426-955-717The Palace-and-Park ensembles
- The Palace-and-Park ensemble Peterhof
- The Palace-and-Park ensemble Tsarskoe Selo
- The Palace-and-Park ensemble Pavlovsk
- The Palace-and-Park ensemble Gatchina
- The Palace-and-Park ensemble Oranienbaum
- The Palace-and-Park ensemble Strelna
To return to the list of all sights
The Palace-and-Park ensemble Peterhof
Peterhof is known throughout the world, this is the land of fountains, the magic of playful, gold-sparkling water, palaces reviving the epoch of Peter the Great, brilliant interiors of Elizabethan time and rooms of the Cottage, the palace of Nikolay I which have fully preserved artistic and domestic details in their original brightness. Peterhof is located 29 km from St.Petersburg on the shore of the Gulf of Finland. The park-and-palace ensemble is a unique artistic, historical and architectural monument of the XVIII-XIX cent.
The name of «Peterhof» was first mentioned in 1705 referring to the seaside settlement where Peter the Great made a halt on his way from St.Petersburg to Kronshtadt. The construction started in 1714 and within ten years planning were made for the Nizhniy (Lower) Park with the channel (square 102,5 hectares) and the Verkhny (Upper) Garden (15 hectares), true masterpieces of parking architecture. They contain over 150 fountains, 5 big-scale cascades. The Lviny (Lions) Cascade, the second largest, was put into operation after 60-year break. There are 10 museums in the complex open for the public.
Excursion reservation: incoming@favorit.spb.ru
The Palace-and-Park ensemble Tsarskoe Selo
Russian greatest poet ever - Alexander Pushkin (1799 - 1837) - lived and studied there for some time and wrote a lot of beautiful poems in this charming little place. Originally, these lands belonged to Peter I's wife Catherine I. A modest palace was put up for her at the beginning of the 18th century (named Catherine's Palace after her), which was later redecorated by F.-B. Rastrelli for Elizabeth I in the baroque style.
Later it was the favorite summer residence of Catherine the Great (ruled 1762 - 1796), redecorated for her by the Scottish architect Charles Cameron in the classical style. Still, the palace retained its baroque exterior and that is one of the most beautiful palaces in the world! You won't be able to find palaces of this kind anywhere outside Russia.
Inside, you'll find both pompous baroque and elegant classical interiors. Examples of both styles of the great empresses - Elizabeth and Catherine - can be observed in the palace.
There is also the park all around Catherine's Palace which is so pleasantly shady in summer, so flowery in spring and so poetic in autumn and winter. This place is for visiting all year round. There are a lot of quiet corners in the park where you will suddenly discover a lonely sculpture of a girl sitting on a rock in front of a broken jug with spring water flowing out of it; or a marvelous bridge resembling a temple, or just anything else - the park is full of surprises.
Excursion reservation: incoming@favorit.spb.ru
The Palace-and-Park ensemble Pavlovsk
The town's history started in 1777 when Catherine II granted some 362 desyatinas of land along the Slavyanka River to her son Paul upon the birth of his first child. The name Pavlovsk derives from Paul's name in Russian, Pavel. In 1780, the fashionable Scottish architect Charles Cameron was made responsible for construction activities in Pavlovsk. His Neoclassical design for the Grand Palace was approved by Paul two years later. Around the palace a huge English park was laid out, with numerous temples, colonnades, bridges, and statues.
Prior to the revolution, Pavlovsk was a favourite summer retreat for well-to-do inhabitants of the Russian capital. The life of Pavlovsk's dachniki was described by Dostoyevsky in his novel The Idiot.
To facilitate transportation, the first railway in Russia was opened between St Petersburg and Pavlovsk on October 10, 1837. The railway station was used as a sort of concert hall, with Johann Strauss II, Franz Liszt, and Robert Schumann among many celebrities that performed there. The impressive 'Vauxhall Pavilion' is also used to attract customers to the railway line. Strauss' finer pieces resulted around the time he held his concerts there. The pavillion's notoriety eventually caused the word "Vokzal" to enter the Russian language with the meaning "substantial railway station building".
The Pavlovsk palace is probably the best preserved of Russian imperial residences outside the capital. The sumptuous neoclassical interior of the palace was faithfully restored after the great fire in 1803. The damage sustained by the palace during the German occupation in 1941–1943, though considerable, was not so devastating as in the case of Peterhof and Tsarskoye Selo.
