Nicholas and Alexandra
Santa Fe Museum Of Fine Art
May 28 —Sept. 5, 2004
by Sheila O'Connor

t was the era of the last tsar of Russia. Nicholas and Alexandra, along with their five children were brutally murdered. Detachment from the larger world and insensitivity to the plight of the masses are common among monarchs. But in the case of Nicholas and Alexandra Romanov, it was to be their downfall.

Yet it wasn’t their fault. They simply couldn’t understand the plight of their subjects. Poverty was a way of life they’d never known. Ignorant they may have been, but malicious and deliberately cruel they were not. You’ll see this by visiting the Nicholas and Alexandra exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts in Santa Fe. Here there are 260 pieces of priceless Russian history never before seen, even in Russia.

Nicholas was only 16 when he first met the 12-year old Alexandra at a family wedding. But when Nicholas’ father died suddenly at age 49, he left his young son totally unprepared to be tsar of an eighth of the world’s surface. Alexandra, on the other hand, for her years, was actually pretty worldly. She was the granddaughter of Queen Victoria and the influence of Victoria was with her for most of her life. She converted to Russian orthodox in order to marry Nicholas.

After they were married, the couple lived in the Hermitage (one of the Russian palaces) but Alexandra thought this was just too large—it had 15,000 servants for 1,000 rooms. They duly moved to the smaller palace—the Alexander Palace, with only 100 rooms.

Some of the artifacts on display include the Corner Reception Room, where diplomats were received, a tapestry of Marie Antoinette and her four children, and the last dinner service produced by the royal porcelain factory, consisting of over 1500 pieces.

The royal couple had no formal dining room—they decided nightly what room to eat in.

When not entertaining guests, Alexandra was off taking photographs, and actually owned one of the first Kodak cameras. The Tsar took home movies, and these are on display. Also on display are the toys from the playroom of Tsarevich Alexis and his beautiful christening gown.

Check out the Mauve Room at the exhibition. This was Alexandra’s favorite. The most famous artifact of the entire exhibition is on display here, the Basket of Lilies of the Valley, presented to the newly crowned Tsarina.

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