Livadia (1 of 1)
Livadia Palace reverberates with history. It's the site of the 1945 Yalta Conference, where dying US president Franklin Roosevelt and heat-allergic British prime minister Winston Churchill turned up to be bullied by Soviet leader Josef Stalin. Stalin's insistent demands to keep Poland and other swathes of Eastern Europe shaped the face of postwar Europe. In the enormous White Hall, the 'Big Three' and their staff met to tacitly agree that the USSR would wield the biggest Eastern Europe influence, in exchange for keeping out of the Mediterranean. The crucial documents, dividing Germany and ceding parts of Poland to the USSR, were signed on 11 February in the English billiard room. The most famous Yalta photograph of Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin is hung on a wall, along with the awkward outtakes, which bring history to life.
