Terem Palace
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The construction of the Terem Palace in the Moscow Kremlin began in the period 1635-1636. The uppermost floor of the palace contained the private chambers, where, during the 17th century, the female members of the Romanov family lived in seclusion, surrounded by elaborate protocol. Even physicians were only admitted in extreme cases, and they were obliged to examine their patients in semi-darkness, and to take their pulse through a veil. When the royal ladies ventured out of the Terem they had to cover their faces, and travel in closed carriages. Since rank prevented them from marrying outside the royal family, and religion ruled out foreign husbands, the Terem was, for the majority of Romanov women, a gilded cage. The Regent Sophia was the first to defy many of these conventions, and Peter the Great abolished them altogether.