The Catherine Palace still amazes with its scale, splendor and beauty. Over the years centuries of history more than one generation of royalty has changed in the palace, many great architects participated in the design and construction.
St. Petersburg, Catherine Palace. The beginning of the story
At the beginning of the 18th century, in the place where a chic palace was later built, there was a Finnish village called the Saar Manor. In 1710, these possessions were presented by Peter I to his future wife Catherine (Marta Skavronskaya).
After the founding of St. Petersburg in 1703, Peterhof, which is located on the shores of the Gulf of Finland, was considered the residence of the king, which was built in 1710. But over the course of many centuries, all the heirs to the throne loved the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo more and spent most of their time there. The palace became a real front residence.
In 1717, Catherine begins the construction of the palace. The German architect Braunstein was involved in the construction. At the same time, he was doing architectural ensemble in Peterhof. Construction work was completed in 1724, and a big celebration was organized on this occasion. "Stone Chambers" - that's what she called her two-story mansion
Reconstruction of the palace under Elizabeth
She became the new owner of the palace chambers in 1741. At her direction, at the end of 1742, the architect Zemtsov began to rebuild the palace, but his quick death did not allow him to carry out his plans. Such prominent architects as Kvasov A.V., his assistant Trezzini, were involved in the work afterwards, in 1745 - Chevakinsky S.I.
In 1752, the great architect Rastrelli was involved in the work. Elizabeth decided to completely change the appearance of the palace, as she considered it small and old-fashioned. It was after this grand reconstruction, which lasted four years, that the most beautiful, modern Catherine Palace was born, surprising us with its magnificence even today. Presentation foreign guests and nobles took place on July 30, 1756. The grandiose building 325 meters long impressed the guests with its scale and grandeur.
The beauty and charm of the Catherine Palace
Today, for every tourist arriving in St. Petersburg, the Catherine Palace is in the first place in the list of attractions. Why did this chic palace surprise guests so much at the opening and surprises so far?
The building was built in the Baroque style. Huge size, as already mentioned: the length of the palace stretches along the line of the garden and is 325 meters, the beauty, grandeur, originality of architecture still does not leave anyone indifferent.
The facade is made in azure color, white columns, golden ornament give the palace a solemn look. The special charm of the facade of the building was emphasized by the figures of Atlanteans, stucco decorations. The northern building of the palace was crowned with five gilded ones; the southern building had a front porch, as well as a spire with a multi-pointed star. Under Elizabeth, the palace building became three-story, at the same time, the famous monogram in the form of “E I” appeared on the gates and decorations of the palace.
No less attractive are the interior apartments built according to Rastrelli's designs. The front doors are located along the entire length of the palace. The entire front suite was painted with gilded carvings.
Right there, next to the Sunday Church, gifted children studied, including Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. Tsarskoye Selo was renamed in his honor in Soviet times.
Catherine Palace in St. Petersburg
At the end of the 18th century, Catherine became interested in ancient architecture. The Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo underwent a final reconstruction. To carry out the work, she hired a connoisseur of antiquity - an architect from Scotland, Charles Cameron. It was he who created the Blue, Silver cabinets, Arabesque, Lyon living rooms, the Chinese Hall and the Domed dining room in the palace. All the interiors created by Cameron emphasized a sophisticated strict style, surprised by the beauty and mystery of the finish.
Thanks to the same architect, the Catherine Palace acquired the Chinese Blue Drawing Room, the Front Blue Room, and the Green Dining Room. They were specially equipped for Pavel Petrovich, the son of Catherine II and his highly esteemed wife, and a bedchamber and a waiter's room were also built for them.
In 1817, under Alexander I, the architect Stasov created the Front Office with several adjoining rooms convenient for work. All these rooms were decorated in a style dedicated to the glorious victory in the war with the great Emperor Napoleon.
