Source: Royal Russia
May 18, 2016
During their official visit to the Crimea this week, the Head of the Russian Imperial House Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna and her son Grand Duke George Mikhailovich Romanov took part in ceremonies marking the historic visit to Yalta in 1916 by Emperor Nicholas II.
On 16th May, they attended a liturgy in St. Nicholas Cathedral in Yalta, followed by a procession along the waterfront where a bronze bust of Nicholas II was unveiled. The bust was established on the initiative of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society and its Chairman Sergei Stepashin with the blessing of His Eminence Lazarus, Metropolitan of Simferopol and Crimea.
Visit of Royal Martyr Nicholas II (right)
They then visited Evpatorian Kenassas, the temple complex of Crimean Karaites - opened in 1837 - located in Evpatoria. Their Imperial Highnesses unveiled a memorial plaque in memory of the visit by Emperor Nicholas II to the Karaite kenasa on 16 May, 1916.
Their Imperial Highnesses then took part in a prayer service given by Victor D. Tiriyaki - Head of the Karaite religious community in Evpatoria. After that, the representatives of the imperial family laid flowers at the memorial to the Karaites, who died during the Great Patriotic War (1941-45). They were also shown a marble obelisk, erected in 1851, in memory of the visit by Emperor Alexander I to Evpatorian Kenassas in November 1825.
