Elizabethan Palace in Tsarskoye Selo. Attachments for the Great Catherine Palace

May 7th, 2015 09:00 am

In 1704, to protect the sea borders of Russia, Kotlin Island was laid down.
A year earlier, in 1703, at the mouth of the Neva onOn Hare Island, the construction of the first stone building in St. Petersburg, the Peter and Paul Fortress, began.
The future northern capital of Russia was built up, grew inIn 1717, in the town of Saarskaya manor (later Tsarskoye Selo), the construction of the first stone royal house for the mistress of the land began - Catherine I.

In August 1724, construction was completed, and a small two-story building, typical of Russian architecture of the early 18th century, received the proud name KStone Chambers of Catherine I.
Today we will visit the Catherine Palace (until 1910 the Great Tsarskoye Selo) Palace, which, as a result of several restructurings, turned into the Stone Chambers of Catherine I.

So, built in the 20s of the XVII centuryfirst stone palaceCatherine I stood unchanged until 1740. And after the accession to the Russian throne of the daughter of PeterI Elizabeth began a major restructuring of her mother's palace.
In 1744Rastrelli received an order from Empress Elizabeth Petrovna for a complete restructuring
Stone chambers. In 1756, the work was completed and Rastrelli revealed to the world- Grand Palace of Tsarskoye Selo.

During the time of Catherine II, the figures and stucco of the facade were gilded with real gold, and foreign guests wrote that if you look at it in sunny weather, it blinded in the literal sense of the word. Now the sculptures are more like terracotta (I don’t know whether they are completely or simply prepared for restoration).
Now gilding is only on forged openwork lattices of balconies and gates.

No story, no photographs can convey the true splendor of the Catherine Palace. There is a lot of information on it and it is difficult to reduce it, but I will try.

The Catherine Palace is preening after a long winter.

Entrance to the halls of the palace is paid and carried out strictly on time.
And acquaintance with the interior of the palace begins with the Main Staircase. We will climb it and begin our acquaintance with the halls, rooms and living rooms of the palace.

The main staircase consists of two three-flight stairs with an intermediate platform.
White marble steps rise from both sides to the middle platform, from which four flights lead to the second floor, to the main halls.

The walls are decorated with stucco ornaments, decorative vases and dishes of Chinese and Japanese porcelain of the 18th-19th centuries are placed on them. This was done in memory of the Chinese Hall located here in the middle of the 18th century.

Restored marble sculptures are installed on the landings of the stairs. 1860 Sleeping Cupid and Waking Cupid.
This sleeping one, and waking up, I somehow lost sight of.)))

The electronic guide leads past the Cavalier's dining room immediately to the main and largest hall of the Catherine Palace -Great Hall (Great Gallery, Light Gallery or Throne Room).

The elegant hall with an area of ​​more than 800 square meters was intended for official receptions and celebrations, ceremonial dinners, balls and masquerades. The painting of the ceiling lamp is made with a perspective distortion, which creates the impression of infinitely high walls.

The decor of the Great Hall is amazing!

The Grand Palace of Tsarskoye Selo Shot for the first time in Russia he used the enfilade arrangement of premises. For the abundance of gilded carvings, the enfilade of the Catherine Palace was named "Gold enfilade".
Rastrelli created an enfilade from a chain of halls from front stairs before Church building with a total length of 300 meters. True, the front staircase was then not in the center of the Palace, but in its southern wing next to the Zubovsky wing.
Do not wait and do not hope to see the Golden Enfilade empty.

One of the rooms of the Golden Enfilade is the Cavalier's Dining Room. Small in size room Rastrelli visually enlarged due to the mirrors, designed in the form of glazed doors.
The dining room was heated by a multi-tiered tiled stovewith cobalt painting.

Ribbons in the decoration of the tables echoed the sets, which were called "Order".
Services weredecorated with signs and ribbons of Russian orders:St. Andrew the First-Called, St. George, St. Alexander Nevsky and St. Vladimir anddecorated the tables on the days of solemn holidays dedicated to the patrons of these most honorable national awards.

The white front dining room is another room in the enfilade. She was intended for ceremonial dinners and "evening meals" of the empress in a narrow circle of close associates.

In glass showcases on consoles between the windows aredecorative fragrant vases called "boule-da-nezh". They aremade at the Meissen factory in the second half of the 18th century. This, of course, is far from the only decoration of the White Front Dining Room.

