The Memory of Russia: Exhibition «In memory of the last Emperor. Relics of the emigration museum in Belgrade» to open in Moscow

A new exhibition «In memory of the last Emperor. Relics of the emigration museum in Belgrade» is opening on July 12, 2018 at the State Historical Museum in Moscow on the eve of the tragic date - the centenary of the execution of Nicholas II, his family and courtiers. The collection items of the Memorial Museum of Nicholas II build up the exposition.

The collection of the Historical Museum features a range of items and materials which may be called «Yugoslavian». The Memorial Museum of the Emperor Nicholas II was the main source of this collection. The museum was opened at the Russian House in Belgrade in 1936 under the auspice of General Vasily Flug - one of the heads of the Memorial Society of the Emperor Nicholas II. Founded not long before that, the Russian House had become the center of attraction of the large Russian community of the whole Yugoslavia. Apart from that museum, at the Russian House there was a Museum of Russian Cavalry chaired by Ye. Ivanov, a library with the Russian Archive which stored documents of the prominent figures of the Russian emigration, including  Pyotr Struve.

The exhibition showcases personal belongings of the imperial family: letters of Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and Tsarevich Alexei Nikolayevich;  things which belonged to children of Nicholas II, widowed Empress Maria Feodorovna, and numerous photographs of royal family members with their autographs. What is more, on display are documents which reveal the activities of the Belgrade museum, including the correspondence of the representatives of the Romanov family with the heads of the Memorial Society of Nicholas II. Many collection items have been put on display for the first time.

The venue for the exhibition is not chosen by accident. This is the historical study of one of the founders of the State Historical Museum — the historian and Moscow studies researcher I. Zabelin. For the first time the room in the museum’s main building, which is usually closed for visitors, will open for the public.