My Love Affair With Chandeliers by Annette Mertes Hadley
It was just curiosity at first , a glimpse in my peripheral vision . I could easily have turned away , resisted . But I allowed myself a full view of what had caught my eye . There was no going back , I was hooked .
Have you ever felt like that ? That ' s how my love affair with chandeliers began ; I was out in the world in my travels . Now I look for them wherever I go . My all-time favorite , most beautiful , most meaningful chandelier has a history that unknowingly wove itself into my life decades ago .
What ? When ? Why ? How ? I wanted to travel to Russia since I was a teenager . In fact , getting there was the very first item on my life wish list . Through reading Nicholas and Alexandra , I learned about the last Tsar , Nicholas II and his wife the Empress Alexandra . What they were like as people and as rulers .
Even knowing the outcome , that the Romanov Dynasty and Imperial Russia would come to an end during World War I , replaced eventually by communism , learning about these real people of history fascinated me from page one . Sadly , in 1918 , the royal family and members of their household were brutally murdered , their bodies dismembered , burned and buried deep in a mine shaft .
Years passed and I was thrilled when Perestroika (“ restructuring ”) and Glasnost (“ openness ”) resulted in the dissolution of the Soviet Union . Someday I would go to Russia ! My life dream came true in September 2015 when I spent two weeks in that huge and mysterious country . In only a sliver of travel , I encountered restored palaces , cathedrals , and country churches , savoring past and present culture .
My most memorable chandelier experience took place at the Peter and Paul Fortress in St Petersburg . Simply stepping onto the cobblestone and seeing the cathedral with its 404-foot-tall spire literally took my breath away .
Inside the cathedral , above-ground tombs of the Romanov Tsars filled the side spaces . I stood in awe among Peter the Great , Catherine the Great , Nicholas I , Alexander II , Alexander III , etc . But it was when I looked forward and above that I was truly awe-inspired . For here was - and is - my favorite chandelier of all time , partly because of what came next . Chandelier , Fortress of Saints Peter and Paul , St Petersburg Russia , 2015
For the most powerful moments of my time in the cathedral were spent in front of the Catherine the Great Chapel . It was here that I learned that the remains of Nicholas and Alexandra , with their children and household staff , were discovered in 1998 and , following DNA testing , had been interred in the chapel . Nicholas , Alexandra , Maria , Tatiana , Olga Anastasia , Alexis . All there .
I ' d had no idea their remains had been located and treated with the dignity and honor they deserved . I found myself overwhelmed with emotion . I found myself crying quietly with grief and relief , with the comforting awareness that somehow , this complex and loving family had found their way home .
August 2017
The depth of this experience remains with me today . In its beauty and intensity , I experienced a healing , a closure . I came away with a most exquisite image , that of the chandelier , a heartfelt reminder of my singular lingering . It also became part of my first collection , Chandeliers from Russia .
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