Kamennoostrovsky Palace on Malaya Nevka Embankment 1. Kamennoostrovsky Palace. Talent Academy. Kamennoostrovsky Palace: "Academy of Talents"
St. Petersburg, emb. Malaya Nevka, house 1
Stone Island Palace.
Talent Academy, opened in December 2015
http://academtalant.ru/
Excursion 23.01.2016.
(pictured is the MP monogram of one of the owners - Grand Duke Mikhail Romanov).
The mysterious palace on the spit of Kamenny Island is not familiar to all citizens, not to mention tourists. For many years, the palace and park on the spit of Kamenny Island remained an inaccessible area and it was possible to observe the ongoing changes only from the opposite banks.
Until 2007, a military sanatorium was located in the palace interiors. After the closing of the sanatorium, it was decided to turn the palace into the Kamennoostrovsky residence of the governor. Serious restoration began. But a miracle happened - in 2014, Governor Georgy Poltavchenko decided to give this building to the children and call this blessed place the "Academy of Talents", which opened its doors at the end of 2015. I was lucky enough to get almost the first tour of the halls of the palace.
I'll tell you everything in order.
In 1765, Catherine II presented Kamenny Island to her son. Pavel Petrovich. The construction of the Kamennoostrovsky Palace began in the spring of 1776 according to the project of an unknown author. The work was supervised by the architect Yu.M. Felten. But at the same time, Catherine II gave Paul the lands in Pavlovsk and Gatchina, and the residence on Kamenny Island was not an attractive place for Paul.
After taking the throne Alexander I in 1801, the palace becomes one of his favorite residences. In the initial period of the reign of Alexander Pavlovich, the “Unspoken Committee” gathered in the palace. Here, on August 6, 1812, the emperor entrusted the command of the Russian army to M. Kutuzov. And here in 1825 he learned about the conspiracy of the Decembrists. On September 1, 1825, he left Petersburg forever, death soon overtook him in Taganrog. The palace can be called the emperor's last refuge in St. Petersburg.
After Alexander I, the palace was owned by the Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich and his wife Elena Pavlovna.
Daughter of Mikhail Pavlovich and Elena Pavlovna Ekaterina Mikhailovna marries a General of the German Duke Georg of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, who was in the Russian service, and the daughter of the latter Elena Georgievna Saxe-Altenburgskaya receives the Kamennostrovsky Palace in possession until the revolution.
Entrance to the territory of the palace and park ensemble from the side of the Malaya Nevka, through the checkpoint (by appointment, with a passport).
The palace is outstanding monument of classicism and represents in terms of a stretched letter "P" with a central building and outbuildings. 
Facade overlooking Malaya Nevka. 
Separately standing on the banks of the Bolshaya Nevka. Gate without a fence :-) 
Facade facing the park. 
The central alley leading to the Front Gate and the Church of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist. There is a legend about an underground passage between the palace and the church. 
Anteroom (1st floor). Decorated with a panel by Fyodor Danilov based on Pironesi's engravings "Views of Rome". 
Marble sculptures.
"Nymph and Shepherd"
"Diana on the Lion"
Corridor 2nd floor. 
In this hall there are technical curiosities - "talking screens" from which Catherine II, Alexander I tell their stories. 
A wonderful exhibition is deployed in the hall - Matilda movie costumes, handed over by director Alexei Uchitel after filming. The film tells about the period of romantic love between Mali and Nika - the legendary ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya and future emperor Nicholas Romanov. The film will be released in autumn 2016 (I have been waiting since 2014, 
And even Matilda Feliksovna came to life and spoke
Hall with Florentine paintings.
Hall with "putti". On the ceiling are medallions with cute naked boys with wings. They say that in Soviet times, panties and pioneer ties were added to them.
This medallion contains a "Soviet" ball - a putti toy.
A very frivolous nymph with a satyr hid behind a curtain.
In this hall is holographic theater. It looks something like this:
The most beautiful and solemn hall of the palace - dance hall with caryatids. The hall is designed for balls and concerts.
Music Salon. Founded a salon Elena Pavlovna, the wife of Mikhail Romanov, is a great admirer of art. Led the salon Anton Rubinstein, who for some time even lived in the palace. it was here that the idea of creating the Conservatory, the first higher musical institution in Russia, was born. He dedicated a cycle of 24 pieces "Stone Island" to Elena Pavlovna. 
On the walls - marble sculptural portraits Mozart, Gluck, Beethoven, Palestrina. They say that the sculptor sculpted the head of one of the goddesses from Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna. 
Now schoolchildren are playing the electronic version of "What, where, when?" in the hall. Tables for teams, spinning top and questions on the screen. We played too :-) 
Atrium with a white piano. 
