The history of the summer palace of Elizabeth Petrovna. Favorite Palaces of Russian Empresses Empress Elizabeth's Palace on the Fountain

With the death of Empress Anna Ioannovna, which followed in 1740, Biron became regent under the young emperor John Antonovich, who was 2 months old at that time. However, his reign was short-lived. Biron was arrested for abuse and exiled. The reign of the mother of the young emperor Anna Leopoldovna, who was appointed regent under him, was also short-lived. On November 25, 1741, as a result of a palace coup, the daughter of Emperor Peter I, Elizabeth Petrovna, ascended the throne. The time of her reign is the time of a powerful take-off of St. Petersburg architecture. She herself loved pomp and splendor, Elizaveta Petrovna wanted to see her father's brainchild decorated with beautiful buildings and therefore she was very worried about the front building in St. Petersburg and its suburbs. Having ascended the throne, Elizaveta Petrovna mainly lived in the Summer Palace on the site of the current Mikhailovsky Castle, which soon became cramped for the expanded imperial court. During her reign, the St. Nicholas Naval Cathedral, the Winter Palace were built, the ensemble of the Smolny Monastery was built, Tuchkov and Sampsonevsky bridges were erected, and, finally, Moscow University, the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg and the Corps of Pages were opened. She invited the best architects of Europe to St. Petersburg, and among them the brightest was Bartolomeo Rastrelli. He erected the best buildings in St. Petersburg. This is the Winter Palace, twice rebuilt by him, Anichkov, Vorontsovsky, Stroganov palaces; Great Peterhof Palace, Tsarskoye Selo (Catherine) Palace, Smolny Monastery and other buildings. Looking at the cathedral of the Smolny Monastery, Quarenghi, who did not like the architecture of the Elizabethan Baroque, with the words: “Well, the church!”, He took off his hat.
Upon arrival in St. Petersburg, Elizaveta Petrovna ordered the construction of two palaces for herself at once, one temporary, wooden near the Police Bridge, the other stone on the Neva embankment. Both palaces were built according to the project of B. Rastrelli. The wooden palace, although built as a temporary one, was decorated with great luxury.
Nevsky Prospekt by that time had become the best street in the city. Elizabeth oversaw its improvement. Decrees were issued forbidding building on main street city ​​wooden buildings. Only stone houses were erected on the avenue. But they were not like the current ones. As a rule, these were two-storey buildings with an obligatory front garden in front of the facade, fenced with a patterned cast-iron lattice. In 1755, Gostiny Dvor began to be rebuilt. Rastrelli's plan, which was notable for the great splendor of the building's decoration, was not implemented due to lack of funding. Now we see the Gostiny Dvor building, designed by the architect Valen-Delamote, who retained the layout of Rastrelli, but built the building in the style of early classicism.
Elizaveta Petrovna, according to her contemporaries, was very beautiful, lively and flirtatious. Her palaces were lined with mirrors in which she constantly saw her reflection repeated over and over again. For her, the most expensive outfits were bought up in large quantities in Europe. After her death, the Empress had 15,000 dresses in her wardrobe, some of which had never been worn. She herself has never worn the same dress twice. And she demanded the same from the courtiers, whose appearance she monitored very much, issuing decrees one after another regulating the appearance of her entourage. For example, a decree was issued forbidding court ladies to wear dark dresses, a decree that to go to the masquerade only in a good dress, and not "in a vile one." And in the winter of 1747, a “hair regulation” came out, which ordered all court ladies to cut their hair bald and cover their heads with “black tousled wigs”, which she herself issued. The reason for such a tough establishment was that the powder from the empress's hair did not want to go off, the empress decided to dye her hair black, but for some reason this did not work out, and then she had to be the first to cut her hair and put on a black wig. And she did not like anyone to surpass her in beauty and perfection. Well, how was it not to publish a "hairy decree"?
The time of Elizabeth is the time when the baroque style reigned in art, which was a match for the cheerful character of the empress with her whims and love of luxury. architectural masterpieces Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli, who still amaze us with grace, luxury and splendor, is a monument to that time. And one of them is the Smolny Monastery, which was built by the Empress for herself. At one time she had a desire to abdicate and go to a monastery. Thousands of soldiers and artisans were rounded up for the construction of the monastery. It was built on a grand scale. And a few years later it was outwardly ready. But then the seven-year war began, and construction stopped due to lack of money. Soon, Elizabeth's desire to enter a monastery also disappeared.

