Panorama of the Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna. Virtual tour of the Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna. Attractions, map, photos, videos. Lost St. Petersburg "Versailles" - Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna Summer Palace of Catherine 2

The reign of Elizabeth I was marked by a new stage in the development of architecture in the state, the emergence of the Elizabethan (Russian) Baroque. Built under the direction of the chief architect of the Empress R.F. Bartolomeo's architectural monuments had a clear European influence, however, they were characterized by Russian scope and monumentality. One of these masterpieces was the Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna in St. Petersburg, which was compared with the French in style, lightness of architectural forms and richness of decoration royal palace in Versailles.

Geographical location and architectural features of Elizabeth's Summer Palace

We can get an idea of what Elizabeth's Summer Palace looked like from paintings and engravings, as well as the memoirs of contemporaries. The imperial residence was located on the site between the street. Italian, Catherine Canal, Moika and Fontanka rivers. The palace was built in the 3rd Summer Garden, where the Mikhailovsky (also known as the Engineer) Castle is located today.

According to the design, the palace included two facades facing the Moika (main) and in the direction of Nevsky Prospekt. In front of the main entrance to the building, a regularly operating park with trees and figured flower beds, benches and fountains was laid out. Visitors entered the courtyard through wrought-iron gates.

The summer palace of Elizabeth Petrovna Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli had a second name - the Wooden Palace. Only the basement and walls of the first floor were made of stone, the second was entirely made of wood. The pink and gray exterior walls looked elegant and light. The interior of the room was decorated with rich stucco with gilding, sculptures and a large number of mirrors. The luxurious and elegant palace included more than 160 rooms, including a hall for receptions and galleries.

Favorite residence of Elizaveta Petrovna

The entire court of Elizabeth I moved to the Summer Palace from Winter Palace as soon as it got warmer: in April – May. The move was celebrated solemnly, with a cannon salute and an orchestra, accompanied by a guards regiment. The return to the winter residence at the end of September was no less pompous.

Elizabeth loved her Summer Palace. Official receptions and balls were regularly held there. The future Emperor Paul I was born here.

Elizabeth's Summer Palace: history of construction

The idea of building a summer imperial residence appeared under Anna Leopoldovna, regent under the young Ivan VI, to whom the throne passed after Anna Ioannovna. The architect began developing drawings at the end of 1740, and construction work began in July 1741. In the same year, a coup took place and Elizaveta Petrovna, the youngest daughter of Peter the Great, came to power. The new empress approved the continuation of construction of the palace and work was carried out from 1741 to 1744. Historically, construction was not carried out exactly according to the design. So, according to the instructions of Elizabeth through the river. Moika, a covered gallery was built for the transition from the palace to the 2nd Summer Garden.

After the death of Elizabeth I, the palace remained an imperial residence; celebratory events at the end of the seven-year war with Prussia were held here, and Catherine II received official congratulations on the coronation from foreign ambassadors there, although she spent most of her time in Tsarskoye Selo. By decree of Paul I, the Summer Palace was destroyed in 1797 (officially due to dilapidation), and in its place the modern Mikhailovsky Castle, known to us, was built, which became the residence of the emperor.

In the 18th century, women often found themselves in power in Russia, and naturally there were favorites in their lives. They were immensely endowed with titles and estates, and often had enormous political influence. Some received real palaces as gifts. Who received such an honor, and which of these palaces have survived in St. Petersburg to this day?

Anichkov Palace (Nevsky Prospekt, 39)

Anichkov Palace is the first palace to appear on Nevsky Prospekt. That’s what it was called a few years later, when the famous Anichkov Bridge appeared next to it.
Elizaveta Petrovna, daughter of Peter I, having ascended the throne in 1741 as a result of a palace coup, ordered the construction of a palace in honor of her triumph.

Although it was officially announced that the palace was being built for the new empress, everyone understood that in fact it was intended for Count Alexei Grigorievich Razumovsky, who was her favorite at that time. Razumovsky was famous for his beauty and good nature, and although he had great power at court, he never really used it.

The construction of the palace began immediately after the coronation, the architect Mikhail Zemtsov began to build it, and it was completed by Bartolomeo Rastrelli. The building was located so that its main entrance and main facade faced the Fontanka embankment, and not Nevsky Prospekt. At that time, Nevsky Prospekt was not yet the main street of the city and, in addition, many guests reached this palace along the Fontanka, which was then the border of St. Petersburg.

In 1771, Razumovsky died, and Catherine II, having bought the palace from the Razumovsky family, gave it to her new favorite, Grigory Potemkin. He decided to rebuild the palace in a more classical style, which was done. IN further palace has changed its owners more than once, and has been seriously rebuilt more than once.

Shuvalovsky Palace (Italyanskaya St., 25)

The mansion belonged to Elizaveta Petrovna’s young favorite, Ivan Shuvalov, a very versatile man who was interested in politics and art. Largely thanks to his efforts, Moscow University and the Academy of Arts were opened.

