Marble Museum. Marble Palace. Shooting rats from a cannon

Marble Palace in St. Petersburg is one of the most beautiful buildings in the city. Its main feature is that the craftsmen used more than 30 different types of marble when constructing the building. Some of the varieties of marble used were quarried nearby in the same city. Other types of material were imported from afar, from Italy itself. The Marble Palace was built in the 18th century, and was the first building constructed from such expensive and beautiful materials.

A little about history

The construction of the Marble Palace took 17 years. This beautiful architectural structure was presented by Empress Catherine the Great to Count Grigory Orlov as a reward for special military services to the Fatherland. How it looks, look at the photos and videos in the article. The lengthy construction of the Palace did not allow Grigory Orlov to wait for the gift. He died, and Catherine the Great subsequently bought her own gift from the count’s heirs and gave it to her grandson. Further, the Marble Palace located in St. Petersburg was passed from hand to hand, the architectural structure changed many owners. IN different times On the territory of this palace one could see a library, the residence of the imperial family, and an art gallery. There was a period when a prisoner, the leader of the Polish confederates, was kept here.

Reconstruction of the palace

In 1832, a reconstruction was carried out inside the building of the Marble Palace in St. Petersburg, and this architectural structure acquired another floor, and in addition to it - a hall for balls, in which dinner parties were held, famous throughout St. Petersburg, look at the video and photo. At the time when Konstantin Romanov (son of Prince Nikolai Romanov) owned the Marble Palace, literary evenings, plays and performances on various topics were often held in the building. During the period of the October Revolution, various offices associated with the Ministry of Labor, created by the provisional government, were located in the building of the marble palace. The works of art collected in this Palace were then moved to the Hermitage.

Description

The interior decoration of the Marble Palace amazes visitors with its splendor. Every detail of the interior here is permeated with the spirit of courage and bravery. And indeed, this was originally the plan of Empress Catherine the Great. She wanted to show the courage, bravery and courage of the owner of the palace. In the palace halls there are various bas-reliefs and statues that recreate various heroic events that took place in the life of Count Grigory Orlov. The construction of this architectural object was headed by an architect from Italy, Antonio Rinaldi, and with him the construction was carried out by about four hundred other craftsmen. Empress Catherine even came to see how the construction was being carried out, and upon completion, she personally awarded the workers who took part in the creation of this architectural masterpiece.

The decoration of the first floor of the palace is made of gray marble, and the upper floors are decorated with beautiful pink marble. The inside halls are also decorated with marble, and one of them has a name similar to the name of the Palace - Marble. Its walls are lined with Karelian, Italian, Greek marble, as well as Baikal lapis lazuli.

Main staircase

The main staircase of this palace is decorated with grayish-silver marble, and the sculptural accompaniment of this staircase is represented by niches in which thematic sculptures are placed, personifying the day, morning, evening, night, spring and autumn equinox. Bas-reliefs, figures of eagles, trophies - all these elements are made of white marble and are the decor of the main staircase of the Marble Palace.

Now the Marble Palace receives visitors every day, despite the reconstruction. Various thematic exhibitions are held inside the building. Visitors will be able to see paintings by foreign and domestic artists in this building. Get to architectural structure not difficult. The traveler will only need to drive to Millionnaya Street, 5. Entrance to the Marble Palace is paid, and its doors are open to visitors on all days except Tuesday. Discounts apply to families and excursion groups.

From the windows of the Marble Palace there is a beautiful and picturesque view of the Neva River. You can get here by metro, getting off at the Nevsky Prospekt station, or by minibus, getting off at the Suvorovskaya Ploshchad stop. Numbers minibus taxis– K76 and K46.

What can tourists see?

Now in the Marble Palace in St. Petersburg, tourists can see many interesting compositions and exhibits. Many of them reflect the role of Russian art in the global context. On the territory of the palace there is a permanent exhibition about foreign artists in Russia of the period XVIII-XIX centuries. By visiting it, you can find out useful information about the relationships between European and Russian artists. Another exhibition entitled “The Ludwig Museum in the Russian Museum” allows us to trace how Russian art is developing in close connection with the artistic culture of the world.

One of the last owners of the Marble Palace was Konstantin Romanov, and in his chambers there is now an exhibition telling visitors about one of the poets of the Silver Age, Konstantin Romanov, who lived in this room. This exhibition is also worth visiting for everyone who came to the Marble Palace on an excursion.

Video


This is a short film that immerses you in the setting of the Marble Palace. After watching this video, you will have a clear idea of ​​what the Marble Palace, which is located in St. Petersburg, is like. You can also subscribe to our channel and see other sights of our vast Russia.

