The Last Palace of the Last Tsar

28 May. Monday. [1918]
A very warm day. They are constantly opening boxes in the barn where our things are located and taking out various objects and provisions from Tobolsk. And that, with no explanation of the reasons. All this makes one think that things that are liked can easily be taken to [someone's] homes, which means gone for us! Disgusting!

The external relations have also changed in the past few weeks: the jailers are trying not to talk to us, as if they feel guilty, and it feels like they have some anxiety or are afraid of something. Confusing!

***

21 June. Thursday. [1918]
There was a change of commandants today -- during dinner Beloborodov and other came in and announced that instead of Avdeyev, the one whom we mistook for a doctor has been appointed -- Yurovsky.

During the day before tea, he and his assistants catalogued the gold jewelry -- ours and the children's; the majority that it was because there was an unpleasant incident in our house, mentioned our missing things. So the conviction about which I wrote on 28 May had been confirmed.

I feel sorry for Avdeyev, it is not his fault that he was not able to hold back his people from stealing from the chests in the barn.


Twenty six days after his final diary entry (above), Nicholas, along with his family and remaining staff, would but ushered down to the basement of the Ipatiev House in the dead of night. By the next morning all of them would be dead.

The name of the House of Special Purpose was identical to the Ipatiev Monastery in Kostroma, where the Romanovs came to the throne. Not many photographs of the house exists, and very few or none exist of it before the deaths of the Romanovs. The house itself was demolished in July of 1977, after being declared of "not enough historical importance." The government was embarrassed by the amount of people visiting to pay their respects to the Romanovs, and had it destroyed. This did not, however, stop people from coming. Sometimes they would sneak out at night, and lay tribute on the now empty lot. It was after the Soviet state fell that the Church on the Blood was built where the Ipatiev House used to stand, and it's now a major place of pilgrimage.

Luckily I have been able to find many photos of the Ipatiev House, all taken after the Romanov's were killed (at least I presume there were. It is possible, however unlikely, that some were taken before their deaths).

Drawing room

Dining room

A hallway

Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia's bedroom

Nicholas, Alexandra, and Alexei's bedroom

Stair, leading to who knows where

Stairs to the ground floor

Art from Nicholas, Alexandra, and Alexei's room

Basement

Drawing room

While doing my research on the Romanovs I discovered an old forum, where people had discussed the Ipatiev House, gathering photos and making speculations. It seems throughout the house there was some written graffiti, and in the basement in particular there was writing that some believed to be a clue of some kind.

The letters "syl" are written on the wall, and another fain letter before the "s" that could either be a "v" or possible an "m." Now you've got to remember, if it means anything than it'd mean something in Russian. So for someone like me, I can go trying to guess a word that it could be. Thank goodness for the people on this forum, who had some interesting ideas. It seemed to make most sense that it was written backwards, which would mean it was "lysv" or "lysm." Could it be initials? A word? A sign? Nobody will ever know for certain.

If the missing letter was in fact an "m" then if might be spelling Lysma, which means Flame. That was the name of Lenin's special unit of executioners. One of the users, Penny, made an interesting post which explains rather nicely why those letters may have been put there:

"...Then one day, Greg had the History Channel on the television, and on came a documentary about the Siege of Sidney Street, a failed burglary attempt in London's East End in 1910. The crime was carried out by a group of Latvians, all of whom belonged to a revolutionary organization called "Lysma," meaning "The Flame."

"Subsequent investigation turned up evidence that showed Lysma was fairly closely tied to the exiled Russian revolutionaries in London -- even attending secret meetings with prominent Bolsheviks -- and, indeed, throughout many European cities. 

The writing on the wall in the basement

"Long story short, Lysma was still heavily active in 1918, especially in Russia, where the Latvian revolutionaries were busily out-fiercing many of the Bolsheviks. Lenin himself was surrounded by a Latvian Guard, they being considered more dedicated and reliable in the revolutionary cause than most Russian regiments.

"It may also be remembered that Yurovsky brought several Latvians and Baltic Letts into the house with him, and these men used the murder room as a dormitory until the night of the murder. It seemed most likely to Greg and I that this inscription was placed there by an off-duty Latvian guard, tagging the room with the name of his own revolutionary organization. There were several other pieces of graffiti in the room -- and indeed, throughout the house -- not only this one and the Belshazzar one. The initial investigators believed that they were merely the off-duty artwork of bored guards."

In my opinion that theory wraps up the origin of the letters rather nicely, though if a time machine existed then it could be proven once and for all. Ah, maybe in another couple hundred years.

