Exhibition on last days of Tsar Nicholas II opens in Moscow

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2008

MOSCOW (AFP) — A telegram to Vladimir Lenin announcing the execution of Russia's last tsar and the bayonets used to finish off the victims are among items going on display in Moscow on Wednesday, almost 90 years after the massacre of Nicholas II and his family.

The exhibition, entitled "Crown of the Tsar," takes a detailed look at Nicholas II, his reign and his last days, Director of State Archives, Sergei Mironenko, said at the opening on Tuesday.

Among the 200 items on display -- including photographs and drawings of the imperial family -- are objects directly related to their tragic fate on the night of July 16, 1918 when the tsar, his wife and their five children were executed by Bolshevik revolutionaries near Yekaterinberg.

They include an order signed...