Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Fabergé egg

From left to right: Olga, Maria, Nicholas II, Alexandra, Anastasia, Alexei, and Tatiana. Pictured at Livadia Palace in 1913


Alexander Palce Fabergé Egg
Alexander Palace (Fabergé egg) I often reflect on the story of this family whenever I see anything like this, it's so tragic, for those that don't know the story I've quoted wikipedia.

The Romanov Princesses


The Alexander Palace Egg is a jewelled Easter egg made under the supervision of the Russian jeweler Peter Carl Fabergé in 1908, for the then Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II. Nicholas presented it as an Easter gift to his wife, Alexandra Fyodorovna.

Peter Carl Faberge

Nicholas II (circa 1908)

The Alexander Palace Egg is made of Siberian nephrite, diamonds, gold, rubies and miniature watercolor paintings on ivory. The outside of the egg contains five miniature watercolor portraits of the children of Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra: Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia and the Tsarevitch Alexei. Above each portrait is a diamond monogrammed initial of each child's first name.

Fabergé Egg and Palace


On the reverse of each portrait, visible only from the inside of the egg, is the date of birth of each child, including Olga- November 3, 1895, Tatiana- May 29, 1897, Maria- June 14, 1899, Anastasia- June 5, 1901, Alexei- July 30, 1904. The remainder of the egg's surface is divided by five vertical lines, studded with diamonds and connected with one another by gold garlands inlaid with rose and ruby flowers. The dividing line between the upper and lower sections of the egg also have golden leaves, rubies and diamonds, together with two triangular diamonds with Alexandra's initials, AF.

Alexander Palace


The Russian Imperial Romanov family (Tsar Nicholas II, his wife Tsarina Alexandra and their five children Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and Alexei) and all those who chose to accompany them into exile – notably Eugene Botkin, Anna Demidova, Alexei Trupp and Ivan Kharitonov – were shot in Yekaterinburg on 17 July 1918.[1] The Tsar and his family were executed by Bolsheviks led by Yakov Yurovsky under the orders of the Ural Regional Soviet.

Anastasia, Olga, Maria, Tatiana 1916.


Execution; The Shooting of the Romanov family:
There are several accounts of what happened and historians have not agreed on a solid, confirmed scope of events. By Yurovsky's (the chief executioner) account, in the early hours of 17 July 1918, the royal family was awakened around 2:00 am, told to dress, and led down into a half-basement room at the back of the Ipatiev house. The pretext for this move was the family's safety, i.e. that anti-Bolshevik forces were approaching Yekaterinburg, and the house might be fired upon.



Present with Nicholas, Alexandra and their children were their doctor and three of their servants, who had voluntarily chosen to remain with the family: the Tsar's personal physician Eugene Botkin, his wife's maid Anna Demidova, and the family's chef, Ivan Kharitonov, and footman, Alexei Trupp. A firing squad had been assembled and was waiting in an adjoining room, composed of seven Communist soldiers from Central Europe, and three local Bolsheviks, all under the command of Bolshevik officer Yakov Yurovsky.[85] The soldiers are often described as Hungarians; in his account, Yurovsky described them as "Latvians".

Grand Duchesses Olga Nikolaevna (1895-1918), Tatiana Nikolaevna (1897-1918), Maria Nikolaevna (1899-1918), and Anastasia Nikolaevna (1901-1918)


Nicholas was carrying his son; when the family arrived in the basement, the former empress complained that there were no chairs for them to sit on.[citation needed] Yurovsky ordered two chairs brought in, and when the empress and the heir were seated, the executioners filed into the room. Yurovsky announced to them that they had been condemned to death by the Ural Soviet of Workers' Deputies. A stunned Nicholas asked, "What? What?" and turned toward his family. Yurovsky quickly repeated the order and shot the former emperor outright.

 Left to right: Tatiana, Anastasia,Alexei,Maria, Olga


The executioners drew revolvers and the shooting began. Nicholas was the first to die; Yurovsky shot him several times in the chest (sometimes incorrectly said to have been in his head, but his skull bore no bullet wounds when it was discovered in 1991). Anastasia, Tatiana, Olga, and Maria survived the first hail of bullets; the sisters were wearing over 1.3 kilograms of diamonds and precious gems sewn into their clothing, which provided some initial protection from the bullets and bayonets.[86] They were stabbed with bayonets and then shot at close range in their heads.

Maria, Olga, Tatiana and Anastasia, 1904


An announcement from the Presidium of the Ural Regional Soviet of the Workers' and Peasants' Government emphasized that conspiracies had been exposed to free the ex-tsar, that counter-revolutionary forces were pressing in on Soviet Russian territory, and that the ex-tsar was guilty of unforgivable crimes against the nation.

 Tatiana, Anastasia,Alexei,Maria, Olga



In view of the enemy's proximity to Yekaterinburg and the exposure by the Cheka of a serious White Guard plot with the goal of abducting the former Tsar and his family… In light of the approach of counterrevolutionary bands toward the Red capital of the Urals and the possibility of the crowned executioner escaping trial by the people (a plot among the White Guards to try to abduct him and his family was exposed and the compromising documents will be published), the Presidium of the Ural Regional Soviet, fulfilling the will of the Revolution, resolved to shoot the former Tsar, Nikolai Romanov, who is guilty of countless, bloody, violent acts against the Russian people.







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