Nicholas And Alexandra

by George Sergei Vilinbakhov, Galina Komelova, Sergei Mironenko

"Unless you heed the voices of those who know the state in which Russia finds herself ... the result will be utter despair." Thus was Tsar Nicholas II advised in 1913, to no avail. The decent but pathetic and none too brilliant monarch was brutally murdered in the summer of 1918, along with his nervous wife, Alexandra (who had fallen under the spell of the wild-eyed peasant monk Rasputin), and their five children. On the cover of this ambitious--and completely successful--book is a formal portrait of the ethereally beautiful royal family, in delicate finery and pearls; on the back, a shot of their mass grave, a bleak field in the middle of nowhere. As the catalog of a huge exhibition drawn from the State Hermitage Museum and the State Archive of the Russian Federation, this book is filled with color plates of the sumptuous trappings of court life in turn-of-the-century Russia: jeweled Fabergé eggs, coronation paintings, Russian icons, satin ball gowns, soldiers' uniforms, crowns, and other treasures. But the soul of the book is the archival material: royal-family photos, political documents, telegrams, letters between Nicholas and Alexandra, locks of royal baby hair, and grisly eye-witness accounts of the Romanoffs' murders, as told by those who did the deed. More than 100 curators, historians, and art historians have created this lengthy, comprehensive book detailing the beginnings of what Mikhail Piotrovsky, director of the State Hermitage Museum, calls "the tragedy of 20th-century Russia." Yet it reads like a fatal thriller, one with opulence, evil, and error at its core. --Peggy Moorman

Genres: Russia, History, Nonfiction, Russian History, Romanovs, Biography

408 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1998

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perusing this book is like having a museum exhibit at your fingertips. The photos are exquisite and I really enjoyed all of the beautiful paintings, portraits, costumes, uniforms, photos, letters, etc. My only qualm was that not all of the captions were on the same page as the pictures they referenced. I would read about an item then would have to turn the page to see the image and some of them were haphazardly ordered. Otherwise, it was a lovely book and I could have spent months reading every detail offered about the imperial family as there is so much content beyond just the provenance of each object.

[madsenmel · Rating 3 out of 5]

More of a coffee-table book, and certainly not something you curl up with, but more of a picture book of everything relating to the Romanovs--furniture, clothing, art, medals, photographs, etc.--with great, thorough explanations, often including excerpts from diaries or letters. Really fascinating.

[Laura Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was not expecting such detailed descriptions to accompany each picture. A nice surprise. And although I anticipated more photographs of the family than there were, a different and unexpected aspect to the book was a positive for me, personally. There were many photographs of items from the Hermitage Museum, a place I visited almost thirteen years ago. I enjoyed seeing and remembered a good many items and, as stated before, appreciate the detailed descriptions of each. The book stirs fond memories.

[Kate Schimpf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ridiculously long, but very interesting throughout. A heart wrenching account.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

breathtaking; heartbreaking

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderfully told and moving epic about the fall of the Romanoffs. They amazingly had no idea what was really going on and as a result were banished to eastern Russia.