Petrodvorets Palace. Grand Peterhof Palace - the crown of the royal residence

Stage 1 of construction: 1715-1725

Architects I.F. brownstein,J.-B. Leblon, N. Michetti.

2nd stage of construction: 1745-1755 Architect F.B. Rastrelli.

Majestic and refined, the Grand Peterhof Palace, whose facade stretches along the terrace for almost 300 meters, occupies a dominant position in the composition of the Peterhof ensemble, linking the Upper Garden and the Lower Park into a single artistic whole. "Spreading its wings" over the water extravaganza of the Grand Cascade, it unites and forms around itself a harmonious system of alleys, architectural structures and fountains.

The existing appearance of the palace was formed over almost a century and a half. In the Petrine era, it was a small two-story building, the width of which did not exceed the width of the Grand Cascade, it was called the Upper or Upland Chambers and served for receptions and holidays. The idea of ​​the location and the original appearance of the palace belonged to Peter himself, and it was embodied by the architect I.F. Braunstein and such prominent architects as J.-B. Leblon and N. Michetti. In 1732, two galleries were added to the palace according to the project of M. Zemtsov, but the modest Peter's Palace no longer corresponded to the splendor and luxury of the Russian court of that time.

This was the reason for its restructuring by F.B. Rastrelli. The beloved architect of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna had to perform a difficult task - not only to create a pearl of the Elizabethan Baroque, but also to preserve the walls of the Petrovsky Palace, integrating them into a new environment. Rastrelli coped with the task set brilliantly. Another floor appeared in the palace, the central space increased significantly, to which the wings of one-story galleries, completed with side buildings - the Church and the Building under the coat of arms, adjoined. The interiors of the palace, created by the architect, amazed with their dynamics and fabulous luxury. The walls of the halls were decorated with gilded carvings, mirrors created the impression of endless perspectives and visually enlarged the interior space. The Oak Cabinet of Peter the Great, preserved by Rastrelli, has become a relic placed in the magnificent frame of the new palace.

In the 60s-70s of the 18th century, baroque splendor went out of fashion, and the interiors of the palace began to take on a different shape, in accordance with the new style - classicism. At that time, stucco compositions became the main element of decoration, creating the impression of nobility, simplicity and sophistication of artistic taste. By order of Empress Catherine II, architect Yu.M. Felten re-decorates the Dining Room, Throne and Chesme Halls, and J.-B. Vallin - Delamotte creates in 1766 - 67. two Chinese cabinets.

The palace also changed in the 19th century. In 1846, by order of Emperor Nicholas I, in the eastern wing overlooking the Upper Garden, architect A.I. Stackenschneider, having built on the third floor, creates eight interiors on the occasion of the marriage of the emperor's daughter Olga Nikolaevna with Prince Charles of Württemberg. Since then, the eastern wing has been called the Olginskaya half of the Grand Peterhof Palace.

The architectural appearance of the Grand Palace, formed as a result of all the reconstructions, bears distinct traces of various artistic tastes and styles, but talent and professional respect for each other allowed architects from different eras to create a finished work.

The Grand Peterhof Palace has long been the center of social life. Feasts, receptions, balls and masquerades were held here, to which up to three thousand guests were invited. In the court church they got married, baptized children and served prayers in commemoration of military victories.

During the Great Patriotic War, the Grand Palace was burned down and blown up. It seemed that it would be impossible to raise it from the ruins. But already in May 1964, the first revived halls were opened. And today, visitors will have a fascinating journey through the magical palace, filled with objects of decorative and applied art, magnificent furniture and excellent works of sculpture and painting.

The address: Peterhof
Start of construction: 1747
Completion of construction: 1752
Architect: Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli
Object of cultural heritage of the Russian Federation
Coordinates: 59°53"04.5"N 29°54"31.7"E

The majestic building of the Grand Palace stands on a high terrace between the Upper Garden and the Lower Park of Peterhof. It dominates other buildings and is the compositional center of the entire architectural ensemble. This palace was built over a century and a half, and the best architects of their time were engaged in its design.

