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• History of Christianization of Europe
• Soviet Union, Communist influence
• Map of European ethnic groups
• Map of Fascism in Europe (1922-75)
• History of Islamic conquest in Europe
• Religions & ethnic groups in Russia

--MORE & NON-ENGLISH--

• Muhammad cartoon crisis in pictures
• Stalin's private summer home
• Ravenna: capital of Gothic empire
• Czar Nicholas II's Ukrainian palace
• European traditional costumes/dress
• Inside the Vatican, house of all wealth

--MORE & NON-ENGLISH--

• Islamic Mujahidin vs. Spain & El Cid
• Poland-Lithuania vs. Teutonic Order
• Nevskiy's Russia vs. German Crusaders
• Mussolini vs. Libyan Islamic fighters
• Qadafi: Europe will soon be Islamic
• Ivan the Terrible vs. Muslim Tatars 

--MORE & NON-ENGLISH--

• Inside Albania, Europe's only Muslim culture (with rare pictures)
• History of Jihad in Chechnya
& Caucasus vs. Russians
• History of the Muslim Tatars in Russia
• Ethnic & religious history of Serbs, Croats, & Bosnians
• History of Italy: from Roman rule to Germanic barbarian
• The cost & bloodshed of the Serb-Albanian conflict in Kosovo
• Inside Bulgaria, 1st Slavic nation,
land of Thracian masters of gold
• Visual history of Yugoslavia
• Inside Muslim Turkey: right for the European Union? 

--MORE & NON-ENGLISH--

Ukrainian summer palace of Czar Nicholas II, the last emperor of Russia, and the site of the Yalta Conference
by James Mayfield (Chairman, European Heritage Library)

Print this Article    •    About the Author    •    Bibliography/Sources

This article offers some of my exclusive photos & observations of the grandiose Livadia Palace (personal residence of Czar Nicholas II) and Vorontsov's Alupka Palace (of Russia's leading general against Napoleon and the Caucasus' Islamic Mujahidin) in Yalta, Ukraine. To read my personal ethnic and social observations of the Crimea and Ukraine, as well as the complete history of the Tatars and their Jihad against the Slavs in the Crimea and Ukraine, click here.

For a brief historical background, the region, of today's Ukraine -- due to its volatile geographic position between European, Islamic, and Asian (Mongol) empires -- has a complicated, varied, and turbulent history with bitter ethnic and political conflict. Originally populated by ethnic Iranian Scythian and Sarmatian peoples, the region of today's Ukraine (Ruthenia) quickly became overrun by pre-Islamic Turkic peoples whom populated the region with relatively disunified tribal confederations with wealthy and thriving trade economies. The most famous of these Turkic peoples were the Khazars, whose leaders later converted to Judaism, which caused their former Byzantine and European allies to turn against them and expel them to the east. Europe's second-oldest Slavic nation (after Bulgaria), the "Kievan Rus" state established originally by Vikings from Sweden in the 9th century, quickly annexed the region, causing modern Ukraine and the Crimea to shift from Iranian to Turkic and finally to Slavic. Mongol rule ended the Slavic unified state, and their allied newly-Islamic Turkic legions expelled the Christian Slavs and inherited authority over modern Ukraine under the banner of the Golden Horde's Jihad. Their eventual collapse at the hands of the Jihadist Uzbek Timur-i-Leng allowed the Catholic Lithanians to conquer the region. The far south of the Crimea, however, remained in Turkic Tatar Islamic hands. Genoese colonial incursions against the Tatar Muslim trade cities encouraged the Islamist Ottoman Empire to conquer the region. The growing Russian state, which conquered Lithuania and eastern Poland, etc., marched southward into the Crimea from the 18th century onward. Thousands of Muslims were slaughtered, their religion banned, thousands were expelled, and thousands more allowed to stay fled to Islamic nations like Sunni Ottoman Anatolia or Shi'ia Iran. The Tatars -- whose Jihad had forced eastern Slavic Europe to quake in fear for nearly 600 years -- had been conquered by their former victims. The Crimea and Ukraine were thus ruled by Russia until after World War I and the collapse of the Soviet Union, when the independent Ukraine retained authority over the Crimean coast and the Black Sea's rich oil reserves. The Islamic Tatars were allowed to return after the death of Stalin, having been expelled for their mutual military, religious, and political support to the invading German and Romanian Fascists.

