Country palace of Elizabeth Petrovna. Favorite palaces of Russian empresses. History of the construction of Anna Ioannovna's palace

The royal estate founded by Peter I. Here, near the junction of the Moika and Fontanka, Empress Anna Ioannovna, shortly before her death, ordered the architect F.B. Rastrelli to build a palace “with extreme haste.” During her lifetime, the architect did not have time to begin this work.

At the end of 1740 - beginning of 1741, Anna Leopoldovna, who took power into her own hands, also decided to build her house on this site. On her behalf, Governor General Minich ordered Rastrelli to draw up a corresponding project. The drawings were ready by the end of February 1741. But the architect was in no hurry to provide them to Minich, but took the documents to the Gough Quartermaster’s office, which delayed approval of the project for several weeks. Rastrelli probably guessed about the imminent change in power and was in no hurry to carry out the order. The architect was right. On March 3, St. Petersburg was notified of Minich’s resignation. On November 24, a palace coup took place, as a result of which the daughter of Peter I, Elizabeth, came to power. By this time, the Summer Palace had already been founded.

There are different versions in local history literature regarding the date of foundation of the palace. Historian Yuri Ovsyannikov in the book “Great Architects of St. Petersburg” writes that it took place on July 24, 1741 in the presence of ruler Anna Leopoldovna, her husband Generalissimo Anton Ulrich, courtiers and guards. Georgy Zuev in the book "The Moika River Flows" calls the month of bookmarking Summer Palace not July, but June. The same opinion is shared by K. V. Malinovsky in the book “St. Petersburg of the 18th century.”

New house became known as the Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna. Immediately after her accession to the throne, she entrusted Rastrelli with the completion of its interior decoration. The building was roughly ready by 1743. The palace became the first home of Elizabeth Petrovna, in which no one had lived before her. As a reward for this work, the Empress increased the architect's salary from 1,200 to 2,500 rubles per year.

The Summer Palace of Elizaveta Petrovna was connected to Nevsky Prospekt by a road running along the Fontanka. The approach to the building was flanked by a one-story kitchen and guardhouse. Between them there was a gate decorated with gilded double-headed eagles. Behind them is the front yard. The main facade of the palace was facing Summer garden, to which a covered bridge-gallery led across the Moika since 1745. The first floor of the building was made of stone, with wooden walls treated with light pink plaster resting on it. White window frames and pilasters stood out against their background. The ground floor of the palace was lined with greenish granite.

In the central building there was a two-story Great Ceremonial Hall with a royal throne at the western wall. The Empress lived in the eastern wing of the palace, on the Fontanka side. The courtiers lived in the western wing. Rastrelli wrote about the Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna:

“The building had more than one hundred and sixty apartments, including a church, a hall and galleries. Everything was decorated with mirrors and rich sculpture, as well as new garden, decorated with beautiful fountains, with the Hermitage built on the first floor level, surrounded by rich trellises, all the decorations of which were gilded" [Quoted from 1, p. 264].

In the mentioned Hermitage, built in 1746, according to the testimony of Jacob Shtelin, paintings of exclusively religious and biblical content were kept. Some of them are now in the State Hermitage and Pavlovsk Palace. The halls of Elizabeth Petrovna's Summer Palace were decorated with Bohemian mirrors, marble sculptures and paintings by famous artists.

Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli was not completely satisfied with this work. Ten years after the completion of construction, he was still finishing and redoing something. The walls of the building were decorated with figured window frames, atlases, lion masks and mascarons. In 1752, Rastrelli added a “new large gallery hall” to the north-eastern corner of the palace. The owner of the palace was of little interest in the architectural integrity of the building. The main thing for her was only the luxury of the surrounding space.

The Empress moved to the Summer Palace from the Winter Palace with her entire court on April 30. Return - September 30. Here Elizabeth took a break from her public service. She preferred only to relax in the Summer Palace.

Here, in 1754, Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich, the future Emperor Paul I, was born and spent the first years of his life. The Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna in 1762 became the site of celebrations on the occasion of the conclusion of peace with Prussia after the end of the Seven Years' War.

