In the sweltering July of 1918, the Romanov family was sealed into the white-outed viewless 'House of Special Purpose'- to await their murders. The days crawled by, airless and dull- the clock ticking toward their execution. Does this photograph of the back garden show the grand duchesses lined up at the bath-house?- The shadowy figures seem to suggest their usual OTMA formation, or is it an illusion? No known images exist of the family in the
Ipatiev Mansion.