1860-1863 Catherine Palace survived, perhaps, the last major stage of reconstruction and restructuring. The architect Monighetti was engaged in the work. The main staircase of the palace was presented in the "second rococo" style.
Until 1910, the Catherine Palace was called the Great Tsarskoye Selo.
Tour of the palace
Before everyone who visited Tsarskoye Selo, the Catherine Palace appeared as a wonder of the world. Bypassing modern familiar interiors (turnstiles, souvenir shops, cash desks), tourists will certainly find themselves in the Great or Throne Hall. Its dimensions are very impressive: length - 47 meters, width - 18. This hall is the largest among all St. Petersburg palaces. The picturesque plafond that covers the entire ceiling demonstrates the allegories of Abundance, Peace, Navigation, Victory and War, Art and Science. Decorated in art style, parquet attracts curious glances for a long time.
Rooms with huge windows, as if uniting, move from one to another. So, moving around, you can visit the Silver, Blue cabinets, Arabesque, Lyon drawing rooms, the Chinese Hall, the Domed Dining Room, the Waiter's Room, the Bedchamber, decorated by Charles Cameron. I would like to pay special attention to the mysterious Amber Room.
The Amber Room. History of creation
In 1716, the Prussian king presented Tsar Peter with amber panels, which were delivered to St. Petersburg. They decorated the Catherine Palace only in 1755. The Amber Room itself somewhat exceeded the area of the panels, and in 1763 Empress Catherine II ordered additional fragments for an amber panel from German craftsmen. For these purposes, it took 450 kg of amber. The Amber Room acquired its final chic appearance in 1770. The huge panel occupied three tiers. The central place was covered by a mosaic depicting the five senses in an allegory. The whole room was lined with the finest work of amber products, on which the best craftsmen of the 17th-18th centuries worked.
Amber Room in the 20th century
The fragile amber components of the panel required special careful handling and care. During the war, this played a fatal role in the fate of the Amber Room. For the best preservation, the room was not touched during the evacuation; it was left in the Catherine Palace. The Nazis took her to Koenigsberg. During the war years, the Amber Room disappeared without a trace. Several versions of her disappearance are put forward, each of which seems plausible.
In 2003, the Amber Room was recreated in the Catherine Palace for the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg. For more than 20 years, a whole staff of employees, which included restorers, historians, chemists, forensic scientists, have been working to bring the masterpiece back to life. Kaliningrad amber was used for work, which was processed using a special technology. Now the revived Amber Room is again available for visiting. So, where did the original go? The mystery is still unsolved.
To our great joy, photography and video filming is allowed in the Great Catherine Palace, perhaps it will soon be forbidden to take pictures here, as it already happened in the palace, but, taking the opportunity, we took a few photos of this stunning palace with its interiors. We will try to convey the whole atmosphere that reigns in the chambers and bedchambers of Russian rulers.
Great Catherine Palace, a bit of history
The Great Catherine Palace, unfortunately, was almost completely destroyed during the Great Patriotic War, but now, thanks to the excellent work of restorers, 32 out of 58 rooms have been restored. Most of them are still closed to the public, so this article contains photos of only those rooms The Great Catherine Palace, which we were shown. I don’t want to write naked in the article historical facts, let's go through the main ones so that you have a general impression of the Great Catherine Palace.
The Great Catherine Palace is almost 300 years old, it was founded in 1717. But the original palace was a small two-story building, and a little later, in 1751, it was rebuilt, and a chic palace with a large number of service buildings and a palace church was erected in its place. In the design, both outside and inside, a lot of gold was used, and the figures of Atlanteans on the front facade of the palace were also originally covered with gold, but during the restoration they decided not to spend money on gilding.
The Catherine Palace is huge, its amazing appearance is in no way inferior to the beautifully decorated halls inside, which we now offer to look into.
