The Great Tsarskoye Selo Palace is a Baroque masterpiece created by Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli for Elizabeth Petrovna. During the Great Patriotic War, the palace was destroyed; to date, 32 of the 58 halls have been restored, including the Amber Room. Perhaps this is the most impressive Russian “remake”.

1. At the heart of the central part of the palace are two-story “stone chambers” built in 1717-1724 by the architect Braunstein for Catherine I.

2. The modern palace was erected in 1748-1756 by the chief architect of the imperial court, F.-B. Rastrelli.

3. Now on the side of the building there is a monument to the famous architect.

4. The facade of the palace is presented in the form of a wide azure ribbon with snow-white columns and gilded ornaments, giving the building a special chic.

5. In the north-eastern part of the building is the Palace Church of the Resurrection.

6. There is a building nearby Imperial Lyceum, connected to the palace by an arch.

7. The front courtyard of the residence is limited by two circumferences and contains a parade ground. At the edges there are two yellow service (kitchen) buildings.

8. To get inside the palace in the summer, you need to stand in a forty-minute line in the heat.

9. While waiting, look at the details of the building.

10. The last large-scale restoration of the building was more than ten years ago, now the facades need cosmetic repairs.

11. The blue and gold paints have faded.

12. The columns of the palace support sculptures of Atlanteans; their faces can only be seen if you come close to the building.

13. First of all, we get to Grand staircase, decorated with the sculpture “Waking Cupid” from 1860.

14. The staircase was created under Catherine II by Charles Cameron on the site of the Chinese Hall. In memory of this, the interior is decorated with vases and dishes made of Chinese porcelain.

15. The ceiling of the hall is decorated with paintings “Aeneas and Venus”, “Jupiter and Callisto” and “The Judgment of Paris”. They replaced canvases that were destroyed by collapsed ceilings during the war.

16. The stucco decoration of the walls and the caryatids framing the doorways were restored based on the discovered details and pre-war images.

17. The large clock was also recreated.

18. Green dining room- part of the personal chambers of Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich and his first wife Natalya Alekseevna, built under Catherine II on the site of an open terrace - a “hanging” garden.

19. Interior Waitress decorated with mahogany chairs, a Swedish chest of drawers from the second half of the 18th century and a sculpture by M.-A. Collot "Head of a Girl" from 1769.

20. Small White dining room in the personal chambers of Elizabeth, Catherine II and Alexander I. Its interior was formed after the fire of 1820.

21. In the ceiling lamp there is a copy of the painting “The Bathing of Venus” by K. Vanloo.

22. Located next door Chinese living room of Alexander I.

23. Its interior is distinguished by silk upholstery of the walls painted with watercolors in the Chinese style.

24. On the walls are portraits, including those of Emperor Peter II, painted by I.-P. Ludena.

25. Next - Pantry, which until 1761 formed part of the Dressing Room on Elizabeth Petrovna’s half.

26. For the lampshade, a painting by the 17th century Italian artist P. da Cortona “Fishing Corals”, transferred from the Hermitage collections, was used.

27. Cavalier's dining room- a small hall, visually enlarged by mirrors and false mirror windows.

28. On the tables are items of the famous “Order” services, decorated with signs and ribbons of Russian orders.

29. The picturesque ceiling in the center of the ceiling is decorated with a painting by an unknown Russian master of the mid-18th century based on the ancient myth of the sun god Helios and the goddess of the dawn Eos, obtained from the funds of the Russian Museum.

30. White formal dining room intended for ceremonial dinners and “evening dishes” of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna in a narrow circle of those close to her.

31. Green Pillar under Catherine II, it served as a pantry where silverware and porcelain were stored. Here is one of the multi-tiered tiled stoves with cobalt painting, columns and niches. Similar stoves, created according to Rastrelli’s sketches, were an integral part of all the halls of the palace’s front suite.

32.

33. B Portrait Hall ceremonial images of royalty were shown. Nowadays, in addition to portraits, you can see one of the empress’s dresses.