(function(w, d, n, s, t) ( w[n] = w[n] || ; w[n].push(function() ( Ya.Context.AdvManager.render(( blockId: "R-A -143470-6", renderTo: "yandex_rtb_R-A-143470-6", async: true )); )); t = d.getElementsByTagName("script"); s = d.createElement("script"); s .type = "text/javascript"; s.src = "//an.yandex.ru/system/context.js"; s.async = true; , this.document, "yandexContextAsyncCallbacks");

The Marble Palace is one of the most beautiful buildings St. Petersburg. He completes the composition Palace Embankment, which begins at the Winter Palace. From a distance it seems that the palace seems to grow out of the granite of the Neva. Gray-pink granite and marble walls echo the colors of the St. Petersburg sky.

Marble Palace, 19th century painting

In the era of Peter the Great there was a drinking house here. In 1714, a wooden Post Office building with a pier appeared on this site. In 1716 it was built on; Peter I held assemblies on the second floor. The embankment in those days was called Pochtovaya. After a while, a Manege was built on the site of the Postal Yard, which later burned down.

On October 10, 1769, by order of Catherine the Great, construction of a huge palace began. The architect was the famous Antonio Rinaldi. However, according to one of the St. Petersburg legends, the empress personally sketched out a sketch of the future structure. The sculptures were made by Fedot Ivanovich Shubin. The Italian master Antonio Valli, the Austrian I. Duncker and many other famous sculptors and painters also took part in the work. More than 100 stonemasons worked daily at the construction site.

Catherine the Great gave her favorite another palace - also built according to the design of Antonio Rinaldi.

The palace was intended for the count Grigory Orlov(1734-1783) as gratitude for his active participation in the events of 1762. In 1773, he responded by presenting his empress with a huge cut diamond of 189.62 carats, which is now kept in Diamond Fund in Moscow and bears the name "Orlov".

Construction took 16 long years. In 1783, Count Orlov died without waiting for the completion of the work. In 1785, when the Marble Palace was ready, Catherine bought it from her heirs for 1.5 million rubles.

Monument to Alexander III in the courtyard of the Marble Palace

In 1780-1788, in the eastern part of the site, according to the design of the architect P.E. Egorov, the Service Building was built, where stables, an arena, a carriage house, hay sheds, etc. were located. On the second floor there were apartments for servants. The new building obscured the facade of the palace, facing the current Suvorov Square. A lattice was installed between the buildings, its style reminiscent of a fence.

In 1796, the Empress gave the Marble Palace to her 16-year-old grandson, the Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich, on the occasion of his marriage to Princess Juliana-Henrietta-Ulrika of Saxe-Saalfeld-Coburg, baptized Anna Fedorovna. However, soon Catherine was forced to take away the gift “for misbehavior” - the young prince was shooting live rats from a cannon in the corridor, and his 14-year-old wife was forced to hide in a vase.

In 1797-1798, the Marble Palace became the residence of the last Polish king Stanislav Poniatowski(1732-1798). For him and his retinue, some of the halls were decorated by V. Brenna. Then A. Voronikhin continued the work on decorating the palace.

After the death of Poniatowski, the palace again returned to the possession of Konstantin Pavlovich and belonged to him until his departure to Poland as governor of the Kingdom of Poland. IN further palace owned by the Court Chancellery, renting out apartments to court officials, who remodeled the interiors to their liking.

In 1832, Emperor Nicholas I gave the Marble Palace to his second son, the Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich. The palace had become dilapidated by that time, and in 1843-49 its reconstruction began according to the design of the architect A.P. Bryullov. Bryullov preserved the appearance of the building and, mainly, its layout. He designed a number of rooms in the Gothic, late Renaissance, Rococo and Classical styles. The Service Building was built on, its façade is decorated with pilasters. Technical improvements appeared in the palace: air heating, “pneumatic ovens,” a prototype of an elevator, and machines for supplying water upstairs.

After perestroika, the Marble Palace began to be called Konstantinovsky after its owner, although there was a palace with the same name in Strelna.

In 1888, the son of Konstantin Nikolaevich, the Grand Duke, became the owner of the palace. Konstantin Konstantinovich, a highly educated person, president of the Russian Academy of Sciences and poet of the Silver Age. His chambers on the first floor were furnished with an English study, Gothic and Musical living rooms, and a Lower library. The palace became one of the centers of cultural life in St. Petersburg.