It does seem like their explanation wraps it all up nicely, but wait. There's more. While it does seem a little far fetched, there's this little beautify to ponder. Yurovsky's 1920's testimony in the book The Fall of the Romanovs page 365 mentions "Lysev":

Yurovsky: "I left with a report for Moscow on the night of the 19th. It was then that I gave the valuables to Trifonov, member of the Third Army's Revolutionary Council. I think Beloborodov, Novoselov, and someone else buried them in a basement in the earthen floor of a worker's house in Lysev."

Not all the "valuables" were taken to Mosocw for some reason. Yurovsky gave some of the IF [Imperial Family] "valuables" to Trifonov who in turn give them to Beloborodov, Novoselov and another. These "valuables" were said to have been buried in the village of Lysev in the basement of one of the "worker's house".

I think it should be noted that the basement mentioned above is not talking about the basement of the Ipatiev House. It does rather just make the whole writing on the wall all the more confusing, wouldn't you say?

Finally I have to address more writing on the wall in the Ipatiev House before this post is through. I have no idea where in the house this was written, but it would seem that it's from a German poem, written by Heinrich Heine.

"Belsatzar ward in selbiger Nacht Von seinen Knechten umgebracht"

It's a reference to a story in the Old Testament book of Daniel. In translation: "On the same night Belshazzar was killed by his own slaves." The name Belsazar" in the original was altered to "Belsatzar" in the Ipatiev house graffiti as a deliberate pun on the word "tzar." Seems the Bolsheviks had a crude sense of humor.

Peter Carl Fabergé

One thing I've seen speckled throughout the history of the Romanovs are the famous 'Imperial' Fabergé Eggs. The tradition first started with Tsar Aledander III, and continued to Nicholas II.

Each Easter Nicholas would order two eggs, each equally special and beautiful. One he would send to his mother, Maria Feodorovna, and the other he would present to his wife, Alexandra Feodorovna. Each egg would have a hidden button, and when pressed the egg would then open to reveal a secret compartment with a surprise inside.

The House of Fabergé made roughly 50 eggs total, though only 43 of them survived. There were two more planned for the Easter of 1918, but due to the Russian Revolution, were never made nor delivered.

First let's talk about the Mosaic Egg, one of my personal favorites. Under the supervision of Peter Carl Fabergé, Albert Holmström built the Mosaic Egg, which Tsar Nicholas II presented to his wife the Easter of 1914. The floral tapestry pattern was designed by Alma Theresia Pihl, who I read was inspired by needlework fire screens found in aristocratic sitting rooms of the time. The egg, pictured above, is 9 cm tall and was created using a variation of gold, platinum, diamonds, rose-cut diamonds, ruby, emerald, topaz, sapphire, garnet, half-pearls, moonstone, white enamel, and opaque enamel.

The surprise inside is a removable miniature frame with profiles of the Tsar's children (Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and Alexei) in a cameo brooch style. The back of the frame is enameled with a sepia basket of flowers; the basket is bordered with the year 1914 and the names of each of the Romanov children. The current owner of the Mosaic Egg is Elizabeth II.


In Easter, 1915, Nicholas presented the Imperial Red Cross Egg to his mother Dowager Empress Maria Fedorovna. Also under the supervision of Peter Carl, Henrik Wigström created this egg. It's made of silver, with the shell covered by bands, edged in gold. Each band has a different guilloche pattern, a decorative engraving technique, and is covered in white enamel. The two red crosses are made of enamel and are on either side of the egg. One includes the date "1914" as can be seen in the picture on the right, and the other "1915." Inscribed on the outside of the egg are the words, "Greater Love hath no man than this, to lay down his life for his friends." The monogram of the Dowager Empress is displayed on the top of the shell.


This egg's surprise is a folding screen of five miniature portraits, all women from the House of Romanov. Each is wearing their Red Cross nurse uniform, as possibly painted by Vasily Ivanovich Zuiev (active with Fabergé from 1903-1918). The portraits are of the Grand Duchess Olga Aledandrovna of Russia, Nicholas II's sister, Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia, his eldest daughter, Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna, Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia, the Tsar's second daughter, and the Granch Duchess Maria Pavlovna, the Tsar's first cousin.

Each portrait is painted on ivory, and is situated in a mother-of-pearl and gold screen that folds to fit inside the egg, which is lined in velvet to protect and secure the folded frame. On the back of each portrait is a golden monogram of the sitter.

Lastly for today we have the Constellation Egg, which is one of two designed under the supervision of Peter Carl in 1917 for the last Tsar of Russia. It was the last Fabergé egg designed. It remains unfinished.