34. The ceiling of the hall is decorated with transferred from Yusupov Palace picturesque lampshade “Mercury and Glory”.

35. The first in a series of the most impressive halls of the Tsarskoye Selo Palace - Picture hall with an area of ​​180 m².

36. Paintings are placed in it according to the principle of trellis hanging. When placing works on the wall, Rastrelli took into account, first of all, their size and color scheme: separated from each other by a narrow gilded baguette, the paintings merge into a single colorful “carpet”.

37. The “Olympus” lampshade, a copy of the lampshade of the Jordan Staircase of the Winter Palace, harmonizes with the overall color of the walls.

38. Big hall, or the Light Gallery - the most significant ceremonial room of the palace, created according to the design of the architect F.-B. Rastrelli in 1752-1756.

39. Its area is more than 800 m².

40. Alternating large windows with mirrors visually expands the boundaries of the room.

41. The sculptural and ornamental carvings, covering the planes of the walls with a continuous pattern, were made according to the sketches of Rastrelli and the models of the sculptor-decorator Dunker by 130 Russian carvers.

42. The original pictorial ceiling was painted in 1752-1754 according to a sketch by the Venetian artist D. Valeriani. It consisted of three independent compositions depicting the “Allegory of Russia”, “Allegory of the World” and “Allegory of Victory”.

43. In the 1790s, due to the deformation of the ceilings, Valeriani’s ceiling was removed to the palace storerooms, and in 1856-1858, artists F. Wunderlich and E. Franciuoli created a new composition “Allegorical image of Science, Art and Diligence.” This lamp was destroyed during the war.

44. In the 1950s during restoration Mikhailovsky Castle The side parts of the old lampshade, “Allegory of Peace” and “Allegory of Victory”, which were considered lost, were discovered. It was decided to recreate Valeriani’s ceiling, returning the surviving compositions to Tsarskoye Selo. The central part was restored according to sketches and descriptions made by Valeriani himself, as well as according to a drawing by Stackenschneider from 1857.

45. Amber room rightly called one of the wonders of the world. Initially, this interior was created for the Prussian queen Miria-Charlotte, but in 1716 it was presented to Peter the Great by Frederick William I, but only under Elizabeth did it find a place in the old Winter Palace. With her, the precious panels were carried in her arms (!) to Tsarskoye Selo. Rastrelli installed them in the middle tier of the walls, separating them with pilasters and mirrors, and decorated the room with gilded carvings. Where there was not enough amber, fragments of the walls were covered with canvas and painted “to look like amber” by the artist Belsky. After the capture of Pushkin by German troops, the panels were taken away by the Kunstkomission team and until 1944 were exhibited at Königsberg Castle. When the Germans retreated, the panels were again dismantled, packed into boxes and taken to an unknown location.

46. ​​Restoration of the room began in 1979. In 2000, a Russian typesetting chest of drawers from the late 18th century and a Florentine mosaic “Touch and Smell,” which were part of the room’s original decoration, were returned to the museum, discovered in Germany. By 2003, the decoration of the hall was completely restored.

47. In an inconspicuous corridor of the palace hangs a painting depicting the palace in a terrible state in 1944. It reminds us of the enormous damage war can do to history and culture.

In 1752–1756.

This elegant hall with an area of ​​more than 800 square meters was intended for official receptions and celebrations, formal dinners, balls and masquerades.

Documents say nothing 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, an order was issued to replace the narrow one-story stone passage galleries between the central building and the side wings with new ones, “with widening , as soon as the place gives." One of the new premises later became the Great Hall.

In the creation of the Great Hall, Rastrelli showed himself not only as a magnificent 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 for the ceiling, which also enhances the feeling of space and light, which fills the huge room on sunny days.