Instead of building a new mansion from scratch, it was decided to take one of the existing buildings as a basis and thoroughly rebuild it to suit one’s taste. The architect Savva Chevakinsky was involved in the construction of the mansion, who chose the Elizabethan Baroque style for it. The mansion was built very quickly - in just two years, and Shuvalov and his wife moved there.
However, later, under Empress Catherine II, Shuvalov was excommunicated from the court and was forced to leave Russia. By order of one of the subsequent owners of the palace, Prosecutor General Alexander Vyazemsky, the palace was rebuilt in the classical style.

Marble Palace (Millionnaya Street, 5/1)

This palace was built for another favorite of Catherine II, Count Grigory Orlov. The Empress made such a generous gift to the count for his courage and courage shown during the palace coup, thanks to which Catherine ascended the Russian throne.
To decorate the facades and interiors of this palace, marble was used, and the most varied - 32 varieties. Therefore, this palace began to be called Marble. It was also called the Palace for the Favorite.
However, the construction of the palace dragged on for 17 years and, unfortunately, Count Orlov, without waiting for the completion of the work, died. Now Marble Palace transferred to the disposal of the Russian Museum.

Gatchina Palace

The Gatchina Palace also belonged to Grigory Orlov. It was built in an unusual style for Russia - an English hunting castle. The project was carried out by Italian Antonio Rinaldi. This palace also took a very long time to build - 15 years, and Orlov only had a chance to live in it for a very short time - only two years.

Tavrichesky Palace (Shpalernaya street, building 47)

This palace, one of the largest in Europe, was built by Catherine the Great for Prince Potemkin. It was under his leadership that the Russian army, having won the Russian-Turkish war, annexed Crimean peninsula, then called "Tavrida". After this, Potemkin began to be called Tauride. But Potemkin a year later sold this palace as unnecessary and left for the south on business. Catherine bought this palace and gave it to him again - this time for the capture of the Turkish fortress of Izmail.

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. 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 around the throne room back and forth, 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 entire guard; the soldiers and everyone present see “two Anna Ioannovnas,” of which the real one 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.

Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna- 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

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History of construction

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 - gg., 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 cour d'honneur with a lush figured parterre facing the Moika. Behind there is a garden with numerous bosquets of various shapes. Fruit plantings have been preserved on the territory of the present Mikhailovsky Garden. However, things did not go further than plans.

However, while construction was underway, a coup occurred, and Elizaveta Petrovna became the owner of the building. By the time the palace, made of wood on stone cellars, was roughly finished. The architect, in describing the buildings he created, spoke about him like this:

“This building had more than 160 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 ground floor level, surrounded by rich trellises, all the decorations of which were gilded."

Despite its location within the city limits, the building is designed according to an estate plan. The plan was created under the obvious influence of Versailles, which is especially noticeable from the side of the cour d'honneur: successively narrowing spaces enhanced the effect of the baroque perspective of the courtyard, fenced off from the access road by a latticework of lush 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 entrance porticoes led to staircase volumes, as always with Rastrelli, offset from the central axis. From the main staircase, a series of living rooms decorated with gilded carvings led to the most representative hall of the palace - the Throne. Its two-light volume accentuated the center of the building. From the outside, curly stairs led to it, complemented by ramps on the garden side. The appearance of the palace was completed, giving it baroque splendor, by numerous statues and vases on the pediments and balustrade crowning the building. Rastrelli decorated the space up to the Moika with floral parterres with three fountain pools of complex outlines.

As often happened with the creations of an architect, over time the logical and harmonious original plan changes to suit momentary requirements. In 1744, for the Empress to go to the 2nd Summer Garden across the Moika, he built a one-story covered gallery, decorated with paintings hanging on the walls. Here, near the northwestern risalit, he creates a terrace hanging garden on the mezzanine level with the Hermitage pavilion and a fountain in the center of the ground floor. Along its contour it is fenced with a lush gilded trellis lattice, and multi-march gatherings in the garden are organized. Subsequently, a palace church was added to the northeastern risalit, expanding it with an additional row of rooms from the Fontanka side. Bay windows and lanterns appear on the western façade.

On the territory adjacent to the palace, a decorative park was laid out with a huge complex green labyrinth, bosquets, trellis pavilions and two trapezoidal ponds with semicircular protrusions (still preserved, they acquired free outlines during the reconstruction of the park for the Grand Duke's residence). Rastrelli reports about his work in the park in 1745:

“On the banks of the Moika in the new garden I built a large building of baths with a round salon and a fountain with several jets, with ceremonial rooms for relaxation.”

In the center of the park there were swings, slides, and carousels. The structure of the latter is unusual: rotating benches were placed around a large tree, and in the crown there was a gazebo, into which one climbed up the stairs. spiral staircase.

Another building located in close proximity to the north-eastern corner of the palace is associated with the name of the architect: the water supply system for the fountains of the Summer Garden, completed in the 1720s. no longer gave enough pressure, and did not correspond to the splendor and grandeur of the imperial residence. In the mid-1740s. Rastrelli builds water towers with an aqueduct across the Fontanka. Technically complex, the purely utilitarian structure made of wood was decorated with palace luxury: the wall paintings imitated lush baroque modeling.