Marble Palace, pre-revolutionary photo

During the First World War, the palace premises were converted into a hospital for wounded officers. After the February Revolution in the palace a short time various services were located. In 1919-1936, the Russian Academy of the History of Material Culture was located within the walls of the Marble Palace. Since 1937 - Leningrad branch of the Central Museum of V.I. Lenin. Almost all the halls on the second floor were rebuilt, the interiors were lost. Only the Main Staircase and the Marble Hall have retained their original decoration.

Marble Hall, photo from the Internet

In front of the main entrance, an armored car “Enemy of Capital” was installed on a pedestal, from which on the night of April 3-4, 1917, next to the building Finlyandsky station V.I. Lenin spoke. In 1990, the armored car was dismantled, and in its place a marble Ford Mondeo was installed - a monument to the “Motor Age”.

In 1992, the dilapidated building of the Marble Palace was transferred to the Russian Museum, and work began to restore the original layout and interiors. The Service Building houses the Northwestern Correspondence Technical University.

In 1994, in place of the pedestal for the armored car, a equestrian statue of Emperor Alexander III. It was made in 1909 by sculptor Paolo Trubetskoy and stood on Znamenskaya Square (now Vosstaniya Square). After 1937, it was preserved in one of the closed courtyards of the Russian Museum.

Transportation of the monument to Alexander III in November 1994, photo by Belenky

Exhibitions at the Marble Palace

Currently, the Marble Palace houses permanent exhibitions of the Russian Museum dedicated to Russian art of the 20th century:

♦ “Foreign artists in Russia XVIII-XIX centuries",
♦ “Ludwig Museum in the Russian Museum” - a gift from collectors Peter and Irena Ludwig: works of contemporary European, American and Russian artists,
♦ “Collection of St. Petersburg collectors of the Rzhevsky brothers”,
♦ “Konstantin Romanov – poet of the Silver Age.”

In addition, exhibitions of works by contemporary Russian and foreign artists are held.

Facade of the Marble Palace from the Neva, photo from the Internet

External and internal decoration of the Marble Palace

The Marble Palace was built in the style of early classicism and is distinguished by the richness of its interior decoration, which was supposed to emphasize the strength and masculinity of its owner.

The combination of finishing stones of different colors and textures gives the palace a special expressiveness. 32 types of marble, granite, and agates were used for the exterior and interior decoration of the palace. White marble was brought from Italy - it was cheaper than transporting it from Siberia. Other types of marble are obtained from quarries in Karelia and Estonia, white marble for sculptures is from the islands of the Greek archipelago, and agates are from the Urals. The copper roof was made in Sestroretsk and was of such high quality that it lasted for about 150 years without repair.

The ground floor is finished with pink granite, which perfectly matches the granite embankment of the Neva. The upper floors are tiled in gray. The portico is made of pink Tivdi marble.

Marble Palace from the Neva

The thickness of the palace walls is 1.5-2 meters. The total height of the building is 22 meters, the height of the Corinthian order of the upper floors is 12.5 meters.

The main façade of the palace faces the garden, where the Red Canal (later closed) used to run, connecting the Neva with the Moika. Above the entrance to the palace is written: “Building of Gratitude.” At the top there is a turret with a clock, on the sides of which there are figures of Loyalty and Generosity by F.I. Shubin.

According to Rinaldi's plan, she continued the stone finishing of the palace facades. It is distinguished by restraint of design. The statues Morning, Day, Evening and Night symbolize childhood, youth, maturity and old age. Between the 2nd and 3rd floors there are sculptures of the Spring and Autumn Equinox. On the ceiling there is a panel by the German painter I. Christ “The Judgment of Paris”.

On the ground floor of the palace there were kitchens, a boiler room, other service rooms, as well as Church of the Entry into the Temple of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The main staircase leads to the second floor, where there are enfilades of ceremonial halls: the Lacquer Hall, the Tsar's Living Room ("Assembled Hall"), the Gallery (Orlovsky Hall), the Chinese Hall and the Marble Hall. Behind them are the personal chambers of Grigory Orlov.

Lacquer Hall decorated with wood. Its walls were decorated with wooden carved panels depicting the exploits of Alexander the Great (now kept in the State Hermitage). Initially, the ceiling was decorated with a picturesque ceiling by I. Chris “The Judgment of Paris”, which was later moved to the Main Staircase.

"The Gathered Hall" dedicated to Catherine the Great. The velvet walls are decorated with the empress's monograms. Under a carved canopy with a crown there is a ceremonial portrait of the empress, in front of which there is a pedestal with a vase decorated with war trophies.

