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1917: The February Revolution and Emperor Nicholas
II's abdication
During the February Revolution of 1917 Emperor Nicholas II was with the
General Staff in the city of Mogilev (Belorussia). Late in the night of
(15) March 1917 Nicholas II signed a deed of
abdication for himself and his son, in favour of
his brother Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich. This took place in
the Imperial train, which could not reach Petrograd (the name of St Petersburg
between 1914 and 1924 as a reaction against the Germanic
name Sankt-Peterburg) and stood in a siding
at the station of Dno, near Pskov. Grand Duke Mikhail refused to
ascend to the throne without the support
of the public and the army and a decree was
issued making Prince Georgiy Lvov Chairman of the Council of Ministers
of the new Provisional Government that possessed absolute
power until the creation of the Constituent Assembly.
On 20 March the Provisional Government took the decision
to arrest the former Emperor and Empress.
On 22 March the former Emperor Nicholas II was sent to
the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoye Selo, where the
members of his family were also put under arrest.
As part of the Imperial Court, the Hermitage was very much affected by
the political upheavals. Nonetheless, the staff of the museum
accepted the February Revolution and work continued as
before with the exception of a temporary suspension of public access.
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Portrait of Emperor Nicholas II
with Remarque-
Portrait of Tsarevich Alexei Nikolayevich
Rundaltsov, Mikhail Victorovich
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Portrait of Tsarevich Alexei Nikolayevich
Rundaltsov, Mikhail Victorovich
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Cadets in the Winter Palace
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