I recently visited the Winter Palace and was surprised that so many costumes, relics and other various artefacts of the Romanov dynasty had survived.
Were the majority of items smuggled out and protected by loyal Tsarists, or was saving them an active decision by the Communist Party?
When I visited St. Petersburg they specifically said that the Soviets saved the items as museum pieces. They even went to great lengths to hide or move items so they wouldn't get stolen during the siege of Leningrad.
The Hermitage's website notes that both the Winter Palace and the Hermitage were opened up as state museums in 1917-1919: http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/05/hm5_1_34.html