Now we have to wait for summer to appreciate the park in all its glory. The project should look like this: 
In the meantime, there is a snowy frosty kingdom around. And only strange traces across the Neva. Perhaps at night the ghost of Paul I crosses over to the Lopukhins' estate on a date with his favorite, Anna Petrovna Lopukhina. 
P.S. fifteen years ago I managed to visit the palace, which was then the property of the Ministry of Defense and there was a medical institution - the Air Force Military Sanatorium. I still have a few pictures taken on a film camera. Posting scans: 
Sculptural groups were then located in the dance hall with caryatids. Behind "Diana on the Lion" are exhibition boards dedicated to the history of the sanatorium. 
And these murals were taken in the functional diagnostics room, which housed all sorts of electrophoresis and UHF. The whole space was divided into compartments with white sheets. But then for some reason I did not want to take pictures of these artifacts, I wanted to capture something beautiful, eternal. And even in delirium, the thought could not come to mind that the palace would be restored and given to young talents. 
The Kamennoostrovsky Palace is perhaps one of the most mysterious and little-known imperial residences. And not even because the place in which it is located is reliably hidden by centuries-old trees and the territory of the palace is fenced with a high wall. The fact is that after the nationalization of the palace in 1917, it came under the jurisdiction of the military and belonged to the military departments until 2007. It is for this reason that access to this most beautiful corner of St. Petersburg was closed.
History of the palace
In 1765, Catherine II presented Kamenny Island to her son, Pavel Petrovich. Construction of the Kamennoostrovsky Palace began in the spring of 1776. History did not save the name of the author of the project. The construction began to be erected on the site of the wooden palace of A.P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin, who previously owned the entire island.
The architect Yu. M. Felten supervised the construction work. Due to the flood of 1777, construction was suspended, and then Felten was replaced by J. Quarenghi. In 1778, the Front Gates were installed at the entrance to the palace, Church Gates appeared at the end of the main alley, and Marble Gates from the embankment, which in 1810 were transferred to the first Kamennoostrovsky Bridge, and even later (1956) - to Pavlovsky Park.
The building was completed in 1780, but interior decoration continued until 1782. Despite the fact that the work had not yet been completed, in January 1780 a magnificent reception was held in the palace dedicated to the Empress.
Since 1797, the Kamennoostrovsky Palace began to prepare for the stay of Stanislav-August Poniatowski, the deposed Polish king. The architect V. Brenn was invited to design the interiors. The Maritime Salon was converted into the Crimson Drawing Room, the Great Hall became a Mirror Room, unique frescoes with views of Rome appeared in the Anteroom, made by V. Brenna himself and with F. Labensky based on old engravings by Piranesi.
In 1801, after the accession of Alexander I to the throne, the Kamennoostrovsky Palace, the photo of which you can see in this article, became one of his favorite residences. At the beginning of the reign of Alexander Pavlovich, the “Unspoken Committee” gathered in this palace. In 1812, it was here that the emperor instructed M.I. Kutuzov to command the Russian army.
In 1811, a third floor was built above the second floor of the wing, in which the office of Alexander I was equipped. The decoration of the premises according to the project of V.P. Spasov was completed in 1824. In the 1820s, most of the premises of the palace were repainted by the famous decorator B. Scotty. In 1828, the theater wing was rebuilt by the architect Z. F. Dildin.
After Alexander I, the owners of the palace were Prince Mikhail Pavlovich and his wife Elena Pavlovna. In 1836 A. S. Pushkin visited them. And from 1852 to 1854 A. Rubinstein lived here. The daughter of Elena Pavlovna and Mikhail Pavlovich, Ekaterina Mikhailovna, married a German duke, General Georg Mecklenburg-Strelitzky, who was in the Russian service. Their daughter Elena Georgievna received the Kamennostrovsky Palace in possession.
palace park
In 1824, according to the project of Thomas de Thomon, the park, which belonged to A.P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin, was re-planned from landscape to regular. This work was done by the famous garden master F. F. Limin. Around the palace, octagonal and oval flower beds were laid out, the central alley was decorated, and it was decided to make the more remote parts of the garden in a landscape style.
Description of the palace
The Kamennoostrovsky Palace (St. Petersburg) is an example of classicism in architecture. In shape, it is a stretched letter "P", in which there is a central building and outbuildings located at right angles to the main building. One facade of the palace faces the palace garden and front yard. It is decorated with a six-columned portico and a Tuscan order pediment. The stairs lead to the front entrance. It is made of magnificent Finnish granite.
