20. Павловск

Pavlovsk is one of 5 tsar’s residences in the environs of Saint-Petersburg. Sometimes they’re compared to a pearl necklace around the city. One can combine visits to Pushkin and Pavlovsk because they’re situated above 2.5 miles apart. But in fact Pavlovsk is in 26 km to the south of Saint-Petersburg. It’s the youngest of the palaces and park ensembles in the suburb of Saint-Petersburg.

Catherine II presented what had formerly been hunting grounds to her son Paul on the occasion of the birth of his first son, Alexander I, who was to continue Romanov’s Dynasty (1777). There were 2 hunting cottages on the site but they were rebuilt in small palaces. Then Paul got to know that this land was given to him. He and his wife were not even present in Russia. They didn’t come to attend the foundation ceremony to the Palace. Paul understood that it was rather far from Saint-Petersburg so that it was far from court life. He was unhappy with his mother’s gift. Anyway this cottage architect Charles Cameron built the palace in 1782-1786. It was built in classical style and had almost 300 rooms. The park around the palace is one of the largest country estates of the Europe. But when Paul became the emperor of Russia in 1796 the major fault was found – it turned to be too small. It was enlarged. An architect who reconstructed palace was Vikenty Brenna. Almost for 50 years the palace interiors were being changed. There’re some of the Cameron’s interiors to be seen and we start our tour from the Egyptian Vestibule.

Egyptian Vestibule. It was decorated with sculpture based on Egypt motives, 12 plaster statues representing the months of the year stand by the walls. At their feet there’re implements typical for people’s occupation and corresponding time of the year.

The painting on the ceiling is the grisaille technique. The lanterns of Russian work were made in such a way that candles were no extinguished by blasts of wind. There’s a fresco on the wall which survived from the XVIII century under the ruins of the archway which collapsed during the war.

Pavlovsk was one of the many Leningrad regions occupied by Nazi Germans and the palace was destroyed by fire. Though 70% of its exhibits were evacuated and over 40000 fragments of mouldings were found making it possible to restore the original ornaments of the palace.

Second Floor - Italian Hall. The main principle of the layout of the palace is symmetry. The Italian Hall is in its center. The hall reminds one of the Roman temples with the skylight. Of great value are the pieces of roman sculpture dating back to the I and II centuries AD and 2 bas-reliefs on the walls are on popular subjects “Roman Wedding” and “Three Graces”.

The collection of marbles were purchased by Catherine the Great from the English ambassador of Naples and it’s second of that of the Hermitage. The collection wasn’t evacuated. All collections were put into the basement.

On the walls there’re lamps in the shape of hunting horns. This reminds us of what this room was used for sometimes. Dinners after royal hunts took place here. In the center of the hall there’s a magnificent chandelier with glass and crystal ostrich feathers. It was made in Saint-Petersburg and it was in the throne room of the empress Maria Fedorovna and in the Michael’s Castle in Saint-Petersburg. After the assassination of Paul I in 1801 many objects were transferred to Pavlovsk.

The Study of Paul I. Here one can see Peter’s I lifetime portrait. The picture was painted by German artist Gonnauar. The painting was found after the war in one of the country houses in village near the palace. The canvas was badly cut with knife. Though it was restored the scars are still visible.

Many pieces of furniture on display were made by foreign masters. For example, the table in front of the portrait which is decorated with what seems to be a vase but it’s a rotating clock. The disks rotate and the hands of the clock are in the shape of the snake. Here we can see mahogany firescreen, made in the workshops by furniture maker Gampe, originally stood in 4^th bedchamber in his (Michael’s) castle.

The Library of Paul I. Paul I knew 6 languages. The basis of the collection are the books which Catherine II gifted to her son. On the wall faced with artificial marble there’re woolen carpets woven at the Savonnerie manufactory in France. They depict characters from the fables by La Fontaine. These carpets (rugs) were among diplomatic gifts presented to Paul at the time when he was still here by Louis XVI during Paul’s visit to France in 1782.