Great Peterhof Palace from a bird's eye view

The history of the construction of the palace

When Peter I chose a place for the main palace, he entrusted the experienced architects Johann Friedrich Braunstein, Jean-Baptiste Leblon and Nicolo Michetti to realize his dream. In Peter's time, the palace building had only two floors and did not exceed the width of the Grand Cascade in size. Since the palace stood on a hill and rose 16 m above the green parks, it was called Upland or Upper Chambers.

In 1732, the architect Mikhail Grigoryevich Zemtsov added two galleries to the building, but the demands of the Russian court grew, and it was decided to completely reconstruct the main palace of Peterhof. The project of a luxurious royal residence was prepared by the brilliant architect and master of the Elizabethan Baroque Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli. He did an excellent job with the task - he preserved the old Peter's building and gave it a majestic baroque look. The architect erected an additional floor, increased the space in the center of the palace and added two buildings on the sides, which could be accessed through one-story galleries.

View of the palace from the upper garden from the Neptune Fountain

What was the palace like in the 18th-20th centuries

In the 1760s and 70s, luxurious baroque interiors began to go out of fashion, so the premises of the palace were decorated in a more restrained classical style. By order of Catherine II, two original Chinese cabinets appeared in the building, and the halls were decorated with stucco.

Petrodvorets was loved in the imperial family. In a small church, the heirs were baptized and married. In the main building, magnificent celebrations and picturesque masquerades were held, which gathered up to 3,000 guests. Palace buildings underwent constant alterations, and each time the architects adapted them to the new needs of the Russian court. In the middle of the 19th century, the daughter of Nicholas I, Olga, married a German prince. On this occasion, eight new rooms were arranged in the eastern wing of the palace, and the extension itself began to be called the Olginskaya Half.

View of the palace from the lower park from the Samson fountain

During the German occupation of 1941-1944, the palace was badly damaged. The retreating Nazis burned and blew up the building. The scale of destruction was so great that few believed that the pride of Peterhof would ever be restored. However, thanks to the painstaking work of builders and restorers, a miracle happened. The first renovated halls of the palace were able to receive visitors already in 1964.

Palace today

Despite traces of different architectural styles, the Grand Palace looks very harmonious. The artistic integrity of the building was the result of the work of talented architects who worked here. Today the building is open to tourists. Travelers on it can enjoy beautiful interiors, antique furniture, collections of works of arts and crafts and paintings.

View of the palace from the sea channel

The facade, facing the Gulf of Finland, stretches for 268 m. It makes a strong impression, but in fact the palace is rather narrow and not as large as it looks from the Sea Canal. Inside it there are about 30 halls and rooms.

Visitors begin their acquaintance with the palace from the Main Staircase, located in the western wing. The snow-white walls around the stairs are richly decorated with gold and skillfully painted with tempera, so no one has any doubts that the flights of stairs lead to the imperial residence. Carved bas-reliefs, vases and cartouches shine brightly and create a festive mood. The ceiling above the stairs is decorated with a painted rectangular ceiling depicting an allegory of spring.

Dance hall

The entire western wing is occupied by the Dance Hall - the most magnificent in the palace. According to legend, Elizaveta Petrovna, who built it, ordered not to spare gold decorations for this hall, because it served to receive merchants who were very partial to gold. Spectacular fake mirrors on the northern and western walls are considered to be the highlight of the Dance Hall. The same mirrors are placed in the openings between the windows, and their abundance creates the effect of space multiplication.

The blue room was named after the color of the walls covered with iridescent blue fabric. Since the 18th century, this small room was used for the palace office. Today, in the Blue Room, you can see rare furniture from the 19th century, beautiful bronzes and vases. The Chesme Hall was created to glorify the famous Battle of Chesme (1770), and the episodes of the battle are reflected on the picturesque canvases that adorn the walls of the hall.