The center of the façade overlooking the Neva is adorned with an eight-column portico, which ends with an attic. In the central building there were: the Great Hall, the Anteroom, the Marine Salon, the gallery, the office and the Picture Hall. In one wing there were living quarters, in the other - a theater. In the palace, two halls of the Pavlovian era with frescoes depicting Rome, private chambers of the princely couple, and two living rooms dating back to the middle of the 19th century have survived to this day.
The latest history of the palace
In Soviet times, the Kamennoostrovsky Palace, whose address is Kamennoostrovsky Prospect, 77, was transferred to a sanatorium that belonged to the Leningrad Military District. In early 2008, the Lapin Enterprise began to investigate the state of the palace. Then the specialists drew up a report, terms of reference and prepared a restoration project. It was planned that by the end of 2008 it would be possible to restore the waterproofing of the foundations and cellars, and the facades would also be put in order.
St. Petersburg GKU "Kamennoostrovsky Palace" took an active part in this as an intermediary, which held a competition for the restoration, supply and assembly of lamps for the palace, and the selection of qualified specialists. However, the restoration of the palace was delayed. Information appeared in the media that it was planned to turn the palace into the seat of the government of St. Petersburg, but, to the surprise of many residents of the city and guests who came to St. Petersburg, the Kamennoostrovsky Palace was turned into a more socially useful facility. Its opening became known at the end of 2015.
Kamennoostrovsky Palace: "Academy of Talents"
The city authorities of St. Petersburg have prepared a magnificent gift for schoolchildren on the eve of the New Year 2016. In mid-December 2015, members of the public and the press visited the Kamennoostrovsky Palace in St. Petersburg. They were presented with the "Academy of Talents" - a budgetary institution created for additional out-of-school education.
Every day here is full of creative and intellectual events for schoolchildren of St. Petersburg: conferences, exhibitions, concerts, seminars. Every day, more than a hundred schoolchildren can visit the Kamennoostrovsky Palace. The academy has twelve thematic departments, a children's television and video studio, a palace guardian's studio, an intellectual games center, an exhibition and concert hall, twenty-four classrooms, electronic music classes, a holographic theater, and a laboratory for physical experiments. Let's get to know the unique institution in more detail.
Project objectives:
- organization of a platform for self-realization of gifted creative youth, which allows to identify talents and help children choose their future profession;
- organically fit modern technologies into classical palace interiors without damaging the architecture of the building.
The project helps to develop a variety of abilities and talents of young Petersburgers visiting the Kamennoostrovsky Palace. The Talent Academy is divided into five scientific, educational and creative zones.
Entertainment Science Studio
This center implements various general development programs. Laboratory programs in chemistry, physics, geography, biology, ecology allow children to independently conduct research using PASCO laboratory tools and make their first discoveries.
Concert and theater center
The Academy of Talents is an excellent venue for holding creative evenings, reporting concerts, and theatrical performances.
Center equipment:
- Bose sound amplification kits;
- mixer for sound sources;
- Robe lighting equipment;
- set of radio microphones.
Intellectual games studio
In this center, children develop creative thinking techniques, turning into well-known experts in popular television intellectual games for a while, and participate in city brain fitness competitions.
Project Activity Center
It is designed for holidays, costume balls, time travel, role-playing games. Thanks to a modern information display system, video conferencing and a conference system, the center has become a popular platform for meetings and discussions between children and actors and scientists, athletes and musicians, and politicians.
coworking space
It is intended for collective creative work. A huge interactive video wall is created from four LCD panels. With it, you can open videos, images, PDF documents, save notes.
Class
The Academy has a well-equipped multimedia class, which is designed for presentations, interactive programs, and video broadcasts. The class uses interactive educational materials on astronomy, history, military-patriotic education.
High fidelity picture, surround sound system and electronic quizzes turn the process into an exciting journey.
Visual Arts Studio
This media center has a virtual studio, a set of powerful lighting equipment and professional video cameras, modern graphic stations for video editing. Camera skills, TV journalism, photography, editing, animation - in each of these areas students of the Academy can try their hand.
Palace Guardians Studio
Schoolchildren studying at the Academy are well aware that the Kamennoostrovsky Palace is the most valuable object of the cultural, historical and architectural heritage of the city and the country. The eminent and even crowned owners of the palace, who created interesting traditions, left a large number of mysteries and secrets, presented legends to the city on the Neva and bequeathed to their descendants to keep the palace and tell about it.
It is these tasks that the young "custodians of the palace" face. This studio was created for schoolchildren who love history. Here they are given a unique opportunity to work with archival documents, immerse themselves in the distant past, when Russian Emperor Alexander I, Princess Elena Pavlovna lived in this palace. Here, the guys collect and analyze historical facts, and then tell their peers about them.
