Sara Lomasz Flesch, Lisa May Davidson
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Nicholas II Alexandra Feodorovna
Bologoye, Tver Oblast, Russian Empire
We eat well. With you all in spirit. It is lonely and boring here. So very grateful for the letter. Embrace you all. Sleep well.
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06 March
Zweig’s thoughts on Russian literature
How the three-hundred-year anniversary of the Romanov dynasty was celebrated
“It seemed to me that his Majesty has lost weight and is looking older.”
Maurice Paleologue
10, Kutuzov embankment, Petrograd, Russian Empire
Petrograd is short of bread and wood, and the public is suffering want.
At a bakery on the Liteïny this morning I was struck by the sinister expression on the faces of the poor folk who were lined up in a queue, most of whom had spent the whole night there. See more
Taco Tichelaar, Kenneth Whyte and 3 others
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Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin
has finished painting "Morning"
Miroslav Tomek, Gloria V Nijensohn Stokol and 2 others
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Alfred Knox
On Saturday morning, M. Diamandi (the Rumanian Minister) telephoned that he wanted to see me. I went to him at 3p.m. I am sorry for him,for he is a gentleman, honest and a patriot, and he feels his position acutely, for he was largely instrumental in bringing his country into the war, that has proved so disastrous for it, while its intervention has so far brought nothing but inconvenience to the Entente. He talked for one and a half hours. First he pointed out See more
Ništa Niko
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Elizaveta Naryshkina
Alexander Palace, Tsarskoye Selo, Russian Empire
At two I set off to the Alexandrov Palace for the reception. His Majesty departs tomorrow. I was preparing to accompany him, but the Empress told me this would not be necessary and brought him to me herself to say goodbye. He was very amiable and kind. It seemed to me that his Majesty has lost weight and is looking older.
Ništa Niko, Lisa May Davidson and 2 others
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Alexander Blok
The 13th engineering and construction squad of the Union of Zemstvos and Towns, Pinsk marshes, Minsk guberniya, Russian Empire
This wretched feeling I have comes first and foremost from the apathy I’ve fallen into. I want to finally get around to living, not just existing. I want to do something worthwhile…. Writing is difficult, because everyone around me is screaming in my ear, 20 people are hammering in nails, playing chess, speaking over the telephone, chopping wood, playing on the mandolin – and all at the same time!
Elizabeth Owen
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4 years ago
Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna
recalls the celebrations for the three-hundred-year anniversary of the Romanov dynasty (6-8 March 1913):
Petrograd, Russian Empire
1/10
In the People's House opened on the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty. St. Petersburg, Russian Empire, 1913
There was such glitter and such splendour, but everything seemed false and laboured. Aliki was quite worn out and almost fainted during the ball. As I looked at all the festive illuminations, and attended one ball after another I had the strange feeling that, although we were celebrating in the same way as we had for centuries, some new and terrible circumstances were appearing around us, due to forces beyond our control.
Nell Rapport, Andy House and 1 other
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Stefan Zweig
8, Kohgasse, Vienne, Austria
Alexander Pushkin, the father of Russian literature is of noble blood. Leo Tolstoy is the son of the old aristocratic family. Turgenev, a landowner. Dostoevsky, a bureaucrat’s son. But all of them are nobles nonetheless. For literature, art, and all kinds of creative works in the Russian empire in the 19th century empire have belonged to the nobility. See more
Gloria V Nijensohn Stokol, Bernhard Living and 4 others
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Vasily Shulgin
If someone wants to jump into a pit, you should exert all your efforts to hold him back. If, however, it becomes clear that he is determined to jump, you should push him, in the hope that just maybe your extra efforts will carry him over to the other side.
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05 March
The Tsar’s brother takes a liking to a balalaika player
The Emperor is unhappy at the fact that the British ambassador is interfering in domestic politics
One of the Empress’s ladies-in-waiting: “We all seem out of sorts. What fun it would be to have some champagne!”
Rurik Ivnev
Field of Mars, Petrograd, Russian Empire
I cannot and will not believe that in this world, with all its wealth, with all our intelligence and with so many kind hearts, we cannot arrange our affairs in such a way that half-starving (truthfully starving!) Chinese were not forced to wander the streets in summer clothes selling ridiculous and entirely unwanted paper flowers.
Heavens above! What can possibly stand in our way?
Letitia Rydjeski, Matt Kosko and 6 others
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Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich
Gatchina, Russian Empire
After lunch someone picked up a balalaika and the choir of the 1st Railway Regiment of His Majesty burst into song – they sang and played remarkably well.
Skander Dar El Jadid, Ništa Niko and 2 others
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Lili Dehn
Tsarskoye Selo, Russian Empire
One evening, about a fortnight before the Revolution, when I was sitting in my usual place, listening to the Roumanian orchestra, I noticed that the Empress seemed unusually sad. So I ventured to bend forward and whisper, anxiously:
- Oh, Madame, why are You so sad tonight ? - The Empress turned and looked at me: - Why am I sad, Lili? I can't really say, but the music depresses Me. I think my heart is broken.
The same evening, Anna childishly observed:
- We all seem out of sorts. What fun it would be to have some champagne!
The Empress was angry at the suggestion:
- No - she said, - the Emperor hates wine, he can't bear women to drink wine — but what matter his likes or his dislikes, when people will have it that he's a drunkard himself?
Ništa Niko
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Anna Vyrubova
Alexander Palace, Tsarskoye Selo, Russian Empire
Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich paid a visit to the Emperor and set about convincing him that the army was growing increasingly discontented at his prolonged absence from the Stavka (General Headquarters of the High Command). Following this conversation, the Emperor decided to take off, regarding discontent in the army as a sufficiently serious reason to hasten to the Stavka; at the same time, however, he and the Empress learned of further developments that outraged and disturbed them deeply.
The Emperor informed me that he’d been told by a trustworthy source that the British ambassador, Sir George Buchanan, was playing an active role in the intrigues against Their Majesties, and that he and the Grand Dukes were all but holding meetings on the subject at the embassy. The Emperor spoke of his intention to send a telegram to King George and ask him to forbid the British ambassador from interfering in the domestic politics of Russia; he perceived in all this a desire on the part of Britain to foment revolution in our country, and thereby to leave it in a weaker position once we get to peace negotiations. But as for requesting that Buchanan be recalled, this, in His Majesty’s words, “would be too severe a move”.