Walk through the halls of the palace
When you go inside the Catherine Palace, you don’t immediately realize all the greatness: perhaps because there were a lot of visitors during our visit to the palace, perhaps because you are immediately quickly and quickly equipped with an earpiece and shoe covers, and in a minute formed a new group tourists are already heading to sightseeing trip in the Great Catherine Palace. The feeling of a conveyor approach still spoiled the first impression a little, but after a couple of minutes we forgot about it. Now I will explain why.
After the formation of the group, we were led through the halls, at the same time telling the story of the Great Catherine Palace. And acquaintance with the palace began from the main staircase, along which everyone climbed to the halls of the palace. Due to the dense burgundy curtains and the almost completely absent lighting, the room of the main staircase has some kind of intimacy.
Apparently to heighten the effect, the first hall of the Catherine Palace, to which we were led and which did not leave any visitor indifferent, was the Great Hall of the palace. It is also called the Light Gallery, and, indeed, there is plenty of light in this hall, and the abundance of gilding and luxury simply never ceases to amaze.
The Great Hall of the Catherine Palace - the largest room in it, with an area of more than 800 square meters, was used at one time for balls and all kinds of celebrations and receptions. Huge seven-meter ceilings, thanks to which you feel like a very small person, as well as large two-story windows that fill the Great Hall with light, create the feeling that the room has no end.
And now let's go through the rest of the halls of the Catherine Palace. From the Great Hall we head to the Cavalier's Dining Room with a beautifully set table. A multi-tiered tiled stove immediately catches your eye - these will be found in almost all halls of the palace. Next is the White Front Dining Room. Starting from this room, we are already approaching the chambers of the Empress. Here "evening meals" were held in a very narrow circle of close associates.
Then one after another go Raspberry and Green Pillars. Pillar rooms are named because on the walls there are very beautiful glass inserts, with the appropriate shade, in the form of pillars.
Having skipped the Amber Room, which we will dwell on in more detail, we head to the Picture Hall, which at one time served as the main dining room. The walls of the hall are decorated with paintings by Western European masters. How royal it is to use paintings that have their own artistic value, solely for decorative purposes, because, as we learned from the guide, the architect, when placing paintings, first of all took into account their size.
The Small White Dining Room adjoins the Picture Hall, from which the private chambers of the Empress began. Here are various gilded chairs, as well as an old wooden bureau. This is followed by the Chinese drawing room of Alexander I, which seemed to me one of the most beautiful in the entire palace. The walls of this hall are decorated with silk upholstery painted with watercolors in the Chinese style.
There are still a few halls left for us to visit in the Great Catherine Palace, and the Green Dining Room is one of them. From this dining room, the private chambers of the Empress begin with pale green walls, which are covered with very interesting stucco ornaments on various antique motifs.
We complete our walk through the halls of the Great Catherine Palace in the Waiter's Room. It is made in a simple style and is decorated with mahogany card tables and chairs, and on the walls there are paintings of mountain landscapes and ruins.
The Amber Room in the Grand Catherine Palace is the only one in which photography and video shooting is prohibited, so in order to capture at least a particle of this unique work of art, one had to take pictures from neighboring rooms. There is a lot of information on the Internet about the mysterious disappearance and amazing find of the Amber Room during the war, but the fact that this masterpiece has now been restored and everyone can see it is worth a lot. It is difficult to convey in words the sensations and feelings that appear when you are in the Amber Room.
Many call the Amber Room one of the wonders of the world, I would like to agree with this.
The Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo can be reached as follows:
From Vitebsky railway station in St. Petersburg:
Electric train to the station "Tsarskoye Selo" (Pushkin) and then bus number 371, 382 or fixed-route taxi No. 371, 377, 382 to the Tsarskoye Selo State Museum-Reserve.
From the metro station "Moskovskaya" in St. Petersburg:
Shuttle taxi No. 342, 545 to the State Museum-Reserve "Tsarskoye Selo";
or bus No. 187 or fixed-route taxi No. 286, 287, 347 to the Pushkin railway station and then bus No. 371, 382 or fixed-route taxi No. 371, 377, 382 to the Tsarskoye Selo State Museum-Reserve.
