The Romanovs back in St. Petersburg

As an amateur historian, the story of the Romanovs and how the Russian Monarchy ended has always fascinated me.   This is why we took a 12-day Baltic cruise that stopped for two days in St. Petersburg.  Most people know the story of the last Czar of Russia, of him and his family brutally murdered on the Russian frontier.   

What's not well known is that after the fall of the Soviet Union, Queen Elizabeth wanted the bodies recovered and given a proper burial.  So, at the request of Queen Elizabeth, the bodies were excavated and eventually buried in Peter and Pauls's Cathedral.   

So in the afternoon of our last day in St. Petersburg, we visit Peter and Paul Cathedral and the star Fortress, where the remains of the last Czar and his family are interned.  After the remains were identified, they had an internment ceremony and were placed in this small chapel inside the fortress.  "After the DNA testing of 1998, the remains of the Emperor and his immediate family were interred at St. Peter and Paul Cathedral, Saint Petersburg, on 17 July 1998, on the eightieth anniversary of their assassination."

In Episode 6, Season 5 of "The Crown," the death of the Russian Royal Family in 1918, the Romanovs is a subject.  It was one of those moments when we said we'd been there.  In 2019, we visited St. Peters Fortress and this church,  the burial site.  

The Star Fortress is on the last Island on the Neva River across from St. Petersburg Proper. It's quite the site with the Hermitage and the Winter Palace in full view.  After getting off the bus, there is a long line to enter the church.  An orchestra on a temporary stage is practicing for the Russian Victory in Europe celebration.  It is a surreal moment watching the band play as scenes of World War II play on jumbotrons. 

It's a small church that is very ornate and decorated in the Russian Orthodox style.  The remains are interred in a separate room on the side of the church.  There are plaques for each family member on the wall behind where the remains are located.  It is a very solemn moment to realize that you are witnessing such a tragic event in human history,