The windows of the Great Hall, which occupies the entire width of the palace, overlook both sides. In summer, the interior is permeated with sunlight, playing on the gilding throughout the day; in the evening, the Bright Gallery was illuminated by candles framing the mirrors. Elements of lush baroque decor create the illusion of limitless space: the alternation of large windows with mirrors visually expands the boundaries of the hall, and the ceiling, surrounded by a picturesque colonnade, opens up the space in height. The French diplomat de la Messeliere, who attended a reception at the palace, wrote: “The beauty and richness of the apartments involuntarily amazed us... But a new sight awaited us: all the curtains were drawn down at once and daylight was suddenly replaced by the shine of 1200 candles, which were reflected from all sides in numerous mirrors..."

The sculptural and ornamental carvings of the Great Hall, covering the planes of the walls with a continuous pattern, were made according to the sketches and models of the decorative sculptor 130 Russian carvers. Three more experienced and talented craftsmen worked on carving in the Greater Hall - Stahlmeyer, Karnovsky and Valekhin. The end walls, decorated with multi-figure compositions, received especially lush carved decoration.

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 Conrad Erber from Berlin. The hall has 13 windows on each side, all the walls are covered with mirrors inserted into rich stucco and carved gilded ornaments; Numerous carved, gilded sconces further enhance the beauty of the decoration. Gilding done Leprenz.

In the 1790s, structural problems were discovered in the ceiling of the hall. Due to the sagging of the lower chord of the trusses, the ceiling was deformed [...]. The stretchers with the paintings were removed, the paintings were rolled up and handed over to the palace storage funds.

Meanwhile, the ceiling had fallen into complete disrepair. In 1820, the architect installed new trusses, roofing and new ceilings in the Great Hall of the Tsarskoye Selo Palace. The installation of new trusses, with 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 returning the original painting to its place was impossible. The ceiling was left white, and the canopy was decorated with gilded ornaments.” The huge ceiling painted by the artist D. Valeriani was no longer there. Paduga was restored according to the design in the style of the baroque decoration of the ceremonial 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 installed two cast iron ones. The restoration of the Great Hall was completed in April 1823.

In the 1790s, due to deformation of the ceiling Valeriani's lampshade was removed and moved to the palace storerooms, and in 1856–1858 artists F . Wunderlich and E. Franciuoli created a new composition "An allegorical image of Science, Art and Industry", glorifying the achievements of contemporary Russia. This lamp died in

IN 1953–1954 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 ceiling in its original form, returning the two surviving paintings to the Catherine Palace. During the restoration, the attention of the craftsmen was attracted by their roughly cut edges, which is why the assumption arose that both of these pictorial compositions were once part of a huge ceiling from which they were cut out and placed here in a new place. And indeed: after the clearing was carried out, on both lampshades, under the monograms of Paul I, the previously written monogram of Elizabeth could be 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 ode ceiling area 816 sq.m The Great Hall in the Catherine Palace. In the Mikhailovsky Castle, it was decided to install copies of the ceiling lamps, which still had to be completed, and return the original compositions to their historical place - to the Great Hall of the Catherine Palace. It was developed by architect A.A. Kedrinsky in 1960 project to recreate the monumental painting of the Great Hall, made on the basis of found authentic fragments, as well as archival materials and the only, fortunately, surviving lampshade by the brush Valeriani "The Adventures of Talemachus" in the Stroganov Palace.

The revival of the central part of the ceiling was served by the surviving sketches and description of the composition with a decoding of all allegories made by Valeriani, as well as a drawing made in 1857, when, according to the sketches of the court architect, a new design of the ceilings was created in several rooms of the front suite. Restoration artists worked under the direction of Restoration Artists to recreate the ceiling of the Great Hall. In terms of complexity and scale, this work had no analogues in world restoration practice.