Throne room

The largest room in the palace is the Throne Room, which occupies 330 sq. m. The noble white color and stucco give it a special solemnity. The Throne Room contains many paintings and 12 elegant chandeliers. The Audience Hall is much smaller and in former times served for receptions. Its walls are decorated with false mirrored windows, expressive carved capitals and pilasters, and the vault is a large picturesque ceiling.

Next to the Audience Hall is the White Dining Room, decorated in matte tones. Unlike most rooms of the palace, there is no painting in it, and the walls are decorated only with plaster moldings. Now in the dining room there is an old service, designed for 30 guests and consisting of 196 items.

picture room

From the old Nagorny Chambers, the double-height Picture Hall has been preserved, on the walls of which there are many portraits hung in trellises. The female half of the palace begins with the Partridge Living Room, so named because its walls are upholstered in delicate silk fabric depicting floral ornaments and partridges. It is followed by the Dressing Room, Divan Room and the Empress's Study.

oak cabinet

Back in the middle of the 18th century, when the palace was being rebuilt, it was decided to keep the personal office of Peter I. The memorial room is decorated with elegant oak panels carved during the life of the emperor by a skilled sculptor from France, Nicolas Pinault. Before the fascist troops occupied the suburbs of St. Petersburg, the museum staff managed to remove eight oak panels to a safe place, so today visitors to Peterhof can see the original furnishings of Peter the Great.

oak cabinet

Warm shades of wood on the walls and parquet flooring make the square room very cozy. It has a low ceiling and four windows covered with massive oak shutters. The office has a marble fireplace and two mirrors with carved frames, and the chairs have comfortable wicker seats.

Items related to Peter I are stored here. This is an alarm clock made by a craftsman from Augsburg, Johannes Brenner. On the shelves are books from the personal library of the emperor. Skillful craftsmen from Italy made it from bronze and precious woods and inlaid with colored marble, pieces of jasper and lapis lazuli.

Large blue living room

Information for tourists

The Grand Palace is located in the Lower Park of Peterhof, the territory of which is open daily from 9.00 to 20.00. Park ticket offices are open from 8.45 to 19.00. The palace accepts tourists on any day except Monday and the last Tuesday of the month, from 10.30 to 19.00, and on Saturdays - until 21.00. Please note that ticket offices close 1 hour 15 minutes before closing. In summer, there are so many people who want to see the palace that the halls and rooms are open only for excursion groups.

The most outstanding architectural landmark of the Peterhof Palace and Park Ensemble is the huge baroque building of the Grand Peterhof Palace, also known as Peterhof Palace.

Initially, a rather modest royal palace, built in the style of "Peter's Baroque" in 1714-1725 according to the project of Zh-B. Leblon, and then N. Michetti, was rebuilt by Elizabeth on the model of Versailles (architect F.-B. Rastrelli), in the so-called mature baroque style. The length of the facade facing the sea is 268 m. The view of the facade from the Upper or Lower Parks is impressive, but this is more of an optical illusion - the palace itself is rather narrow and not as large as it looks. It has about 30 halls, including richly decorated ceremonial halls, stuccoed in marble, with painted ceilings, inlaid parquet and gilded walls.

Main staircase

The main entrance is located in the western wing of the palace. Such a solution allowed B. F. Rastrelli to deploy a suite of ceremonial halls, strung on an axis along the facade (this principle was most fully implemented by the architect in the next largest palace, the Catherine Palace). The square hall with a two-tone staircase is one of the most spectacular interiors of the palace, distinguished by its ceremonial and luxurious decoration. In it, Rastrelli achieved the maximum synthesis of arts, using almost all possible means of decoration: oil painting of the ceiling, tempera painting of the walls, stucco, wood carving, forged metal. In the interior of the stairs, various sculptural forms are diversely presented: bas-reliefs, cartouches, statues, rocaille, vases.