The portrait of Maria Fedorovna is the work of the painter Lampi. She has an open album in her hand with a drawing of her 8 children. The bookcases were made so low to the wish of Paul so they could serve as stands for the collection of Roman busts of the II century. Two table decorations are made of amber and ivory. There’re models of Greek and Roman temples, Greek circular, Roman square. The subject on the plafond is “Truth Driving Away Wise”. Figures dressed in different clothes represent: green - envy, yellow - betrayal, red - crime. In the center of this room there’s a desk which was a gift of Maria Fedorovna to her husband.

Tapestry Room. It got its name from Gobelin tapestry woven in the XVIII century. This scene is “Don Quixote with Cervantes”. The gobelins with different colors of background like olive, peach, brown were made at the royal manufactory in Paris. The ones with crimson background are very rare. There’re two more tapestries in this room depicting lady saving Don Quixote and Don Quixote fighting sheep mistaken an enemy. They were made in Brussels.

At the same room there’s a desk from Michael’s Castle. It was made in workshop of Henry Gampe of mahogany, ivory and inlaid with glass. According to the legend this desk which ones stood at Paul’s study at Michael’s Castle is the very desk where Paul signed the abdication.

The Hall of War. It was decorated by Brenna and restored by Voronikhin after the fire of 1803. The hall was intended for official receptions and after the 1796 was used as a small throne room by Paul I who had just accepted to the throne. The name was borrowed from France but the decor has nothing with France.

This hall is decorated with bas-reliefs depicting scenes from the Trojan War and gilded lighting fixtures. Present bundles of spears with shields and wreaths. The only one shield and one wreath were preserved.

Restorers had only that picture to recreate the set of floor-lamps. The store of the corner is decorated with an eagle, symbol of power and authority.

Greek Hall (Voronikhin). It imitates a courtyard with the columns of artificial marble and imitation of oil lamps among them. By the walls there’re 8 statues which are plaster casts from Greek originals. Splendid fireplaces are decorated with lapis lazuli and jasper but only one of them is old and one was made anew.

Voronikhin who restored this hall prove himself to be not only architect but also a master of decorative applied art. Not only lamps but also furniture and vases designed by him fit in perfectly with an interior.

Curtains on the windows were skillfully restored. French needle work of the XVIII century was transferred onto new silk. Vases in this hall are fine samples of stone carving of the late XVIII and early XIX century. There’re 4 lapidaries – Altai, Ural, Saint-Petersburg, Peterhof. One of the jasper vases on display was made by the founder.

Formerly the hall was a ballroom. Now recitals of Chamber music are held here at weekends.

Hall of Peace. Before the fire almost all floors were inlaid. After the fire they were not in fashion. The fire began between 1^st and 2^nd floor. The inlaid parquet floors were replaced by quite simple oak floor.

It has the same layout and color scheme, white and gold, as the hall of the war. But instead of symbol of power it’s symbol of marital fidelity, home hearth peacock. The hall of peace contains the unique exhibit vase made of colored glass and a crystal bowl designed by Voronokhin. Now nobody can recreate such a vase which was made in Saint-Petersburg at that time. There were made 2 such vases but one was broken. There’re 2 cobalt colored vases. They were presented to Alexander I by Napoleon after the conclusion of the treaty of Tilsit. The vases were not at the palace when Paul lived here. They were made of Serber’s porcelain.

The Library of Empress Maria Fedorovna. It reminds the tapestry room. One of the walls is decorated with gobelin with crimson background showing Don Quixote seeking the advice of diplomatic gifts. Two low bookcases serve as stands for marble statues of XVIII century which are replicas from Greek and Romans originals kept in Vatican in the palace of Pope. The Pope presented these sculptures to Paul and his wife when they visited Vatican. There’s one dating back to the I century “Muse by the Rock”.

The writing desk was made in workshop of Rengen and the armchair at the desk designed by Voronikhin. The elbow-rests are made like horn of plenty. To the top of them plenty of roses are usually put. Maria Fedorovna by herself grew up flowers. She was a specialist in this branch because she studied in the university. Note, the parquet floor made of 12 different kinds of wood. Such floors were in all rooms in the palace but before the fire in 1803. Then the fashion changed and the damaged floors were replaced with oak parquet.

