Romanov Restoration: New Russian Museum Dedicated to Royal Family Opened in Tobolsk
The family museum of the final Russian Emperor, Nicholas II, opened today in Tobolsk, in the former Governor's house where the Romanovs lived before being sent to Yekaterinburg. The royal family's personal belongings, furniture, and photos were collected literally piece by piece. The new museum will be part of the Imperial Route. Kirill Bortnikov attended the opening. This two-story white-stone building in the foothills area of Tobolsk, appears to be the last refuge of the last Russian emperor right after his abdication.
Nicholas II came to the old capital of Siberia via steamships, and was under arrest for eight months but the royal family still had a relatively quiet life within these walls. They tried to recreate the atmosphere of that time: furniture, dishes with royal emblems almost as it was exactly 100 years ago. The restoration took almost four years to complete. In a separate showcase, there's a genuine fragment of parquet floorboard and 18th-century moldings.
Irina Sergeeva, museum employee: "We removed the top layer and the original steps were there, on which the Romanov family walked up and down".
It took the museum many years to put together the exhibits, part of the collection was brought by princess Olga Nikolaevna Romanova Kulikovskaya, widow of Nicholas II's nephew.
Olga Nikolaevna Kulikovskaya: "Here you can feel the love and the moment when they most closely came together, as a whole family, they were able to dedicate oneself to one another".
And this bedroom of the failed heir to the Russian throne was also recreated through photos. Here are his toys and books. The whole house was heated exclusively by furnaces and they miraculously survived to this day in their original shape.
Aleksey Vakulik, museum curator: “The Bolsheviks looked for royal treasures, and they thought that they would be in the furnaces and broke all these furnaces, but since they stayed here they needed to stay warm, so they covered them up with this piece of metal. The museum complex in Tobolsk is a part of the national tourism project, the Imperial Route also includes Moscow, St. Petersburg, Tyumen, Perm, and Yekaterinburg.
Anna Gromova, Head of Cultural Fund: “We are now starting the year of remembrance for the royal family. It's extremely important to us that this museum will welcome its visitors and will continue to improve and become more popular on the Imperial Route. The creation of the museum in Siberia is opening new opportunities for both educational projects and for tourism routes. Kirill Bortnikov, Gennady Lagoonov, Elena Galeeva. From Tobolsk — Vesti.