♕ Day 2: Favourite Residence (Part 1 of 2)

I am absolutely stuck with choosing between the Alexander Palace and Catherine Palace, so I’m choosing both as my conjoint favorite residence of the Romanovs. This palace was the main residence of the last Emperor Nicholas II and his family. With only one hundred rooms, the Alexander Palace was a relatively small and simple home for a Russian tsar. But nevertheless, Nicholas and Alexandra chose this palace. While Nicholas’s father was still Tsarevich, Nicholas was born in May 1868 at this palace. This palace held a special memory to Nicky and Alix where they had danced a night away during Alix’s winter visit to Russia in 1889. While exploring for a home of their own after Nicholas’s accession to the throne, they decided on the spot that they would make the palace their home.

historyofromanovs:

♕ Day 2: Favourite Residence (Part 2 of 2)

The Catherine Palace (Russian: Екатерининский дворец) is one of my favorite two Romanov residences. The Alexander Palace is the other. The Catherine Palace is a Rococo palace located in the town of Tsarskoe Selo, built in early 18th-century. It was the summer residence of the Russian tsars. Empress Catherine I of Russia is the namesake of the palace. Although the palace is popularly associated with Catherine the Great, she actually regarded its “whipped cream” architecture as old-fashioned.

afghanistaninphotos:

Inside the entrance dome of the Blue Mosque of Mazar-i-Shareef. Afghanistan.

seventytimesxseven:

Blue Mosque (by saviorjosh)

Blue Mosque Detail
Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan