Tsar Nicholas II and Alexandra

[doctorpinch]

For those of you visiting the southwest US, the Santa Fe Museum of Art has a really cool exhibit on the home life of Nicholas II and his family.

I was there last weekend and saw the show. It was really outstanding. The most interesting stuff is not the fancy stuff, but more of the homey stuff: The handmade toys were really cool and the family fotos were just like mine (except everybody was dressed a little funny).

Also the letters from all over the world, but especially the U.S. to the Tsar requesting things like stamps - very cool.

Anyway, just thought I would recommend it. Now I've got multiple reasons to want to visit Russia - To see its great beauties: The Alexander Palace, and Masha and Tanya and Lana.

Doctorpinch

[masha]

How sweet!

:p

[Larry Mason]

I posted this earlier at a different thread:

According to the following article, a museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico, planned a modest event based on Americans' curiosity about the last Romanov's, and they were pleasantly surprised by the response.

More at http://www.russiansummer.com

quote:
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Cynthia Pasquale, Denver Post:
SANTA FE, NM - The city famous for chili, turqouise, and Georgia O'Keefe has embraced vodka, caviar, and Faberge - at least until early September - to celebrate a museum exhibit that peers into the private lives of Nicholas and Alexandra Romanov, the last of the Russian royalty, dethroned and killed by the Bolsheviks in 1917.

Hotels entice visitors with special rates for a "Russian Summer in Santa Fe" and often offer complimentary vodka and caviar. Merchants sell icons, miniature Faberge-like egg jewelry, and dolls representing the royals. Russian art hangs next to tree-dotted landscapes.

This unlikely community-wide Russia love-fest was born out of need. The Museum of Fine Arts, eager to bring high-caliber shows to the city, sought help to promote and pay for the "Nicholas and Alexandra: At Home with the Last Tsar of Russia" exhibit, with its estimated price tag of $250,000.

"Russian Summer" coordinators initially envisioned two or three Russian-themed events each week during the exhibit's run, which goes through Sept 5. But the idea was so well received by merchants and others that more than 175 events were cemented early on, and more were added as the summer progressed.

. . .

Nicholas II was pushed into power after the death of his father in 1894. ... In Communist party textbooks, Nicholas was painted as a great opressor, but more recent historians have been kinder to the man often referred to as the reluctant ruler. In 1998, Nicholas was given a state funeral in Russia; in 2000, he was canonized with other martyrs.

"This change of attitude is one reason we wanted to bring this exhibit to the United States," says Alexander Potemkin, director of the American-Russian Cultural Cooperation Foundation in Washington, and a Russian citizen.

. . .

The exhibit is less about the trappings of royalty and more about the family. ... The most striking piece in the exhibit may well be the czarina's Imperial Basket of Lilies of the Valley, which was presented to her during an industrial fair in 1896. Loaned from the New Orleans Museum of Art, the gold "wicker" basket is filled with "moss" made of green spun gold, and pearl and diamond flowers flanked by leaves of jade.

Russian history spills out of the museum and into some of the city's art galleries. ...

The Rev Dmitry Wieber, whose congregation at St Juliana's Russian Orthodox Church numbers about eight families, blessed the museum exhibit and scheduled several lectures at the church.

One of the most popular was "Fasting and Feasting in the Russian Tradition," which included tastes of traditional desserts.

. . .
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More at http://www.russiansummer.com

Larry Mason