Restorers literally tried to disappear into all the plans of the author of the lampshade, a man who lived two centuries ago, learning the peculiarities of the color of his huge compositions and other subtleties of ancient decorative painting. As B.N. Lebedev recalls, a particular difficulty was that it was necessary to achieve a single tonality for the recreated central part of the “Triumph of Russia” ceiling with the original side compositions “Allegory of Victory” and “Allegory of Peace”. According to the restoration artists, “the difference was impudently glaring.” It was probably at this time that the understanding came of how much the old masters took into account all the subtleties of painting on the ceilings of the palace halls, which amazingly responded to all natural phenomena and even to the change of seasons: the grass turned it green, the white snow evenly revealed the multicolored ceiling, and the colors autumn brought a special softness to the color scheme. But the color solution for the entire composition was nevertheless found, and the boundaries between the originals and the restored center of the ceiling disappeared. While predecessors broke the lampshade into pieces and painted each fragment on a stretcher, modern masters had to overcome technical difficulties: climb onto scaffolding, write directly on the plaster, with their heads raised and a brush in their hand. None of them could stand working for more than 20 minutes: their arms, legs, and neck became 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 coloring in daylight. It is now Boris Nikolaevich Lebedev who smiles, remembering: “We fully understood the conditions in which the craftsmen worked under Mother Elizaveta Petrovna. It was just as hard for us."

In January 1988, as a result of a safety violation during welding work, a fire occurred in the Great Hall of the Catherine Palace. Timely measures to extinguish the fire prevented serious material losses.

Restoration 2009

In the Throne Room, experienced specialists immediately pay attention to the oak parquet flooring: something is wrong with it. Historical material allows us to reconstruct the picture of what happened. At the end of the 50s of the last century, due to the lack of bog oak, restorers found a simple solution: some of the fragments, which should have been dark, were made of walnut impregnated with a colorful composition. Over time, the coating wore off, and the appearance of the parquet pattern became strange, to put it mildly. Getting bog oak is an incredibly difficult task, but Ivan Petrovich Sautov, who then headed the Tsarskoe Selo State Museum, was firm: no substitutions. Have to search. “This turned out to be very difficult,” admits Gennady Kravets. “We have few territories where oak is soaked in the natural environment for 15-30 years. There are, however, methods of artificial staining, but in our case this is a substitution. A grandiose event is coming, and the main anniversary events will be held in the Throne Room. This means that everything here should be at the highest level."

Three bright doors lead from the front hall to.

Sources:

• Fomin N. Detskoe Selo. L., 1936.
• Catherine Palace-Museum and Park in the city of Pushkin. L., 1940.
• Pilyavsky V. I. Stasov. Architect. L.: Gosstroyizdat, 1963, 251 pp., ill.
• Eparinova E. Stackenschneider. Collection Architects of Tsarskoye Selo. From Rastrelli to Danini / Album, ed. I. Bott. - St. Petersburg: Aurora, 2010. - 303 p.
• S.N.Vilchkovsky "Tsarskoe Selo", 1911
• Historical and cultural magazine "Our Heritage"
• Letters from A. Kuchumov
• Exhibition in the district library named after Mamin-Sibiryak

Do you have any questions? Or did you have a comment or clarification on this article? Write them in the comments under the article - we will answer you within 24 hours!

July 4th, 2014 , 10:32 am

The Great Tsarskoye Selo Palace is a Baroque masterpiece created by Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli for Elizabeth Petrovna. During the Great Patriotic War, the palace was destroyed; to date, 32 of the 58 halls have been restored, including the Amber Room. Perhaps this is the most impressive Russian “remake”.

1. At the heart of the central part of the palace are two-story “stone chambers” built in 1717-1724 by the architect Braunstein for Catherine I.

2. The modern palace was erected in 1748-1756 by the chief architect of the imperial court, F.-B. Rastrelli.

3. Now on the side of the building there is a monument to the famous architect.

4. The facade of the palace is presented in the form of a wide azure ribbon with snow-white columns and gilded ornaments, giving the building a special chic.

5. In the north-eastern part of the building is the Palace Church of the Resurrection.

6. There is a building nearby Imperial Lyceum, connected to the palace by an arch.

7. The front courtyard of the residence is limited by two circumferences and contains a parade ground. At the edges there are two yellow service (kitchen) buildings.