Rastrelli, striving to give the decor of the Catherine Palace the maximum variety,used in these rooms original materials for that time.The walls of the rooms were covered with white damask, and on top of the damask were arranged pilasters of transparent glass with colored (crimson and green) foil placed under the glass. These pilasters-columns (pillars) gave the name to the Pillar Rooms.

Delightful German Work Bureauadorns the Green Pillar.

very fashionable in18th century depictions of Arap boys holding baskets of fruit or flowers on their heads.

And here, too, a tiled stove. All stoves were an integral part of the halls of the Front Enfilade and were created according to Rastrelli's sketches.

And this is the Picture Hall of the Catherine Palace.

With all the value of paintings placed on the walls according to the principle of trellis hanging, they are just wall decor! The architect hung them solely guided by the size of the canvases and the principle of matching the color scheme.

The true adornment not only of this room, but of the entire Front Enfilade are the doors of the Picture Hall, or rather, the gilded carvings decorating them.

The next in the Front Enfilade is the Small White Dining Room.
It was from this room that the private quarters of Elizabeth Petrovna, and then Catherine II, began.

The carved gilded armchairs and the bureau of typesetting wood in this room are most likely made by the personal order of Catherine II. Pictures, armchairs and bureaus were evacuated from the palace and, therefore, practically did not suffer.

Alexander's Chinese Living RoomI - stands out from all the rooms and halls of the enfilade with walls upholstered in Chinese silk hand-painted with watercolors. During the last restoration, these silk wallpapers were restored according to the surviving silk pattern.
And here there is a stove lined with tiles. Portraits of members of the Romanov family are hung on the walls.

And the last room I would like to say a few words about is the Green Dining Room. If until now we have considered the interiors of Rastrelli, then the interiors made by Cameron begin from here. The Green Dining Room, followed by the Waiter's Room, the Front Blue Room, etc., were rebuilt according to his design in 1779 as the private quarters of Emperor Paul I and Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna.
It is from this dining room in 1957 restoration of the Catherine Palace began.

Then a very strange thing happened, which I simply cannot tell about. The audio guide ended here and the whole group, having not looked at almost a quarter of the premises, including the Palace Church, turned onto the Church (Stasovskaya) stairs and was taken out of the palace. So be careful. And I will have to visit Tsarskoye Selo again.

Well, what else would you like to mention...

During the Great Patriotic War, the palace was badly damaged. The restorers did a tremendous job of restoring the historic interiors. Now 35 of the 58 halls of the Catherine Palace have been recreated. In addition, all its facades have been completely restored and restored.

And, of course, in the story about the Catherine Palace, one cannot fail to mention its true pearl - the Amber Room. In addition, this is perhaps the only room in the palace overgrown with so many legends, myths and strange incidents. And this is the only room in the palace where photography is prohibited. Absolutely forbidden! Even on mobile phones!
Disappeared without a trace in 1945, the Amber Room has not been found to this day. Her premises were restored, or rather restored, for 23 years.
The opening of the restored Amber Room took place in the spring of 2003.
Few numbers:
- Height of the Amber Room‑ 7.8 meters
- Floor area‑ 100 sq. meters,
- Facing three walls with amber‑ 86 sq. meters.
- Of the 6 tons of amber used for restoration, 80% went to waste.
- Dto restore the Amber Room, amber from the Kaliningrad
field, which accounts for almost 95% of the world's reserves.
- FROMthe largest nugget used in the work,bought from a Moscow collector for
a thousand dollars. Nuggetweighed 1 kg.
- Restoration spent: 11.35 million dollars.From the Russian budget -7.85 million and
3.5 million from the funds of the German company RuhrgasAG.

Who cares - the official website of the State Museum-Reserve "Tsarskoye Selo".

And a musician is playing in the park next to the palace!

That's where, in Catherine's Park, we'll go next time, but that's all for today.

Great Catherine Palace, Pushkin.The exposition of the Catherine Palace (until 1910 - the Great Tsarskoselsky) Palace-Museum covers almost 300 years of history of the outstanding monument and introduces the work of architects who participated in its construction and decoration in the 18th-19th centuries, as well as the achievements of restorers who revived the palace after the Great Patriotic war. Of the 58 halls of the palace destroyed during the war, 32 have been recreated.