But the main element of decor, traditional for Rastrelli's interiors, is gilded woodcarving. The execution of the work dates back to 1751; a team of Russian masters was headed by Joseph Shtalmeer. The lower part of the stairs is decorated with carved caryatids. The most notable sculptures in the upper part are allegorical representations of the seasons that adorn the upper landing of the stairs. Spring, Summer (on the railing), Autumn and Winter (placed in niches opposite the former) are represented as young girls. Only Winter “survived” to our time, the rest are reproductions. The door portal leading to the Dance Hall is designed in the form of a triumphal arch. The decoration of the monumental desudeport is two carved figures “Loyalty” and “Justice”.

Dusdeport, decorated with figures "Loyalty" and "Justice" (photo by Andrey Korzun)

Autumn and Winter

Spring and Summer

The walls are richly painted with tempera; flower garlands and other floral motifs, double-headed eagles, the monograms of Elizaveta Petrovna are intertwined in the ornaments. The painted figures of Apollo, Diana and Flora are inscribed in illusory niches; the deceptive effect emphasizes the airiness and lightness of the interior. This is also served by eight large two-story windows, letting in an abundance of light onto the stairs. In the upper tiers, there are mirrored fake windows characteristic of the Baroque, designed to enhance the feeling of spaciousness due to lighting effects.

The ceiling above the stairs is decorated with the ceiling "Allegory of Spring" by Bartolomeo Tarsia. From the time of its creation, the pictorial work was perceived as a glorification of Elizabeth Petrovna and her reign, marked by the flourishing of arts, sciences and crafts. The general symbolism of the interior was interpreted in the same way: it is revealed as an allegory of the prosperity of the Russian state and its prosperity under the auspices of the arts. The major and solemn mood of the main staircase was continued in the Dance Hall.

Dance hall

Dance (Merchant) hall with an area of ​​about 270 sq.m. occupies the entire western wing of the palace. In terms of decoration - the most magnificent interior of the palace, designed in a special festive vein. This hall is distinguished by an abundance of gold, there is a legend that Catherine the Second ordered not to spare precious metal when decorating the hall, as "merchants love gold." It was created in 1751-1752 and completely retained the original plan of Rastrelli.

The peculiarity of the Dance Hall is the fake mirror windows that occupy the main space of the blank western and northern walls. On the opposite walls there are real windows, large, in two tiers. The walls between the windows, both real and false, are occupied by huge mirrors.

The abundance of mirrors creates the effect of multiplied space.

The decoration is dominated by gilded woodcarving. In the piers between the windows, above the mirrors, there are tondos on the themes of Virgil's Aeneid and Ovid's Metamorphoses. The padugas, which create a smooth transition from the walls to the ceiling, are decorated with picturesque medallions and stucco brackets. The plafond “Apollo on Parnassus”, created especially for the hall, occupies the entire vault. The ornamental pattern of maple, walnut, light and dark oak parquet complements the interior.

blue reception

A small room associated with the Dance and Chesme halls; also has access through glass doors to the gallery connecting the main part of the palace with the Armorial Corps. It got its name from the decoration of the walls: they are covered with blue silk damask. An auxiliary room served as a kind of office; secretaries were permanently located here, as well as cameras-furiers who recorded the palace chronicle in special journals (they recorded the arrival or departure of important people, couriers, as well as the import of furnishings, etc.). The interior was created by B.F. Rastrelli and has not been changed in the future.

The current exposition of the museum in the Blue Reception Room presents pieces of furniture from the middle of the 19th century in the “second Baroque” style, bronzes and vases of the Imperial Porcelain Factory in the Empire style. The walls are decorated with paintings; one of them by I. K. Aivazovsky with the Peterhof landscape (“View Grand Palace and Grand Cascade). The reception hall is distinguished by the multiplicity of perspectives typical for the closing room of the baroque layout: the Upper Garden and the Lower Park are visible from the windows, through the glass doors - a gallery to the Armorial building. The photo below shows a fragment of the interior of the Blue Reception (author - Andrey Korzun)

