The Home of the Last Tsar - Romanov and Russian History

To the left of the vista, from the drive to the palace, lies the Private Garden of the Alexander Palace, which is surrounded by a low cast-iron palisade. This palisade stretches from the palace to the transverse drive, and then along it, to the lock (erected in 1897 by Engineer Makarevich, to let the water run from the Krestovy Canal, into the pond in the Private Garden). This lock permits a boat to pass to pass from the pond to the Krestovy Canal. On an island (called the Children's Island) in the pond stands a small pavilion, erected in 1830 by the architect Gornastaev, and in front of it is a marble bust of the tutor of the Emperor Alexander II, with the inscription: "To the never-to-be-forgotten Karl Karlovich Merder".

This pavilion contains a Drawing Room, which occupies the whole of its width, and four small rooms; to the right of the Drawing Room are the Rooms of Alexander Nicholaevich and Maria Nicholaevna, and to the left the Rooms of Alexandra Nicholaevna and Olga Nicholaevna. Everything is decorated very simply; the ceilings are painted in the Empire style and in the style of Louis XVI, and have children's furniture; the room of Alexander Nicholaevich is covered with leather, the furniture of the drawing-room is covered with leather and with an embroidered material, while the other rooms are covered with cretonne. To the right of the pavilion, on "The Cape of the good Sasha", is a marble bust of another tutor - the poet Yukovski; in place of the usual inscription, a bronze plate is affixed to the pedestal, on which is engraved the poet's lines to "The Swans of Tsarskoe Selo". The Private Garden is closed to the public.

 

We are very grateful to Scott Johnson for the use of many of his wonderful photographs in this page - Bob Atchison