State Bedchamber. It’s set of furniture was made in Paris by a royal furniture master Jacob. It was commissioned by owners of Pavlovsk. The most valuable exhibit in Palace is the toilet set of services presented to Maria Fedorovna by a French queen (Maria Antoinette) in 1782. It consists of 62 pieces and it’s known that Maria Antoinette ordered to destroy all the mouldings so that the service couldn’t be repeated. The only object which has the duplicate is the mirror frame but this is decorated with a Russian emblem and emblem of France.

Cups have miniature portraits of the French king and the queen. They were painted separately on the gilded brass plates. Two blue service vases are called drops. The interior of the bedchamber was modeled of that of the royal bedchamber of king and was intended first for receptions and also to show the wealth of Russian empress.

Dressing Room. It has a set of furniture made of steel in the Tula armory where the best Russian samovars came from. Dressing table is decorated with 12000 small pieces of steel. Pieces of metal are cut like diamonds.

Lady’s Waiting Room. The vases were made in Saint-Petersburg in the porcelain factory. The handles are shaped as hands of women so they’re called “chatterboxes”.

Picture Gallery. There was a picture gallery in every summer palace. Pavlovsk possesses a valuable collection of West-European paintings of the late XVII century and early XVIII century. The arrangement of the pictures on the walls was probably different but they’re the originals which survived in evacuation. Probably they were hung symmetrically because they were required as ornaments irrespective of schools they belonged to.

Throne Hall. It’s the largest hall in the palace, 400 square meters, the height  8 meters.

It was intended to be a large state dining room. The hall got its name from the time when receptions for the knights of the Maltese order of which Paul I was the Grand Master were held. So the throne was put opposite the door by the window with a coat of arms of Russian Empire and Maltese cross.

In 1814 a reception was held here for Russian officers who had returned to Russia after the victory over Napoleon. Then the throne was removed from the room and the hall was used for banquets.

One service on display is French, one is of Russian work. It’s called “golden service”.

The ceiling was painted by Pientro Bonzago who had designed opera house in Italy. He created an illusion of vaulted ceiling but in fact it’s absolutely flat. They couldn’t have this hall any higher because it’s situated in the southern wing of the palace which couldn’t be higher than the main part of the palace.

The painting of the palace had to be restored after the war and restoration had completed in 1957. Knight Hall. It got its name from the fact that receptions for knights of Maltese were held here. It was also known as an antique hall because one of the finest collections of antique objects was housed here.

The room still contains some marble statues of the II and the III century AD but as they weren’t evacuated they were hidden in the basement of the palace. Some of them (for example, “Roman wearing a toga”) were charred by the fire of the palace in 1944.

The Palace Church. It was built to the design of Brenna. It’s decorated with the replicas of pictures of the Hermitage (Murillo).

The church is of St Paul. The huge silver chandelier with the imperial coat of arms was made in Saint-Petersburg in the XVIII century.

Lady’s Waiting Room. The clock on display shows the scene from the opera. The clock contains the musical box which play tunes from the opera every hour.

On the walls there’re fine paintings by French artists.

Ground Floor. Here one can look at the private apartment of the imperial family. We start from the antechamber. It consists of two parts: the low part and the higher part. The higher part has a large window facing the private garden. Such rooms were typical for country estates in the XIX century. The Study. It’s a kind of portrait family gallery. Here Paul’s family used to get together and somebody painted or ladies could show miniature portraits that were drawn by Maria Fedorovna herself. And through the glass door there’s a view of a private garden and the “Pavilion of three graces”.

New Study. The wall opposite the window has 8 engravings which are replicas of frescos by Raphael in the Pope’s palace in Vatican.

There’s a set of China vases which were made in 1780^th in Germany. Ludwigsburg is one of the leading porcelain factories in Europe. They were a present of a duke of Wurttemberg.

Corner Drawing Room. The room’s been used for various purposes at different times. At first it was Paul’s bedroom and in 1816 Rossi redecorated it as a drawing room. It was one of the firsts Rossi’s interior works in Saint-Petersburg.