Chesme Hall

The Memorial Chesme Hall of the Grand Peterhof Palace is the most famous of all the halls of the building. It bears its name in memory of the Battle of Chesma on June 25-26, 1770 in the Aegean Sea, during which the Russian fleet won a decisive victory during the Russian-Turkish war of 1768-1774. Catherine II, having received news of the destruction of the Turkish fleet in the Battle of Chesme, decided to immortalize the glorious event in a series of paintings. In the same 1770, the German artist Jacob Philipp Hackert, who had a reputation as a masterful landscape painter, was commissioned to create a cycle. The fleet was still in the “archipelago campaign” (ended in 1774), when work on the paintings began. Hackert was living and working in Italy at the time; in order for the artist to accurately depict the explosion and fire on the ship, on the raid of Livorno in 1771, the command of the Russian fleet, in the presence of a crowd of thousands of onlookers, blew up and sunk the old 60-gun frigate “St. Barbara". The episode was needed to work on some canvases, including the most famous painting of the series “The Burning of the Turkish Fleet on the Night of June 26, 1770”. 6 of the 12 paintings in the series are dedicated directly to the Battle of Chesme. Other paintings reflect subsequent battles with the remnants of the Turkish fleet and various stages of the long-term campaign of the Russian squadron under the command of G. A. Spiridov and A. G. Orlov. The paintings were created on the basis of documentary descriptions and diagrams of the direct participants in the hostilities. In 1773, the artist completed work on the canvases; the place for them was determined in advance, they became the Anteroom of the Peterhof Palace. Yu. M. Felten supervised the restructuring of the hall. From the original Rastrelli interior, only the parquet, the garnish in the piers and the plafond by L. Werner “Ceres presenting the ears of corn to Triptolemus” were left. Felten, creating the interior in a classicist vein, used a minimal decorative design: only a combination of white and light yellow walls, stucco ornaments of a strict pattern on the ceiling and bas-reliefs placed in desudeportes. One of them, “Turkish trophies”, is directly related to the theme of the Battle of Chesma; others develop nautical and heroic themes. In 1779, large canvases (each approx. 3.2 x 2.2 m in size) took their current place. The purpose of the hall, despite the radical alteration, has not changed; as before, courtiers, the highest dignitaries of the empire, and foreign envoys gathered here before the beginning of the palace ceremony.

During the Great Patriotic War, the interior was completely destroyed. The paintings were evacuated, but the plafond could not be dismantled in a hurry, and it burned down. During the restoration, a replacement was found for him, the work of Augustine Tervesten “The Sacrifice of Iphigenia”. Thematically, it fits even more into the interior of the Chesme Hall, as it was created on the basis of a story from the history of the Trojan War that unfolded on the shores of the Aegean Sea. The Chesme Hall was restored in 1969. The appearance of the memorial hall in Peterhof is not accidental: Peter I equipped the naval imperial residence as a monument to Russia's victories in the Northern War; the theme of the glorification of Russian weapons was developed in the Chesme Hall. It did not become the only monument of the glorious victory: at the place where Catherine received the news of the burning of the Turkish fleet, the Chesme Church was erected, the Chesme Palace was built, the Chesme Column was built in the park of Tsarskoye Selo, in Gatchina - the Chesme obelisk; also in the Gatchina Palace, the Chesme Gallery was subsequently equipped. The theme of the memorable battle was later addressed by I. K. Aivazovsky; The prototype of his painting “Chesme Battle” was the work of J. F. Gakkert.

Throne room

The Throne Hall is the largest (330 sq. m.) and the most solemn hall of Petrodvorets. Initially, the hall was called the Great Hall and did not have a clearly defined purpose. The interior was created by Yu. M. Felten in 1777-1778. From the previous baroque interior, designed by F. B. Rastrelli, only the parquet remained. The interior, interpreted in the style of classicism, but in a baroque volume, is distinguished by restrained coloring with the dominance of white and monumental stucco decoration: large stucco ornaments of acanthus leaves on the padugas, oak and laurel leaves (symbols of perseverance and glory), accentuating the ceiling; wreaths and garlands are made in an underlined volume, protruding from the planes at considerable distances, and sometimes breaking away from them.

