October 1917: A ransacked room in the Tsar's Winter Palace, Petrograd (St Petersburg), after suffering damage at the hands of Bolshevik troops in the Russian Revolution. The whole room is in disarray and broken works of art lie among the debris. (Photo by Slava Katamidze Collection/Getty Images)
The spectacular winter palace which the Romanovs didn't enjoy- too cold, too big, too pretentious. They tended to get sick when they stayed there. they also knew they were too vulnerable to terrorists when they stayed there. Nicholas II's grandfather had died there, blown to smithereens, and Nicholas as little boy had been at his deathbed, saying goodbye to his legless , entrails hanging grandfather - Tatiana herself got very sick there with typhus. Alexandra hated the formal occasions. But their avoidance of the Winter Palace may have led to disastrous events that changed history: Bloody Sunday 1905 when the peaceful marchers wished to address the Tsar (He was not home) and the military took over and shot many people who were protesting in peace. It radicalized many. Later, the Provisional Government took over peacefully but in October 1917- the Bolsheviks seized the palace with violence and ransacking- Lenin's revolution had begun. See Eisenstein's' recreation of the events- fantastic film: October