Based on MS Kinect and an LCD panel, this studio has created an unusual virtual fitting room, where each visitor can try on a historical costume that interests him, take a photo in it and send it to e-mail. And that's not all - the excursion into history will continue in an amazing gallery of paintings coming to life, which will impress even those who are not very interested in history.
A living picture is an LCD panel enclosed in a baguette. A webcam is installed in its upper corner. First, a portrait of a famous person who left his mark on history appears on the display screen. At that moment, when a visitor approaches the picture, the webcam instantly reacts to the movement, and the character suddenly “comes to life” and tells a short story about himself.
The Talent Academy is completely different from a traditional educational institution. This is a modern, high-tech education project site, which includes a variety of thematic centers. The teaching staff of the Academy is formed from young and promising teachers who love their work and children, who already have experience working with talented youth.
Unique techniques and author's programs allow not only to reveal the hidden talents of the children, but also to reveal their potential to the fullest. The work of the Academy is carried out on a contractual basis with the schools of the city. Each student of St. Petersburg can choose the direction he likes and sign up for classes.
How to get there?
If you are going to visit the Kamennoostrovsky Palace, we will tell you below how to get here.
You need to take the metro to the Chernaya Rechka station, transfer to trolleybus number 34, which will take you to the Kamenny Ostrov stop. Cross to the opposite side of the street and walk about one hundred and fifty meters along the Malaya Nevka embankment to the entrance to the palace. Do not forget to take your schoolchildren with you - they may be interested in the Talent Academy.
The Kamennoostrovsky Palace is one of the oldest in St. Petersburg. Its construction began in 1776, when Empress Catherine II ordered that Kamenny Island be transferred to her son Pavel Petrovich. The name of the author of the building project is not known for certain: historians suggest that it was Y. Felten.
In 1777, St. Petersburg suffered a terrible flood, and all work had to be temporarily stopped. The building was completed by the architect D. Quarenghi.
Kamennoostrovsky Palace is a historical and architectural monument in the style of classicism, which was used as an imperial summer residence. The palace is made in a U-shape. Above the main facade of the building is a portico supported by six Tuscan columns. A wide staircase made of rare granite leads to the entrance. There is a beautiful garden in front of the front facade.
From the side of the Neva, the palace is decorated with a portico with 8 columns. All the details of the Kamennoostrovsky Palace are made with incredible clarity.
In the main building there are several huge, chicly decorated rooms. The palace has gone through many reconstructions, so the original interiors have not been preserved.
The palace complex, in addition to the main building, includes the Economic Yard, the Kitchen, the Invalid House, the Wood Storage, the garden house, the guardhouse, the arena and the stable.
The owner of the Kamennoostrovsky Palace was Paul I, but the emperor did not like the building, and he practically never visited it. In 1797, the palace was handed over to the ex-King of Poland, Stanisław-August.
The status of the residence of the Russian emperors was returned to the complex during the reign of Alexander I. During this period, a residential wing with the tsar's office was attached to the main building.
In 1917, the palace housed a hospital and a colony for homeless children. In the 60s, the building was given to the Air Force sanatorium, which was located in Kamennoostrovsky until 2008. In 2008, a project was adopted to reconstruct the palace and re-equip it into a governor's residence.
In 2015, plans to organize a residence in the Kamennoostrovsky Palace were abandoned. Petersburg Academy of Talents moved into the building. To date, the Academy has a children's television studio, an exhibition hall, a theater and concert venue, a laboratory, a scientific center, etc. This is one of the leading state institutions of out-of-school education.
The Kamennoostrovsky Palace is an object of cultural heritage of Russia, an architectural monument of world significance.
Quote message UNESCO World Heritage Site: Secrets of the Kamennoostrovsky Palace
Kamennostrovsky Palace - one of the palaces of St. Petersburg, a monument to the times of Catherine II, a suburban imperial residence. An architectural monument of classicism of federal significance. It is under the protection of UNESCO. Currently, the palace is under restoration.
Location: Nab. Malaya Nevka, 1, Emb. Bolshoy Nevki, Kamennoostrovsky prospekt, 77,
Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich
In 1765, Catherine II presented Kamenny Island to her son Pavel Petrovich. The construction of the Kamennoostrovsky Palace began in the spring of 1776 according to the project of an unknown author on the site of the palace of A.P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin, the former owner of the island. The work was supervised by the architect Yu.M. Felten. The construction of the building's body was completed in 1780, the decorative interior decoration was carried out until 1782. But already on January 18, 1780, a magnificent reception was held in the greenhouse of the palace in honor of the Empress.
Yu.M. Felten.
