Last Updated on February 22, 2023 by Hannah Henderson
The family home of the last Romanovs, Nicholas, Alexandra and their five children
The Alexander Palace was the family home of choice for a number of Tsars, even if they hosted big public events in the swankier Catherine Palace across the park. Nicholas II, the last Emperor, was born here, and made it a comfortable family home for his wife, four daughters and son, the Tsarevich Alexei, until they were taken away in the middle of the night in July 1917 and sent to their deaths in Siberia. There are reminders of them throughout the building, from the paintings and photographs they collected, to rooms like the Lilac Study, daytime retreat of the Empress Alexandra, where the family gathered to take tea every afternoon at five o’clock.
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Useful websites for tourists
St Petersburg City Tourist Information Bureau
St Petersburg.Com (Tourist Information)
2 guidebooks to St Petersburg
Eyewitness Travel Guide to St Petersburg
Lonely Planet Guide to St Petersburg
Travel Book
Among the Russians by Colin Thubron
History
Russian History, a Very Short Introduction by Geoffrey Hosking
The Romanovs by Simon Sebag Montefiore
Caught in the Revolution by Helen Rappaport
Biography
Peter the Great by Lindsey Hughes
Peter the Great by Derek Wilson
Catherine the Great by Simon Dixon
Catherine the Great by Robert K Massie
Rasputin by Frances Welch
Four Sisters by Helen Rappaport (the 4 daughters of Czar Nicholas II)
The Diary of Lena Mukhina (A diary of the Siege of Leningrad)
Art and Culture
A Short Life of Pushkin by Robert Chandler
Nijinsky by Lucy Moore
Rudolf Nuryev The Life by Julie Kavanagh
Anna of all the Russias The Life of Anna Akhmatova by Elaine Feinstein
Anthologies
St Petersburg A Traveller’s Companion by Laurence Kelly
City Pick St Petersburg edited by Heather Reyes
Literary St Petersburg by Elaine Blair
Novels set in St Petersburg
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Siege by Helen Dunmore
The Betrayal by Helen Dunmore
The Suitcase by Sergei Dovlatov