In 1717, when St. Petersburg was being built on the banks of the Neva, in Tsarskoye Selo under the guidance of the architect I.-F. Braunstein, the construction of the first stone royal house began, which went down in history under the name of "stone chambers" of Catherine I. In August 1724, as a sign of the completion of construction, a festival was held in the palace, during which "thirteen cannons were fired three times." The ceremony was attended by the king and major statesmen. At that time, the palace was a small two-story structure typical of Russian architecture of the early 18th century.

Adolsky I-B.G. "Portrait of Catherine I with a black boy". 1725 or 1726. The portrait was repeatedly repeated and copied. A close version, attributed to the master, is kept in the collection of the Catherine Palace.

During the reign of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, in late 1742 - early 1743, it was decided to expand the building according to the project of M. G. Zemtsov (1688-1743), but the death of the architect prevented the implementation of the plan. After Zemtsov, work in Tsarskoe Selo was carried out by A. V. Kvasov (1720 - after 1770) and his assistant G. Trezzini (1697-1768), but already in May 1745 Trezzini was replaced by the famous architect S. I. Chevakinsky (1713-1780) , who supervised construction in Tsarskoye Selo until the early 1750s.

From the end of 1748 to 1756, the construction of the Tsarskoye Selo residence was headed by the chief architect of the imperial court F.-B. Rastrelli (1700-1761). On May 10, 1752, Elizaveta Petrovna signed a decree on the overhaul of the old building, and already on July 30, 1756, Rastrelli demonstrated his new creation to the crowned customer and foreign ambassadors.

Portrait of Empress Elizabeth from Tsarskoye Selo in the Historical Museum

Friedrich Hartmann Barisien. Grand Palace of Tsarskoye Selo Empress Elizabeth Petrovna 1760-1761

The palace, built in the Baroque style, delighted with its size, powerful spatial dynamics and "picturesque" decor. The wide azure ribbon of the facade with snow-white columns and gilded ornaments looked festive.

Rastrelli decorated the palace facades with figures of Atlanteans, caryatids, lion masks and other stucco decorations, made according to the models of the sculptor I.-F. Dunker (1718-1795). Five gilded domes of the Palace Church towered above the northern building, and above the southern one, where the front porch was located, there was a dome with a multi-pointed star on the spire.

It took about 100 kilograms of pure gold to gild the exterior and interior decorations. At the same time, the front parade ground was finally decorated, fenced with palace wings and one-story service buildings located in a semicircle - circumferences. Just as luxuriously Rastrelli decorated the apartments of the palace. The Ceremonial enfilade created by him, decorated with gilded carvings, was called "golden". The enfilade arrangement of halls, not known in Russia until the middle of the 18th century, was also introduced by Rastrelli in other palaces, but only in Tsarskoe Selo the length of the front rooms was equal to the length of the entire building - from the Main Staircase to the Palace Church.

Rotary - Portrait of the architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli

The next stage in the design of the ceremonial and residential halls of the palace dates back to the 1770s. The new owner of the residence, Empress Catherine II, who was fascinated by ancient art, wished to decorate her apartments in accordance with fashionable tastes and entrusted them to the Scottish architect, an expert on ancient architecture C. Cameron (1743-1812).

The interiors he created - the Arabesque and Lyon drawing rooms, the Chinese hall, the Domed dining room, the Silver Cabinet, the Blue Cabinet (Snuffbox) and the Bedchamber - were distinguished by their exquisite beauty, the rigor of decorative design and the special elegance of decoration. Unfortunately, these halls were destroyed during the Great Patriotic War and have not yet been restored.

The rooms intended for the Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich (the future Emperor Paul I) and his wife Maria Feodorovna, decorated by C. Cameron in the same years, are now recreated: the Green Dining Room, the Waiter's Room, the Front Blue Room, the Chinese Blue Living Room and the Bedchamber allow you to get acquainted with the unique interiors , created by a Scottish architect, whose work was so loved by Catherine II.