The main element of decorating the hall is painting, the most significant places in the interior are assigned to it. The western end wall is almost completely occupied by four canvases by R. Peton, depicting episodes of the Battle of Chesme, thereby forming a plot link with the previous hall. The English painter Richard Peton, having learned about the battle, himself invited the Russian envoy in London, A. S. Musin-Pushkin, to paint several paintings on this topic. His wish was accepted favorably, and in 1772 four paintings arrived in St. Petersburg. At first they were located in the Winter Palace; then, during the creation of the Throne Hall, they were transferred to Peterhof. Richard Peton, unlike Jakob Hackert, did not have accurate information about the location of the ships, so the paintings only approximately interpret the events of the battle. Nevertheless, they were performed at a high professional level and have undoubted artistic merit. Nearby, above the door portals, in a stucco frame, there are ceremonial portraits of Peter I and Catherine I, on the opposite wall, portraits of Anna Ioannovna and Elizaveta Petrovna (all created by G. Buchholz) are located symmetrically to them; 12 portraits of Peter I's relatives are placed in the piers between the windows of the second tier. Gypsum bas-reliefs complementing the interior echo the paintings. On the sides of the “Procession to Peterhof” are the allegorical melallions of I.P. Prokofiev “Truth and Virtue” and “Justice and Security”, directly above them are bas-reliefs on historical subjects “The Return of Prince Svyatoslav from the Danube after the victory over the Pechenegs” and “Baptism Princess Olga in Constantinople under the name of Helena.

The central place of the eastern wall is occupied by an equestrian portrait of Catherine II, the largest painting in the hall. The painting, which is called “Procession to Peterhof”, was created in 1762 by V. Eriksen. Catherine is depicted in the uniform of a colonel of the Semyonovsky regiment, riding her beloved horse Brilliant. The canvas captures the historical moment of the palace coup on June 28, 1762, when Catherine, who had just been proclaimed empress, leads the guards’ campaign from the capital to Peterhof to finally remove her husband Peter III from power. Contemporaries noted that this is the most similar portrait of the Empress. This painting has an eventful history. After the death of Catherine, instead of the work of V. Eriksen, the hall was decorated with a tapestry “Peter I saves fishermen in Lake Ladoga” (the hall was named Petrovsky); the picture moved to the Peterhof English Palace. In 1917, along with other valuables of the English Palace, she was evacuated to Moscow; for some time was in the Armory, then - in the Tretyakov Gallery. Only in 1969, during the restoration of the hall, the portrait returned to its historical place. Near the equestrian portrait of Catherine there is a Russian-made throne chair from the first quarter of the 18th century. According to legend, the throne was made by order of A. D. Menshikov for his palace in St. Petersburg to receive a frequent guest, Peter I. The oak throne is gilded, upholstered in red velvet, and there is an embroidered double-headed eagle on the back. The foot bench is an authentic item from the furnishings of the Peterhof Palace; made in the middle of the 18th century.

An important place in the design of the hall is played by chandeliers with amethyst-colored pendants in the shape of oak leaves. Yu. M. Felten, working on the interior of the hall, decided not to order new ones, but to use the lamps that were already in the warehouses of the palace department. 12 chandeliers, baroque in style, seem the same at first glance. But in the hall there are four types of them, different in size and shape. Chandeliers were made at the St. Petersburg State Glass Factory. Similar chandeliers are also located in the Chesme Hall of the Palace and in the White Dining Room.

The entire picturesque decor of the hall, complemented by bas-reliefs, has a pronounced political motif. The throne room was created and designed in order to clearly demonstrate the right of Catherine II to reign, her spiritual succession as the successor of the work of Peter I. The theme of glorifying the deeds of Empress Catherine, both directly (paintings by R. Peton), and allegorically, is also expressed in the hall. An important place in the design is also occupied by the theme of the recently ended Russian-Turkish war: in addition to the works of R. Peton, the bas-reliefs of A. M. Ivanov and M. I. Kozlovsky are referred to it through historical parallels. The hall was used for official ceremonies and events; but also, on special occasions, balls and gala dinners were held here. The throne room was restored in 1969. Throne room Petrodvorets so huge that even concerts are arranged here)

