Dr. Gordon Rintoul, Director of the National Museums of Scotland, said he was glad the National Museum of Scotland and St. Petersburg's Hermitage Museum had been able to stage this display of international significance in the United Kingdom.
The exhibition, featuring several hundred pieces of art and furniture from the Hermitage collection, opens with a series of portraits of the royal couple and their children - Crown Prince Alexei and daughters Olga, Tatyana, Maria and Anastasia. It touches on the family's blood ties with the royal dynasties of Britain and other European nations.
According to the organizers, of particular interest to visitors will be items telling about the Emperor's foreign trips, such as the shirt he was wearing when an attempt on his life was made in Japan and the huge painting depicting him on a state visit to France.
The exhibition's closing portion is devoted to World War I (1914-1918) and the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. It was shortly after these events that the royal couple and their children were slain in Yekaterinburg.
Visitors are invited to read excerpts from family diaries recounting the tragic end of the life of Nicholas II and his family.
The exhibition is open through October 30.