Edward Gau. Catherine Palace. Blue office (Snuffbox) (Zubovsky wing)

In 1817, by order of Emperor Alexander I, the architect V.P. Stasov (1769-1848) created the Front Office and several adjacent rooms decorated in the same style - everything in these rooms was dedicated to glorifying the brilliant victories won by the Russian army in World War II 1812. The Asian room became the embodiment of the theme of the art of the Middle East in the transcription of the era of historicism. The Asian, or Turkish, room of the Zubovsky building of the Grand Tsarskoye Selo Palace was remade in the "oriental taste" in 1851-1853 from the Raspberry Room according to the project of the architect I.A. Monighetti with the participation of Professor of St. Petersburg University Sheikh Muhamsla Ayad Tantawi and artist I.G. Meyer.
In this, one of Monighetti's most interesting exotic interiors, the decoration of the room was built with the expectation of exhibiting a collection of royal weapons. But it was here, in the room created for the Grand Duke Alexander Nikolaevich, the future Emperor Alexander II, that the architect managed to rise above a narrowly applied task and create one of the brightest and most integral artistic interiors.

Gau, Eduard Petrovich - Turkish room in the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo

The last chord in the enfilade of the palace was the Main Staircase, created in 1860-1863 by I. A. Monighetti (1819-1878) in the “second Rococo” style.

Bust of F.-B. Rastrelli

Golden Gate

Lattice of the front yard.

Main staircase.

The main staircase occupies the entire height and width of the palace and is illuminated from the east and west by windows located in three tiers. White marble steps rise from both sides to the middle platform, from which four flights lead to the second floor, to the main halls. On the walls of the interior, decorated with stucco ornaments, there are decorative vases and dishes of Chinese and Japanese porcelain of the 18th-19th centuries - in memory of the Chinese Hall located here in the middle of the 18th century.

Exhibition rooms.

Two rooms of the Catherine Palace, which can be entered by climbing the Main Staircase, are now used as exhibition rooms.

Big hall.

The Great Hall, or the Bright Gallery, as it was called in the 18th century, is the largest front room of the palace, designed by the architect F.-B. Rastrelli in 1752-1756. This elegant hall with an area of ​​more than 800 square meters was intended for official receptions and celebrations, ceremonial dinners, balls and masquerades.

Anticameras.

Guests who came to Tsarskoye Selo in the 18th century first of all got into the anti-cameras (Italian anticamera - front, hallway), located at the Main Staircase in the southern wing of the building. These rooms got their name because they were located in front of the Great Hall and were intended for waiting for receptions and the exit of the Empress. As a result of reconstructions at the end of the 18th century, when the Arabesque and Lyon Halls appeared on the site of two anti-chambers, only three of them remained.

"First Anticamera"

"First Anticamera". Plafond "The Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne"

The first anti-chamber of the Catherine Palace 1940

"Second Anticamera"

"Third Anticamera"

Arabesque hall.

The Arabesque Hall is one of the most spectacular ceremonial halls created by C. Cameron in the Grand Tsarskoye Selo Palace for Empress Catherine II.

Arabesque Hall in the Catherine Palace. Around 1850. E. Hau.

Cavalry canteen.

Next to the Great Hall is the Cavalier's Dining Room, also designed by F.-B. Rastrelli. Its dimensions are small, so the architect placed mirrors and false mirrored windows on the walls, which made the hall more spacious and brighter. The solution of the interior is typical for the Baroque style: it is dominated by a gilded carved ornament of stylized flowers and shells; magnificent gilded compositions above the doors - desudéportes.

White front dining room.

Having passed the Main Staircase, we find ourselves in the White Main Dining Room, which was once intended for ceremonial dinners and “evening meals” of the Empress in a narrow circle of close associates.

Raspberry and Green Stolbovye.

Decorating the halls of the Grand Palace of Tsarskoye Selo, F.-B. Rastrelli strove for the maximum variety of architectural and decorative solutions for his interiors. In the decoration of two Raspberry and Green Stolbovaya, located one after another, the architect used materials original for that time: he decorated the walls covered with white damask with transparent glass pilasters - “pillars”, with raspberry and green foil placed under the glass, which gave the name to the rooms.

Raspberry dining room

Green dining room

Portrait Hall.

In the Portrait Hall of the Catherine Palace, decorated according to the project of Rastrelli and retaining its original decoration for two centuries, ceremonial images of royal persons have long been shown. Completely destroyed during the war, the interior was recreated from photographs and surviving fragments of decoration.

The Amber Room.

From the Portrait Hall you can go to the Amber Room - the pearl of the Catherine Palace, quite rightly called one of the wonders of the world.

Picture room.

The main part of the Tsarskoye Selo collection of paintings, presented in the hall, was acquired by order of the Empress Elizaveta Petrovna in 1745-1746 in Prague and Hamburg by the artist G.-Kh. Groot.