Art Gallery located in the southeastern part of the palace. 206 works are presented here, including paintings by Rembrandt, Titian, and Raphael. The portrait room contained 91 portraits of all representatives of the House of Romanov and the ruling European monarchs of that time. In addition, there were equestrian portraits of the Orlov brothers.

Chinese hall It was decorated in a fashionable style at that time and served as a formal dining room.

- the most luxurious room of the Marble Palace. According to the project of A. Rinaldi, it was one-light, but was rebuilt into two-light by A. Bryullov. Its walls are decorated with various types of marble and decorated with bas-reliefs, originally made for St. Isaac's Cathedral. The ceiling is decorated with a picturesque ceiling “The Wedding of Cupid and Psyche” by S. Torelli.

Recently I read the diary of Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov, “Questions of Life,” published in “Russian Antiquity” for 1884-1885 and 1887. In addition, there I read with great pleasure the essay by Protodeacon V. Orlov “The Marble Palace”, dedicated to the centennial anniversary of the completion of the palace (May 1885 issue). The essay gives the history of the construction of the palace, indicates what and how much money was spent on, and lists the names of the craftsmen involved in the work. In addition it is given detailed description two house churches and stored in the shrines that were in the palace. I was unable to find this information on the Internet. A complete copy of the essay is posted in the album http://fotki.yandex.ru/users/amsmolich/album/313723/.
And suddenly an excursion! Of course, we signed up immediately. During the excursion we were told what is already available on all sorts of websites, including the website of the Russian Museum. This explains my mother and I’s disappointment from what we heard, but what we saw left the best impressions.
The excursion consisted of two parts. The first part is historical, with a visit to three state rooms. Previously, the palace had 70 state rooms (but they don’t talk about it!). But only the Marble Hall has survived; the other two halls were made anew from old photographs and drawings. Also, parquet flooring was dismantled everywhere. There is practically nothing left in the palace. Everything was destroyed by the communists.
The second part was devoted to. book Konstantin Konstantinovich and his work, with a visit to seven rooms in which for some reason photography is prohibited. These premises were also restored from photographs, since the communists believed that nothing should remain in the palace that would remind of the royal family. Therefore everything was destroyed.
Below are a few lines from the essay “Marble Palace”. My photographs plus a set of postcards purchased at the palace.

Under Peter the Great, on the site of the present Field of Mars, “animal baiting” was usually carried out, and where the Marble Palace was subsequently built, there was a postal yard, near which in 1711 an “animal house” was built and it housed: a large elephant, lions, tigers sent as a gift from the Persian Shah. “The postal yard,” says Ruban in his “Description of St. Petersburg,” “was made of mud and stood on the spot where the great calm marble house is now being built. At this post yard, Emperor Peter I repeatedly celebrated certain holidays and victories.”
Bashutsky, describing the postal yard in his “Panorama of St. Petersburg,” notes that “the capital has long felt a lack of such an institution, because there was not yet a house where visitors could stay without wasting time looking for an apartment throughout the city. This house consisted of the management of a special caretaker, who had the rank of an army ensign, with a very moderate salary, which was subsequently increased by allowing him to open a special hotel and order a certain amount of wine and other products duty-free. In addition, he was given the opportunity to use part of the collection from the letters sent, but this income was very insignificant, since no more than two kopecks were paid for the delivery of a letter, for example, from St. Petersburg to Moscow. Under Peter I, the Mya (Moika) River was deepened and cleared, from which two canals were drawn: one at the present Marble Palace, later filled in, and the other still exists under the name of the Winter Canal. Under Catherine II, this place was called “Tsaritsyn Meadow”; in 1818 the name “Campus de Mars” was given.

So, on Tsarina’s Meadow, Catherine II decided to build a house of marble, and there is the following legend: having conceived the construction, the empress invited one of the foreign architects and, showing him a drawing of the palace she had designed, asked his opinion about this plan. Knowing that the project belonged to the monarch, the architect showered himself with enthusiastic praise, listening to which the empress said: “if it is so good, then take on its construction.” An agreement, of course, immediately followed, but the architect, in carrying out the most highly sketched plan, was put in great difficulty, even in the outlines of the main walls, and this is how they explain that if you walk around the rooms of the palace, it becomes noticeable that there are no right angles in it in any way. any chambers, nor in the embrasures of windows and doors.
The builder of the Marble Palace was Antonio Rinaldi.

F.Ya. Alekseev. View of Palace Embankment. 1790s.