For Catherine II, the Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna became the place where she received official congratulations from the diplomatic corps on her accession to the throne. Within its walls she heard the news of the death of Peter III.

In the very first month of the reign of Paul I, November 28, 1796, a decree was issued: " for the permanent residence of the sovereign, hastily build a new impregnable palace-castle. Stand for him on the site of the dilapidated Summer House"The emperor did not want to live in Winter Palace. He chose to live in the place where he was born. This is how the decision was allegedly made to build a new palace, which replaced the Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna.

And, of course, the symbol of the Summer Garden and one of the symbols of St. Petersburg is the fence overlooking the Neva embankment, built in 1770-1784 by the architect Yu.M. Felton. But few people know that in this very place there once stood Summer Palace of Anna Ioannovna, surprising his contemporaries with his magnificence.

Neva embankment near the Summer Garden. This is where Anna Ioannovna's Summer Palace once stood

History of the construction of Anna Ioannovna's palace

Initially, under Empress Catherine I, the “Hall for Glorious Celebrations” was built here, which was a wooden gallery and hall with 11 windows along the facade. On May 21, 1725, the marriage of Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna (1708-1728) with the Duke of Holstein (Karl Friedrich of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp, 1700-1738) took place there. From this marriage was born Karl Peter Ulrich, the future Russian Emperor Peter III (1728-1762).

In 1731, by order of Empress Anna Ioannovna (1693-1740, reign 1730-1740), the “Zala” was demolished, and in just 6 weeks in 1732 a luxurious wooden palace was erected. Its architect was Francesco Rastrelli, and his father, Bartolomeo Rastrelli, also took part in the work. On June 1, 1732, the Empress solemnly entered the new Summer Palace. In subsequent years, she lived here from the beginning of May to the end of September.

Empress Anna Ioannovna, from an engraving by I. Sokolov, 1740

The palace was a one-story, elongated room. The central part of the facade was highlighted, with slopes leading to the Neva from the side wings. Along the roof there was a balustrade decorated with carved details and sculpture. The frequent windows were mirrored - a rarity for that time; through them one could see the interior decoration. There were 28 rooms in the palace, 10 of which were occupied by Biron. When Anna Ioannovna lived in the Summer Palace, four yachts were moored on the Neva, which fired fireworks during celebrations and feasts.

Drawings of the Summer Palace of Anna Ioannovna, made by F.-B. Rastrelli

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The mysterious death of the Empress

The Empress died in the Summer Palace, and the farewell ceremony took place here. Her death was preceded by strange events. Another 5 (16) October 1740, during lunch with Biron, Anna Ioannovna lost consciousness. Doctors declared the disease fatal. M.I. Pylyaev in the book “Old Petersburg,” referring to the maid of honor Bludov, writes the following (grammar and punctuation preserved):

A few days before the death of Anna Ioannovna, a guard stood in the room near the throne room, a sentry was at the open door. The Empress had already retired to the inner chambers; It was already past midnight, and the officer sat down to take a nap. Suddenly the sentry calls for guard duty, the soldiers line up, the officer takes out his sword to salute. Everyone sees - the empress walks back and forth in the throne room, bowing her head thoughtfully, not paying attention to anyone. The entire platoon stands waiting, but finally the strangeness of walking through the throne room at night begins to confuse everyone. The officer, seeing that the empress does not want to leave the hall, finally decides to take a different route and ask if anyone knows the empress’s intentions. Here he meets Biron and reports to him. “It can’t be,” says Biron: “I’m now from the empress, she went to the bedroom to go to bed.” “Look for yourself, she’s in the throne room.” - Biron goes and sees her too. “There’s something wrong, there’s either a conspiracy or deception here to influence the soldiers,” he says, runs to the empress and persuades her to come out in order to expose in the eyes of the guard an impostor who is taking advantage of some resemblance to her to deceive people. The Empress decides to go out, as she was in the puddermantel. Biron goes with her. They see a woman who bears a striking resemblance to the Empress, who is not at all embarrassed. - Daring! - says Biron, and calls the whole guard; the soldiers and everyone present see “two Anna Ioannovnas,” of which the real and the ghost could only be distinguished by her outfit and the fact that she came with Biron. The Empress, after standing for a minute in surprise, approaches her, saying: “Who are you? Why did you come?" Without answering a word, the ghost moves back, without taking his eyes off the empress, to the throne, ascends to it, and on the steps, turning his eyes once again to the empress, disappears. The Empress turns to Biron and says: This is my death, and goes to her room.