G. R. Derzhavin called the reign of Elizabeth "the age of songs." Elizaveta Petrovna really loved music and herself had extraordinary musical abilities: she played many instruments and composed songs. Thanks to her, Russia got acquainted with the guitar, mandolin, harp and other instruments. Opera, ballet, and also the drama theater, which she loved very much, flourished under her. Shakespeare, Moliere and, of course, the plays of the first Russian tragedian Alexander Sumarokov were played on the stage of Russian theaters. In 1750, Fedor Grigoryevich Volkov created a theater in Yaroslavl, the performances of which were a great success. Having learned about the "Yaroslavl comedies", the Empress summoned Volkov and the troupe to St. Petersburg by a special decree. The initiative of Sumarokov and Volkov in 1756 officially established the Russian Theater for the Presentation of Tragedies and Comedies, which marked the beginning of the creation of the Imperial Theaters of Russia. The theater was initially located in the Menshikov Palace, where in 1732 the Gentry Cadet Corps for minor nobles was opened. The first Russian tragedy "Khorev" was staged here, and in 1752 the actors of the troupe of Fyodor Volkov were placed here.
With the active secular life that Elizabeth led, sometimes she simply did not get around to governing the state. Ministers ran after her for months so that she could sign some document between dressing for a ball or a masquerade. Fortunately, the bureaucratic machine, launched once by Peter, continued its work, and things went on as usual. In addition, she had wonderful assistants. She could well rely on P. I. Shuvalov in domestic policy, in external policy on A. P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin, in the field of education on I. I. Shuvalov.
Balls and masquerades succeeded each other, competing with each other in splendor and splendor. But against the backdrop of this seemingly endless holiday, important events took place in St. Petersburg. Petersburg of this time is the Petersburg of Lomonosov, the founder of Russian science and poetry, this is the Petersburg of important geographical research and discoveries. In 1743, the eleven-year Second Kamchatka Expedition ended, and two years later the Academic Atlas was published with maps of the vast territory from Baikal to Anadyr and northwestern America.
Creating at one time the Academy of Sciences, Peter I thought of it as a center of higher education in Russia. This can be seen from the draft “Regulations of the Academy of Sciences and Arts”, which stated that the members of the Academy, working “on the perfection of the arts and sciences”, had to “publicly teach those arts and sciences”, that is, teach. That is, Peter thought of the Academy as a university. In 1745, M. V. Lomonosov became a professor at this Academic (or Petrovsky) University, who insisted that not only nobles could study at the university: “Not a single person is forbidden to study at universities, no matter who he is, and at the university, that student is more honorable, who has learned more. Such an attitude of a professor of the first higher educational institution in Russia, the founder of domestic science, opened the way to education for many talented young people. Among the first "natural Russians" who graduated from Petrovsky University were Antioch Kantemir, Ivan Magnitsky, Pyotr Remizov. The poetic "Satires" of Antioch Cantemir were very popular at that time and went from hand to hand in the lists.
The cultural demands and interests of the empress and the court, proximity to Europe, the very spirit of the city, which from birth was intended to be a “window to Europe”, also contributed to the increase in interest in culture and education. Gymnasiums, both public and private, appear in the city. In 1757, the "Academy of the Three Most Noble Arts" was formed in St. Petersburg - painting, architecture and sculpture. The construction of the building for the Academy of Arts on University Embankment will begin only in 1764, and from the moment of foundation until that time it was located in the house of the initiator of its creation, I. I. Shuvalov, in the Shuvalov Palace on Sadovaya Street, between Nevsky Prospekt and Italian Street. Her first students were Ivan Starov, Fedor Rokotov, Vasily Bazhenov. As a mosaic artist, M. V. Lomonosov became an honorary member of the Academy. Mosaic panel by M. V. Lomonosov "Poltava battle" is now in the building of the Academy of Sciences.
In 1751, on the Nikolaevskaya embankment of the Neva, the current embankment of Lieutenant Schmidt, the Naval gentry cadet corps was opened, which later became the Naval Academy. From the pier, where the monument to Kruzenshtern stands, all the outstanding Russian navigators and admirals went to sea.