Small white dining room.

The Small White Dining Room adjoins the Picture Hall, from which the private chambers of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna began, and later Catherine II, who in turn transferred them to her beloved grandson, Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich, the future Emperor Alexander I.

Chinese drawing room of Alexander I.

Designed by architect F.-B. Rastrelli in 1752-1756 The Chinese living room of Alexander I belonged to the personal imperial chambers. Its interior stood out among the rooms of the Golden Enfilade of the palace with silk upholstery of the walls painted with watercolors in the Chinese style. Otherwise, the decoration followed the general style of the main halls: a picturesque ceiling, carved gilded desudeportes based on the models of the sculptor I.-F. Dunker, mirrors between the windows, stoves made of "Hamburg" tiles and type-setting parquet.

Buffet.

The pantry belonged to the personal quarters of the Empress and until 1761 was part of the Lavatory on the half of Elizabeth Petrovna. In the middle of the 19th century, the room was divided by a white damask partition, behind which, during receptions, a service buffet was arranged for table setting.

Ceremonial office of Alexander I.

From the Vaulted Entrance, one can go to the Grand (Marble) Emperor's Study, designed by V.P. Stasov in 1817 and intended for important official audiences.

Green dining room.

From the Green Dining Room begins private quarters in the northern part of the palace, created in the 1770s by decree of Catherine II for Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich (future Emperor Paul I) and his first wife Natalia Alekseevna.

Waiter's.

The waiter's room is one of the office premises of the Grand Tsarskoye Selo Palace of the 18th century.

Front blue living room.

The largest and most elegant room in the apartment, created by C. Cameron in 1779-1783, is the Front Blue Drawing Room. Its ceremonial purpose emphasizes the rich and varied decor: the walls are covered with silk with blue flowers on a white background and completed with a gilded frieze of alternating vases and oval picturesque medallions; paired fireplaces made of Carrara marble are decorated with bas-reliefs and caryatids; on the western wall between the windows there are large mirrors in carved gilded frames, completed with medallions, and gilded consoles. Door panels are painted with antique grotesque motifs. In the workshop of G. Stahlmeer, a type-setting parquet was made from precious woods with a predominance of rosewood and rosewood.

Chinese blue living room.

From the Front Blue Room you can go to the Chinese Blue Room, whose name is due to the fact that for a century and a half its walls were covered with blue Chinese silk, decorated with landscapes and genre scenes.

Prehorn.

The Predkhornaya - the last room of the Grand Enfilade of the Grand Tsarskoye Selo Palace - got its name due to its proximity to the choirs of the Palace Church.

Palace Church.

The Court Resurrection Church of the Grand Tsarskoye Selo Palace was founded on August 8, 1745 in the presence of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna.

Church of the Resurrection of Christ in the Catherine Palace

Camera-Yungferskaya.

Another entrance room leads to Kamer-Yungferskaya, where you can see porcelain products of the famous English manufactory D. Wedgwood and English colored engravings of the second half of the 18th century from the collection of the Tsarskoye Selo Museum-Reserve.

Against the background of the green-painted walls of the Kamer-Yungferskaya - a room with one window overlooking the Catherine Park, which was originally intended for palace maids - a stucco gilded frieze and door leaves with colorful ornamental painting stand out.

Bedchamber.

Decorated in the early 1770s by V. I. Neyelov, the room with two windows, two doorways and an alcove niche served as the bedchamber of Grand Duchess Natalya Alekseevna.

Zubovsky wing.

The wing, named Zubovsky after one of the favorites of Empress Catherine II, was attached to the Grand Tsarskoye Selo Palace in 1779-1785.

The Catherine Palace is one of the largest.

- the former imperial palace. Located in the modern city of Pushkin (formerly Tsarskoye Selo), 25 kilometers south of St. Petersburg. The city of Pushkin itself is part of the Pushkinsky district of St. Petersburg.

The exposition of the Catherine Palace (until 1910 - the Great Tsarskoselsky) Palace-Museum covers almost 300 years of history of the outstanding monument and introduces the work of architects who participated in its construction and decoration in the 18th-19th centuries, as well as the achievements of restorers who revived the palace after the Great Patriotic war. Of the 58 halls of the palace destroyed during the war, 32 have been recreated.

