OTMA’s Pages & Biographies in the Work

April 02, 2024

OTMA’s Pages & Biographies in the Work

OTMA

Engraved into the minds of those who choose to read their story like etchings on stones, the four Romanov sisters have captivated history’s mind since 1918. From their Spartan upbringing to murders, their story reads as a fairytale that ended on a cliffhanger. Did they survive Ekaterinburg and live to grow a family of their own? Or did their stories end that dreadful night in July? Their lives they really lived have oftentimes being forgotten of. What is remembered of them are lives they never lived..

In the early morning they would rise; a cold bath would then quickly follow. Afterwards, they would be dressed in simple clothing, sometimes hand-me-downs from the elder sisters. For breakfast, they would eat porridge, or bread and butter. As they grew older, lessons would be held afterwords, during which they were to be taught arithmetic, reading and writing, and languages. Some of their science or mathematical-based lessons could be hosted in the Realnoye School, in Tsarskeo Selo. The sisters were never to be idle. Embroidery, taking photographs, playing games together, writing letters, or writing in their diaries was always a favourite past time among the girls, although some were favourited more than others. They slept in simply-designed rooms with hard, moveable camp cots without pillows. They were only allotted pillows if they were to be ill. Their rooms were to be cleaned without the help of a maid, but rather by themselves.

This Spartan lifestyle was not usual for royal children of the time, but it was only the way of life for children of great tsars in Russia, and had been since the 18th century. This was farther exempted and shown in their later life together, when cutting wood, baking bread, and cleaning the house were to be grand pastimes for them.