Yesterday we went to Santa Fe for Russian Summer. This event centers around an extraordinary exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts - Nicholas and Alexandra: At Home with the Last Tsar and His Family.



It was pretty crowded but I managed to see everything. I was really moved at the film montage of some of the Tsar's home movies. They had a good selection of furniture, letters, art, fine china, photo albums, and children's toys. The most valuable item was a Faberge basket of lilies of the valley made out of jewels. I saw a fuzzy black wool burka Nicholas wore and lots of beautiful lace bedding. There was a huge tapestry of Marie Antoinette with her children that was given to Alexandra by the French government.



Apparently their five children were all pretty talented at arts and crafts and they had a really interesting leather stamping kit used by the Grand Duchesses. Their work was quite detailed. Marie also was a talented painter and they had some of her watercolors. The Crown Prince Alexis enjoyed woodworking and the exhibit included a clock he made. They displayed all his little child's tools - saws and picks and all sorts of sharp things I would have second thoughts about giving to a hemophiliac child.



I really was fascinated by a crochet hook used by Alexandra. It was solid gold with a black bearded man's head carving attached to the top. It was pretty large and I'd guess it would be for worsted weight yarn or thicker. The note stated that Alexandra and her four daughters all knit socks for the Russian soldiers in World War I.





I was hoping to see something related to Rasputin but the there was only a brief shot of him, eyes closed, in the film. They also had an anxious letter written by the Tsar to his mother just before the entire family was executed by the Bolsheviks.



The exhibit is definitely worth checking out but the museum could have done a better job of lighting the items. They're getting 500-800 visitors a day and people just mill about in the various rooms going all different directions trying to have a chance to see each item instead of a more organized traffic flow. The exhibit is only going to two other locations - Newark and Cincinnati.