Due to the privacy it offered, when officially resident in St Petersburg, the Alexander Palace was the preferred residence of the last Russian Emperor, Nicholas II and his family. Its safety and seclusion compared favourably to the Winter Palace during the years immediately prior to the Russian Revolution. In 1917, the palace became the family’s initial place of imprisonment after the first of two Russian Revolutions in February which overthrew the Romanov during World War I. The Alexander Palace is situated in the Alexander Park, not far from the Catherine Park and the larger, more elaborate Catherine Palace. the Alexander Palace is undergoing renovation as a state museum housing relics of the former imperial dynasty.