8. To get inside the palace in the summer, you need to stand in a forty-minute line in the heat.

9. While waiting, look at the details of the building.

10. The last large-scale restoration of the building was more than ten years ago, now the facades need cosmetic repairs.

11. The blue and gold paints have faded.

12. The columns of the palace support sculptures of Atlanteans; their faces can only be seen if you come close to the building.

13. First of all, we get to Grand staircase, decorated with the sculpture “Waking Cupid” from 1860.

14. The staircase was created under Catherine II by Charles Cameron on the site of the Chinese Hall. In memory of this, the interior is decorated with vases and dishes made of Chinese porcelain.

15. The ceiling of the hall is decorated with paintings “Aeneas and Venus”, “Jupiter and Callisto” and “The Judgment of Paris”. They replaced canvases that were destroyed by collapsed ceilings during the war.

16. The stucco decoration of the walls and the caryatids framing the doorways were restored based on the discovered details and pre-war images.

17. The large clock was also recreated.

18. Green dining room- part of the personal chambers of Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich and his first wife Natalya Alekseevna, built under Catherine II on the site of an open terrace - a “hanging” garden.

19. Interior Waitress decorated with mahogany chairs, a Swedish chest of drawers from the second half of the 18th century and a sculpture by M.-A. Collot "Head of a Girl" from 1769.

20. Small White dining room in the personal chambers of Elizabeth, Catherine II and Alexander I. Its interior was formed after the fire of 1820.

21. In the ceiling lamp there is a copy of the painting “The Bathing of Venus” by K. Vanloo.

22. Located next door Chinese living room of Alexander I.

23. Its interior is distinguished by silk upholstery of the walls painted with watercolors in the Chinese style.

24. On the walls are portraits, including those of Emperor Peter II, painted by I.-P. Ludena.

25. Next - Pantry, which until 1761 formed part of the Dressing Room on Elizabeth Petrovna’s half.

26. For the lampshade, a painting by the 17th century Italian artist P. da Cortona “Fishing Corals”, transferred from the Hermitage collections, was used.

27. Cavalier's dining room- a small hall, visually enlarged by mirrors and false mirror windows.

28. On the tables are items of the famous “Order” services, decorated with signs and ribbons of Russian orders.

29. The picturesque ceiling in the center of the ceiling is decorated with a painting by an unknown Russian master of the mid-18th century based on the ancient myth of the sun god Helios and the goddess of the dawn Eos, obtained from the funds of the Russian Museum.

30. White formal dining room intended for ceremonial dinners and “evening dishes” of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna in a narrow circle of those close to her.

31. Green Pillar under Catherine II, it served as a pantry where silverware and porcelain were stored. Here is one of the multi-tiered tiled stoves with cobalt painting, columns and niches. Similar stoves, created according to Rastrelli’s sketches, were an integral part of all the halls of the palace’s front suite.

32.

33. B Portrait Hall ceremonial images of royalty were shown. Nowadays, in addition to portraits, you can see one of the empress’s dresses.

34. The ceiling of the hall is decorated with transferred from Yusupov Palace picturesque lampshade “Mercury and Glory”.

35. The first in a series of the most impressive halls of the Tsarskoye Selo Palace - Picture hall with an area of ​​180 m².

36. Paintings are placed in it according to the principle of trellis hanging. When placing works on the wall, Rastrelli took into account, first of all, their size and color scheme: separated from each other by a narrow gilded baguette, the paintings merge into a single colorful “carpet”.

37. The “Olympus” lampshade, a copy of the lampshade of the Jordan Staircase of the Winter Palace, harmonizes with the overall color of the walls.

38. Big hall, or the Light Gallery - the most significant ceremonial room of the palace, created according to the design of the architect F.-B. Rastrelli in 1752-1756.

39. Its area is more than 800 m².

40. Alternating large windows with mirrors visually expands the boundaries of the room.

41. The sculptural and ornamental carvings, covering the planes of the walls with a continuous pattern, were made according to the sketches of Rastrelli and the models of the sculptor-decorator Dunker by 130 Russian carvers.