Dining Hall. The interior was made by Charles Cameron. The dining service on display was made specially for Pavlovsk. Plates and dishes were decorated with the imperial coat of arms that explains why it’s called “emblem service”.

This dining room was used not only for dinner but it served as a chamber for concerts where famous Russian poets and musicians displayed their talents.

Billiard Room. The piano is of a great interest. It’s a rare object made in the 2^nd half of the XVIII century in Saint-Petersburg. It was commissioned by Catherine the Great and was presented to Prince Potemkin. The piano is made of rare kinds of wood and the keyboards are made of mother-of-pearl and tortoiseshell.

The Ballroom. Originally it’s Cameron’s design. Later the mirrors which had been on the walls were replaced with large canvases by the French painter Guber Rober whose works were extremely fashionable and adorned palaces and mansions of many aristocrats. He painted 12 pictures for the owner of Pavlovsk. 4 of them are in the ballroom.

The ballroom is the last one in our 1,5 hour tour over the palace.

21+22. Peterhof

Now we’re going to Peterhof one of the former summer residences of Russian tsars. It’s situated in 29 kilometers from Saint-Petersburg on the southern bank of the Gulf of Finland. It will take us about an hour to get there. On the way we’ll see some old parts of Saint-Petersburg, a new housing construction and some countryside.

The tour over the palace will be one hour. You’ll have some time to see the park and the fountains. The population of Peterhof is about 100000 people. There’re three big industrial enterprises such as watch making factory, shipyard for fishing boats and metal works. But this town was founded as a place for rest and it remains the town of parks and gardens whose total area is 800 hectares (7 parks).

Upper Park. It was laid out as French formal garden. Its central fountain represents Neptune with figures of sea horses and dolphins. The fountain was brought from Germany to the order of Peter I. It was taken by Nazi Germans during the occupation. After it was found in Germany and brought back.

Lower Park. Laying out a park on a marshy soil required much work. The territory was drained and the general level was elevated.

Trees from different parts of Russia and Europe were planted here. In Peterhof the first Russian school of gardeners was set up where students were taught to shape trees, to make complicated flowerbeds.

During the war the park was badly damaged. One third of all trees was felled. Trenches were dug in the park and the territory was mined. Mine disposal units took more than 20000 mines and 100000 shells out from the ruins. So new trees were planted here but some of them are 100s years old. Fountains were also restored. Now there’re 147 fountains out of 180 that were here before the war.

The technical aspect of Peterhof’s fountains

Water comes from natural springs. Ropsha is 22 kilometers from Saint-Petersburg. There the spring is situated in 1700 meters from sea level. Two artificial channels take the water down to 14 man-made ponds. Then by underground pipes the water flows to the fountains.

All water is wastewater. It doesn’t recycle. It runs into the Gulf of Finland. The expenditure is 92 liters per second. It was Peter’s idea to utilize the natural character of the relief. It’s a slope. The principle of communicated vessels was used. The gravity of water makes the fountains shoot.

Young Russian engineer Tovolokov was a hydraulic engineer of “Samson”. It’s dedicated to the victory of Russia over Sweden in the Northern war. “Samson” is the symbol of Russia.

Big Palace. The construction of the palace began in 1714 from Peter’s personal drawings but the construction works were entrusted to the German architect Braunschtein. But Peter’s palace turned out to be too small to Elizabeth and her court and it was Rastrelli (1747-1754) who rebuilt it in the middle of the XVIII century. He added two-side galleries, the palace church and the pavilion under the coat of arm.

Route: Main Staircase, Secretary’s Room, Chesma Hall, Throne Hall, Audience Hall, White Dinning Room, Chinese Cabinets, Pictures Gallery, Orient Cabinet, Boudoir Cabinet, Partridge’s room, Toilet Room, The Cabinet of Catherine the Great, Flag’s Room, Cavaliers’ Room, Western Drawing Room, Crown Bedchamber, Cabinet of Peter the Great.

Secretary’s Room. We start from the secretary’s room. The door leads to the gallery connecting the palace with one of the wings. Usually a secretary sat in this room who make the entries into the palace visitors’ room.