From the metro stations "Zvezdnaya" or "Kupchino" in St. Petersburg:
On minibuses K-545a, K-286, K-287, and K-347a.
With an excursion to Tsarskoye Selo from St. Petersburg:
By ordering excursions to Tsarskoye Selo from St. Petersburg, you not only save time on organizing a trip, but also get the opportunity to learn interesting, historical details about the sights and memorable places. Prices for excursions start from 600 rubles. For more information about tour offers, please click on the photo below.
Visiting Information
Catherine Palace - opening hours:
From 10:00 to 18:00; cash desks and entrance of visitors until 16:45.
Mondays: from 10:00 to 21:00; cash desks and entrance of visitors until 19:45.
Days off: Tuesday and last Monday of the month.
Catherine Palace - ticket prices:
Adults - 400 rubles.
Pensioners of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus, cadets, conscripts, members of the unions of artists, architects, designers of Russia - 200 rubles.
Students - 200 rubles.
Visitors under 18 years old - free of charge (from 1.01.2015)
Accommodation in Tsarkoye Selo - where to stay for the night
Usually they go to Tsarskoye Selo for one day, as part of a trip to St. Petersburg. But, if you plan to see in more detail all the sights of Tsarskoye Selo, then we recommend renting a hotel or apartment there. Here are some proven options. Inexpensive hotel Aksinya, costing from $ 9 and guest house Granda, costing from $30.
Quote message Cultural heritage Russian Federation: Masterpiece of Russian Baroque - Grand Catherine Palace
Great Catherine Palace (also known as the Great Tsarskoye Selo Palace, Catherine Palace) - former imperial palace; one of the largest in the vicinity of St. Petersburg. Located in modern city Pushkin (formerly Tsarskoye Selo), 25 kilometers south of St. Petersburg.
South facade
Side
Portrait of Catherine I (1684-1727), Jean-Marc Nattier
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The building was founded in 1717 by order of the Russian Empress Catherine I; represents an example of the late Baroque. V Soviet time a museum was opened in the palace. During the Great Patriotic War, the palace was badly damaged. Its restoration took many years and is being continued by the Leningrad school of restorers on a strictly scientific basis. It's still far from completion.
The history and architecture of the palace reflect both the architectural trends of each of the eras that the palace survived, as well as the personal preferences of the Russian rulers of that time. The palace itself was founded in 1717 under the leadership of the German architect Johann Friedrich Braunstein as the summer residence of Empress Catherine I.
In 1743, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, who had just ascended the throne, instructed Russian architects Mikhail Zemtsov and Andrei Vasilyevich Kvasov to expand and improve the palace. It was during the reign of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna that the palace acquired its current look and style.
Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli
In May 1752, she commissioned the architect Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli to rebuild the palace again, as she considered it too old-fashioned and small. After dismantling, grandiose reconstruction and construction work, which lasted four years, a modern palace appeared, made in the Russian Baroque style. On July 30, 1756, the presentation of the 325-meter palace took place to the shocked Russian nobles and foreign guests.
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Rastrelli rebuilt the Grand (Catherine) Palace (1752-1756) in Tsarskoye Selo in the following way. The longitudinal axis of the building became the main spatial coordinate in its plan; a huge length of two parallel suites of front rooms, the scale of which grows towards the center - the Great Hall and art gallery, emphasized by the removal of the main staircase to the southwestern end of the building.
The rhythmic variety of the order system of the facade, large ledges of the colonnades with entablature rake above them, deep depressions windows that create a rich play of chiaroscuro, an abundance of stucco and decorative sculpture, multi-colored facades (blue and golden colors) give the building an emotional, rich, festive and very solemn look (BSE).