42. The original pictorial ceiling was painted in 1752-1754 according to a sketch by the Venetian artist D. Valeriani. It consisted of three independent compositions depicting the “Allegory of Russia”, “Allegory of the World” and “Allegory of Victory”.

43. In the 1790s, due to the deformation of the ceilings, Valeriani’s ceiling was removed to the palace storerooms, and in 1856-1858, artists F. Wunderlich and E. Franciuoli created a new composition “Allegorical image of Science, Art and Diligence.” This lamp was destroyed during the war.

44. In the 1950s during restoration Mikhailovsky Castle The side parts of the old lampshade, “Allegory of Peace” and “Allegory of Victory”, which were considered lost, were discovered. It was decided to recreate Valeriani’s ceiling, returning the surviving compositions to Tsarskoye Selo. The central part was restored according to sketches and descriptions made by Valeriani himself, as well as according to a drawing by Stackenschneider from 1857.

45. Amber room rightly called one of the wonders of the world. Initially, this interior was created for the Prussian queen Miria-Charlotte, but in 1716 it was presented to Peter the Great by Frederick William I, but only under Elizabeth did it find a place in the old Winter Palace. With her, the precious panels were carried in her arms (!) to Tsarskoye Selo. Rastrelli installed them in the middle tier of the walls, separating them with pilasters and mirrors, and decorated the room with gilded carvings. Where there was not enough amber, fragments of the walls were covered with canvas and painted “to look like amber” by the artist Belsky. After the capture of Pushkin by German troops, the panels were taken away by the Kunstkomission team and until 1944 were exhibited at Königsberg Castle. When the Germans retreated, the panels were again dismantled, packed into boxes and taken to an unknown location.

46. ​​Restoration of the room began in 1979. In 2000, a Russian typesetting chest of drawers from the late 18th century and a Florentine mosaic “Touch and Smell,” which were part of the room’s original decoration, were returned to the museum, discovered in Germany. By 2003, the decoration of the hall was completely restored.

47. In an inconspicuous corridor of the palace hangs a painting depicting the palace in a terrible state in 1944. It reminds us of the enormous damage war can do to history and culture.

Great Catherine Palace in Pushkin (Tsarskoe Selo)

The Great Catherine Palace is also known as the Great Tsarskoye Selo Palace. Included in the list of cultural heritage sites of the Russian Federation. Architectural style: Elizabethan Baroque - a direction in architecture characteristic of 1741–1761, the era of the reign of Elizabeth I Petrovna. Its most famous representative was Bartolomeo Rastrelli, according to whose design this imperial residence in Tsarskoe Selo was built.

From a small building to a luxurious palace

The history of the palace dates back to 1717. But then it was not the Great Catherine that we know today. Initially, the royal residence was a modest-sized two-story building. The German architect Johann Braunstein worked on its construction. Then it was conceived as the summer residence of Catherine I.

In 1843, the new Empress Elizaveta Petrovna decided to expand and equip it. The task was entrusted to architects Andrei Kvasov and Mikhail Zemtsov.

This first building “lasted” until 1752, and it was rebuilt. This is how a luxurious palace, fully consistent with its high status, saw the light of day. The palace included many service buildings and even a palace church. When decorating, they did not skimp on gold. The interiors were covered with gold, both inside and outside. The figures of Atlanteans on the main façade were even covered with gold.

The Grand Catherine Palace acquired its current appearance precisely under Elizabeth. Even after the reconstruction, she considered the previous building small and outdated. The dismantling of the old palace and the subsequent reconstruction lasted four years. And now the 325-meter palace is ready! When it was presented on July 30, 1756 to the royal nobles and guests from Europe, everyone was shocked by its splendor and scope.

Some features of the Catherine Palace

The azure facade was decorated with white columns, stucco moldings and figures of Atlanteans. Gilding gave the palace more solemnity. The wings, connected by covered galleries, extended from the central part of the palace. The five-domed palace church sparkled with gilded domes above its northern wing. Above the southern noble metal shone a dome, the spire of which was crowned with a multi-pointed star. Just imagine: about 100 kg of red gold were used for interior and exterior decor!