Chesma Hall (Rastrelly and Felten). Felten was invited by Catherine II to redecorate it in the number of rooms in the palace in the style of classicism keeping with imperial power. Besides the classicism was the leading style of the second half of the XVIII century. The room was designed to commemorate the Russian victory over the Turkish navy (768-774).

Catherine the Great commissioned 12 pictures from the artist Fillip Gakert. He wasn’t a battle painter and never saw a scene of a battle in his life. For him to paint one of the pictures true to life a 60 cannon-gun ship was packed with gunpowder and blown up to enable the artist to get the real feeling how the ship in fire looked like. The picture survived in evacuation.

The plafond in this room is the old XVII century painting on the subject of Greek mythology. The Greeks couldn’t sail for Troy due to the head wind sent by Artemis, goddess of the moon. The oracle demand to sacrifice the beautiful daughter of the tsar. She willingly agreed but as soon as the knife touched her Artemis kidnapped Efigenia and brought doe instead of the girl and Efigenia became her priestess.

Throne Hall (Rastrelli)

It’s the largest hall in the palace. There’re 20 portraits of close relatives of Peter the Great in the medallions. The pictures were brought here to the order of Catherine II who wanted to emphasize that she was one of the Romanovs. The portrait is the largest one here. She is sitting on the horseback. It was painted by Dutch painter in 1762.

Audience Hall (Rastrelli)

The walls are covered with lace-like gilded woodwork. The hall is rather narrow. So to make it look more spacious, Rastrelli put 2 rows of mirrors.

The ceiling is decorated with the plafond on the subject borrowed from the XVI century Italian poet Torquato Tasso: “Jerusalem delivered”. The heathen enchantress, Armied, took Rinaldo Christian knight to the magic gardens on an island where he forgot his duty. The duty was to fight with her and there he felt in love with her. The plafond is the result of the restoration work. 5 kilos of gold were used for the restoration of this hall.

White Dinning Room (Felten, classical style)

5 chandeliers of gilded bronze and crystal glass were made in Russia. The crystal glass was called “amethyst”. Some manganese ore were added to the melted glass to get a smoky effect.

The table is laid for 30 persons in the fashion of the XVIII century. The service was made in Wedgwood in the 70^th of the XVIII century to the order of Catherine II for this palace. 196 pieces survived. Wedgwood is an English factory of fine pottery with delicately designed. Cream colored pottery was highly thought by Queen Charlotte and the therefore such pottery was called “queen’s ware”.

Chinese Rooms

There’re 2 Chinese rooms designed by Vallin de la Mothe in the beginning of the XVIII century. They were meant for the collection of Chinese objects of art. China was faraway mysterious country with totally different culture. That’s why it attracted people’s attention and for a while everything Chinese was in fashion.

The walls were covered with black panels made in China in XVII century but only 2 survived. They were found in German dugouts where they were used to fortify earthen walls. The rest of the panels are result of the restoration work by Paleh masters.

The inlaid parquet floor is made of 13 valuable kinds of wood, such as ebony, sandalwood, mahogany and plane tree restored by group of Russian masters from surviving drawings.

Portrait Hall

It’s in the very center of the palace and occupies its whole width. At the time of Peter the Great the hall housed the collection of paintings by Dutch and Flemish artist and it was decorated by wooden panels. In 1764 368 paintings were purchased by Catherine the Great from the widow of Italian painter Pietro Rotari.

Court painter Rotari came to Russia in 1726 and became the court painter of Elizabeth. His works was very popular in Russia where majority of his portraits can be found. He influenced the work of several Russian portrait painters (Antropov, Rokotov, Levitsky). Rotari painted a great number of portraits of young girls for the Chinese palace in Lomonosov (Oranienbaum). Some are in the Yusupov palace in Saint-Petersburg. Only 8 girls were his models. They were dressed in various Asian and European costumes. That’s why at first glance pictures were chosen not so much for the artistic value but for decorative qualities.

This room acquired the name “The Study of Mod and Graces”.