The entire course of construction of the Marble House from the very beginning to its completion received the special attention of Catherine II; She personally visited the building several times and ordered those participating to be rewarded with money, as can be seen from the reports, and in general nothing happened in it without her orders. A handwritten note from Catherine II (1781 or 1782) has been preserved: “With extreme surprise I hear that in the Marble House Mich. Iv. Mordvinov gives Gampel the freedom to break down walls and rearrange doors as he pleases; ask in which and which rooms such a breakdown occurred and tell Mich. Iv., so that he doesn’t break anything in that house without reporting me. Bring me a plan with the meaning of that reckless withdrawal. As Gampel knows better than Rinaldia. Isn’t he scraping the walls and reducing the bricks in the pipes, like in Tsarskoe Selo, to start fires?
Direct supervision of the construction of the Marble Palace was entrusted by the Empress to artillery colonel Mikh. Iv. Mordvinov. Mordvinov led detailed reports, where all costs were taken into account with an accuracy of ¼ kopeck.

Aubren and Jacotte. Marble Palace. 1840-1850. Lithograph from a drawing by Charlemagne and Duruis.

At the Sestroretsk factories, a factory was set up in 1772 for forging copper sheets for the roof. The marble was received from Yekaterinburg from the office of building houses and gardens.

In 1772 Gr.Gr. Orlov retired. Catherine, with her own draft decree, among many precious gifts, assigned the Marble Palace to Orlova. As a result, Mordvinov, on September 25, was given a decree: “when you are being built under your supervision at the postal pier stone house you will bring it to completion as we ordered you, and when it is completely removed and brought into such a state that the owner can enter and live in it, then give the keys to it. Gr. Gr. Orlov, for we grant him this house with all the furniture in it for eternal and hereditary possession.”

F.S. Rokotov. Portrait of Catherine II. 1779
S. Torelli. Portrait of Count G.G. Orlova. 1763

But the construction of the palace was delayed for a long time, and Orlov was not destined to read the inscription made on the frieze of the palace, at the behest of Catherine: “building of gratitude”; he died without moving to this house, in Moscow, on April 13, 1783.
After Orlov’s death, Catherine turned to the relatives of the deceased with a proposal to buy out the property of Grigory Orlov, since in her opinion “it is unnecessary for you, the sale of it will not only be a means of quickly paying off the debts of the late Prince Gr. Gr., but also for the benefit of all of you.” She made an inventory and assessment of this property, which, according to her calculations, amounted to “about a million and twenty thousand rubles.” And with installment payments for ten years, the interest, according to her calculations, will amount to “up to five hundred thousand rubles.” When consent was received, she ordered “not to take any taxes on this sale.”
After the death of Mikhail Ivanovich Mordvinov in 1782, the management of the construction of the palace was entrusted to Colonel Buxhoeveden. Such detailed reporting as that of Mordvinov was no longer carried out in subsequent years, but only brief notes and reports exist.
In total, 1,219,677 rubles were spent on the construction of the palace from April 1768 to May 1785. 46 ¼ k. But this is without expenses for three years, from 1778 to 1780, since these reports of Mordvinov were not preserved in the archives.
In terms of its exterior and interior decoration, the Marble Palace serves as an excellent monument to Catherine’s generosity. The lower floor is covered entirely with hewn wild stone, while the upper two floors are covered with multi-colored, polished Finnish and Siberian marble.

The middle and upper floors are accessed by a rich grand staircase made of gray marble with niches for statues and vases designed by Rinaldi.

Sculptor F.I. Shubin based on a drawing by the architect Rinaldi. Night, Morning, Noon, Evening.

Ceiling lamp of the main staircase. I. Christ. "The Judgment of Paris"

On the wedding day. book Konstantin Pavlovich (celebrated on February 15, 1796), which took place in the church of the Winter Palace, after the dinner table in the St. George's Hall and at the end of the ball, the newlyweds were received in the Marble Palace. A few days later, Catherine dined with her grandson and this is what she wrote about the Marble Palace in a letter to Grimm: “Je pense qu'il est difficile de trouver une plus belle maison, plus richement meublee et avec plus de gout, de commodite, de richesse ; nous sommes amuses avant et après le diner a parcourir toute la maison, et j’en suis tres contente, et le sieur Constantin aussi.”

Soon after the division of Poland, in 1797, the Polish king Stanislav-August Poniatowski arrived in St. Petersburg, who, of the palaces proposed for him and his retinue: Stone, Tauride and Marble, chose the latter, which is why Konstantin Pavlovich had to temporarily settle in the house of the former chief marshal Shepeleva.
In February 1798, Poniatowski died in the Marble Palace and was buried on February 18 under the Catholic Church on Nevsky Prospekt.

