One of the Alexander Palace's cellar rooms now offers a virtual reality (VR) experience inside the railroad cars used by Russian tsars.
The VR project Imperial Train Journey by Tsarkoe Selo and St Petersburg's Russian Railway Museum is provided with technical support from the company Infomedia Bureau of Creative Initiatives.
Visitors can choose from two VR journeys. One is a tour of the Imperial Train's interior and its history. The other is a themed quest game that includes interaction with objects in 3D virtual environment inside the imperial rail cars.
The VR project is available on the Alexander Palace's ground floor.
The imperial residence of Tsarkoe Selo was connected to St Petersburg by Russia's first passenger railway in 1837. The imperial rail cars were attached to common trains at first and later formed separate trains, which counted eight by 1902. Only three of their several dozen cars have survived to the present day and are now on display at the Finnish Railway Museum in Hyvinkää, Finland. Those cars were built for Alexander II's trips to Finland (then in the Russian Empire) by the St Petersburg–Riihimäki railway. The Emperor's Car was made in Germany in 1870, its exterior painted in blue and decorated with double-headed eagles. The interior was lined with walnut, the furniture was upholstered in dark green leather. The car of Alexander's wife Maria and the Salon Car were remade from passenger rail cars in 1875-76. Their interiors were decorated with silk of red and Maria's favourite blue. Slightly modernized in 1915 with electricity and water tanks for onboard toilet facilities, those three historically valued cars have survived down to the present but are available for observing from the outside only.
Our VR tour offers a unique opportunity to look inside the Emperor's Car, Empress' Car and Salon Car of the Imperial Train.
HOURS:
Open 10am–6pm (Last Admission: 5pm)
Closed Wednesdays (November–March: Closed Wednesdays, and Last Thursday of each month)
TICKETS:
- VR Journey on Imperial Train (duration: 10-15 minutes) — ₽ 250
- VR Quest Game on Imperial Train (duration: 20-60 minutes) — ₽ 500
Tickets are available in advance on our museum's website and on the day at Alexander Palace's ticket desks
Only for visitors aged 12+
