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Laginkoski (Lagin Rapids) Imperial Fishing Lodge. Czar Alexander III, Emporer of Russia, Grand Duke of Finland, had visited the Langin Rapids area at Kotka, because he had heard about the good salmon fishing in the rapids. The Finnish architects Magnus Schjerfbeck, Sebastian Gripenberg and Jac. Ahrenberg designed a simple villa for Emperor Alexander and his Danish born empress Dagmar (Maria Feodorovna). |
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In 1880 Czar Alexander visited these rapids to watch the fishing on the Kymi river. He also did some hiking to look at the beautiful scenery. On his next visit to this area, he said that he wished to have a fishing lodge built on the banks of the river. |
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Pictures inside the Imperial Fishing Lodge of fishing in Langinkoski . In the autumn of 1896 a salmon weighin 78 pouns (34.6 kilos) was caught at Laginkoski. It still ranks among the biggest ever caught in Finland. |
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Alexander III and Marie Feodorovna painted by the Russian artist Nikolai Schilder. In October 1866 Alexander married the Danish Princess Dagmar (1847-1928). After her conversion to Orthodoxy, she took the name of Marie Fedorovna. Together, Alexander III and Empress Dagmar had five children. Their first child, Nicholas, was born in 1868 and would be the last Tsar of Russia. Their second child, George, was born in 1871 followed by Xenia (1871), Michael (1878) and Olga (1882). George died at 27 of tuberculosis in 1899. Empress Dagmar lived a widow for 32 years. She died in 1928 in her native country Denmark. She never returned to Langinkoski after the death of her husband. |
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At the wish of the imperial owners the interior decorating was made very simple!! The front of the main living room area of the lodge, with original furnishings.The house-warming on the 15th of July 1889 was a family affair. The newspapers reported to their readers about the uncomplicated way of life of the imperial family, with the empress doing the cooking and the emperor carrying firewood and water. |
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Another view of the large living room. At Langinkoski, the Czar's family relaxed, the emporer fished in the rapids in front of the lodge, and took his children for walks in the forest. |
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Another view of the living room, the large fire place, looking out of the room towards the entrance way to the lodge. Czar Alexander III visited Langinkoski about 10 times, traveling from St. Petersburg by ship. The well-sheltered bay at the outlet of the Kymi River. Born in St Petersburg on February 26, 1845, Czar Alexander III died in 1894. |
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A copper coffee urn, some of what were called the simple furnishings in the lodge. Czar Nicholas II, the last emporer of Russia, was not particularly interested in Laginkoski. He and his family visited the lodge once on the 5th of September 1906. |
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A view of the kitchen in the lodge. During World War I the lodge served as a rest home for wounded Russian Soldiers. When Finland became an independent state in 1917, the imperial lodge was taken over by the Finnish government. |
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Another view of the kitchen of the lodge. The area surrounding the imperial fishing lodge was declared a national park in 1960. On the 100th anniversary of the fishing lodge in July 1989, Captain Tihon Kulikovsky, grandson of emporer Alexander II and Empress Dagmar, and his wife, from Canada, visited the lodge as guests of honor. |
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A room adjacent to the living room that was used by Empress Dagmar. |
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The Romanov flag. |
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The upstairs bedroom of the body guards of the royal family. |
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Furnishings in the bedroom of the escorts of the royal family. |
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The bedroom used by the Emporer and Empress. |
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Another bedroom used by the royal family. |