Since the beginning of time, Russia had been ruled by an emperor, or tsar. The longest ruling family were the Romanovs, who ruled Russia from 1613 until it was overthrown by the Bolsheviks in 1917, ending in the bloody assassinations of Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra, their daughters Olga, Tatiana, Marie, Anastasia and their son, the hemophiliac prince Alexis. Many other family members and loyal servants were murdered as well...such as Nicholas's younger brother Michael, who was murdered in Perm several weeks earlier. One of Alexandra's sisters, who married a Romanov cousin, was also murdered, her body dumped down a dry well. The Bolsheviks were eventually overthrown by the Communists in 1940, who ruled Russia (then the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or U.S.S.R.) until the downfall of Communism in 1989. The remains of the last royal family were removed from the well where they were dumped in Ekaterinburg and re-interred with ceremonial honors in 1996. Only two bodies remained unaccounted for: those of the Tsarevitch Alexis and the Grand Duchess Anastasia, who, for many years, was the subject of controversy. A woman, suffering from amnesia, was discovered on a bridge in Berlin in 1926 and touted as Anastasia, even to the point of meeting the Dowager Empress Marie in Paris. When she was nervous, the woman began coughing erratically...something which the Dowager Empress knew Anastasia to do. Another thing that tied in to the similarity with the Grand Duchess was the memory of spilling some peppermint-scented linament on a carpet in the nursery. The Dowager Empress was known to use linament to offset chronic arthritis in her hands...one that smelled of peppermint. Immediately, the Dowager Empress brought forth a drawing, supposedly of one of the older Grand Duchesses seated on a settee. The woman said that she remembered somebody saying it looked like a pig on a horse...exactly what Grand Duchess Olga said she looked like in the drawing. When the woman suddenly disappeared in 1928, the Dowager Empress refused to reveal her finding up until the day she died ten years later. The woman, known as Anna Anderson, married an American after being widowed in 1940, eventually dying in 1986 at the age of 84. It was never discovered whether she was, or was not, the Grand Duchess Anastasia.
The Peterhof Palace. Ever since the 16th century, this beautiful structure had been the summer palace of the royal family. Every child in the royal family was born within its walls. When Anna Anderson was interviewed before meeting the Dowager Empress Marie, she was asked where she was born. Her reply: the Peterhof Palace, something known only to the members of the royal family. It is as resplendent today as it was in 1613, with its tiled floors and patios and its many fountains. At the end of the man-made canal stood the pier where the royal yacht, Standart, was once anchored. Since the Revolution, the yacht had since been dismantled, its many parts used for housing communes. Its gold fixtures had been melted down and minted into coins with the impressions of Lenin. Only the gold statues at the Peterhof Palace remain untouched. Today, the palace serves as a museum of days gone by.
The most famous theatre in Russia...the Bolshoi, home of the world-renowned Bolshoi Ballet. During the last decades of the Tsars, the royal family used to attend the opening nights of ballets and operas at the Bolshoi, as well as the Maryinsky. Ballets and operas by Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Moussourgsky, Borodin and others. Being the sole critics of the time, the attending public knew whether the ballets and operas were either successes or failures when the royal family either rose and left...or remained seated. Many famous ballerinas starred here...Anna Pavlova, Tamara Toumanova, Natalia Riabouchinska, Alexandra Danilova, and many others. One of the most famous ballerinas of the Tsarist era was Mathilde Kchessinska, rumored to be the mistress of Nicholas II. She defected from Russia prior to the Revolution, joining the Ballets Russe de Monte Carlo in France. She married the former Grand Duke Paul in 1920, was widowed in 1956 and remained in Paris until she died in 1971 at the age of 99. After retiring from dancing, she taught ballet at the Ballet Russe school until as late as 1967.
Today, the theatre still hosts many of the modern ballets and operas from around the world.
The Hermitage is one of the most beautiful buildings from the Tsarist era still standing today. Having been restored to its original luster, The Hermitage serves today as a college. Notice the young lady leaning against the statue. She is one of the attending students of The Hermitage, as are many of the other people in the picture.
St. Basil's Cathedral...undeniably the most recognized symbol of the Russian Orthodox Church. Built in the mid-17th century, it is one of the most beautiful hand-built structures still existing in Russia.
And, if you think it is a sight to behold during the day, you should see it totally lit up at night. It is a real spectacle...almost outshining Niagara Falls at night.
St. Basil's Cathedral is so huge in its appointments and so colorful that it can be seen by the naked eye as far as 60 miles away from Moscow on a clear day.
I've visited Russia several times since becoming a model at the age of 15. Being Russian-American myself, I had seen to it that my five children were given Russian names. My eldest daughter is named after two of the last Grand Duchesses...Anastasia and Marie. My eldest son's middle name is the name of the last crown prince...Alexis. My twins are named after the husband and wife who ruled Russia together and alone...Peter and Catherine. My youngest son's middle name is the name of the father of the last Romanov tsar...Alexander. My own name, Sasha, is a derivative, or a nickname, of Alexander.
