History of Russia: Exhibition “The century-long investigation. Death of the family of Emperor Nicholas II” in Saint-Petersburg

From June 5 to August 24, 2014 in the Peter and Paul Fortress (Saint-Petersburg) is held the exhibition “The century long investigation. Death of the family of Emperor Nicholas II”.

The exhibition tells of the execution of the royal family near Yekaterinburg in 1918, about the events, leasing up to this tragedy, about investigative materials on the murder of the royal family in 1918 and 1990, the process of identification of the found remains. It combined more than 270 exhibits: documents, photographs, historical relics.

The exhibition features documentary materials of the State Archive of the Russia Federation, the Russian State Archive of the Socio-Political History, the Russian State archive of Film and Photo Documents, as well as the Russian Orthodox Church abroad: the Holy Trinity Monastery and Seminary in Jordanville, NY (USA) and personally Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, Metropolitan Hilarion. The exhibition includes personal items and relics of the royal family of the State Museum-Preserve "Tsarskoye Selo" and documents associated with the disposal of the remains of Nicholas II and his family members in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in July 1998, the State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg. Important exhibits were provided by experts-criminalists.

Exhibition materials illustrate the life of the royal family from March 1917 to July 1918: from the stay under house arrest in Tsarskoye Selo, Tobolsk and Yekaterinburg, before the shooting. Important historical documents are provided: the act of abdication of Emperor Nicholas II from the throne (2 March 1917) and the act of abdication of V. K. Mikhail Alexandrovich (March 3, 1917), the Journal of the meetings of the Provisional Government with the decision on the arrest of Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, dated March 7, 1917; documents that discuss the possibility of sending the royal family in England, in particular, Aide Memoire of the British Embassy in Petrograd (11/ 24 March 1917).

The exhibition is ended with three tomes of the Regulation of the termination of the criminal case № 18/123666-93 “For the clarification of the death of the Imperial House and members of their entourage in the period 1918-1919 in the Urals and Petrograd”. The investigation, began in summer 1918, was completed in 2011.