Marcello Baciarelli. Death of Stanisław-August Poniatowski.

After the death of Konstantin Pavlovich (June 27, 1831), the Marble Palace was empty, most of the furniture and things were moved to other palaces, and on March 6, 1832, the palace was assigned to Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich.

Since 1849, over the course of 4 years, major renovations were carried out in the palace. Restored by Alexander Pavlovich Bryullov.

On December 10, 1849, the Marble Palace was granted as a gift, into the hereditary possession of His Imperial Highness Konstantin Nikolaevich. In 1888, the palace passed to his son, Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich.
It is interesting that only the Constantines owned the palace.

In 1919-1936, the building housed the Russian Academy of the History of Material Culture (essentially local history museum), and after its liquidation - a branch of the Central Lenin Museum. To accommodate the exhibition, the palace was remodeled by architects N.E. Lanceray and D.A. Vasiliev, which led to the loss of the architectural decoration of the halls. In 1992, the Marble Palace was transferred to the Russian Museum.

White Hall. A.P. Bryullov
The hall is made in gothic style. At one time there was an arsenal here - a collection of weapons was kept.

All the chandeliers from this hall were destroyed by the communists. They were melted down because they needed non-ferrous metal.

Bryullov’s drawings of these chandeliers have not survived, so it is not possible to restore them.

Therefore, restorers made new chandeliers based on Bryullov’s surviving drawings.

The fireplace in the White Hall is authentic:

Winter Garden. A.P. Bryullov

Marble Hall. A. Rinaldi. A.P. Bryullov

Ceiling lamp S. Torelli. "The Wedding of Cupid and Psyche"

All the chandeliers in the Marble Hall are original:

Eagles in honor of the one to whom the grateful Catherine built the palace:

Sculptor Mikhail Kozlovsky made a bas-relief for the Marble Hall, representing Regulus returning from Rome to Carthaginian captivity, and Camillus liberating Rome from the Gauls.

Regulus - Roman consul in 256 BC, who carried the war with Carthage to Africa, winning two victories over the Carthaginians; when they began to ask for peace, Regulus offered them extremely difficult conditions. The Carthaginians then gathered an army, inflicted a terrible defeat on the Romans and captured Regulus. He remained in captivity for 5 years, after which an embassy was sent to Rome to negotiate a peace beneficial to Carthage. According to legend, Regulus was sent to Rome along with this embassy with the condition that he would return to Carthage if he failed to persuade the Romans to peace on Carthage’s terms. Regulus acted in Rome in favor of his compatriots, turning them against Carthage, and since the embassy was not successful, he returned to Carthage, where he was executed.

It is believed that this allegory was a hint from Catherine to Orlov, who gave her his word not to disclose some secrets known to both of them. Allegory means faithfulness to a given word.

The second bas-relief is of Camillus liberating Rome from the Gauls.
In the 390s BC. After a seven-month siege, hunger began among both the besieged and the besiegers, and an infection broke out among the Gauls. As a result, the parties were inclined to enter into negotiations. The leader of the Gauls, Brennus, agreed to leave with his army for a thousand pounds of gold. They brought the gold and began to weigh it. The Gauls wanted to deceive the Romans and get more precious metal. First slowly, and then openly, they began to pull down the scales with weights. The outraged Romans protested. Then Brenn took off his heavy sword and threw it onto the scale where the weights stood. "What does it mean?!" - the Romans exclaimed. “Woe to the vanquished - that’s what it means!” Brenn shouted. At that moment Camillus appeared with his army, declared the treaty invalid, drove the Gauls out of the city and defeated them in a great battle eight miles from Rome.

I don’t know what Catherine wanted to say with this allegory. On the excursion they didn’t say a word about this bas-relief.

It is interesting that in Soviet times, October students were accepted into pioneers in this hall.

To be continued.

Marble Palace.

In the historical center of St. Petersburg on Palace Embankment there is an amazing building - the Marble Palace, a masterpiece architecture XVIII century, where for the first time natural stone - granite and marble - was so widely used in external and internal decoration.

For a quarter of a century now, the building has been part of a structure that, in its halls, has launched activities to popularize modern visual arts, highlighting the role of compatriots’ creativity in world culture.

Historical reference

In Peter's times there was a Postal Yard on this site. The wooden two-story building completely burned down during a fire in 1737, and the resulting site was empty for a long time, until Catherine II ordered the construction of a palace here for her favorite Grigory Orlov. Filled with gratitude to the Orlov brothers, with whose help she ascended to the Russian throne, the Empress showed truly royal generosity, sparing no expense to create a beautiful palace, personally monitoring the progress of the work and sketching sketches.

