Friday, 5 March 2010
Russian retro
This lovely vintage style card arrived for me from Ekaterinberg (or Yekaterinberg) on the border between Russia and Asia. In the same delivery a second card arrived from Russia.
This one shows Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, the last Russian Empress, and Tsarevich Alexis, her son.
There is a connection between the two cards quite apart from the fact that they are both from Russia and both vintage style. That connection is Ekaterinberg. After the Russian Revolution, the Tsar, his wife and children were all executed in Ipatiev House in Ekaterinberg. The house was demolished in 1977 but in 2007 the remains of two young people were found near the site and thought to be those of Alexis and his sister Maria.
Empress Alexandra was the grand-daughter of Queen Victoria and the daughter of Princess Alice of the United Kingdom. The links I give are to Relax Max's blog, BritishSpeak, where he has recently done a fascinating, readable and instructive series on Queen Victoria and her offspring.
This is a post for Postcard Friday, which this week is to be hosted at The Best Hearts are Crunchy.
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Fascinating blog.
ReplyDeleteNice cards and interesting history.
ReplyDeleteOdd but enchanting little girl with umbrella and the bright pastels. The lovely sepia looks like a still from Masterpiece Theater! Will have to check out the monarchy blog you reference. Happy PFF!
ReplyDeleteWonderful postcards! And Happy PFF!
ReplyDeleteLOLA:)
i love the detail in the 2nd picture its beautiful. sometimes black and white is better than colour.
ReplyDeleteTina from
Gossip Avenue
Travel Shack
Mummy Diaries
Game FreakZ
I love the Russian postcards. We trace our family to the last Tsar, and I'm 4th generation Russian on my father's mother's side of the family. Great grandfather Nicolas immigrated to the US in the late 1800's. Weird huh?
ReplyDeleteSmiles~
Marilyn
Thank you for the link. The top picture is the grand duchess Anastasia as a child. Ekaterinburg is named after Catherine the Great. The name was changed to Sverdlovsk after the revolution (after Lenin's buddy.) A U-2 spy plane pilot by the name of Francis Gary Powers was shot down over Sverdlovsk in the early 1960s and the U.S. had to apologize profusely to the USSR. Post USSR, the names of many cities have reverted to the originals, such as St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad) and, of course, Ekaterinburg.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting combination of cards, the second is rather beautiful. Victoria's descendants always seemed keen on those sailor suits.
ReplyDeleteThis is a fascinating post! I love hearing the history behind the photos and art. Marvelous! Happy PFF!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful cards! I can't imagine that is Anastasia in the top picture - so casually dressed and with bare feet! Alexandra appears to be watching her pearls quite anxiously! They paid as dear price for them as we do now.
ReplyDeletePeople, please believe only every other thing that Relax Max says. The fun lies in working out which. :)
ReplyDeleteI particularly love the little girl with the umbrella. Such interesting cards!
ReplyDeleteThanks for coming by for a visit. Thought I got taken off PFF cause I ready didn't post a card today. My brain wasn't firing on all pistons this morning. Got a little not from the hostess so next week I'll be sure to play by the rules.
ReplyDeleteHaving fun anyway ;-) It's all good!
sweet-very nice how cool that you received them in the same day...
ReplyDeletewonderful cards...have always been fascinated by the story of the last Tsar of Russia...
ReplyDeleteI love your card, and the history behind the Russian Tsar and the revolution, you lucky person receiving two in one day. I'll be playing again next week. This weeks been a muddle.
ReplyDeleteGreat postcards and the history it's like visiting Russia again thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this..lovely pics
ReplyDeleteLovely cards... I haven't seen many from Russia in all of my postcard hunting! TFS PPF
ReplyDelete