Pavlovsk. Palace and park.

Pavlovsk is one of the former royal residence situated 32 km south-east of St-Pb. It was built in the late 18 century for Catherine the Greate’s son Paul I and called by his name.

The residence was founded in 1777. It is served as the main royal residence in the reign of Paul I (1796 – 1801).

After the death of Paul I the palace belonged to his widow (Maria Fedorovna) and remained a private property of the royal family until 1917.

The best Russian architects of the classicism period contributed to its design: Cameron, Brenna, Voronihin, Quarenghi, Rossi. It was turned into the state museum after the revolution.

During WWII the palace was under Nazi occupation. The palace was destroyed but about 15% of the exhibits were saved in evacuation.

After WWII the reconstruction works were started and the palace had been restored by the end of the 1960s.

At present the display contains the former State rooms of the royal family on the 2nd floor, the private rooms on the 1st floor and the “Russian 19 century enterior” exhibition on the 3rd floor.

Pavlovsk is 7 km away from Pushkin, which is another former Emperial residence.

The 1st Russian railway constructed in 1837 to connect St-Pb with those 2 residences. That’s why special consert hall Kursaal was put up in the building of the railway pavilion as a waiting for the train. Many celebrated singers and composers both Russian and Foreign performed there. The original building were destroyed during WWII.

The park of Pavlovsk covers an area of more then 600 hectares. It is one of the largest landscape parks in Europe. It was laid out in the 1780s to design by Cameron. In the 1790s architect Brenna edded some geometrically planed sections to the park, some big landscape sections were edded by group of architects such as Pietro Gonzaca, Voronihin, Quarenghi and others.

Cast-iron gate was designed by Rossi in 1826 as a colonnade crowned by the double-headed eagle.

After Tsarskoe Selo had been built as search was under taken to find a suitable spart place for the royal hunt somewhere nearby.

The area selected for this purpose was the territory of the present day Pavlovsk. The 1st buildings to appear in the area were 2 wooden hunter lodges, which were humorously called Crick and Crack. In 1777 Catherine the Great gave this land her son called the future Emperor Paul I.

Soon after wars an obelisk was put up on the right bank of Slavianka in horner of foundation of Pavlovsk. The inscription on the iron-plague states: “The construction of Pavlovsk was started in 1777”.

The palace was originally constructed as a summer mention for the near of the town. A three-stored rectangular building was put up to a design by Cameron.

After Paul’s accession in 1796 Pavlovsk became the official summer residence. It was replaced by Brenna, who extended the palace. New State rooms were built there and a building of the palace church was added to the right of the wing.

The palace posses a unique collection of tapestries and different objects of art. By the mid 19th century Pavlovsk became one of the most beautiful estates in Europe and does it remain until the Nazi invasion in 1941.

The restoration work in the palace started in 1950. More than 60 000 trees were replanted. In front of the palace there is a monument to Paul I unveiled in 1830 sculptor Vitaly.

Among the most beautiful interiors of the palace there are Eguption hall, dressing room, Paul’s I small study, Paul’s library, room of war, room for the ladies-in-

14. Peterhof. Palaces and fountains. (P – Peterhof, PTG – Ptere The Great)

Peterhof it is one of the 1st suburban royal residences. It was built in the early 18th century.

P means Peter’s court from Dutch. For the 1st time its name appeared in ‘Travell notes of PTG’ in 1705. The Tsar sailed his favorite boat and docked at the small pier at the south coast of the Gulf of Finland and his travel lodges were built there.

Peter usually came to P. in a carriage and then sailed to the island Cotlen. That time he was supervising the construction works of the name of Bay. He started the construction works in 1704.

When PTG came with a diplomatic visit to France he was charmed by the palace and the park and when he came back to Russia he decided to create smth, which could be reveal to Versailles.

There are 3 reasons why PTG chosen that place. 1. P. was situated near Kronshtadt. 2. Peter loved water and wanted his summer residence to be built on the seaside. 3. It is the most convenient place for fountains, because a few miles from P. there are Ropsha hills where PTG personally found natural springs of water. This water feeds the fountains.

Water supply system. There are no pumps. From the Ropsha hills water pipes were laid to bring this water down to the upper garden. Then this water is accumulated in the 9 big ponds. Then it goes down into the Lower Park by underground pipes. The pressure of water produced jets (principe of communicate vessels). Then this water goes down into the Gulf of Finland. There is no circulation. It is a complete waste of water. This water feeds 150 fountains and 4 cascades.

The Great Peterhof palace. It’s a 3-stored building provided with galleries and flanking. Originally it was a rather modest smaller mansion built in 1714 – 1721 by architects Leblond, Braunstein and Michetti. But those architects used the original paintings of PTG.

During the reign of Elizabeth (1741-61) the palace was enlarged by Rastrelli. The works were starting in 1747 and lasted until 1756 by Rastrelli.

In the 1770s classical style became fashionable (CTG) and at that time another architecture worked in palace – Velten. He redesigned some of the rooms in the classical style.

During the 18th and 19th centuries there was accumulated a large number of beautiful works of arts: paintings, sculpture, furniture, porcelain and glass (a great number of the portraits of the Romanovs, cream-colored Wedgwood porcelain, there is a big collection of paintings by Pedro Potary in the Picture hall, oak panels by Nicola Pincan in Blue Dinning room and in the Oak study of PTG.

Samson Fountain (St. Samson tearing the jaws of the lion). It’s the most impressive fountain. About 21 m. high. The idea was to use St. Samson as a patron of Russian army. St. Samson is a personification of the Russian Power, lion symbolizes Sweden. The Poltava Battle on the 27th of June 1709 (St. Samson Day). The fountain was designed by Bartolomeo Rastrelli in 1734 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the victory on Poltava. Originally it was made of lead (свинец). In 1801 it was made of gilded by Kozlovsky. During WWII was stolen. It was redesigned in the postwar time by Simonov and was unveiled in 1947.

The first building to be erected at Peterhof, Monplesir, was sited directly on the shore and is evidence of Peter the Great’s liking for plain Dutch-style houses

The most westerly of the building in the Lower park, the ‘Marly’ palace was built in 1720-1723 and used to accommodate guests.

The Hermitage was designed by Braunstein in 1722-1725. The two-storeyed pavilion consists of a ground-floor kitchen and a dining-room on the upper floor. Originally there was no stairway, the guests and the already laid table being carried up by means of a special lift.

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 1044