audience hall

audience hall Grand Peterhof Palace- a relatively small hall among the front rooms of the palace, the interior of which was designed by B. F. Rastrelli. The original plan for the construction of the palace assumed the existence of two small rooms on the site of the hall, with a courtyard of light between them, but this plan of the architect was rejected. He had to try to fit the Audience Hall into the same dimensions. The difficulty was that the space for the room turned out to be squeezed by the Throne Room on one side, and the White Dining Room on the other; and large double-height windows at the same time had to go on both sides of the palace. It turned out a narrow and high space of the room, elongated across the palace. The architect demonstrated outstanding compositional skill, successfully coping with the decoration of a complex space. The narrow hall of Rastrelli, as it were, opened up, using a characteristic technique with the device of false mirrored windows in the second tier of the longitudinal walls (five on each side). The ceiling ceiling, unlike other Rastrelli palace interiors, is emphatically voluminous, attracting attention, with a clear gilded decor imitating a trellis mesh.

Another means of highlighting the vertical volume of the hall was pilasters in the corners and on the longitudinal walls, ending with expressive carved capitals (the architect rarely used an order in the interiors of the palace). Mirrors, a traditional baroque element of decoration, are fully used in the lower tier of the hall. A huge mirror in the center above the fireplace and in front of it, slightly smaller mirrors to the right and left of them on the longitudinal walls, and two more in the window piers - so many illusory perspectives contribute to the visual expansion of space. The main decorative element is traditional for Rastrelli - it is gilded woodcarving. Ornaments of mirror frames are distinguished by a particularly complex and whimsical pattern. An interesting detail of the interior are female busts crowning the ornament around the windows; the motif is repeated in the form of women's heads above the second-tier fake windows.

The vault is decorated with the only painting in the Audience Hall: a ceiling depicting the final episode of Torquato Tasso's poem "Jerusalem Delivered". The plafond was painted in 1754 by P. Ballarini specifically for the “Audienz Chamber” (the Italian artist worked in Russia for a short time and did not create anything else here). The pictorial work differs from the rest of the plafonds of the palace by an unusual choice of theme: instead of conditional allegories, a love-heroic poem was chosen. During the war, the plafond died; now in its place is a recreated copy. In the photo below - the central part of the ceiling, author - Andrey Korzun

The hall was used for small state receptions. In the middle of the 19th century, when it became a practice to set tables in all the main halls of the palace for ceremonial dinners, there was a place for ladies of state; the hall received its second name - the State Ladies.

white dining room

The original decor of the Dining Room, made in the traditional manner for B. F. Rastrelli, did not last long. In 1774-1775, Yu. M. Felten significantly altered the hall, and by the nature of the alteration, it received its current name. The white dining room is an expressive contrast to the previous interior: after the abundance of glittering gilding and the play of mirrors, almost complete monochrome and matte texture. The interior is designed in the strict canons of classicism, and in contrast to the two neighboring rooms, the differences between the two stylistic approaches can be easily traced. There is no ceiling in the hall, the ceiling is emphasized by a monumental cornice, which, however, does not come into contact with the plane of the ceiling; carved gilded wood panels gave way to plaster moldings; desudeportes have lost their lightness and are reinforced with sandriks. Horizontal rods, cornices, sandriks create a compositionally closed interior. In contrast to the baroque desire to reveal the space with perspectives from windows or through mirror effects, the classicist approach is characterized by the desire for a balanced, self-sufficient, harmoniously organized and internally complete space, which was fully realized in Felten's interior.

The white dining room also stands out among the rest of the palace halls with the absence of painting. The wall bas-reliefs, which in other interiors performed only an auxiliary role, carry out the function of the main decorative design. All stucco panels were made by Russian sculptors. The plots of the bas-reliefs are allegories of abundance (cupids supporting baskets with fruits and flowers), compositions from hunting trophies, in the upper tier - compositions from musical instruments. In the piers of the upper tier there are also medallions by F. G. Gordeev on the mythological story of Dionysus and Ariadne.