St. Petersburg of the noisy Elizabethan era already bore little resemblance to Peter's modest "Paradise". By that time, a favorable environment for the development of the economy had developed in the city. He no longer required exceptional measures to attract the population and finances. The ever-increasing needs of the new capital transformed the whole region for many kilometers around. Thousands of wagons with building material, food, various products of local crafts were drawn from the Novgorod, Pskov, Olonets provinces. Hundreds of ships from Europe, barges, boats, rafts were looking for mooring places near the city's piers.
During her twenty-year reign, Elizaveta Petrovna did not sign a single death warrant. And perhaps that is why the internal life of the country as a whole during this period was stable - there were neither riots nor bitterness in the country. Some cruel amusements were forbidden: in Moscow and St. Petersburg it was forbidden to have bears, to shoot guns. In the field of foreign policy, this time was also a time of rest: out of 20 years of Elizabeth's reign, 15 years were peaceful. And four years of Russia's participation in the Seven Years' War (1756-1760) revealed the combat effectiveness of the Russian army, which defeated the hitherto invincible troops of Frederick the Great. And this is despite the eternal Russian confusion, theft in the rear, ill-conceived strategic plans.

The Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna is an unpreserved imperial residence in St. Petersburg, built by B. F. Rastrelli in 1741-1744 on the site where the Mikhailovsky (Engineering) Castle is now located. Demolished in 1796.

Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna (built in 1741, demolished in 1797).
M.I. Makhaev 1756

In 1712, on the southern bank of the Moika, where the pavilion of the Mikhailovsky Garden is now, a small manor house, completed with a turret with a gilded spire, which bore the pretentious name "Golden Mansions". According to him, the Big Meadow (the future Field of Mars) on the opposite bank received the name Tsaritsyn Meadow: it will be used most often in the 18th, and even at the beginning of the 19th century. The territory near the palace is called the 3rd Summer Garden. On July 11, 1721, the chamber junker of the Duke of Holstein Berchholtz, having examined the estate, wrote:

“The garden has been recently planted and therefore there is nothing in it yet, except for already quite large fruit trees. Five nearby ponds were dug here to keep live fish brought to the royal table.

In the greenhouses of the queen, the gardener Ekliben grew fruits rare for the northern latitudes: pineapples, bananas, etc.

Even then, the idea appeared to close the alley of the Summer Garden opposite the Karpiev Pond with a palace building. This is evidenced by the project of 1716-1717, preserved in the archives. Its possible author is J. B. Leblon. It depicts a small nine-axis palace, the elevated center of which is completed with a tetrahedral dome. Wide one-story galleries cover the court d'honneur with a magnificent 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 current Mikhailovsky Garden.
However, things did not go further than plans.

MAKHAEV Mikhail Ivanovich
Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna and front yard in front of it. View from the south. B. g. Ink, pen, brush

Under Anna Ioannovna, the 3rd Summer Garden turns into a "jagd-garten" - a garden for "chasing and shooting deer, wild boars, hares, as well as a gallery for hunters and stone walls to prevent bullets and shots from flying." At the same time, the “Vegetable Garden” was moved to Liteinaya Street, where the Mariinsky Hospital would later be built.

In the early 1740s. B. F. Rastrelli began the construction of one of the most remarkable buildings of the developed Russian baroque - the Summer Palace in the 3rd Summer Garden for the ruler Anna Leopoldovna.

Ivan ARGUNOV (1727(29)-1802). Portrait of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna.

However, while the construction was underway, a revolution took place, and Elizaveta Petrovna became the mistress of the building. By 1744, the palace, wooden on stone cellars, was roughly finished. The architect, in the description of the buildings he created, spoke of him like this:

“This building had more than 160 apartments, including the church, hall and galleries. Everything was adorned with mirrors and rich sculptures, as was the new garden, adorned with beautiful fountains, with the Hermitage built at the level of the first floor, surrounded by rich trellises, all the decorations of which were gilded.