Despite the fact that the palace was the ceremonial imperial residence, direct message there was no prospect with Nevskaya: the road, which ran among unpresentable random buildings (on the banks of the Fontanka there were glaciers, greenhouses, workshops and the Elephant Yard) turned onto Italianskaya Street, and only passing the palace of I. I. Shuvalov, built by Savva Chevakinsky, carriages through Malaya Sadovaya fell on the central transport artery of the city. Direct communication will appear only in the next century thanks to the work of C. Rossi.

Elizaveta Petrovna loved the Summer Palace very much. At the end of April - beginning of May (weather permitting), the empress's ceremonial move from the winter residence was celebrated with a magnificent ceremony with the participation of the court, orchestra, and guard regiments accompanied by an artillery salute from the cannon at the Winter Palace and the guns of the Peter and Paul Fortress and the Admiralty. At the same time, the imperial yachts, stationed in the roadstead opposite the Apraksin House, sailed to the Summer Garden. The queen set off on her return journey at the end of September with the same ceremonies.

The Catherine Palace, named after Catherine I, was the favorite residence of three empresses - Catherine, Elizabeth Petrovna and Catherine II. Each of them added something different to the architecture of the ensemble: Catherine II, for example, abandoned the luxurious gilding that Elizabeth valued so much, and was generally skeptical about this “whipped cream.”

From hut to palace

Back in the 17th century, on the territory of the future Tsarskoe Selo, the estate of a Swedish magnate was located - Sarskaya Manor. Some time later, they began to locally call it Sarskoe village, and later Tsarskoe. In 1718, the first “stone chambers” were laid here, which formed the basis of the luxurious Catherine Palace. The palace received its known name only in 1910. Before this, the residence of the empresses was called the Great Palace, and later, after the construction of the Alexander Palace, they began to call it the Old Palace.

Source: wikipedia.org

The work was entrusted to the architect Braunstein, known for his designs of buildings in Peterhof. In the decoration of the “chambers” wood was used, and not the most durable species. In the future, this will play a cruel joke: the wooden coverings will rot so much that the floor will almost begin to collapse. In 1724, the first celebration was held in Tsarskoe Selo on the occasion of the emperor’s arrival - “thirteen cannons were fired three times.”

Half a kingdom for the palace!

The future Empress Elizabeth inherited the manor from her mother. The Tsesarevna loved her dacha, with which she had childhood memories. Having ascended the throne, Elizaveta Petrovna began to spend huge amounts of money on furnishing her residence in order to compete with Versailles itself.

Source: wikipedia.org

First of all, the empress decided to rebuild the outdated mansions. Under the leadership of Zemtsov and Kvasov, a detailed project was developed, about which Benoit later wrote: ““...if Kvasov’s project is inferior in luxury and splendor to the Rastrelli building that we now admire, then in the sense of grace, balance and rhythm of lines it deserves preference.” .

In 1744, the reins of power were handed over to Rastrelli, but the architect began directly working on the reconstruction of the palace a little later. It was thanks to Rastrelli that a building in the Russian Baroque style appeared, decorated with stucco and columns, painted azure. Elizaveta Petrovna did not skimp - more than 100 kilograms of gold were spent on finishing the facade and countless statues.

After the death of Elizabeth, Catherine II already ordered the sculptures in the park to be gilded, as the late empress bequeathed. But when Catherine found out how much such luxury would cost the treasury, she refused the work.

Old Fashioned "Whipped Cream"

Catherine II did not immediately fall in love with Tsarskoe Selo. In 1766, she complained in a letter: “For seven days now I have been living at the dacha, in a house which the late Empress Elizabeth deigned to gild inside and out; there is not a single comfortable chair in it... There is not even a possibility to lean your elbows on the table.” The newly-crowned empress considered this baroque “whipped cream” to be old-fashioned, and ordered the moldings to be removed and the gilding replaced with simple painting.

Source: wikipedia.org

The Scotsman Charles Cameron worked on the interiors of the palace under Catherine. He had to work hard: the Empress, a great lover of ancient art, ordered the old-fashioned baroque halls to be combined with classicist lines. It was under the leadership of Cameron that the state rooms were decorated - Arabesque, Lyons and Chinese; he also created the Mirror, Blue and Silver cabinets, the Raphael room and the famous Blue drawing room. True, the interiors of the northern half of the palace burned down during the Great Patriotic War.

The Mystery of the Amber Room

The world-famous Amber Room was initially decorated with canvases painted to resemble amber. The amber panels themselves were presented to Peter I by the Prussian king Frederick William I.

Peter wrote to his wife Catherine: “The king gave me a handsome gift of a yacht, which was beautifully decorated in Potsdam, and the Amber cabinet, which had long been desired.” For some time, mosaics were located in the People's Chambers in summer garden. Only in 1770 Catherine's Palace the same Amber Room appeared, which is now known from photographs and in a reconstructed form.

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