In 1717, when St. Petersburg was being created on the banks of the Neva, in Tsarskoye Selo under the guidance of architect I.F. Braunstein began the construction of the first stone royal house, which went down in history under the name "stone chambers". In August 1724, as a sign of the completion of construction, a festival was held in the palace, during which "thirteen cannons were fired three times." The ceremony was attended by the king and major statesmen. At that time, the palace was a small two-story structure typical of Russian architecture of the early 18th century.

During the reign, at the end of 1742 - beginning of 1743, it was decided to expand the building according to the project of M. G. Zemtsov (1688-1743), but the death of the architect prevented the implementation of the plan. After Zemtsov, work in Tsarskoe Selo was carried out by A. V. Kvasov (1720 - after 1770) and his assistant G. Trezzini (1697-1768), but already in May 1745 Trezzini was replaced by the famous architect S. I. Chevakinsky (1713-1780) , who supervised construction in Tsarskoye Selo until the early 1750s.

From the end of 1748 to 1756, the construction of the Tsarskoye Selo residence was headed by the chief architect of the imperial court F.B. Rastrelli (1700-1761). On May 10, 1752, Elizaveta Petrovna signed a decree on the overhaul of the old building, and already on July 30, 1756, Rastrelli demonstrated his new creation to the crowned customer and foreign ambassadors.

The palace, built in the Baroque style, delighted with its size, powerful spatial dynamics and "picturesque" decor. The wide azure ribbon of the facade with snow-white columns and gilded ornaments looked festive.

Rastrelli decorated the palace facades with figures of Atlanteans, caryatids, lion masks and other stucco decorations, made according to the models of the sculptor I.F. Dunker (1718-1795). Five gilded domes of the Palace Church towered above the northern building, and above the southern one, where the front porch was located, there was a dome with a multi-pointed star on the spire. It took about 100 kilograms of pure gold to gild the exterior and interior decorations. At the same time, the front parade ground was finally decorated, fenced with palace wings and one-story service buildings located in a semicircle - circumferences.

Just as luxuriously Rastrelli decorated the apartments of the palace. The Ceremonial enfilade created by him, decorated with gilded carvings, was called "golden". The enfilade arrangement of halls, not known in Russia until the middle of the 18th century, was also introduced by Rastrelli in other palaces, but only in Tsarskoe Selo the length of the front rooms was equal to the length of the entire building - from the Main Staircase to the Palace Church.

The next stage in the design of the ceremonial and residential halls of the palace dates back to the 1770s. The new owner of the residence, fascinated by ancient art, wished to decorate her apartments in accordance with fashionable tastes and entrusted them to the Scottish architect, an expert on ancient architecture C. Cameron (1743-1812). The interiors he created - the Arabesque and Lyon drawing rooms, the Chinese hall, the Domed dining room, the Silver Cabinet, the Blue Cabinet (Snuffbox) and the Bedchamber - were distinguished by their exquisite beauty, the rigor of decorative design and the special elegance of decoration. Unfortunately, these halls were destroyed during the Great Patriotic War and have not yet been restored.

The rooms intended for Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich (the future Emperor Paul I) and his wife, decorated by C. Cameron in the same years, are now recreated: the Green Dining Room, the Waiter's Room, the Front Blue Room, the Chinese Blue Living Room and the Bedchamber allow you to get acquainted with the unique interiors created by Scottish architect, whose work was so loved by Catherine II.

In 1817, by order (1769-1848), he created the Front Office and several adjacent rooms decorated in the same style - everything in these rooms was dedicated to glorifying the brilliant victories won by the Russian army in the Patriotic War of 1812.

The last chord in the enfilade of the palace was the Main Staircase, created in 1860-1863 by I. A. Monighetti (1819-1878) in the “second Rococo” style.