There is a lot that is unclear in this story. Even as a child, Anna Ioannovna was predicted by a certain holy fool that she would die after seeing her reflection without a mirror. In 1721, during a feast on the occasion of the proclamation of Peter I as emperor, a firecracker declared that death in female guise would await the women of the royal house. One could believe in mysticism, but... The day after the death of Anna Ioannovna, the corpse of a woman was discovered near the Green Bridge near the Moika River, strikingly similar to the late empress. Was she the same ghost?

According to Anna Ioannovna's will, signed the day after the appearance of her double, the throne passed to 10-month-old Ivan Antonovich, under whom Biron was regent. However, he did not have to rule for long. On the night of November 8, Biron was arrested by Minikh and exiled to. The infant emperor was taken from the Summer Palace to the Winter Palace, and from there also to Shlisselburg.

The further fate of the palace

In 1748, already during the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna, the Summer Palace was dismantled and transported to Yekateringhof, serving as building material for two outbuildings that expanded the main palace. And after the revolution, in 1926, after several fires, the Ekateringof Palace was finally dismantled. Thus, the Summer Palace of Anna Ioannovna ceased to exist.

In 1741, as a result of another palace coup, the youngest daughter of Peter I, Elizabeth, became the Russian Empress. Many contemporaries perceived the accession to the Russian throne of Elizabeth Petrovna as a guarantee of a return to the traditions of domestic and foreign policy her father. The country has begun new stage development of culture, science, art.

The capital of Russia was also experiencing a new period of prosperity. The city was quickly built, new official residences, palaces, cathedrals, and theaters appeared. The reign of Elizabeth was a period of dominance in European architecture of the Baroque style, which was characterized by splendor and whimsicality of architectural forms, luxury decoration using stucco details, gilding, sculpture, and painting. At this time, the most talented architect Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli was working in St. Petersburg, and it was he who created the masterpieces of Russian Baroque, reflecting the idea of triumph and power of the country, which became one of the largest world powers.

Rastrelli received the order to build the first building for Elizabeth when she was not yet empress. The Tsesarevna ordered the construction of a Summer Palace for her on the territory of the Third Summer Garden (the modern territory bounded by Fontanka, Moika, Italianskaya Street and the Catherine Canal).

Thanks to surviving engravings and drawings, today we can imagine what Rastrelli’s creation looked like. The first floor of the palace was made of stone, the second - wooden. The palace was painted light pink, the ground floor was gray. The palace had two facades: one was facing the Nevsky prospect, the other - the main one - was facing the Moika River, towards the Summer Garden. A wide road was laid from the Nevskaya prospect along the Fontanka; greenhouses stretched along it, fruit trees grew, there was also an Elephant Yard, and its inhabitants could swim in the Fontanka in the summer.

The palace grounds could be accessed through wide gate with an openwork lattice decorated with gilded eagles. In front of the main façade facing the Moika River, huge figured flower beds were built and neatly trimmed trees were planted - it turned out to be a real regular park. Rastrelli himself wrote: “The building had more than one hundred and sixty apartments, including a church, a hall and galleries. Everything was decorated with mirrors and rich sculpture, as well as a new garden, decorated with beautiful fountains...” In 1745, a covered gallery was built for the passage from the palace to the Summer Garden across the Moika.

The queen loved her luxurious Summer Palace very much. Every year at the end of April, she and the entire court moved from the Winter Palace to the Summer Palace. The move turned into a whole ceremony with orchestral music and artillery fire. At the end of September, Elizabeth returned to the Winter Palace again.

In September 1754 in summer residence Elizabeth, the future Emperor Paul I was born. Fate decreed that it was he who, at the very beginning of his reign, demolished the dilapidated Summer Palace and ordered the construction of a castle in its place, which we know today as Mikhailovsky. And it was here that the life of Paul I tragically ended.