The development of the project was entrusted to the Italian architect Antonio Rinaldi, who also supervised the construction. To realize the unusual design, marble of different shades and varieties was delivered from Italy, Greece, and Russia, after which painstaking and lengthy processing was required. The construction, which dragged on for almost two decades, was completed only in 1785, after Orlov’s death.

Catherine II, having bought the palace from the heirs of His Serene Highness, gave it to her grandson Konstantin, who settled in it 10 years later - only after his marriage. Soon the grandmother evicted her grandson for bad behavior: the 16-year-old owner of the house was shooting rats from a cannon right in the room, scaring his wife.

In 1797, the palace became the refuge of the last king of Poland and his retinue. Stanislav II Augustus, who lost power in his country, spent the last two years of his life here.

Konstantin Pavlovich returned to the palace again, receiving the title of Tsarevich (heir) in 1799, and after his abdication, the palace went to the treasury.

Until the end of the imperial rule of the Romanovs, the residence belonged to two more grand dukes named Konstantin: the son of Nicholas I, Konstantin Nikolaevich (admiral and one of the authors of the peasant reform), and then his grandson, Konstantin Konstantinovich (president of the Academy of Sciences and poet of the Silver Age). It is not surprising that the palace was officially renamed Konstantinovsky.

During Soviet times, the building housed a branch of the Central Lenin Museum, and an armored car similar to the one in which Ilyich spoke upon his arrival in Petrograd was installed in front of the eastern facade. Later, the armored car was transferred to the artillery museum, and the pedestal in 1994 was occupied by an equestrian statue of Alexander III, made by Paolo Trubetskoy at the beginning of the 20th century - this largest and most monumental work of the famous Italian impressionist sculptor ended the ten-year period of his stay in Russia. Having caused conflicting assessments in society (many saw it as a caricature of the Tsar), the monument was nevertheless installed on the square in front of the Moscow Station, and since 1937 it was kept in the storerooms of the Russian Museum. After the Marble Palace became a branch of the Russian Museum in 1992, and a new concept for its use was adopted - “Russian art in the context of the world”, Trubetskoy’s work was considered appropriate to include in the exhibition.

Building architecture

All facades of the building, made in the style of early classicism, are lined in the lower part with dark red granite. In the upper part, against a light gray granite background, quaternary columns of pink marble stand out, which alternate with window openings.

The facade of the Marble Palace from the Neva embankment.

Gray marble window casings contrast with white marble garlands placed between the rows of windows on the second and third floors. Along the entire perimeter of the attic there are vases made of gray dolomite. The design of the building, which has come down to us in its original form, has great artistic value.

The main eastern façade is crowned by a tower with a chime. On both sides there are figures symbolizing Generosity and Loyalty. The statues were made by the outstanding Russian master F.B. Shubin, more than 40 works of the sculptor decorate the interior of the palace.

According to the plan of Antonio Rinaldi, inside the building the idea of ​​stone finishing of the facades is continued by the front marble staircase, made in a restrained range of gray tones, strict and majestic at the same time. Her allegorical sculptural ensemble is unique, as it is the only work of its kind from the 18th century in St. Petersburg that has survived to this day. In the niches between the first and second floors there are four white marble statues - morning, day, evening, night - representing the age categories: childhood, youth, maturity and old age. On the next floor, in rectangular niches, female and male figures symbolize the spring and autumn equinox. The entire ensemble is dedicated to Grigory Orlov and glorifies his exploits.

In the middle of the 19th century, the palace underwent major repairs and reconstruction under the leadership of the architect A. Bryullov. He created projects for new interiors of front and residential premises, using various styles using a variety of materials.

Exhibition and attractions

On the ground floor of the main building of the Marble Palace there is a cloakroom, a ticket office and other auxiliary premises (by the way, note that at the time of writing there was no cafe for visitors to the palace - take this into account if you are planning a long tour).

State rooms

The main halls and a significant part of the permanent exhibition are located on the second floor. The main room of the palace is the Marble Hall, which amazes with the splendor of its decoration using Greek and Italian, Karelian and Ural marble of different colors, as well as Baikal lapis lazuli.

Marble Hall.

Initially one-story, after the reconstruction of A. Bryullov, who increased the space by removing ceilings, the hall became two-tiered. The light penetrating through two rows of windows is reflected from the walls, creating an indescribable effect of the internal glow of the stone. The hall is decorated with numerous bas-reliefs, as well as a lampshade “Cupid and Psyche”.

