Country and Minority Flags of Europe
EU Country Profiles & Immigration Info
Minority Languages & Identities in Europe

About the EHL/The Staff/Contact Us
Submit Articles & Content
Online Language Translation
Join our Mailing List
Donate to the EHL
Bookmark the EHL to Favourites!

     
      
     
Click a Flag to Translate

• Ethnic/religious groups of Habsburg Empire
• Historical breakup of Yugoslavia ('91-'09)
• Muslim populations in European countries
• 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
• Detailed map of French colonization
• Detailed map of British colonization
• Napoleon's conquests & legacy
• Ethnic & religious map of pre-Nazi Poland

--MORE & NON-ENGLISH--

• Pecs, Hungary: collision point between
Muslim and Christian empires
• Auschwitz and Birkenau
• Poland's resistance to Nazis in pictures
• Muhammad cartoon crisis in pictures
• Stalin's private summer home
• Ravenna: capital of Gothic empire
• Czar Nicholas II's Ukrainian palace
• European traditional cultural costumes
• Inside the Vatican, house of all wealth
• Banknotes/currencies of Europe
• Croatia's Dubrovnik, untarnished gem

--MORE & NON-ENGLISH--

• Islamic Mujahidin vs. Christian Spain
• Poland-Lithuania vs. Teutonic Order
• Nevskiy's Russia vs. German Crusaders
• Prussia vs. France (Nazi Propaganda)
• Libya: Europe will soon be Islamic
• Ivan the Terrible vs. Muslim Tatars
• Soviet Propaganda: Defeat of Germany  

--MORE & NON-ENGLISH--

• An analysis of Mussolini's 1938 racialist legislation
• The disastrous effects of Soviet collectivization on Kazakhstan
• Changing meaning of Italian identity under Fascist rule
• Yugoslavia's independent break from East and West
• The Galicians: the Celts of Spain
• The modern Macedonian Slavs and Alexander the Great
• An argument for the Romanians' links to ancient Dacians
• Mussolini's Italian death camp for Jews, Slovenes, and Marxists
• The disappeared Jews of Hungary and the Arrow Cross regime
• The Gypsies in history and today, Europe's public enemy
• History of Jihad in Chechnya vs. Russians
• History of the Muslim Tatars in Eastern Europe
• Post-WWII expulsion of 10 million ethnic German civilians
• Ethnic & religious history of Serbs, Croats, & Bosnians
• Breakaway states and independence movements in Europe
• The ancient Germanic Runic alphabet and Runestones
• Teutonic Order and their 800-year legacy in Eastern Europe
• 460-year struggle for Albanian homeland, and 540 for Kosovo
• 2,800-year-old white mummies of China, bringers of Buddhism?
• Alexander the Great's Greek descendents in Pakistan?
• Visual History of Yugoslavia and its breakup (1918-2008)

--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 photos & observations of the grandiose Livadia Palace, the personal residence of Tsar Nicholas II, and Vorontsov's Alupka Palace, the majestic home of Russia's leading general against Napoleon and the Caucasus' Islamic Mujahidin, both in Ukraine's Crimean city of Yalta. 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 nation of Ukraine is a comparatively new phenomenon. Although Ukrainians and Slavs trace their history back over 1,200 years, the centralized nation of Ukraine arguably did not exist before the creation of the Ukrainian SSR after 1920. The Ukrainians and Russians, two related Slavic peoples, each claim to have founded the first Russian state. This massive realm called Kievan Rus (centered at Kiev, hence the Ukrainian claim) was actually built by the invading Germanic Vikings called the Varangians from Sweden, according to the early Slavs' own Primary Chronicle. The Germanic aristocracy gradually died out, and was replaced by the native Slavic authority that forged a kingdom stretching from what is now Finland to near the Crimea and the Black Sea. This kingdom was obliterated by the invading Mongols and their Turkic Muslim Tatar legions in the 13th century. The Orthodox Ukrainian Slavic people thus became mere subjects of various empires -- such as Lithuania, Poland, the Ottomans, the Crimean Khanate, Genoa, and finally Russia -- although they retained their independent Slavic genetic and cultural identity. The Ukrainians take great pride in their heritage as roving Cossacks who often brought the Polish crown to the brink of collapse. They were then part of Russia until its fall in 1917, after which Polish military conquest and infighting allowed the Soviets to re-annex it until 1991.

Southern Ukraine is called the Crimea. It was almost entirely populated by the Turkish race -- the Crimean Tatars -- until Catherine the Great replaced them with Slavs. During World War II, a large percentage of Tatars supported the invading Germans and Romanians. As a result, Stalin expelled the entire population of Tatars to Kazakhstan. Nearly all died out, and there are almost none today in the Crimea. Bearded Turkic men can only rarely be seen standing outside new blue mosques, some wondering how this previously-Turkic country is now populated by a tremendously homogeneous blond Slavic population.

map of Ukraine on the Black Sea. The far southern tip is the Crimea.

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 easily the Livadia Palace. 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. 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 shortly preceding the close of World War II. The glory, wealth, size, and prestige of the palace functions as a justification for the typical Communist mantra that the Russian aristocracy was astronomically wealthy and exploitative ofthe 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 Russian style. 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. Massive paintings of Nicholas' family, as well as his personal families' rooms can be entered, including the homeschooling room for his children, an Orthodox 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 global 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 Turkmen, Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Tajiks, Kyrgyz, Azeris, 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 extend nearly as high as the palace itself, with gold leaf decorations adorning the interior and exterior. 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 icon veneration. Metropolitans and bishops can be seen giving prayer sermon here infrequently. The family of Tsar Nicholas, and the Tsar himself, are saints within the Orthodox Ukrainian Church. 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. Most have been replaced.

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 most famous of the Crimea's monuments since the obliteration of the Islamic Tatar authority in the 18th century is the bizarre and unique Alupka Palace. After a several-kilometer drive and walk through an absolutely massive and entirely-synthetic (not naturally grown) garden complete with waterfalls and swan lakes (which inspired Tschaikovsky's "Swan Lake" classic) populated by peacocks and eagles, one comes upon a massive palace in the center of nowhere expressing an eclectic array of architectural styles. Its main exterior was built for 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 Chechen 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 initiated by 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 influences 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 that are more than 10 feet wide used 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, and also for the sake of painting, studying, or for engaging in Orthodox prayer. Gargoyles, lions, and statues of women out 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 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 that resembles 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 translates "no victor exists but through Allah." Although the Muslim minorities of the expanding Russian empire were treated as second-class citizens, multiple Russian leaders, especially Catherine the Great, promoted a superficial type of autonomy for non-Russian populations in the empire. This was, in reality, politically motivated, since Catherine herself was German (not a Slav). 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 manifold: firstly, out of appreciation for the beauty of Islamic architecture; secondly, to commemorate Russia's conquest of nearly all of the Islamic Mujahidin rebels 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. 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 the hands of 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 sluggish poverty of Ukraine is not reflected in the Crimea.

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 a historian and the Chairman of the European Heritage Library. I have a Cum Laude BA in History with a Minor in Germanic Studies (language and history), am presently working for my Masters in History, and plan to immediately progress to my PhD Doctorate. I have a special academic interest in Europe's diverse ethnic identities, languages, and cultures, and the political struggles of native European and immigrant minority identities. See my staff entry for more information.

BIBLIOGRAPHY/SOURCES USED:

No additional citations or sources necessary.