The compositional basis of the palace - a plan in the shape of a strongly stretched letter P, with side risalits limiting the front courtyard - was set by the layout of the Bestuzhev house. Associated with this is the complexity of the plan, with many different passages and small spaces surrounding the main halls.
In place of the open gallery of such halls, three were created - the central one with rounded corners (in the documents it is called the Great Hall) and two semicircular halls on its sides. In front of the Great Hall there is a vast entrance hall, the walls of which are decorated with monumental panels with views of the monuments of ancient Rome, made according to Piranesi engravings by the artist F. Danilov in the summer of 1782. In the left wing of the palace there is a living room, a dining room, two small rooms with a library. In the right wing there was a theater with a specially arranged entrance from the street.
The premises of the second floor were intended for children's rooms and for the attendants of the court of the grand ducal couple. Work on the interior decoration of the palace continued in 1780-1782. While Pavel (widowed in 1776) was traveling through Europe with his new wife, he led. book. Maria Feodorovna
So, already in 1784, a "new change" took place in Paul's attitude to the decoration of the Kamennoostrovsky Palace. And it was associated with an invitation to work in the Grand Duke's residences - on Kamenny Island, in Pavlovsk and Gatchina - by the artist and architect V. Brenna.
Vincenzo_Brenna.
He wrote about his work: “It was the same on Kamenny Island - another country residence of His Highness the Grand Duke, located a few miles from St. Petersburg, where they go in winter and where they give balls - I built a theater, completely new in location and small, in the palace itself
It should only be noted that the palace theater, its architecture, the arrangement of the stage, the auditorium belong to Quarenghi. Brenne is just interior decoration.
In the late 1780s, the new palace in Pavlovsk became the favorite residence of Pavel and Maria Feodorovna. Shortly after his coronation, in 1797, Paul I granted Kamenny Island to the last Polish king, Stanislaw-August Poniatowski, who was brought to St. Petersburg.
Stanislaw_August_Poniatowski
. For the summer stay of the deposed king, the Stone Island Palace was renovated; the conduct of these works was again entrusted to V. Brenna, about whom there is the following entry in Poniatowski's diary: ".this same Brenna, whom we saw in Warsaw several years ago, is currently the one whom the emperor uses mainly as an architect. He directs exactly everything that is done on Kamenny Island. ".
It was at this time that a park composition appeared on the island with the Big and Small canals, a triple linden alley in the central part and two "stars" of paths. The closeness of the landscape-regular compositions of the Kamennoostrovsky and Pavlovsky parks is undoubted; there is reason to believe that the architect G. P. Pilnikov was their author.
In 1809-1811, under the leadership of the architect L. Ruska, some rooms of the western wing of the building were replanned with a change in their decorative decoration. The Kamennoostrovsky Palace became one of the favorite places of stay of Alexander I. Here in August 1812 the tsar received Kutuzov before his departure to the active army.
In the 1820s, many rooms of the Kamennoostrovsky Palace were painted again; carried out these works to update the "picturesque plafonds and wallpaper" decorator J.-B. Scotty. Murals on mythological themes in the living room, bedroom, valet and other rooms, made in golden yellow tones, with flying female figures in flowing clothes, are excellent examples of empire ceiling painting and are well preserved to this day.
The final stage of interior design of the Kamennoostrovsky Palace dates back to the 1830s-1850s. At that time, late-classical murals of the Upper Vestibule appeared on the second floor (presumably, according to the sketches of V. Stasov), as well as the sculptural decoration of the music salon - busts of composers, installed by order of the then owner of the palace, led. book. Elena Pavlovna, a well-known philanthropist, patroness of musical art.
V.P._Stasov
Minor reconstructions and changes in the decorative decoration of the palace, made during the 19th century, on the whole, however, did not affect the originality and completeness of its appearance. As an architectural work, the Kamennoostrovsky Palace belongs to Russian classicism.
With the advent of this building, the Islands acquired a new architectural image; the palace on the spit, opening from the side of the city, became the most important initial element of the architectural and park ensemble, new buildings on Kamenny and on the nearest islands had to be correlated with it.
Sadovnikov V.S. View of the Kamennoostrovsky Palace.
It should also be taken into account that its creation was undoubtedly influenced by the tastes, passions, value orientations of the then owners - Paul I and Maria Feodorovna and the masters working on their orders - architects, painters, park builders. Many of the architectural, picturesque, decorative solutions found at one time on Kamenny Island were then re-embodied in the residences of the same owners, and, above all, in Pavlovsk.
