The Recovery of the Last

Dynasty

In 1991, researchers discovered mysterious bones in a Siberian forest near Yekaterinburg. DNA tests were performed on these bones and the conclusion was that they were the bones of the last imperial family of Russia. After more concluding tests, researchers tried to track down DNA samples from the impersonator, Anna Anderson to compare them both. Unfortunately, Anna was cremated after her death in 1984. The only samples that existed from her were tissue samples from a surgery in 1979. They also tracked down a strand of hair in her husband’s bookstore and a drop of blood from a slide found in Germany. All of these samples from Anderson did not match with Romanov DNA.

A mystery still remained. Two bodies were not found. They were Anastasia’s and Alexei’s. Scientists discovered this because the feminine bodies that were found were too developed to be Anastasia. There was only one male member of the Romanov family found. It was Nicholas. Scientists know this because the body was too tall and developed to be Alexei.

Just recently, the Russian government voted to bury the remains of the last Imperial family. The funeral was extremely simple for former Russian royalty. Even President Boris Yeltsin refused to attend. The remains were flown to Moscow from from the rural Siberian town of Yekaterinburg. The funeral was not a very elaborate or grand one. The former tradition of parading the coffins through the street did not even happen. Also the funeral was not led by a leader of the Russian Orthodox Church; instead, it was led by a local priest. The reason for this small funeral was that the Tsar Nicholas II was one of the reasons for the fall of Russia and the Russian Revolution. One remaining conflict before the funeral was that scientists needed to be one-hundred percent sure that these remains were the remains were the actual remains of the last monarchy. Concluding tests were conducted in Russia, U.S.A., and England. These tests determined that the bones were 99.5% accurate to Romanov DNA.

In August of 2000, the opinions of the Romanovs had changed. On August 14 the Archbishop’s Council of the Russian Orthodox Church voted to canonize the tsar, his wife and their four children. They were identified as passion bearers which is a type of sainthood. The council said that the family had to go through captivity and humility, which they endured with patience. The ceremony was held on August 20 in Moscow. It was a very great honor to the Romanovs. They had to suffer very much and were rewarded with sainthood which is a very rare privilege.

The opinions of the public were not very friendly to the Romanov funeral. They were still recovering from the political struggle of the century. They had to suffer through the communism after the Russian Revolution, which Nicholas was a part of. Afterward, the Romanovs were given the joyous present of sainthood. Obviously, the opinions of the public had changed about the Russian family. In many people’s minds the turnout of the Recovery of the Romanovs was deserved by the deceased family.

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