Summer Palace.
Fragment of the "Axonometric plan of St. Petersburg 1765-1773 by P. de Saint-Hilaire".

Despite the location in the city limits, the building was decided according to the manor scheme. The plan was created under the clear influence of Versailles, which is especially noticeable from the side of the court d'honneur: the successively narrowing spaces enhanced the effect of the baroque perspective of the courtyard, fenced off from the access road by a lattice of magnificent drawings with state emblems.
One-story outbuildings along the perimeter of the cour d'honneur emphasize the isolation of the ensemble, traditional for the Baroque. The rather flat decor of light pink facades (mezzanine pilasters with Corinthian capitals and rusticated stone plinth blades corresponding to them, figured window frames) was compensated by a rich play of volumes.
Complicated in plan, strongly developed side wings included courtyards with small flower stalls. Magnificent access porticos led to stair volumes, as always with Rastrelli, displaced 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 Room. Its double-height volume accentuated the center of the building.
Outside, curly staircases led to it, complemented by ramps from the side of the garden. Completed the appearance of the palace, giving it baroque splendor, numerous statues and vases on the pediments and balustrades crowning the building.
Rastrelli decorated the space up to the Moika with flower stalls with three fountain pools of complex outlines.

Summer Palace of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna in St. Petersburg.
thin L. F. Bonstedt. (according to the drawing by M.I. Makhaev. 1753). 1847.

As is often the case with the creations of an architect, over time, a logical and harmonious initial plan changes to suit momentary requirements.
In 1744, for the transition of the Empress to the 2nd Summer Garden through the Moika, he built a one-story covered gallery, decorated with paintings hung on the walls. Here, in 1747, near the northwestern risalit, he creates a terrace hanging garden at the mezzanine level with the Hermitage pavilion and a fountain in the center of the stalls.
Along the contour, it is fenced with a magnificent gilded trellis grate, they arrange multi-march gatherings in the garden. Later, a palace church was added to the northeastern risalit, expanding it with an additional row of rooms from the Fontanka side.
Bay windows-lanterns appear on the western facade.

On the territory adjacent to the palace, a decorative park was laid out with a huge complex green labyrinth, bosquets, trellis arbors and two trapezoidal ponds with semicircular ledges (which have survived to this day, they acquired a free outline during the reconstruction of the park for the grand ducal residence). About his work in the park in 1745, Rastrelli reports:

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

In the center of the park there were swings, slides, carousels. The device of the latter is unusual: revolving benches were placed around a large tree, and a gazebo was hidden in the crown, into which they climbed a spiral staircase.

Alexey Grekov. View of the Summer Palace of Empress Elizabeth

Another building, located in the immediate vicinity of 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, made in the 1720s. no longer gave sufficient pressure, and did not correspond to the brilliance and grandeur of the imperial residence.
In the mid 1740s. Rastrelli builds water towers with an aqueduct across the Fontanka.
The technically complex, purely utilitarian building made of wood was decorated with palatial luxury: the wall painting imitated magnificent baroque modeling.

Despite the fact that the palace was the grand imperial residence, there was no direct communication with the Neva prospect: the road that went among the unpresentable random buildings (glaciers, greenhouses, workshops and the Elephant Yard stood on the banks of the Fontanka) turned onto Italianskaya Street, and only bypassing the palace and I. Shuvalov, built by Savva Chevakinsky, the crews through Malaya Sadovaya got to the central transport artery of the city.
A direct connection will appear only in the next century thanks to the work of C. Rossi.

Elizaveta Petrovna was very fond of the Summer Palace. In late April - early May (as the weather allowed), the solemn transfer of the Empress from the winter residence was arranged with a magnificent ceremony with the participation of the court, the orchestra, regiments of the guard under the artillery salute of the cannon at Winter Palace and guns of the Peter and Paul Fortress and the Admiralty.
At the same time, the imperial yachts, which were on the roadstead opposite Apraksin's house, sailed to the Summer Garden. On the way back, the queen set off in the last days of September with the same ceremonies.