The huge volume Grand Palace noticeable immediately. In addition, the symmetrical axial system of overhead porticos of the palace facade corresponds to the main spatial coordinates of the park plan.
During the German occupation, the ensemble was badly damaged, the palaces were looted, many exhibits burned down. Now the ensemble has been completely restored by restorers - N. V. Baranov, A. A. Kedrinsky, N. E. Tumanova and others.
the Amber Room
The Amber Cabinet or the Amber Room is one of the most famous rooms in the Great Catherine Palace. The main decoration of the Amber Room was made at the beginning of the 18th century in Prussia, in 1716 it was donated by King Friedrich Wilhelm I to Peter I; in 1746 added and mounted in winter palace in St. Petersburg, in 1755 it was transferred to Tsarskoye Selo.
Restored Amber Room
During the Great Patriotic War, the decoration of the Amber Room was taken by the German invaders to Königsberg. The further fate of the room was unknown.
Since 1979, work has been carried out in St. Petersburg to recreate the Amber Room; for the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg, it was restored in full by the hands of domestic restorers, including at the expense of German firms.
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Legends and myths still circulate about the fate of the original exhibits of the room.
On May 23, 2010, Olga Taratynova, General Director of the Tsarskoye Selo State Museum-Reserve, told reporters that several restored halls and pavilions would open for the celebration of the 300th anniversary of Tsarskoye Selo:
We will open the re-restored Throne Room in the Catherine Palace. We will also open a hall completely unfamiliar to our guests from that half of the palace in which Catherine lived - the Arabesque Hall. Now it is already working on furniture and selection of curtains.
Raspberry pillar
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Ballroom (Great Hall)
golden stucco
Arabesque Hall, opened in 2010
blue saloon
palace church
agate room
Alexander's office 1
Front office of Alexander 1
Main staircase
sleeping cupid
wall decor
Barometer
Catherine Palace, exhibition of Meissen porcelain
Green dining room
Finishing project for the Green Dining Room in the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo. Paper, pen, brush, ink, watercolor, 49x65.5 cm. The State Hermitage, received from the heirs of C. Cameron in London, as part of his archive, 1822
Cavaleo dining room
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picture room
Battle of Poltava, Pierre-Denis Martin (1663-1742)
White front dining room
portrait hall
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Tiled stoves and fireplaces
Palace interiors
The Catherine Palace is one of the largest.
- the former imperial palace. Located in the modern city of Pushkin (formerly Tsarskoye Selo), 25 kilometers south of St. Petersburg. The city of Pushkin itself is part of the Pushkinsky district of St. Petersburg.
The exposition of the Catherine Palace (until 1910 - the Great Tsarskoselsky) Palace-Museum covers almost 300 years of history of the outstanding monument and introduces the work of architects who participated in its construction and decoration in the 18th-19th centuries, as well as the achievements of restorers who revived the palace after the Great Patriotic war. Of the 58 halls of the palace destroyed during the war, 32 have been recreated.
In 1717, when St. Petersburg was being created on the banks of the Neva, in Tsarskoye Selo under the guidance of architect I.F. Braunstein began the construction of the first stone royal house, which went down in history under the name "stone chambers". In August 1724, as a sign of the completion of construction, a festival was held in the palace, during which "thirteen cannons were fired three times." The ceremony was attended by the king and major statesmen. At that time, the palace was a small two-story structure typical of Russian architecture of the early 18th century.
During the reign, at the end of 1742 - beginning of 1743, it was decided to expand the building according to the project of M. G. Zemtsov (1688-1743), but the death of the architect prevented the implementation of the plan. After Zemtsov, work in Tsarskoe Selo was carried out by A. V. Kvasov (1720 - after 1770) and his assistant G. Trezzini (1697-1768), but already in May 1745 Trezzini was replaced by the famous architect S. I. Chevakinsky (1713-1780) , who supervised construction in Tsarskoye Selo until the early 1750s.