Text prepared by Galina Dregulas

For those who want to know more:
1. Architects of St. Petersburg. XVIII century. St. Petersburg, 1997
2. Ovsyannikov Yu. Great architects of St. Petersburg. St. Petersburg, 2000
3. Anisimov E.V. Elizaveta Petrovna. M., 2000

The Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna is an unpreserved imperial residence in St. Petersburg, built by B. F. Rastrelli in 1741-1744 on the site where the Mikhailovsky (Engineers) Castle is now located. Demolished in 1797

History of construction

In 1712 on south coast Car washes where the pavilion is now Mikhailovsky Garden, a small manor house was built for Ekaterina Alekseevna, topped with a turret with a gilded spire, which bore the pretentious name “Golden Mansions”. According to him, the Big Meadow (the future Field of Mars) on the opposite bank received the name Tsaritsyn Meadow: it was this name that would be used most often in the 18th and early 19th centuries. The area near the palace is called the 3rd Summer Garden. On July 11, 1721, the Duke of Holstein's chamberlain Berchholz, having examined the estate, wrote: In the queen's greenhouses, the gardener Ekliben grew fruits rare for northern latitudes: pineapples, bananas, etc. Even then, the idea arose to close the alley of the Summer Garden opposite the Carpiev Pond with a palace building. This is evidenced by the project of 1716-1717, preserved in the archives. Its possible author is J.B. Leblon. It depicts a small nine-axle palace, the elevated center of which is topped with a tetrahedral dome. Wide one-story galleries cover the court d'honneur with a magnificent figured parterre facing the Moika River. Behind there is a garden with numerous bosquets of various shapes. Fruit plantings have been preserved on the territory of the current Mikhailovsky Garden. However, things did not go further than plans. Under Anna Ioannovna, the 3rd Summer Garden turns into a “jagd-garten” - a garden for “chasing and shooting deer, wild boars, hares, as well as a gallery for hunters and stone walls to prevent bullets and shot from flying in.” The “vegetable garden” was moved to Liteinaya Street, where the Mariinsky Hospital would later be built. In the early 1740s. B.F. Rastrelli began the construction of one of the most remarkable buildings of the developed Russian Baroque - the Summer Palace in the 3rd Summer Garden for the ruler Anna Leopoldovna. However, while construction was underway, a revolution occurred, and Elizaveta Petrovna became the owner of the building. By 1744, the palace, made of wood on stone cellars, was roughly completed. The architect, in describing the buildings he created, spoke about it this way: Despite its location within the city limits, the building was designed according to the estate plan. The plan was created under the obvious influence of Versailles, which is especially noticeable from the side of the cour d'honneur: the successively narrowing spaces enhanced the effect of the baroque perspective of the courtyard, fenced off from the access road by a latticework of magnificent designs with state emblems. One-story service buildings along the perimeter of the cour d'honneur emphasize the traditional Baroque isolation of the ensemble. The rather flat decor of the light pink facades (mezzanine pilasters with Corinthian capitals and corresponding rusticated stone plinth blades, figured window frames) was offset by a rich play of volumes. Complex in plan, highly developed side wings included courtyards with small flower parterres. Lush driveways...

With the coming to power of Emperor Peter I in Russia, a grandiose era of transformation began in the state, which became the impetus for changes in urban planning and architecture.

“Golden Mansions” by Catherine

In 1703, the emperor founded new town- St. Petersburg, and already 9 years later the construction of a small house for Empress Ekaterina Alekseevna, the monarch’s wife, begins. It was located on the southern bank of the Moika and was small house with a turret that ended with a gilded spire. The structure was named “Golden Mansions”. Subsequently, this area received the name Tsaritsyn Meadow and became part of the Summer Garden - a large royal estate. On its territory they grew for the empress Exotic fruits: pineapples and bananas.

A few years after construction, it was decided to build a grandiose palace, which would be crowned with a tetrahedral dome, but the plan was not realized.