On September 20, 1754, the future emperor Paul I was born within the walls of the palace. After the death of the queen, the palace is still used: the conclusion of peace with Prussia is celebrated here.
In the throne room, Catherine II receives congratulations from foreign ambassadors on her accession to the throne. However, over time, the owner begins to give preference to other summer residences, especially Tsarskoye Selo, and the building deteriorates.
First, he was taken under residence to G. Orlov, then to G. Potemkin. A catastrophic flood in September 1777 destroyed the fountain system of the Summer Garden. The fashion for regular parks passed, and the water cannons were not restored, while the unnecessary Rastrelli aqueduct was dismantled.

Mikhailovsky Castle from the side of the embankment. Fontanka.
Benjamin Patersen.

At the end of the 1770s. The palace was dismantled by order of Paul I for the construction of the Mikhailovsky Castle, the laying of which took place on February 28, 1797.

There are two legends of the founding of the Mikhailovsky Castle: according to one, Paul I said: “I want to die where I was born”, according to another, the soldier standing on the clock in the Summer Palace, when he dozed off, the Archangel Michael dreamed and ordered to hand over to the king to build a church on this place .

Beggrov K.P.
View of the Engineer's Castle from the Summer Garden. 1830s

Be that as it may, in February 1796, due to dilapidation, the Elizabethan dwelling was broken down and the construction of a new imperial stronghold began. And today, only the volumetric construction of the facade of the castle facing the Summer Garden (perhaps at the request of the monarch) and the magnificent drawings of M.I. Makhaev remind of the disappeared building.

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St. Petersburg and suburbs

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

Catherine's "Golden Mansions"

In 1703 the Emperor founded new town- St. Petersburg, and already 9 years later, the construction of a small house for Empress Ekaterina Alekseevna, the wife of the monarch, begins. It was located on the southern bank of the Moika and was a small house with a turret, which ended with a gilded spire. The building was named "Golden Mansions". Subsequently, this area was called Tsaritsyn Lug and became part of the Summer Garden - a large royal estate. Exotic fruits were grown on its territory for the Empress: pineapples and bananas.

A few years after the construction, it was decided to build a grandiose palace that would crown the tetrahedral dome, but the plan was not realized.

Failed construction

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

Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli

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

Bartolomeo from an early age was attracted by his father to work on various projects, went to study in Europe. The first documented work of Rastrelli in Russia was the three-story palace of Dmitry Kantemir, built in the style of Petrine baroque.

In the 1730s, Rastrelli was engaged in the construction of the Rundale Palace and the palace in Mitava, which he was building on the orders of the Duke of Courland. It was on the recommendation of Biron of Courland that Rastrelli became the court architect.

Architectural style of Rastrelli

Bartolomeo created a unique style in architecture. So, he began to use semi-circular window endings on the facades, and he usually assembled semi-columns in pairs and bundles. External columns usually did not play a constructive role, but were intended only for decoration. His palaces were characterized by huge ceremonial halls, covering the entire depth of the floor, and when designing interiors, he tried to avoid curved lines. All his buildings are characterized by screaming power, grandeur and solemnity, even pomposity. Rastrelli abandoned the strip foundations traditional for that time, preferring platforms made of brick and stone based on piles, which, in turn, made it possible to partially redistribute the loads, and this was very important for the weak soils of St. Petersburg.

Creations of the great architect

The great architect, in addition to the Rundale and Mitava palaces, built such buildings that became attractions:

1. Great Peterhof Palace.
2. Andrew's Church in Kyiv.
3. Smolny Cathedral in St. Petersburg.
4. Vorontsov Palace.
5. Hermitage Museum.
6. Winter Palace.
7. Royal Palace in Kyiv, etc.

Lost buildings of the architect

Some of his buildings on this moment lost:

• Kantemir Palace.
• Throne room on the Yauza.
• Winter Palace of Anna Ioannovna.
• Winter Kremlin Palace.
• Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna.
• Travel Srednerogatsky Palace.

The history of the construction of the Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna

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

Rastrelli received an order to complete the begun palace from Tsesarevna Elizaveta Petrovna, who became Empress. The construction was completed in 1743 - it was the first palace of the empress, built personally for her, and the empress liked it so much that she doubled the salary of the architect - up to 2500 rubles a year.

