of life for the country’s last Tsar and Tsarina, Nicholas and Alexandra.
Fabulous Fabergé, outstanding court costumes and superb icons from the Russian museum’s collections feature in the exhibition, which tells the story of Tsar Nicholas II and his wife the Empress Alexandra.
When the couple and their five children were executed in 1918 by Bolsheviks, the 300-year-old Romanov dynasty came to an abrupt and brutal end. Hundreds of items belonging to the family, including paintings, fine furniture and objets d’art illustrate their moving personal story.
The wedding of Nicholas and Alexandra. © The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
“I am delighted that National Museums of Scotland has forged a successful partnership with the State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg,” said Dr Gordon Rintoul, Director of NMS, “to bring this internationally important exhibition to the United Kingdom. Nicholas and Alexandra will offer visitors a unique chance to explore the lives of two iconic 20th century figures through the treasures of the world famous Winter Palace.”
The exhibition opens with a splendid series of portraits of Romanov Tsars, including the first, Mikhail Fyodorovich (1613-1645), Peter the Great and Catherine II.
In 1896, Nicholas was crowned Tsar in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin, Moscow – then the religious, but not political, capital. The four-hour ceremony is depicted in a 58-metre-long panorama by Pavel Jakovelich Pyaietski, an eminent ethnographer, artist, and close acquaintance of Nicholas. A miniature reconstruction of the imperial regalia of precious metals and stones is also featured.
An icon, decorated by Faberge, the eminent Russian goldsmith and jeweller. © The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
The imperial family owned many palaces where innumerable balls, banquets and theatre performances took place. The finery they wore on these occasions and the heavy, decorated liveries of their servants are exhibited, including 17th-century-style costumes worn at the famous masquerade ball of 1903.
The Tsar’s state visits and international relations are given special attention, with an interesting focus on Nicholas’s 1890 visit to the Far East. The shirt he wore when he was almost assassinated during his visit to Japan is a key exhibit.
Nicholas and Alexandra were deeply religious and surrounded themselves with objects relating to the Orthodox Church. The exhibition includes brilliantly coloured and lavishly embroidered church vestments, icons and other objects. Personal items evoke intimate family life – summer dresses worn by the girls (Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia), toys belonging to their brother, Alexei, the Tsar’s trinkets and the Empress’s Art Nouveau glassware.
A teddy bear belonging to the children. © The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
Alexei suffered from haemophilia, which gave his mother, in particular, great anguish. She sought the help of a holy man – the now infamous Grigory Rasputin. His high level of influence over the family was unpopular (the public believed both he and the Empress were German spies) and eventually led to his murder at the hands of Prince Felix Yusupov in 1916.
The family came to a similar fate before a firing squad in July 1918, six months after Nicholas abdicated due to civil unrest and beleaguered attempts at leading Russia in the First World War.
Passages from family diaries written during the family’s prior captivity reveal their private thoughts, while video footage shows the internment of their bodies in the Cathedral of St Peter and Paul, St Petersburg, in 1998. The family were canonised by the Russian Orthodox Church in 2000.