From the end of 1748 to 1756, the construction of the Tsarskoye Selo residence was headed by the chief architect of the imperial court F.B. Rastrelli (1700-1761). On May 10, 1752, Elizaveta Petrovna signed a decree on the overhaul of the old building, and already on July 30, 1756, Rastrelli demonstrated his new creation to the crowned customer and foreign ambassadors.
The palace, built in the Baroque style, delighted with its size, powerful spatial dynamics and "picturesque" decor. The wide azure ribbon of the facade with snow-white columns and gilded ornaments looked festive.
Rastrelli decorated the palace facades with figures of Atlanteans, caryatids, lion masks and other stucco decorations, made according to the models of the sculptor I.F. Dunker (1718-1795). Five gilded domes of the Palace Church towered above the northern building, and above the southern one, where the front porch was located, there was a dome with a multi-pointed star on the spire. It took about 100 kilograms of pure gold to gild the exterior and interior decorations. At the same time, the front parade ground was finally decorated, fenced with palace wings and one-story service buildings located in a semicircle - circumferences.
Just as luxuriously Rastrelli decorated the apartments of the palace. The Ceremonial enfilade created by him, decorated with gilded carvings, was called "golden". The enfilade arrangement of halls, not known in Russia until the middle of the 18th century, was also introduced by Rastrelli in other palaces, but only in Tsarskoe Selo the length of the front rooms was equal to the length of the entire building - from the Main Staircase to the Palace Church.
The next stage in the design of the ceremonial and residential halls of the palace dates back to the 1770s. The new owner of the residence, fascinated by ancient art, wished to decorate her apartments in accordance with fashionable tastes and entrusted them to the Scottish architect, an expert on ancient architecture C. Cameron (1743-1812). The interiors he created - the Arabesque and Lyon drawing rooms, the Chinese hall, the Domed dining room, the Silver Cabinet, the Blue Cabinet (Snuffbox) and the Bedchamber - were distinguished by their exquisite beauty, the rigor of decorative design and the special elegance of decoration. Unfortunately, these halls were destroyed during the Great Patriotic War and have not yet been restored.
The rooms intended for Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich (the future Emperor Paul I) and his wife, decorated by C. Cameron in the same years, are now recreated: the Green Dining Room, the Waiter's Room, the Front Blue Room, the Chinese Blue Living Room and the Bedchamber allow you to get acquainted with the unique interiors created by Scottish architect, whose work was so loved by Catherine II.
In 1817, by order (1769-1848), he created the Front Office and several adjacent rooms decorated in the same style - everything in these rooms was dedicated to glorifying the brilliant victories won by the Russian army in the Patriotic War of 1812.
The last chord in the enfilade of the palace was the Main Staircase, created in 1860-1863 by I. A. Monighetti (1819-1878) in the “second Rococo” style.
In 1752-1756.
This elegant hall with an area of more than 800 square meters was intended for official receptions and celebrations, ceremonial dinners, balls and masquerades.
The documents do not say anything about how the idea of building a large hall (also called the Throne Hall and the Great Gallery) was born, but on May 12, 1751, a command was issued to replace the narrow one-story stone galleries-transitions between the central building and the side wings with new ones, “with a broadening as the place will give "". One of the new premises later became the Great Hall.
In creating the Great Hall, Rastrelli proved himself not only as a great decorator, but also as a skilled engineer. The hall with an area of 860 square meters, a length of 47 and a width of 17 meters does not have a single support to cover, which also enhances the feeling of spaciousness and light that fills the huge room on sunny days.
The windows of the Great Hall, which occupies the entire width of the palace, overlook both sides of it. In summer, the interior is permeated with sunlight, playing on the gilding throughout the day, in the evening the Light Gallery was illuminated by candles framing the mirrors. Lush baroque decor elements create the illusion of boundless space: the alternation of large windows with mirrors visually expands the boundaries of the hall, and the ceiling, surrounded by a picturesque colonnade, reveals the space in height. The French diplomat de la Messelier, who attended a reception at the palace, wrote: “The beauty and richness of the apartments involuntarily struck us ... But a new spectacle awaited us: all the curtains were lowered at once and the daylight was suddenly replaced by the brilliance of 1200 candles, which were reflected from all sides in numerous mirrors ... ".
