21 September through 20 November 2023, the Alexander Palace of Tsarskoe Selo offers the exhibition Imperial Visits to the Crimea: 1900, 1902, 1909. 

The joint project showcases copies of photographs from Nicholas II's family albums provided by the Alupka Palace and Park Museum, and imperial memorabilia from the Tsarskoe Selo collection.

The albums with photographs capturing Emperor Nicholas II and his family during their visits to the Crimea in 1900-1909 were made for the Romanovs by K.E. von Gan & Co., a famous photography atelier in the town of Tsarkose Selo licensed to photograph the imperial family.

Their photographer and cinematographer Alexander Yagelsky used a then-innovative approach by printing still frames from film reels and thus getting more real, 'live' photos instead of stiff, staged shots. 

The photographs on display show the imperial family in Livadia, Yalta and Oreanda, visiting infirmaries, regimental celebrations, the ship of the line Rostislav and cruiser Pamiat' Merkuria (Memory of Mercury), meeting with veterans and sister of mercy of the Crimean War, as well as walking around or playing ball and lawn tennis. 

An interactive touch table at the exhibition gives access to other over 130 digitized photos from the imperial albums.

Our museum showcases Tsesarevich Alexei's hat of a lower-rank officer from the imperial yacht Standart, Emperor Nicholas II's jacket of a Naval Captain 1st rank, Empress Alexandra Fiodorovna's dress, late nineteenth and early twentieth century postcards of Crimean sights, and other memorabilia related to the imperial family visits to the peninsula.

Not our first co-project with the Alupka Palace and Park Museum, this exhibition is part of the tour of the Alexander Palace and has a special meaning for the building which was the birthplace and home to the last Russian emperor.