Failed construction

In 1730-1740 in power was Empress Anna Ioannovna, who, several years before her death, instructed the architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli to build a palace on Tsaritsyn Meadow, and this should have been done in as soon as possible. However, the death of the empress did not allow the architect to begin executing her order. Her successor, Anna Leopoldovna, also wanted to build her own palace on this site; the construction was entrusted to the same Rastrelli. The architect prepared the necessary drawings in February 1741, but it was not possible to present them to the empress: in March a coup d'état was carried out, and Empress Elizabeth Petrovna came to power.

Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli

The Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna was created by Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli, the greatest architect of the 18th century. He came from an Italian aristocratic family and held the title of count. His father was the sculptor Carlo Rastrelli, who worked for a long time at the court of the French Sun King Louis, and after the death of the latter was invited by the Russian Emperor to Russia.

From an early age, Bartolomeo was involved by his father in working on various projects, and went to study in Europe. Rastrelli's first documented work in Russia was the three-story palace of Dmitry Cantemir, built in the Peter the Great Baroque style.

In the 1730s, Rastrelli was engaged in the construction of the Rundāle Palace and the Palace in Mitau, which he built on the orders of the Duke of Courland. It was on the recommendation of Biron of Courland that Rastrelli became the court architect.

Architectural style of Rastrelli

Bartolomeo created a unique style in architecture. Thus, he began to use semi-circular window ends on the facades, and usually assembled half-columns in pairs and bundles. External columns usually did not play a constructive role, but were intended only for decoration. His palaces were characterized by huge state halls, covering the entire depth of the floor, and when decorating the interiors, he tried to avoid curved lines. All his buildings are characterized by flashy power, grandeur and solemnity, even pomp. Rastrelli abandoned the traditional for that time strip foundations, preferring platforms made of brick and stone based on piles, which, in turn, allowed partial redistribution of loads, and this was very important for the soft soils of St. Petersburg.

Creations of the great architect

The great architect, in addition to the Rundāle and Mitavsky palaces, built the following structures that became landmarks:

Great Peterhof Palace.
St. Andrew's Church in Kyiv.
Smolny Cathedral in St. Petersburg.
Vorontsov Palace.
Hermitage Museum.
Winter Palace.
Royal Palace in Kyiv, etc.

Lost buildings of the architect

Some of his buildings this moment lost:

Kantemirovsky Palace.
Throne room on the Yauza.
Winter Palace of Anna Ioannovna.
Winter Kremlin Palace.
Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna.
Traveling Srednerogatsky Palace.

History of the construction of the Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna

The exact date of laying the foundation of the palace has not been preserved. According to one version, Anna Leopoldovna and her husband Prince Anton Ulrich were present during the laying of the foundation in July 1941; according to another, the laying took place a month earlier. However, the spouses were not destined to live in the new palace.

Rastrelli received an order to finish the palace he had begun from Tsarevna Elizaveta Petrovna, who became the empress. Construction was completed in 1743 - this was the first palace of the Empress, built personally for her, and the Empress liked it so much that she doubled the architect's salary - to 2,500 rubles a year.

The Empress used the summer residence from May to September every year; she devoted this time to her relaxation, almost not engaging in important state affairs. In 1754, it was here that Grand Duke Pavel, the son of Ekaterina Alekseevna, was born, and here Elizaveta Petrovna organized celebrations to mark the end of the seven-year war and the conclusion of peace with Prussia. Then the empress began to visit the palace less and less, spending more time in Tsarskoe Selo, and the palace gradually began to deteriorate.

Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna: description

The architecture of the Summer Palace is such that it is simply impossible not to notice that the author of the project was impressed by the French Versailles. The building is characterized by the traditional Baroque closed ensemble of the front courtyard in front of the palace. Detailed description Rastrelli's brainchild was no longer there, but some memories of the imperial estate were found.

Thus, the summer residence of Elizabeth Petrovna consisted of 160 apartments, there were both the queen’s personal chambers and numerous halls, galleries and even a church. In order to enter the palace territory, one had to pass through wide openwork gates made of bars, crowned with gilded eagles. According to the architect, “everything was decorated with mirrors and rich sculpture, as well as the new garden, decorated with beautiful fountains, with the Hermitage built at the level of the first floor, surrounded by rich trellises, all the decorations of which were gilded.”