An integral part of the ensemble on Kamenny Island was the palace garden. The first redevelopment of a regular garden in the middle of the 18th century took place at the end of the 1780s according to the project of F. Violier, court painter and architect led. book. Pavel Petrovich and Maria Fedorovna, the author of "Own Garden" at the Pavlovsk Palace. Violier introduces new elements into the historically established structure of the garden at the Kamennoostrovsky Palace: he gradually enlarges the squares of the garden on both sides of the central alley and makes a transition to the landscape planning of the squares most remote from the palace.
A lush flower parterre with oval and octagonal flower beds was arranged near the palace in the style of "Dutch gardens". Further, these same elements are given on an enlarged scale, with the addition of plantings of acacia along the edges of the stalls; in a remote area of the garden - extensive lawns with picturesque groups of lindens and maples; linden trees were planted on both sides of the central alley and along the border of the garden.
Sadovnikov V.S. View of the Yelagin Palace from the side of the middle Nevka.
The rigor and elegance in the solution of the palace garden, the geometrism of its planning structure make it possible to attribute it, like the "Own Garden" in Pavlovsk, to the French-Dutch type, enriched with elements of landscape planning.
Laurie, Gabriel Ludwig the Elder, after an original by Benjamin Patersen. View of the Kamennoostrovsky Palace from the Aptekarsky Island in St. Petersburg
On the very cape of the island, near the palace, a "little garden" was laid out, also according to Violier's drawing. His measured drawing, made by the architect G. Pilnikov on the eve of the alteration of the garden in 1810, has been preserved. A small, turf-covered area included two compositions of star-shaped paths, with flower borders fringing them; flower beds were located in the center of each star.
It is likely that Violier is the author of the first front gates of the Kamennoostrovsky Palace, installed on the side of the Malaya Nevka embankment, near the greenhouse. Made of Olonets marble, they have a semi-oval composition, a low base and consist of four links with Doric columns separating them.
In the center are two tetrahedral pylons with semi-columns crowned with balls. On the front side of the pylons, medallions for the owners' monograms are carved. The links of the metal lattice - trellis pattern, in the upper and lower parts are limited by the horizontal stripes of the meander. In two gate wings, completed with the monogram of the owners, inscribed in an oval, this pattern was repeated.
Further work on the improvement of the Kamennoostrovsky garden was associated with the activities of the architect Thomas de Thomon, whose project and estimate for the "alteration of the palace garden" were approved on October 25, 1810. A significant place in these works, carried out under the guidance of the garden master F. Lyamin, was occupied by technical problems: backfilling of settled places in the garden, construction of a drainage and drainage system. In artistic terms, Thomon developed the ideas embodied in the project of F. Violier, enhancing the landscape character of the remote areas of the garden: they were cut by winding paths that were lost in dense plantings of perennial trees.
Thus, the Kamennoostrovsky palace garden combined the characteristic features of the regular garden and park art of the 18th century with the geometric symmetry of the flower beds closest to the palace and the style of landscape park building, the spread of which began already in the 1760s and which became dominant in the arrangement of gardens and parks of the late 18th century - beginning of the 19th century, in the era of classicist architecture. On the whole, this single park-building work, performed by the famous architect, occupies a very modest place in his work.
Greenhouse.
J.B. de la Travers. View of Kamenny Island from the Nevka. 1786. State Hermitage
In addition, according to the project of L. Ruska, a pier with sphinxes was built near the Stroganov Bridge. Undoubtedly, when designing this complex of "architecture of small forms", the architect took into account its visual relationship with the dacha of Count Stroganov on the Black River, on the opposite bank of the Bolshaya Nevka, built according to the project of A. Voronikhin in 1795; Voronikhinskaya pier with sphinxes served as a prototype for the construction of Ruska, reinforcing the ensemble correlation of the Stroganov dacha and the Kamennoostrovsky Palace.
Middle alley. In the 18th century (I think, under Bestuzhev-Ryumin), there were two small canals on the sides of this alley...
which diverged in rays when approaching the shore of the Malaya Nevka. (Now only diverging sandy paths remind of them.) The Hermitage pavilion stood on the resulting small island.
Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist on Kamenny Island
The chapel next to the church is again the former draw pavilion of the Ushakovsky bridge.
In the northern part of the palace area is the Church of John the Baptist. It was founded in 1776 in honor of the victory of the Russian fleet over the Turkish fleet in the Battle of Chesma and was completed in April 1778 (according to the project and under the direction of Y. Felten). Twenty years later, in 1798, when Paul I became Grand Master of the Order of Malta, the church was turned into an Orthodox temple of the Knights of Malta. Russian knights of the order took the oath here, their cemetery was arranged near the church. After the assassination of Paul I, the Order of Malta in Russia was abolished, the burial places of the Maltese from Kamenny Island were transferred to Tsarskoye Selo.