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

Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna: description

The architecture of the Summer Palace is such that it is simply impossible not to notice that the author of the project was impressed by the French Versailles. The building is characterized by the closedness of the ensemble of the front yard in front of the palace, traditional for the Baroque. Detailed Description the brainchild of Rastrelli did not remain, but some memories of the imperial estate were found.

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

The building had two facades. The main one was facing the Moika, flower beds and neat trees were placed in front of it, which turned this territory into a park. The second facade was turned towards Nevsky Prospekt, where, on the orders of Bartolomeo, a wide road was laid, along which there were numerous greenhouses with flowers and trees.

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

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

palace park

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

Subsequent changes

Francesco Rastrelli continued to work on the summer residence of the Empress for many years. So, he was engaged in decorating the walls with figured architraves, atlantes and lion masks, 9 years after the completion of construction, he added a new gallery hall from the northeast side of the palace. Such constant changes only pleased the Empress, while the owner the architectural integrity of the building was of little interest. The main thing is that new buildings are as luxurious as possible.

In 1745, by order of the Empress, a covered gallery was built to move from the palace to the Summer Garden, its walls were generously decorated with art paintings. In 1747, the architect created a terrace with a fountain in the center, located on the same level as the Hermitage pavilion. Around the perimeter, it was fenced with a gilded lattice.

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

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

Catherine period

The Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna in St. Petersburg became the site of the triumph of Catherine II. It was here that she arranged an official reception for foreign diplomats after her accession to the throne, and here she learned about the death of Peter III. Not living in the residence, Catherine bestowed it first on Grigory Orlov, then Grigory Potemkin.

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

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

How to get to the Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna? Unfortunately, it didn't survive. On the site of the Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna (address: St. Petersburg, Sadovaya Street, 2), the Mikhailovsky, or Engineering Castle, is currently located. In order to get to the castle, it is enough to use the metro, you need to get off at the Nevsky Prospekt or Gostiny Dvor station.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The text was prepared by Galina Dregulyas

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

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, refused the luxurious gilding, which 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 the Swedish magnate, Sarskaya Manor, was located. Some time later, locally they began to call Sarsky village, later - Tsarskoye. In 1718, the first "stone chambers" were laid here, which formed the basis of the luxurious Catherine's Palace. The palace received its name known to us only in 1910. Prior to this, the residence of the empresses was called the Grand Palace, and later, after the construction of the Alexander Palace, they began to be called the Old.

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 fail. In 1724, the first celebration was held in Tsarskoye Selo on the occasion of the emperor's arrival - "thirteen cannons were fired three times."

Half the 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 a lot of money on the arrangement of her residence in order to compete with Versailles itself.

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 Benois wrote later: ""... if the Kvasov project is inferior in luxury and brilliance to the building of Rastrelli, which we now admire, then in terms of grace, balance and rhythm of lines, it deserves preference" .

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

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

Old-fashioned "whipped cream"

Catherine II did not immediately fall in love with Tsarskoye Selo. In 1766, she complained in a letter: “For seven days now, I have been living in a dacha, in the house that the late Empress Elizabeth took it into her head to gild inside and out; there is not a single comfortable chair in it ... There is not even the opportunity to lean on the table. The newly-made empress considered this baroque "whipped cream" old-fashioned, and ordered the stucco decorations to be removed and the gilding to be replaced with simple painting.

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 to connect the old-fashioned baroque halls with classic lines. It was under the direction of Cameron that the ceremonial halls - Arabesque, Lyon and Chinese were decorated, 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.

Mystery of the Amber Room

The world-famous Amber Room was originally decorated with canvases painted to look like amber. The amber panels themselves were presented to Peter I by the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm I.

Peter wrote to his wife Ekaterina: “The king gave me a fair present with a yacht, which is splendidly decorated in Potsdam, and an Amber office, which had long been desired.” For some time, the mosaics were located in the Human Chambers in the summer garden. Only in 1770 did the Amber Room appear in the Catherine Palace, which is now known from photographs and in a reconstructed form.