Under Elizabeth, the ceremonial rooms were located along the entire length of the palace - they formed the ceremonial golden enfilade. At the same time, the famous Amber Room and Picture Hall appeared. Famous foreign masters worked on the first one for more than five years. And in the hall there were collected more than a hundred masterpieces of Western European artists of the 17th – early 18th centuries.

Catherine the Great, who was partial to ancient architecture, also made her contribution to the arrangement of the Great Tsarskoye Selo Palace. The Empress entrusted the work on further reconstruction of the palace to the Scottish architect Charles Cameron. Through his efforts, he acquired the Blue and Silver cabinets, the Dome dining room, two living rooms - Lyon and Arabesque, and the Chinese hall. With her, the Agate Pavilion and the Cameron Gallery, the Cold Bath and the Zubovsky Building appeared. For Tsarevich Paul and his wife Maria Feodorovna, the State Blue and Chinese Blue Living Rooms, as well as the Waiter's Room, the Green Dining Room and the Bedchamber were created in the palace.

The front office and adjacent rooms (architect V.P. Stasov) were created already under Alexander I Pavlovich in 1817. They were designed to commemorate the victory over Napoleon. In 1862–1863, the final stage of perestroika was the creation of the Grand Staircase.

In 1910, the palace changed its name from Bolshoi Tsarskoye Selo to Bolshoi Catherine Palace.

The Amber Room in the Catherine Palace

The authentic Amber Room, created by the German master Andreas Schlüter for the King of Prussia, Frederick I, and then presented by the monarch to Peter I, disappeared without a trace during the Great Patriotic War.

The Nazis who kidnapped her first exhibited this masterpiece at the Royal Castle of Königsberg from 1942 to 1944. But in August 1944, after a raid by the British Air Force, a fire broke out in the castle. However, the amber panels were unlikely to be damaged: they were packed and hidden in the basements. When, in April 1945, the Red Army began to storm Koenigsberg, the Amber Room seemed to have sunk into oblivion. Since then, nothing has been known about her whereabouts: searches have yielded no results.

In 1981, work began on recreating the stone-cutting masterpiece of the 18th century. The reconstruction until 1997 was led by A. A. Zhuravlev. For this purpose, a special amber workshop was created in Pushkin. For the 300th anniversary of the founding of St. Petersburg, celebrated in 2003, the Amber Room was completely restored. According to Baron Eduard von Falz-Fein, who saw the lost original at one time, the restored Amber Room is even better than the previous one.

Some halls and premises of the Catherine Palace

Main staircase. Luxurious marble staircase in Rococo style. Decorative elements: through carved balustrades and figured vases. The stucco decoration includes a large clock and a calendar.

Picture hall. Intended for diplomatic receptions. Contains a collection of paintings by Western European artists of the 17th–18th centuries. The most famous painting is “The Battle of Poltava”, commissioned by Peter I.

Big hall. In the 18th century it was called the Light Gallery. The front room is in the Elizabethan Baroque style. The hall is two-height, spanning the entire width of the palace. It has 13 windows on each side, its area is approximately 1000 sq. m. m.

Chinese living room of Alexander I. These were the emperor’s personal chambers. The walls are decorated with portraits of Russian autocrats: Peter the Great, Catherine I, Catherine II, Elizaveta Petrovna, Anna Ioannovna and a large portrait of Alexander I himself.

The Great Catherine Palace, together with the Catherine Park, forms a single palace and park ensemble in the Tsarskoye Selo Museum-Reserve.

As a result of the restoration, 18 halls were restored in the palace, representing different eras in the development of the domestic interior.

The restoration of the palace is still ongoing, and on a strictly scientific basis, and its completion is still far away. But visitors can view exhibitions in rooms that have not yet been restored.

Address: 196601, St. Petersburg, Pushkin, st. Sadovaya, 7.