The room had two facades. The main one was facing the Moika River; flower beds and neat trees were placed in front of it, turning this area into a park. The second façade faced Nevsky Prospekt, where, by order of Bartolomeo, a wide road was laid along which were located numerous greenhouses with flowers and trees.

The first floor of the Summer Palace of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna was made of stone, but the second was entirely wooden. The building is designed in pink tones, and the basement rooms are in gray. The ground floor was tiled with green granite. Inside the palace, all rooms were decorated with Bohemian mirrors, marble sculptures and paintings by famous artists. At the ground floor level, the Hermitage was built, where paintings of religious and biblical content were kept, some of which have survived to this day.

In the main building there was a Great Ceremonial Hall, against the western wall of which the royal throne was located. In order to get to the Throne Room, it was necessary to pass a series of living rooms and a huge grand staircase decorated with gilded carvings. The throne room was striking in its grandeur, which was further emphasized by the clever arrangement of candelabra and chandeliers, which created the impression of a two-light volume. Several curly staircases also led to the Throne Room from the garden side, each of which was complemented by ramps. The imperial chambers were located in the eastern wing of the palace, and the courtiers lived in the western wing. Each of the palace premises was lavishly decorated with a variety of statues and vases. The façade of the building was crowned with numerous balustrades.

Palace Park

The entire territory of the palace complex was surrounded by a decorative park. The garden also contained magnificent fountains, and the park itself was a complex labyrinth of green spaces. On the territory of the complex, Rastrelli created three unusual fountain pools of complex outlines. Throughout the park there were small gazebos and benches, and in the center there were carousels, swings and slides. Also, according to the architect’s idea, two artificial trapezoidal semicircular ponds were created, which, by the way, have survived to this day.

Subsequent changes

Francesco Rastrelli continued to work on the Empress's summer residence for many years. Thus, he decorated the walls with figured platbands, atlases and lion masks; 9 years after the completion of construction, he added a new gallery hall to the north-eastern side of the palace. The Empress was only pleased with such constant changes, while the owner the architectural integrity of the building was of little interest. The main thing is that new buildings should be as luxurious as possible.

In 1745, by order of the Empress, a covered gallery was built for the passage from the palace to the Summer Garden; its walls were lavishly decorated with artistic canvases. In 1747, the architect created a terrace with a fountain in the center, located on the same level as the Hermitage pavilion. It was fenced along the entire perimeter with a gilded lattice.

A little later, a church appears on the territory of the summer palace, which expands the palace complex from the Fontanka side, and bay windows appear on the western side of the façade.

On the territory of the palace, Rastrelli also built water towers with aqueducts, which were also lavishly decorated with paintings.

Catherine's period

The Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna in St. Petersburg became the site of the triumph of Catherine II. It was here that she arranged an official reception for foreign diplomats after her accession to the throne, and here she learned about the death of Peter III. Without living in the residence, Catherine granted it first to Grigory Orlov, then to Grigory Potemkin.

In 1777 there was a flood, which greatly damaged the already dilapidated palace. No one began to restore the damaged water cannon, and the aqueduct was dismantled.

The Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna was demolished in 1797 by order of Emperor Paul I. A few weeks after his accession to the throne, he gave the order to build a new building on the site of an already dilapidated building impregnable castle-fortress, since the emperor did not want to live in the Winter Palace at all. There is a legend according to which the Archangel Michael appeared to one of the guard soldiers and ordered that the Tsar be told about the need to build a church on the site of the palace, which became part of the Mikhailovsky Castle complex. This is exactly how Mikhailovsky Castle grew up on the site of Elizabeth’s summer residence in 1800. The decorations of Elizabeth's summer residence were neatly folded and taken to other royal estates.

How to get to the Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna? Unfortunately, it has not survived. On the site of the Summer Palace of Elizaveta Petrovna (address: St. Petersburg, Sadovaya Street, 2) the Mikhailovsky, or Engineering Castle, is currently located. To get to the castle, you just need to use the metro and get off at the Nevsky Prospekt or Gostiny Dvor stations.

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