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| Alexander Palace I wanted to see Alexander Palace. I knew that its restoration was in very early stages, which means that it would not resemble a woman with too bright make-up. It would not have aura of a tourist attraction. Instead it would bear the marks of its use and neglect during the past 90 years. And its neo-classical style is very different from Rastrelli's exuberant baroque in Catherine Palace. The building fascinates me. The palace was commissioned by Catherine the Great from Giacomo Quarenghi for her favorite grandson and future emperor Alexander I, the one who conquerred Finland in 1809. Emperors used the palace mainly during summertime, but the last Emperor, Nicholas II, used it as his permanent residence from 1904 to 1917, including the time he was in house arrest after his abdication. Nicholas II was the Emperor to Finns also, one of five in total. In this palace C.G. Mannerheim, who in 2004 was voted to be the greatest of all Finns, reported to Emperor on his intelligence and ethnographic expedition 1908-08 in Asia. |
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| BACKSIDE OF ALEXANDER
PALACE IS SURROUNDED BY BARBED WIRE FENCE AND WILD VEGETATION. |
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| VISTA THROUGH THE
PARK IN FRONT OF THE CENTRAL WINDOW IN PREVIOUS PHOTO. IMPESSIVE IN ITS
WILD STATE. |
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| TWO SMALL GUARD
TOWERS REMAIN, PRESUMABLY FROM TIME WHEN THE BUILDING WAS USED BY
MINISTRY OF DEFENSE. PARAPET AT EDGE OF THE ROOF IS BEING
REBUILT. DETAIL, BIGGER |
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| THE PROBLEM WITH BIG
BUILDINGS IS THAT THEY DO NOT EASILY FIT IN ONE PHOTOGRAPH. THIS IS ONE
HALF OF THE SYMMETRICAL FRONT SIDE. BIGGER AND
DIFFERENT |
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| CORINTHIAN CAPITELS.
BIGGER IMAGE |
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| ENTRANCE THROUGH THE
COLONNADE. |
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| DETAIL OF THE
FREE-STANDING COLONNADE IN FRONT OF THE CENTRAL PART OF THE PALACE . BIGGER AND DIFFERENT |
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| ALEXANDER PALACE AS SEEN FROM AIRSHIP IN AUTUMN. THIS IS MY PHOTO OF THE PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN BY GENNADY OPARIN. |
Links Wikipedia Wandering Camera |