The sculptural and ornamental carving of the Great Hall, covering the planes of the walls with a continuous pattern, was made according to the sketches and models of the sculptor-decorator 130 Russian carvers. Three more experienced and talented craftsmen worked on carving in the Great Hall - Stahlmeier, Karnovsky and Valekhin. The end walls, decorated with multi-figure compositions, received especially magnificent carved decor.
The furniture in the hall consists of gilded wooden chairs covered with white damask; in one of the corners stood a clock in a wooden case, the work of Konrad Erber from Berlin. The hall has 13 windows on each side, all piers are covered with mirrors inserted into a rich stucco and carved gilded ornament; numerous carved, gilded sconces further enhance the beauty of the finish. Gilding completed Leprenz.
In the 1790s, structural problems were discovered in the ceiling of the hall. Due to the sagging of the lower belt of the roof trusses, the ceiling was deformed, [...]. The stretchers with the picturesque canvases were removed, the paintings were rolled up on shafts and handed over to the funds of the palace depositories.
Overlapping meanwhile fell into a completely unusable state. In 1820, the architect installed new roof trusses, roofing and new floors in Great Hall Tsarskoye Selo Palace. The installation of new roof trusses, having supports directly above the gilded carvings of the hall, could cause almost inevitable damage to it. To prevent this, V.P. Stasov increased the masonry of the walls framing the hall, raised its ceiling, and introduced a transitional arch between the cornice of the walls and the field of the ceiling. Thus, the ceiling area was narrowed and the return of the original painting to its place was impossible. The ceiling was left white, and the ceiling was decorated with gilded ornaments.” The huge ceiling painted by the artist D. Valeriani was no longer there. The paduga was restored according to the project in the style of the baroque decoration of the grand Rastrelli interior.
At the same time, the decoration of the hall was damaged, so the molding, carving, gilding and parquet had to be completely restored.
At the ends of the Great Hall, instead of dilapidated wooden stairs, the architect arranged two cast-iron ones. The restoration of the Great Hall was completed in April 1823.
In the 1790s, due to deformation of the ceiling ceiling Valeriani removed and transferred to the palace storerooms, and in 1856-1858 the artists F . Wunderlich and E. Franchuoli created a new song "Allegorical depiction of Science, Art and Diligence" glorifying the achievements of contemporary Russia. This plafond died in
V 1953–1954 years, during the restoration of the Mikhailovsky Castle in St. Petersburg, the side parts of the Valeriani ceiling were discovered - "Allegory of Peace" and "Allegory of Victory" considered lost. Thanks to this find, it was decided to recreate the plafond in its original form, returning two surviving pictorial compositions to the Catherine Palace. During the restoration, the attention of the craftsmen was attracted by their roughly cut edges, which led to the assumption that both of these picturesque compositions were once part of a huge plafond, from which they were cut and placed here in a new place. And indeed: after the clearing, on both plafonds under the monograms of Paul I, the previously written monogram of Elizabeth was read. Further scientific research confirmed that the "Allegory of Victory" and "Allegory of Peace" were side paintings of a huge pictorial ceiling "Allegory of the bliss of the reign of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna", made according to sketches and decorated up to 1783 one ceiling area of 816 sq.m Great Hall in the Catherine Palace. In the Mikhailovsky Castle, it was decided to install copies of the plafonds, which still had to be completed, and return the original compositions to historical place- in the Great Hall of the Catherine Palace. The architect A.A. Kedrinsky in 1960 developed project for the reconstruction of the monumental painting of the Great Hall, made on the basis of found genuine fragments, as well as archival materials and the only, fortunately, surviving ceiling of the brush Valeriani "The Adventure of Talemachus" in the Stroganov Palace.