The EHL's ethnic map of Ukraine on the Black Sea. The far southern tip is the Crimea.

The erasure of the Islamic Jihad, as well as the region's history having been ruled primarily by the Russian Empire, causes the Ukrainian coast in Crimea to have almost no evidence of Islam nor the Tatars but rather Russian political and military glory. The greatest buildings in Ukraine other than their ancient Orthodox Christian Ukrainian churches are the elaborate palaces and summer homes constructed by the Russian overlords for their victorious military generals and many czars/tsars. The Crimea's most radiant gem is arguably the Livadia Palace in Yalta on the now-Slavic Crimea. This was the summer residence and international conference building of Czar Nicholas II, the last emperor of Russia before he was overthrown by the Bolshevik revolution in 1917. It was used to lesser extents by previous czars since the middle 1800s. Despite his overthrow, the palace remained in use by succeeding Russian authorities. The Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin, American president Franklin Roosevelt, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill held the famous Yalta Conference in this building to decide the fate of Europe near the end of World War II. The glory, wealth, size, and prestige of the palace is a testament to the Communists' criticism of the aristocracy as astronomically wealthy compared to the poor peasants. The building is massive, with some 30-foot-tall ceilings and more in many rooms decorated in lavish wood designs, white marble, gold leaf, carved stone, and expensive furniture. Massive stairways, archways, and gargantuan windows with massive awnings acknowledge the extreme wealth of the Romanov dynasty of Imperial Russia. The huge palace is built in the Italian medieval style instead of the Slavic. There are more than a hundred rooms, and many rooms hold massive tables capable of a capacity of hundreds for intended assembly with foreign diplomats, though in reality this may have been added by the far more worldly significant Stalin after Nicholas II's death. Massive paintings of Nicholas' family, as well as his personal families' rooms can be entered, including the homeschooling room for his children, a prayer room, smoking and drinking rooms, fireplace rooms, etc. Each room has an entirely unique fireplace of a different style from all over the world to express the world domain of his massive empire. One garden outside has Arabic writing next to a fountain to express not only his artistic appreciation for Islamic art, but also the Russians' conquest of the Jihadist Turkmen, Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Tajiks, Kyrgyz, Azerbaijanis, and Tatars. The Orthodox religious piety of the Slavs before the Communist conquest is reflected in a massive church in the palace whose onion domes and crosses extent nearly as high as the palace itself, with gold leaf decorations within and without. Tourists and locals are allowed to enter here for the purpose of prayer instead of a standard tour. Candles may be illuminated for the intent of honoring the saints and their ancestors. As is tradition to the non-Catholic Orthodox Christians, Slavs can be seen holding their hands against massive and radiant gold-leaf mosaics and frescos of saints in worship. Metropolitans and popes (equivalent of priests) can be seen giving prayer sermon here infrequently due to the church's small size. Photography is not allowed, women must cover their shoulders and wear veils or headscarves, and men must cover their legs and shoulders; no photography thus can be shown below. Nearly all of the evidence of Czar Nicholas -- including paintings, possessions, art, and ivory teasures, etc. -- were either stolen, burnt, or covered by the Communist regime after its seizure upon the deposition of the Romanov dynasty in 1917.

the Livadia Palace of the Czars. (click to enlarge)

the interior ceiling in one room. Every surface is intricate and fantastic. (click to enlarge)

the main conference hall. (click to enlarge)

the main table where the Yalta Conference was held. (click to enlarge)

an Arabic-style courtyard with Arabic script. (click to enlarge)

a main work room with a mural of Nicholas II and family. (click to enlarge)

the family of Nicholas II. (click to enlarge)

the family Orthodox church of Livadia Palace. (click to enlarge)