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The Palace-and-park ensemble Gatchina
The palace and park complex of Gatchina, a town located 45 km south-west of St. Petersburg, is an outstanding example of eighteenth-century landscape architecture The Gatchina Palace, which was converted into a museum in 1918, was famous for its exquisite interior decoration, as exempified by the White Hall, the Marble Dining Room, the Crimson Drawing Room, the Grecian and Arms Galleries, and for the wealth of its collections of painting, sculpture, and decorative and applied art.
On the shores of the lakes and islands there are many pavilions which are outwardly very simple and austere but truly magnificent inside : the Venus pavilion, the Birch Cabin (which outwardly resembles a stack of birch firewood), the Mask portal, the Farm pavilion. The parks extending around the palace are undoubtedly beautiful, such as the Palace park, the Silvia park, the Priorate park, the Menagerie park. The Dvortsoviy park is laid out amid the complex system of intertwined rivers and lakes. The differences in height between the lakes and elevated islands allow to see the structures or the park's places as if from the bird's eye view. Below the lakes one can see beautiful shores, hills, arched bridges, terraces and observation towers. Certain parts of the park combine regular and landscape styles. The lakes, numerous glades and meadows are connected between them with vistas. Inimitable atmosphere of charm and poeticalness hovers over this park and palace ensemble.
The Palace-and-park ensemble Oranienbaum
Work on the palace and park ensemble of Oranienbaum began under Prince Alexander Menshikov (who owned these lands in the early 18th century) and took almost a century to complete. In 1727 Oranienbaum passed to the State and served as the summer residence of the imperial family. The palaces were nationalized after the 1917 revolution and were gradually turned into museums. Today, the Oranienbaum estate comprises three ensembles: the Great Palace, Peterstadt and the "Personal Dacha".
The Great Palace (1710-27, architects Giovanni Mario Fontana and Gottfried Johann Schadel) was built in the Baroque style. It is one of the few surviving structures from the Petrine era that has retained many of its original features despite multiple reconstructions carried out at different times by Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli, Antonio Rinaldi, Carlo Rossi and other architects. The palace complex also incorporates the Picture House, constructed in the first quarter of the 18th century, and the Lower Garden, one of the first regular gardens in Russia.
The palace ensemble of Peterstadt features the Gate of Honour (1757, architect Rinaldi) - a relic of the Poteshny (Toy) Fortress of the heir to the throne (the future Emperor Peter III), Peter Ill's two-storey palace (1758-60, architect Rinaldi) and Peter's Park, which acquired its present form in the 1830s. The rooms of the palace abound with painted panels, intricate stuccowork and parquetry designs. On display is a collection of 17th and 18th century Western European paintings. There is also an exhibition devoted to the history of the construction of the palace and park ensemble in Oranienbaum.
The ensemble of the "Personal Dacha" consists of Catherine II's Chinese Palace (1762-68, architect Rinaldi), the Sliding Hill Pavilion (1762-74, architect Rinaldi) and the surrounding Upper Park.
The highlight of the estate, the Chinese Palace - is a splendid monument of Rococo architecture. Its interiors are striking for the wealth and variety of their decor. Particularly exquisite is the Buglework Study. The state rooms are adorned with stylized Chinese motifs, hence the name. The palace houses collections of paintings by artists of the Venetian School, Russian and Western European porcelain, furniture and works of Oriental decorative and applied art, which were very highly rated in the 18th century. The halls of the Sliding Hill Pavilion (the hill itself has not survived) contain a display of porcelain statuettes from Meissen.
The Palace-and-park ensemble Strelna
Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna belongs to the complex "State Residence - Palace of Congresses" lying 20 km to the north of St.Petersburg. Palace and park ensemble Strelna is one of the most famous architectural monuments in the vicinity of St. Petersburg. Founded by order of Peter the Great, as a main seaside residence, its mission was to become a Russian Versailles, a symbol of power and prosperity of Russia.
Now the whole Konstantinovsky ensemble is the realm of canals, rivers and bridges. River-channels were cleared, the Big, the Carp, the Trout, the Flower and the Mill pondswere renewed and the system of sluices was restored. Twenty bridges were built including three drawbridgesconnecting the park with the Peter Island where the Pavilion of Negotiations is placed. The stocky domedbuilding was constructed on the place of Leblon's forethought Temple of Water. The Palace of Congresses ofthe Russian Federation supervises such important objects as the small helidrom in the West Park and themodern Press-Centre based in the restored building of 1960s on the seashore. It transmits news all overthe world. The cottage village called "The Consular Village" with comfortable houses is now ready for guests.The new 4-star hotel is opened in the rebuilt building of the Arctic College. The former Stable Building isnow adapted for administrative and household needs.
By the 300th anniversary of St.Petersburg the residence had been totally renovated. Official ceremonies with the participation of the presidents from different countries took place there.
© 2000-2007