The church has been preserved in its original form. This is a small brick building on a low stone plinth, cruciform in plan, built in the Neo-Gothic style. The lancet windows, the pointed tent of the bell tower, the closed vaults of the internal ceilings are reminiscent of the medieval temples of the West.
Along the southern coast of Kamenny Island, along the Malaya Nevka embankment, limiting the economic part of the palace plot, in the second half of the 18th century there were wooden one-story greenhouses and greenhouses. Near them, in the 1780s, a two-story stone kitchen building was built with high semi-circular windows on the first floor and small square windows on the second.
With the construction of these two coastal buildings, emphatically elongated, like walls, limiting the palace area on the arrow, the new position of the Kamennoostrovsky Palace in the composition of the park on Kamenny Island was determined.
Two buildings - the palace and the church - were on the same compositional axis, where the palace garden became a link. This ensemble, based on the contrasting sound of architectural images, is particularly emotionally rich due to its natural inclusion in the surrounding space. The lateral linden alleys of the garden were also continued and connected in the church area: in a smooth S-shaped line they flowed around grassed lawns with picturesquely arranged groups of two or three maples, lone oaks, lilac bushes, acacia, turf, and old lindens with powerful knotted trunks were left untouched near the church.
The architects of Russian classicism created the central buildings of the island ensemble. Not all of them have survived.
Magnificent buildings on the Islands have formed an amazing in its harmonious completeness, in unity with the green park space, the low-lying island landscape and the transparent expanse of waters, an exceptional landscape and architectural whole of its kind.
The corners of the landscape park, quiet alleys and main thoroughfares, the expanse of canals and the mirrors of ponds - it is inseparable from St. Petersburg, this world of the Islands, fanned by the poetry of Pushkin and Blok ...
Photos of interiors-Rublev11
Visited on 07/04/2017 Kamennoostrovsky Palace. To get there, you must first register on the Open City website.
In addition, according to information received from the tour guide Ivan (who also works at the Academy), every Saturday the Academy of Talents is ready to acquaint the residents of the city with the palace.
Afraid of being late, I arrived an hour earlier, and was let by the valiant guards into the palace, which gave me the opportunity to walk around the park once, take a photo without people for two and sit reading a book on the banks of the Bolshaya Nevka three, in silence and at the same time almost in the center of the city. This is the view of the palace from the side of the park.
Deserted alleys, lanterns all around, singing birds and no fuss, by the way, the park has the code name “Quiet Rest”, it’s really very quiet there, the park’s territory is of course not quite large when compared with other park areas, but it is fenced on both sides by the waters of the rivers , on the third side houses, so the usual bustle of the city remains far beyond the park.
And here is the exit to the river, sitting on a bench you can relax with your soul and body, contemplating the waters of the river and feeling a light breeze
With such a facade, the palace looks at the city through the Bolshaya and Malaya Nevka, since in this place they merge
But the time of the excursion is coming to the beginning and forward to the palace,
Some historical information about the Kamennoostrovsky Palace: Catherine II presented Kamenny Ostrov to Pavel and in 1776 the construction of the palace began under the direction of Yu.M. Felten, work was interrupted due to floods, and then D. Quarenghi joined the project and in 1782 the palace was completely completed. The owners changed, they were Alexander I, and the Lunacharsky Commune of Homeless Children and the sanatorium of the Leningrad Military District.
And the first hall that meets us is the Anteroom, then it served as a waiting room, the only moment the sculptures should have been located on the street, but this marble is very sensitive to the St. Petersburg weather and they are brought inside to preserve them. By the way, the exit from the Anteroom is possible through the glass doors, turn on the imagination and imagine how the carriages approached the palace, disembarked people and they went up the stairs to the hall.
In 1797, the palace began to be prepared for the stay of Stanislav Poniatowski and the architect V. Brenn was involved in the interior decoration, thanks to which frescoes with views of Rome appeared in the Anteroom.
The gold medalists of the city were recently honored in this hall, and so far there are elements in the form of flags and flowers, camera installations.
For the sake of interest, I looked for old photos of the premises, the difficulty during the restoration, as Ivan noted, was the following, there were a lot of different layers and the difficulty was what to leave, what to remove. By the way, in the basement there were stoves that heated the room, and warm air came from the holes under the mirrors
But through the open doors we see the previously known as the Raspberry Living Room, and now the games center, it was in this living room that A.S. Pushkin liked to visit, as the guide noted, but I didn’t find a photo of the living room as it looked before.
