Talk:Private Apartments of the Winter Palace

Source: The State Hermitage Museum
A number of the footnotes in this splendid article are to "The State Hermitage Museum". The URL is identified within the references, but this page has disappeared since 2008. The Wayback Machine has made plenty of backups, but (for me, this evening) none works. There's now a short page about the building here; perhaps what's credited to the old page can be checked against the new one and if found there the footnote can be changed accordingly. -- Hoary (talk) 14:30, 6 May 2015 (UTC)
 * Wayback hasn't worked on these for me either for the last couple of days. I've tried raking through the "new" hermitage museum site - I hate it when sites are updated like that! - this seems to cover some of the paragraph presently attributed to ref #4? I have found a book that I'm hoping will supply the information for the other refs supported by the old museum site BUT it's in the States so will take a couple of weeks to get to me. Would anyone object to changing the refs to the format and I usually use? Giano has, in the past, been happy for us to do so.  SagaciousPhil  - Chat 17:27, 7 May 2015 (UTC)
 * I think that so far as the referencing is systematic now, it's a system that may have its place elsewhere but is unnecessarily awkward here. (You click for a footnote, but then have to go to a "reference" to see what it is that the note refers to.) I don't quite know what you're proposing, but I vaguely infer that it will be similar to what we now see in the article Florence Nagle. What I see in that article, I like; so if that's roughly what you want, no objection from me. -- Hoary (talk) 09:48, 8 May 2015 (UTC)
 * Yes, I did mean to tweak it to the same system as used in the Nagle article. I'll wait a couple of days before doing anything, just in case anyone does object. SagaciousPhil  - Chat 08:41, 9 May 2015 (UTC)
 * It looks as if Wayback from 2000 is working and gives some of the information; I've added it as an archive URL as an interim step. I know it's not ideal but I'm still pinning my hopes on the original website being roughly based on the book I've ordered ... SagaciousPhil  - Chat 09:29, 9 May 2015 (UTC)
 * You're a good man, paying to be better informed, in order to improve the article. (I've done this myself ... or perhaps improving an article was my excuse to buy a book that I anyway wanted.) -- Hoary (talk) 23:33, 16 June 2015 (UTC)

Whose bedroom?
One of the images in the article is "File:Maria Alexandrovnabedroom.jpg". According to the file description on Commons it is the bedroom of Maria Alexandrovna, but in the article the caption states that it is the bedroom of Alexandra Feodorovna. Which is it? -- Y not? 17:21, 16 June 2015 (UTC)
 * Thanks. The main author of the article,, has unfortunately retired from Wikipedia. I've changed the caption as according to the State Museum the painting shows Maria Alexandrovna's bedroom. SagaciousPhil  - Chat 18:01, 16 June 2015 (UTC)
 * I distinctly recall that Giano had already retired previously, many years ago. I had no idea that he or she had unretired at some point...  Giano must be like the Brett Favre of Wikipedia by now :) -- Y not? 20:00, 16 June 2015 (UTC)
 * I have no idea what you are trying to imply by your comment; I have simply tried to do my best to address your previous query and have attempted to ensure the article is in a reasonable state. As an Administrator, do you feel your response to me has been appropriate? To be honest your edit summary here also comes across as inappropriate - I tried to include a relevant reference - to deem it as "silly librarian-chic" is insulting and hardly becoming of an Administrator.  SagaciousPhil  - Chat 20:12, 16 June 2015 (UTC)
 * Whoa, slow down. If "silly librarian-chic" is insulting, then the insult is (to my mind) rather clearly directed at the romanization system and not the referencing. Incidentally, I don't find it either silly or chic, but its degree of detail does surprise me. I don't rush to belittle it, I find it hard to believe that many people will benefit from this detail aside from those who anyway know some Russian and would have no trouble with Cyrillic. I've never heard of Brett Favre (and the article about him is long and confusing); but the comparison aside, nothing here seems to insult either Giano (who I hope will return) or you (who I hope will persist). -- Hoary (talk) 23:33, 16 June 2015 (UTC) PS I looked at the Favre article again. Sample: "Complicating matters was Favre's unique contract giving him the leverage to void any potential trade by not reporting to the camp of the team he might be traded to if the Packers elect to go that route." I've read that three times and I still don't understand it. All I can say is that "giving him the leverage to" might mean "letting him", but if so then this would be but a minor step toward comprehensibility. -- Hoary (talk) 00:37, 17 June 2015 (UTC)

LOL he was an all time great player who famously retired and unretired a bunch of times. No offense meant to anyone. <3 all y'all chic librarians. -- Y not? 02:24, 17 June 2015 (UTC)

It is the bedroom of Alexandra Feodorovna (Charlotte of Prussia) (it was painted in 1852). It's my fault, I must have confused my Tsaritsa when originally uploading the picture. please don't fall out over my "retirement", I was just passing through and saw this mistake and fixed it because it wa my mistake! Giano   (talk) 18:00, 17 June 2015 (UTC)
 * Nope, I'm wrong again; it looks like Maria Alexandrovna (Marie of Hesse and by Rhine).  Giano    (talk) 18:08, 17 June 2015 (UTC)
 * Well, you know, Giano - I'm sure you know this and I'm sure others tell this to you often, but you have a great track record of substantive contributions to this encyclopedia. You're certainly a much more valuable user here than boring sysops like me, who may perform necessary administrative functions on occasion, but never write gorgeous articles such as this one.  So please count my voice in the chorus of users asking you to unretire yet again, so you can continue to enrich this project with quality content (notwithstanding any of the drama, which you may have experienced here over the years).  Cheers! -- Y not? 20:26, 17 June 2015 (UTC)

Chaise Longue or Sofa - and which side?
I am confused. The legend on the picture states that Tsar Alexander II "died on the chaise longue by the columns" which is on the right of the picture. However; under "Tsar's Study (14)" is stated that he died "on the sofa to the left of the picture". This is the kind of thing that keeps me awake at night. John C Kay (talk) 01:02, 17 June 2015 (UTC)

Maria Feodorovna who?
It appears that the identification of "Maria Feodorovna" in the article is at best confusing. Mentioned first in relation to the assassination of Alexander II of Russia, this would seem to be Maria Feodorovna (Dagmar of Denmark), spouse of Emperor Alexander III of Russia, as likely to be present at the time. Yet then the second mention of "Maria Feodorovna" is linked to Alexandra Feodorovna (Alix of Hesse), who was the spouse of Alexander II's grandson, would have been age 9 at the time of the assassination, and who didn't have 'Maria' as one of her names. Oh, and who had a bad relationship with her mother-in-law Maria Feodorovna.

Why is "Maria Feodorovna" linked to Alix? Are there really different two Maria's being mentioned? If so, then the first mention ought to be linked, and correctly, as separate from the second link. Or did everyone quite miss since 2008 that Nicholas was married to his mother? Shenme (talk) 01:32, 17 June 2015 (UTC)
 * No, Shenme, but you missed that this article had until very recently been in user space since 2008, so only one editor is to blame (me). So stop trying to sound so clever, if the mistake is so obvious to you, fix it. Giano    (talk) 21:25, 20 June 2015 (UTC)
 * The confusion was apparent, but the correct resolution required knowledge of the subject. The cleverness is in not changing things one has uncertain knowledge of, yes?  (Too many "but this seems correct to me" changes at WP for sure) Shenme (talk) 00:36, 21 June 2015 (UTC)


 * Fixed Alex Bakharev (talk) 02:24, 17 June 2015 (UTC)