The revival of the central part of the plafond was based on the surviving sketches and description of the composition with a decoding of all the allegories made by Valeriani, as well as a drawing made in 1857, when a new design of the ceilings in several halls was created according to the sketches of the court architect. front suite. Restoration artists worked on the reconstruction of the ceiling of the Great Hall under the guidance of. In terms of complexity and scale, this work had no analogues in the world restoration practice.
In all the plans of the author of the plafond, a man who lived two centuries ago, restorers tried to literally dissolve, learning the peculiarities of the color of his huge compositions and other subtleties of ancient decorative painting. As B.N. Lebedev recalls, the particular difficulty was that it was necessary to achieve a unified tonality of the recreated central part of the ceiling “Triumph of Russia” with the original side compositions “Allegory of Victory” and “Allegory of Peace”. According to the artists-restorers, "the difference impudently climbed into the eyes." Probably, at this time, an understanding came of how the old masters took into account all the subtleties of painting on the ceilings of the palace halls, which surprisingly reacted to everything. natural phenomena and even for the change of seasons: the grass made it green, the white snow evenly revealed the multicolored ceiling, and the colors of autumn brought a special softness to color scheme. But the coloristic solution of the entire composition was nevertheless found, and the boundaries between the originals and the restored center of the ceiling disappeared. If the predecessors broke the plafond into pieces and each of its fragments was written on a stretcher, then modern masters had to overcome technical difficulties: climb scaffolding, write directly on the plaster, head up and holding a brush in hand. None of them could stand more than 20 minutes of work: their arms, legs, and neck were numb, their backs began to hurt mercilessly, and even the electric light, installed directly on the scaffolding, transferred its yellowish tint to the painting, which caused problems with color in daylight. It is now Boris Nikolayevich Lebedev who smiles, recalling: “We fully understood the conditions in which the craftsmen worked under Mother Elizaveta Petrovna. We had the same hard time."
In January 1988, as a result of a security breach during welding, a fire broke out in the Great Hall of the Catherine Palace. Timely measures to eliminate the fire prevented serious material losses.
Restoration 2009
In the Throne Hall, experienced specialists immediately pay attention to the oak parquet: something is wrong with it. Historical material allows you to restore the picture of what happened. At the end of the 50s of the last century, due to the lack of bog oak, the restorers got out of the situation simply: some of the fragments that should be dark were made of walnut soaked in a colorful composition. Over time, the coating was worn off, and the appearance of the parquet pattern, to put it mildly, became strange. Getting bog oak is an incredibly difficult task, but Ivan Petrovich Sautov, who then headed the Tsarskoye Selo State Museum-Reserve, was firm: no substitutions. Need to look for it. “It turned out to be very difficult,” admits Gennady Kravets. “We have few territories where oak is soaked in its natural environment for 15-30 years. True, there are methods of artificial staining, but in our case this is also a substitution. A grandiose event is coming, and the main anniversary events will be held in the Throne Room, which means that everything here must be at the highest level."
Three bright doors lead from the main hall to.
Sources:
- Fomin N. Children's Village. L., 1936.
- Catherine's Palace Museum and Park in the city of Pushkin. L., 1940.
- Pilyavsky V. I. Stasov. Architect. Leningrad: Gosstroyizdat, 1963, 251 p., ill.
- Eparinova E. Stackenschneider. Collection Architects of Tsarskoye Selo. From Rastrelli to Danini / Album, ed. I. Bott. - St. Petersburg: Avrora, 2010. - 303 p.
- S.N.Vilchkovsky "Tsarskoye Selo", 1911
- Historical and cultural magazine "Our heritage"
- Letters from A.Kuchumov
- Exhibition in the regional library named after Mamin-Sibiryak
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