The egg was ordered for Alexandra Feodorovna, but of course never got the change to be presented to her. As known from a 1917 document, the Constellation Egg was made of blue glass with a crystal base, and the Leo sign of the zodiac is engraved on the glass (Alexei Nikolaevich was a Leo). There are stars that are marked by diamonds; inside is a clock mechanism.

Apparently in 2001, a similar item was discovered in the Fersman Mineralogical Museum in Moscow, and experts believe it to be an unfinished egg made by Fabergé. It's an unfinished item, without diamonds. The inspiration for the egg, a clock by Augustin Pajou, the Parisian Neoclassical sculptor, has been identified by Kieran McCarthy of Wartski, London.

Meanwhile Russian millionaire Alexander Ivanoc claims that he owns the original (and finished) egg. In 2003-2004 he said that he acquired this egg in the late 1990's and affirms that "the Fersman Museum erroneously continues to claim that it has the original egg. Experts and their research clearly supports the Alexander Ivanov's egg as genuine." Russian museum authorities considered this as nonsense and fake. His egg is now in the Faberge Museum in Baden-Baden, which houses part of his Fabergé collection.

Like Magic Childhood Dreams . . .

Tuesday. 2nd June [1915]
At 2 1/2 went to the graveyard with Mama. . . . Picked T. at 3 o'cl. and went to the Grand Palace, upstairs to Mama's warehouse (surgical department). At 4 hrs 20 min, we 2 with Papa to the city. Darling Sh. met us. Had tea at Grandma's. Came home at 7 o'cl. went to Pavlovsk for the panikhida for poor Uncle Kostya, he passed away at 6 1/2. Sat with all of them and for a little while with Elena, who did not feel well and [was] lying down [illegible] on the couch. Around 11 o'cl. to bed. Lord save us.

Above is a diary entry from Olga Nikolaevna Romanov's diary. Since it's translated from Russian (at least I think it was Russian) the wording is a little rough around the edges. As you may have guessed, I took this entry from the book I got for Christmas, The Diary of Olga Romanov by Helen Azar. Throughout the whole book are entries from her father, Nicholas's, diary, letters from Olga to to her father (as well as a few others), memoirs from V. I. Chebotareva, Alexader Kerensky, and Anna Vyrubova. Basically if you're interested in the last royal family of Russia, this book is a little gold mine.

The entire imperial family kept diaries, they also took lots of photos, so theirs is a story that's easy to follow. Until the end of course. The ever present rumors of one of the grand duchesses having survived the mass murder of their family and friends is a mystery that will probably never be solved for sure. As of the moment I have no idea where I stand, but recent research is bringing me to strongly consider that Anna Anderson was in fact Anastasia Nikolaevna. But that's not what this post is about.

In the past I've done most my research on Anastasia, being intrigued by her story of possible survival. It's a mystery story most anyone would be interested in. But after discovering Olga's diary, I became interested in her story too. During the war she was a nurse, and helped care for wounded soldiers. A few times in her diary she wrote about her crushes, or attachments she'd made to the wounded soldiers in her hospitals, as well as just recording simple events in her life. While Anastasia, along with her older sister Maria, did sponsor hospitals and visit the wounded, they were not allowed to actually become nurses like their older sisters.

Random fact: The entire family read A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I don't know why, but that it just kind of cool to me.

In The Diary of Olga Romanov, a midst the diary entries and memoirs, there is a letter, written by a wounded officer February 21, 1916. He was very grateful for the visits from the Tsar's children, as written below.

I was a patient at the infirmary the entire April of 1916. The white nurses [nurses in white?] and kind doctors I thank very much. . . .

"When the Tsar's children came to visit,
It became easier to breathe for all,
The suffering suddenly went away
From us ailing soldiers,
And even in our future anguish,
Perhaps already grey haired,
We will remember these visits,
Like magic childhood dreams . . ."
Your Imperial Majesty's Hussar, Posadnoy. 21/II/1916

***

15th March. Wednesday. [1917]

On the 23rd [February] at breakfast got sick with measles- was put to bed. Aleksei [got sick] during the day, and Anya too. The ear[ache] went away slowly. The next day Tat.[iana] got sick, [we] lay down together. Al. came by during the day in his bed-- it was dark. My T° reached 40,3. Mama is with us all the time. Shvybz got sick on the 2nd [of] M.[arch]-- Maria [on] the 7th. On the 27th or 28th Febr. Lili Dehn arrived here and is still living in the Red Room.

That is the last diary entry Olga made in her diary. It's unknown why she stopped writing, though she did continue to write letters to people while imprisoned.