Opening hours: Monday - from 10:00 to 21:00, Wednesday - Sunday - from 12:00 to 18:00. Closed: Tuesday and every last Monday of the month.

Message quote Cultural heritage of the Russian Federation: Masterpiece of Russian Baroque - Grand Catherine Palace

The Great Catherine Palace (also known as the Great Tsarskoye Selo Palace, Catherine Palace) is a former imperial palace; one of the largest in the vicinity of St. Petersburg. Located in the modern city of Pushkin (formerly Tsarskoe Selo), 25 kilometers south of St. Petersburg.

South facade

Side

Portrait of Catherine I (1684-1727), Jean-Marc Nattier

The building was founded in 1717 by order of the Russian Empress Catherine I; represents an example of late Baroque. During Soviet times, a museum was opened in the palace. During the Great Patriotic War, the palace was heavily damaged. Its restoration took many years and is continued by the Leningrad School of Restorers on a strictly scientific basis. It's still a long way from completion.

The history and architecture of the palace reflect both the architectural trends of each of the eras that the palace experienced, 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, commissioned Russian architects Mikhail Zemtsov and Andrei Vasilyevich Kvasov to expand and improve the palace. It was under Empress Elizabeth Petrovna that the palace acquired its current appearance 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, a grandiose reconstruction and construction work that lasted four years, a modern palace appeared, made in the Russian Baroque style. On July 30, 1756, a presentation of the 325-meter palace took place to shocked Russian nobles and foreign guests.

Rastrelli rebuilt the Great (Catherine) Palace (1752-1756) in Tsarskoe Selo as follows. The longitudinal axis of the building became the main spatial coordinate in its plan; the enormous length of two parallel enfilades of the main rooms, the scale of which increases towards the center - the Great Hall and the Picture Gallery, is emphasized by the removal of the main staircase to the south-western end of the building.

The rhythmic variety of the order system of the façade, the large protrusions of the colonnades with the entablature braces above them, the deep depressions of the windows creating a rich play of chiaroscuro, the abundance of stucco molding and decorative sculpture, the multicolored facades (blue and golden colors) give the building an emotional, rich, festive and very solemn appearance ( TSB).

The huge volume of the Grand Palace is immediately noticeable. In addition, the symmetrical axial system of overhead porticoes 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, and many exhibits were burned. Now the ensemble has been completely restored by restorers - N.V. Baranov, A.A. Kedrinsky, N.E. Tumanova and others.

The Amber Cabinet or Amber Room is one of the most famous rooms of the Grand Catherine Palace. The main decoration of the Amber Room was made at the beginning of the 18th century in Prussia, and was donated by King Frederick William I to Peter I in 1716; in 1746 it was supplemented and mounted in the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, in 1755 it was moved to Tsarskoe Selo.

Restored amber room

During the Great Patriotic War, the decoration of the Amber Room was taken by the German occupiers 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 funds from German companies.

There are still legends and myths about the fate of the original exhibits in the room.

On May 23, 2010, the general director of the Tsarskoe Selo State Museum-Reserve, Olga Taratynova, told reporters that several restored halls and pavilions would open for the celebration of the 300th anniversary of Tsarskoe Selo:
We will reopen the restored Throne Hall in the Catherine Palace. We will also open a hall completely unfamiliar to our guests from the half of the palace in which Catherine lived - the Arabesque Hall. Now work is already underway on furniture and selection of curtains.

Raspberry pillar

Golden stucco

Arabesque Hall, opened in 2010

Blue salon

Palace Church

Agate room

Alexander's office 1

Alexander 1's front office

Sleeping Cupid

Wall decor

Barometer

Project for finishing the Green Dining Room in the Catherine Palace of Tsarskoye Selo. Paper, pen, brush, ink, watercolor, 49x65.5 cm. State Hermitage, received from the heirs of Charles Cameron in London, as part of his archive, 1822.

Picture hall

Battle of Poltava, Pierre-Denis Martin (1663-1742)

Palace interiors