Above: The half-basement room in the Ipatiev House, where the imperial family was killed. Alexis and Alexandra were seated; the other victims -- including three family servants and the Romanovs' physician -- stood. Yakov Yurovsky had positioned his victims on the pretense that the Communist authorities in Moscow required a photograph. In the last second of her life Olga attempted, but failed, to make the sign of the Cross. She was killed almost instantly; her sisters and brother took much longer to die, and the maid Demidova received more than thirty bayonet wounds. By the end of the massacre the room was awash with blood.

Below: Exterior of the Ipatiev House. An arrow marks the semi-basement room where the imperial family was massacred. At the time of the murders, two wooden palisades surrounded the building.