The Oryol Hall, through which one must pass to get to the aforementioned Marble Hall, enjoys great attention among visitors.

"Orlovsky" hall.

Its luxurious stucco ceilings, rich painting of lampshades, and complex pattern of inlaid parquet flooring evoke constant admiration.

Ceiling in the Oryol Hall of the Marble Palace.

The walls of the “Oryol” hall are also decorated with stucco and high reliefs.

High relief in the Oryol Hall of the Marble Palace.

The state halls of the second floor - Lacquer and Chinese, Greek Gallery, Winter Garden and the Tsar's Living Room were restored in 2002 - 2010.

"Ludwig Museum in the Russian Museum"

The historical interiors have been restored only in a few halls of the palace; restoration work in other halls is still ongoing. Most of the rooms are a white cube, which is quite consistent with the paintings of Roy Lichtenstein, Ilya Kabakov or Igor Makarevich placed in it.

Work by Igor Makarevich.

Modern sculpture, represented by the works of Claes Oldernburg, Grisha Bruskin, Vladimir Yankilevsky and other authors, also looks advantageous in a simple frame.

Vladimir Yankilevsky. "Triptych No. 14".

The museum owes the appearance of such works to the collectors Irene and Peter Ludwig. In 1994, they donated part of their luxurious collection to the Russian Museum. A large sign at the entrance to the exhibition contains a complete list of artists and sculptors whose works are on display: Warhol, Picasso, Burroughs, Beuys, Rauschenberg, Lüpertz, Wesselmann and many other no less famous names.

Tom Wesselman. "Drawing of steel."

Here, American pop art coexists with Russian impressionism; all conceivable and inconceivable genres of contemporary art are presented in several exhibition halls.

This is the only permanent exhibition in Russia of works from the second half of the 20th century, which makes it possible to trace the development trends of Russian contemporary art and the place it occupies in the context of the world.

Exhibition at the Ludwig Museum.

In addition, numerous other temporary exhibitions are dedicated to informal art, which are regularly held in the museum’s halls. Let us remind you that the exhibition “Ludwig Museum in the Russian Museum” is also located on the second floor.

Collection of the Rzhevsky brothers

Another permanent exhibition on the second floor of the Marble Palace is the collection of the St. Petersburg collectors the Rzhevsky brothers, also donated to the Russian Museum. Most of the collection consists of paintings by venerable artists of the 18th – 20th centuries, among them: I.K. Aivazovsky, I.I. Mashkov, B.M. Kustodiev. In addition, there are graphics, sculpture, furniture and interior bronze, and wonderful porcelain. Of particular interest are the rare clocks included in the collection—floor clocks, mantel clocks, and travel clocks. They were made by masters of the late 18th century - early XIX centuries, are distinguished by sophisticated decor, have unique mechanisms, and play various melodies.

As for the main building of the Marble Palace, all permanent exhibitions are listed above. Please note that temporary exhibitions are regularly held on the third floor.

Exhibition “Konstantin Romanov- poet of the Silver Age"

The memorial exhibition “Konstantin Romanov - Poet of the Silver Age”, located on the first floor of the left wing of the palace in the former chambers of the Grand Duke, deserves special mention. They only come here as part of thematic excursion conducted by palace staff.

One of the most prominent representatives of the era at the turn of the 19th – 20th centuries, K.K. Romanov, a public figure and statesman, considered music and poetry to be his main loves. Multi-talented, he wrote poems, plays, and critical articles. His lyrics inspired the best composers, and Romanov himself wrote romances based on poems by Russian classics. His translation of Shakespeare's Hamlet is considered one of the most successful, published in 1899, and has been reprinted several times.

The authentic interiors of personal apartments are perfectly preserved and immerse visitors in the atmosphere of the owner’s aesthetic preferences. The study and music room are made of mahogany in the Gothic style, where every carved detail is unique. There are secret doors. Here reigns a mysterious and enigmatic atmosphere of solitude, which the author of the lyrical lines valued so much, hiding behind the laconic signature - “K. R."…

Where is it and how to get there

The museum is located on the same line with Winter Palace(Hermitage) in front of the Champs of Mars, in the area of ​​the Trinity Bridge, at the address: Millionnaya Street, 5/1, onto which the southern facade of the building faces.

The nearest metro station is Nevsky Prospekt, but from there you need to walk about ten minutes along the embankment of the Griboedov Canal and then along the Champ de Mars towards the Neva.

 

It might be useful to read: