Shooting tsars: See the Romanovs as never before (PHOTOS)

The reign of Nicholas II started badly and ended worse — but no one can say it wasn’t interesting. An exhibition center in St. Petersburg has gathered 150 rare and mesmerizing archive photos of the early 20th century taken by royal photographers and the Romanov family themselves. Some of these photos you’ve never seen before, trust us.  

1. Crown Prince Alexei Nikolaevich, 1911. 

Russian State Film and Photo Archive.

Press photo

2. Grand duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia. Tsarskoye Selo, 1903. 

Photography K. E. von Ghan & Co. Russian State Film and Photo Archive.

Press photo

3. Emperor Nicholas II and grand dukes carry a casket with the holy relics of Seraphim of Sarov,

July 17–20, 1903. 

Photography K. E. von Ghan & Co. Russian State Film and Photo Archive.

Press photo

4. Crown Prince Nicholas Alexandrovich with fiancee Princess Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt

Coburg, April 20 , 1894. 

Russian State Film and Photo Archive.

Press photo

5. Empress Maria Feodorovna with children, St. Petersburg, early 1890. 

S. L. Levitsky. Russian State Film and Photo Archive.

Press photo

6. Imperial family and their inner circle on the bridge deck of the yacht Standart watch the crew sail racing. Finnish skerries, [1907]. 

Photography K. E. von Ghan & Co.Russian State Archive of the Navy.

Press photo

7. Imperial cutter Peterhof with Emperor Nicholas II and his family on board at the Palace Pier. Nicholas receives a report from Naval Minister I. K. Grigorovich, 1914. 

K. K. Bulla. Russian State Archive of the Navy.

Press photo

8. Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna on the rooftop of the Grand Kremlin Palace

Moscow, 1903.

Russian State Film and Photo Archive.

Press photo

9. Playing Fox and Geese, Finnish skerries, 1911.  

Russian State Film and Photo Archive.

Press photo

10. Rope pulling. Finnish skerries, 1911.  

Russian State Film and Photo Archive.

Press photo

11. Nicholas II in his study, 1900.  

Russian State Film and Photo Archive.

Press photo

12. Moscow garrison military parade, Moscow, 1903.  

M. Grebnev. Russian State Film and Photo Archive.

Press photo

13. Outdoor rest. Finnish skerries, 1911.  

Russian State Film and Photo Archive.

Press photo

14. Emperor Nicholas II, 1900s. 

Russian State Film and Photo Archive.

Press photo

See more rare photos of the Romanov family at the Rosphoto Exhibition Center in St. Petersburg. The pictures will be on display until mid-September. 

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