The sculptures of the composers, on the other hand, have been preserved in the original, like the fireplace, but the question is whether it works or not, the guide found it difficult to answer, but I’ll pay attention to the interactive games that are now taking place here, the participants are divided into teams, and for example, we start playing “Own Game”
And in front of us is the presenter’s screen on the scoreboard, what is useful in it, firstly, the presenter can always see the answer, time is tracked, questions can be set for any class, there is a standard program, but it’s quite possible to create your own, all button presses are accompanied by musical accompaniment as in conventional programs , such games as “Own game”, “Brain ring”, “Clever and clever”, “What? Where? When?"
Exactly at four o'clock they heard the melodious ringing of the clock and left the former Raspberry, Musical drawing room
We are very jealous of the children who now have such an opportunity to play television games without leaving the city and go to the room in which there were previously theatrical performances, and now a holographic theater has been made
The theater showed a performance about the creation of the palace and one of the legends about Peter I. And we go further, into the meeting room
In this hall, as well as in others, I really want to note the ceiling paintings, which were restored almost from scratch, I found a photo of the restoration, judge for yourself what painstaking work was done
Thanks to these masters, we can now see the beauty that was originally in the palace
But let's move on, another room into which we stuck our curious nose, this is another game room, in the example we see a scoreboard where countries and flags are written, all objects move and it is enough to take the sign with your hand and move it around the screen and it will move , and with the correct match of the flag and the name of the country, they disappear from the screen, a very relevant game for kids especially, and by the way, not only for them.
It's time to rise above
And above we find ourselves in the secret office of Alexander I, it was here that he instructed the command of the army in 1812 to M.I. Ktutuzov, here he also learned about the Decembrists' conspiracy. During the Second World War and in the post-war years, the hospital / sanatorium and in this room there were therapeutic baths, which caused very severe damage to the frescoes
After the secret office, it's time to visit the museum, the museum presents different outfits that you can touch with your hands, try on hats, there are screens that turn on when you greet and tell different stories
In passing, let's look at what else the Academy of Talents offers to children, and a film studio where children can shoot their programs, films
In the blue room, children are engaged in designing, in the photo near the stairs a crane is designed that works when air is supplied 
In conclusion, I want to quote an article that I found in the online edition of the Diary of Petersburg:
The decision to create the "Academy of Talents" in the Kamenoostrovsky Palace was made in the summer of 2014.
“When we made the decision to give the palace to you, we had no doubts. Now I see that we made the right decision. There were skeptics who doubted whether it was worth giving such a beautiful palace to children, but we have an example of the Anichkov Palace, where the very atmosphere disciplines. There are many talented young people in our city, and I am sure that a happy fate awaits the Academy,” Georgy Poltavchenko said at the opening ceremony.
The head of the city expressed the hope that the talents of young Petersburgers would be revealed here, and many would take their first step into the future life here.
According to legend, the old clock in the Kamenoostrovsky Palace, while it was empty, stopped. But when the Palace was in the hands of a new generation, the clock started running again, thus marking the beginning of a new period in the life of the palace.
Georgy Poltavchenko thanked those who took part in the restoration of the palace: LLC Intarsia RK was the general contractor for the work in the palace.
Very modern technology and software created at our St. Petersburg enterprises, Polymedia and Kronstadt, organically fit into the classic palace interiors.
In addition to conducting classes, the "Academy of Talents" will become the headquarters of the Council of High School Students and the Association of Class Teachers of St. Petersburg.
»This Academy will enable many children to identify their options to make choices for the future. This is important in our modern world, when you need to learn quickly enough," said Georgy Poltavchenko.
The “Academy of Talents” differs from the Anichkov Palace (City Palace of Youth Creativity) primarily by its non-traditional approach: instead of constantly operating circles where children purposefully go for several years, the “Academy of Talents” will help everyone first try new activities and decide what interests them .
The easiest way to get into the "Academy of Talents" is through your school, which will be able to send interested students to the Palace. But both parents and children themselves will also be able to get information on the website of the Academy of Talents or come in person.
On Saturdays, the "Academy of Talents" hosts the "Meet the Palace" program - an interactive tour for children with their parents, during which you can get acquainted with the technosphere of the palace and find out what and how you can do here. Absolutely all classes at the Talent Academy are completely free.
And in conclusion, let's look into the music room and go away, rejoicing at what the children now have. I think any parent will be interested in teaching a child or the possibility of holding various events at the Talent Academy.
According to our guide, the Academy is ready for cooperation and it is wiser to conclude a partnership agreement with the school, the agreement will allow you to more effectively use the Academy's capabilities for your needs. Relations outside the contract are also possible, but they will only be if the necessary halls are free. At the moment, such agreements have been concluded with 56 schools, more than 3,500 children took part in various programs in 2016.
And let me remind you that the Academy began to work on December 14, 2015, while a short time, of course, but how many interesting things the Kamennoostrovsky Palace now hides.