The next radiant and famous of the Crimea's monuments since the obliteration of the Islamic Tatar authority is the bizarre and unique Alupka Palace. After a several-mile drive and walk through an absolutely massive and entirely-synthetic (not naturally grown) garden complete with waterfalls, swan lakes (which inspired Tschaikovsky's "Swan Lake" classic), and courtyards populated by peacocks and eagles, one comes upon a massive palace in the center of nowhere reminiscent of the Islamic style. Its main exterior was built in the bizarre Mikhail Vorontsov, one of Russia's greatest generals for his heroic defense of Russia's statehood against Napoleon Bonaparte I in the 19th century. He also was one of the leading commanders who led the Russian armies into the volatile region of the Caucasus, where Islamic Turkic and Caucasian tribes rallied behind Imam Shamil in a glorious Jihad against the Christians, an event whose heritage continues today in the Chechnyan Jihad against the Russian Federation. The palace was to be his summer home to congratulate his victories. The exterior of the palace is in British Tudor style of the Protestant King Henry VIII, built from 1830 onward. The interior includes a variety of styles including French Baroque, British classic, Slavic, Byzantine, and even Islamic to a large extent in the exterior. Like the palace of Czar Nicholas II, this is an exercise of the Russians' world dominion instead of a cultural partnership of any sorts. The rooms in the interior are easily more radiant than the Livadia Palace of Nicholas itself. There are endless hordes of Greek-style statues, elaborate mosaics, Fabergé eggs, intricate gold leaf pottery with gems and jewels, diamond and gold designs on walls and ceilings, ruby and emerald, and ivory-studded furniture. Ceiling wood surfaces are intricately designed in special and shimmering patterns distinct in each room. Massive courtyards, patios, smoking and drinking rooms, fireplaces, and windows decorate this incredible palace with windows stretching in some rooms nearly 40 feet high. There are basins in some rooms that stretch more than 10 feet wide that are for decanting wine or cooling champagne in ice for visiting guests, the royal family, and for the generals' guards delight. Huge gardens offer a broad variety of animals and plants. Several rooms offer fountains and gardens for the relaxation and enjoyment of visitors also for the sake of painting, studying, or for engaging in Orthodox prayer. Gargoyles, lions, and statues of women of radiant marble tipped with gold can be seen around the palace as well. During the Yalta Conference that took place in the palace of the former czars, this palace of the long-dead Vorontsov offered lodging to Churchill during his stay in Yalta. The outer patio of the palace offers a massive panoramic of miles and miles of the Black Sea in all directions from a mighty cliff covered in trees and gardens with peacock howls in the distance. A look back at the palace offers the most Islamic or Tatar-esque (Turkic) elements of the palace. The bizarre Tudor style of the front is exentuated in the reverse of the building into a number of minaret-like spires adorning a huge open-half dome resembling a mosque's mihrab (the direction of Makkah). The green and white cut dome with its soft green interior is decorated with quite marginal Arabic script that roughly speaks "no victor exists but through Allah". The purpose of this bizarre use of Islamic architecture and script in a Slavic Christian general's home (let alone one who suppressed the Jihad of the Caucasian Turks) is multifold: firstly, out of appreciation for the beauty of Islamic architecture; secondly, to commemorate Russia's conquest of nearly all of the Islamic Mujahidin of Central Asia; thirdly, to commemorate Russia's delicate peace with Shi'ia Iran. Russia had engaged in nearly a dozen wars with the Sunni Ottoman Muslims, but generally retained peace with Iran by comparison. It is intentional that the name of Muhammad, the the Prophet, or Ali are of course not mentioned, only the name of God. The path leads outward back into the massive garden grown entirely by hand by soldiers and serfs for the general by the czar's orders. Ukraine is one of the most beautiful nations of the world, and with an incredibly proud and ultra-homogeneous Slavic Orthodox Christian culture to lead it.

the synthetic massive garden before the Alupka Palace.

the Alupka Palace in Tudor style. (click to enlarge)

a main glorious room in palace. (click to enlarge)

a magnificent dining room with blue walls and painting.

an intricate blue ceramic and gold urn.

the main hallroom. Every fireplace is unique.

the main Islamic-style half-dome on the back side of the palace with "victory only through God" written in Arabic.

________________________________________

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

James Mayfield is the owner and Chairman of the European Heritage Library. I am working for a doctorate in history, with a specific emphasis on Islamic and European histories. I am well versed in all world cultures, ethnicities, religions, languages, politics, and historical evolution in relation to and against each other.

BIBLIOGRAPHY/SOURCES USED:

Personal photographs, observations.

When the original owner of non-EHL images is known, the source is below the image.