Attraction Great Peterhof Palace ... Wikipedia

Attraction Grand Tsaritsyno Palace ... Wikipedia

This term has other meanings, see Gatchina Palace (Faberge egg). Palace Castle Great Gatchina Palace ... Wikipedia

Coordinates: 55°45′00.58″ s. sh. 37°36′56.74″ E  /  ... Wikipedia

Palace Catherine Palace Golovinsky Palace ... Wikipedia

Palace Great Catherine's Front facade Country Russia ... Wikipedia

The House of Rear Admiral Mekenzie, or the Catherine Palace, is one of the first stone buildings built in Sevastopol. It was located on Ekaterininskaya Square (now Nakhimov Square). June 1, 1783, the first head of the Black Sea Fleet, Rear Admiral ... ... Wikipedia

What is the Grand Kremlin Palace- In Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, who was elected President of Russia on March 2, will take office on Wednesday. The Grand Kremlin Palace (BKD) serves as the grand residence of the head of state. It hosts the inauguration ceremonies of the President, ... ... Encyclopedia of Newsmakers

Palace Palace of Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich ... Wikipedia

Catherine Park in Tsarskoye Selo is one of the five parks in the city of Pushkin. The Catherine Park directly surrounds the Great Catherine Palace, making up the palace and park ensemble with it. Consists of a regular Old Garden and landscape ... ... Wikipedia

Books

• Grand Kremlin Palace
• Grand Kremlin Palace , . The Grand Kremlin Palace, built in the middle of the 19th century according to the design of the famous Russian architect K. A. Ton, is one of the most interesting monuments of the Moscow Kremlin. The front rooms are…

The Catherine Palace occupies a central place in the palace and park ensemble of Tsarskoye Selo. Every day, its magnificent halls are visited by thousands of tourists, and the most popular in the Catherine Palace is the famous Amber Room, restored for the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg.

The Catherine Palace can be called a monument to the patience of the Russian people, who managed to restore the historic building, destroyed during the years of occupation of the city of Pushkin by German troops. More than 70 years have passed since the end of the war, but some halls are still being restored.

Opening hours of the Catherine Palace in 2019

The world-famous Amber Room is located in the Catherine Palace. Inspection of the Amber Room is included in the standard tour of the Catherine Palace. Visitors are gathered in the hall of the palace in small groups of 15-20 people. The group follows the halls of the palace with a guide. In my opinion, the inspection is too cursory - the tour takes about 20 minutes. Therefore, you are unlikely to have time to look at the interiors, listen to the guide and take pictures at the same time. Literally a couple of minutes the group lingers in the Amber Room. However, usually no one forbids you to break away from your group and calmly stroll through the halls of the Catherine Palace.

• In winter from 10:00 to 17:00
• During autumn, spring and winter holidays from 12:00 to 17:00
• Ticket offices close 15 minutes earlier
• Days off - Tuesday and last Monday of the month
• From May to September, the day off is only Tuesday

It is recommended to start the walk from this palace, because. there may be significant queues and opening hours for non-group visitors. The ticket indicates the time of the visit (groups run every 20 minutes).

Photography is allowed in the Catherine Palace and Park, with the exception of the Amber Room.

The cost of tickets to the Catherine Palace in 2019

• For adults - 700 rubles.
• For children under 16 - free of charge
• For students (from 16 years old) and students - 350 rubles.
• For pensioners of Russia and Belarus - 350 rubles.

• Keep your entrance ticket to the park! A ticket to the palace is issued only upon presentation of a ticket to the park.
• Tickets to the Catherine Palace are valid for an hour after the sale
• Excursion in Russian is included in the ticket price
• There is an audio guide in English, French, German, and Chinese. The cost of renting an audio guide is 200 rubles. As a deposit, you must leave 1000 rubles or an identity document

Description

The construction of the majestic building, whose length is 306 meters, was carried out by the famous architect, master of the Baroque style Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli. It was he who determined the main dimensions of the building, the decoration of its facades and interiors.

The construction of the building was carried out from 1748 to 1756, the interiors of the palace mainly reflect two styles - baroque and classicism. The Catherine Palace is magnificent, both outside and inside.

External decoration

The blue, white and golden colors of the building give it a solemn and festive look. The facade is decorated with white columns, stucco elements and figures of Atlanteans. Outbuildings connected by covered galleries depart from the central part of the palace. In the northern part of the building rises the five-domed palace church with gilded domes.

The southern wing, where the front porch used to be, is crowned with a gilded dome with a star on the spire. In total, almost 100 kilograms of pure gold were used to gild the exterior and interior elements of the building.

Interior decoration

Such renowned architects as Francesco Rastrelli and Charles Cameron, Vasily Stasov and Ippolit Monighetti took part in the interior design of the Catherine Palace.

• According to Rastrelli's project, halls for receptions were created on the second floor of the building, they were decorated with golden carvings and located along one axis, making up the Golden front suite. He also designed the chambers intended for the residence of the royal family, the so-called Small Enfilade.

According to the drawings of the architect, the Great Hall or the Light Gallery was created - this is the largest hall of the Catherine Palace. Often called the Throne Room and the Grand Gallery, it was intended for official receptions and ceremonial dinners, balls and masquerades. The area of ​​the hall, located in the entire width of the building is 860 square meters. meters.

It should be noted that under Elizabeth Petrovna, court life in Russia acquired an incredible scope and the content of the royal court, as well as court ceremonies, began to account for almost a large share of the state budget. Rastrelli took into account the scale of the events and invested in the construction of the hall all his skill, talent and engineering.

The hall measuring 47 by 17 meters has no overlap, which creates a feeling of spaciousness and light. Through the large windows overlooking both sides of the building, the sun's rays penetrate the entire room during the day, and in the evening candles framing the mirrors are lit.

• During the reign of Catherine II, the arrangement of the palace was carried out by the architect Charles Cameron. He created several rooms for the empress in the southern part of the palace. One of the brightest ceremonial halls designed by Charles Cameron for Catherine II is the Arabesque Hall. The walls of the room were decorated with luxurious panels with ornaments (arabesques), which depicted men and women in Roman attire, priestesses at the altars and mythical creatures, dancing graces and cupids. This hall was completely destroyed during the war and was rebuilt in 2010.

Also for Catherine II, who was passionate about ancient art, Cameron created the interiors of the Lyon Drawing Room and the Chinese Hall, the Domed Dining Room and the Silver Cabinet, the Blue Cabinet (Snuffbox) and the Bedchamber.

For Pavel, the son of Catherine II, the architect designed the Green Dining Room, the Front Blue and Chinese Blue Drawing Rooms, the Waiter's Room and the Bedchamber.

• Under Alexander I, in 1817, the architect Vasily Petrovich Stasov, who also worked in the style of classicism, created the Front Office and several adjoining rooms.
• The final work on the restructuring of the palace was carried out by the architect Ippolit Antonovich Monighetti, a representative of the eclectic style, who built the Main Staircase in 1862-63.

From the history

The Catherine Palace owes its beauty to three Russian empresses - Catherine I, Elizabeth Petrovna and Catherine II, who paid great attention to their country residence in Tsarskoye Selo.

At present, it is difficult to imagine that three hundred years ago, on the site of this majestic building, there was a modest two-story palace, consisting of 16 rooms and called the Stone Chambers.

Its construction began in 1717 under the direction of the architect Johann Braunstein. At the same time, the Upper Garden, consisting of three terraces, and the Lower Garden were laid out on the slope on the eastern side. To the west, the Menagerie was built, later transformed into the Alexander Garden.

In 1744, according to the plan of the young architect Kvasov, the building was built on and connected by galleries with attached two-story outbuildings. In the future, each new Russian ruler also rebuilt the Catherine Palace.

A radical transformation took place under the Empress Elizabeth Petrovna in 1752. For four years, Francesco Rastrelli, a well-known specialist in the Baroque style, supervised the reconstruction of the building and the park.

During the Great Patriotic War, the territory of Tsarskoye Selo was occupied and the palace was almost completely destroyed, 80% of its interiors were lost. The Amber Room was removed by the Nazis from Pushkin and disappeared without a trace in Koenigsberg before the Soviet troops entered it.

In addition, many exhibits of the museum were lost even before the start of the war, in the 1930s, when the sale of many valuable objects of painting, sculpture and applied art began. The staff of the complex, as best they could, protected the exhibits scheduled for sale. The curators tried to save the works of art by reducing the value of the painting, for example, instead of the Italian school they indicated the Spanish one.

In addition, many valuable works went to the Hermitage: when a “gap” appeared there, works of art were taken from the museum in Tsarskoye Selo.

Valuable exhibits of the children's half of the palace were completely lost, including textbooks, transparencies and herbariums, pencils and notebooks. All this was given to children's colonies, where they brought all the children of Petrograd who had lost their parents.

In 1959, thanks to the painstaking work of restorers, historians and architects, six halls of the museum were opened. In 2003, visitors were also able to see the pearl of the Catherine Palace - the Amber Room, the restoration of which took about 6 tons of amber.

The Catherine Palace until 1910 was called the Great Tsarskoye Selo. Currently, it is an object of cultural heritage of Federal significance, which is part of the State Museum-Reserve "Tsarskoye Selo".