Panel “Hunting trophies” (photo by Andrey Korzun)

In the modern exposition of the hall, the Wedgwood Service (part of it, 196 items) is exhibited. Dishes made of earthenware of an unusual cream shade with a delicate floral pattern of lilac-lilac color were made at the Etruria factory in Staffordshire by J. Wedgwood. This is one of the early works of the English ceramist, who later became world famous. Catherine II ordered the service in 1768; in 1779 it was received in full and included about 1500 items. Not all items on display are made in the Wedgwood factory; over time, the dishes were beaten and partially replenished due to copies created at Russian manufactories. Now a set of 30 covers of 196 items is being demonstrated in the hall. Court dinners or suppers in the 18th-19th centuries were ceremonial in nature and lasted for several hours; the menu included several changes; so that the dishes would not cool down during conversations, the plates were placed on “vodyanitsy” filled with boiling water. Gala lunches and dinners were served by a staff of up to 500 people, including cooks, footmen, coffee makers, etc.

The white dining room closes the suite of large ceremonial halls of the palace. Its location in the layout draws the line between official halls and private palace chambers. Two small rooms adjoin the White Dining Room - Buffet Rooms (the name has been fixed since the middle of the 19th century; before that, one of them was called the Heating Room). The utility rooms were used to prepare dishes for serving and store dishes; were furnished with oak tables and cupboards. Now in one of the Buffets, paintings from the collection of the museum by A. Sanders, made in 1748, are exhibited.

Chinese cabinets

The most exotic rooms in terms of decor Peterhof Palace no doubt are the Western and Eastern Chinese cabinets. They are located symmetrically with respect to the central axis of the palace, framing the Picture Hall. This is the part of the palace that originally existed; over time, it was rebuilt and changed its functional purpose. Earlier, under Peter the Great, there was a canteen in the Eastern Cabinet.

The idea to equip the Chinese cabinets belongs to Catherine II and was implemented in 1766-1769 and did not change significantly in the future. The interior was designed by the architect J.B. Vallin-Delamot. Chinese lacquer screens, brought to Russia during the reign of Peter I, were taken as the basis for decorative decoration. In each office, the architect placed five decorative panels (at present, only two are authentic; the remaining eight are recreated to replace those lost during the war). The painting, made on a black background, is typical of Chinese fine art of the late 17th - early 18th centuries. Among the subjects are traditional rural scenes and island landscapes. Three panels stand out for their thematic originality: they depict the stages of silk production, military campaigning and rice harvesting. However, the area of ​​the Chinese panels was not enough to create a harmonious interior, and then Wallen-Delamot decided to use frame extensions, which were drawn by Russian masters of lacquer miniatures according to his sketches. The subtle stylization was executed flawlessly. The plots were landscape motifs, images of animals, flowers, birds; drawings on inserts are not repeated. The size of the largest composite panel is 4.5 x 2.3 m. Silk damask was chosen as a background for lacquer panels; golden tones - for the Western cabinet and crimson-red - for the East. The doors were also decorated with Chinese-style lacquer paintings. The architect conceived doorways of an unusual pentagonal shape; The desudéportes of the Western Cabinet are decorated with a stylized sun disk at the top of the pentagon and dynamic gilded dragon figures on the sides, which stretch their paws towards the sun.

Ornamental plafonds, painted in lacquer technique on polished plaster, resemble underglaze painting on porcelain (unusually large tiles of stoves in the cabinets are just made in the technique of underglaze painting). The ceiling is decorated with Chinese-style painted glass lanterns. They appeared here in the 1840s, this was the last addition to the interiors. Parquet cabinets - with the most intricate and complex pattern among the palace halls, it is made in the technique of marquetry from valuable wood species: amaranth, rosewood, ebony, walnut, sandalwood, plane trees. In the rooms, in accordance with the exquisite stylization, selected furniture and artistic decoration. Some of the furniture is genuinely Chinese (a table painted with red lacquer and rosewood armchairs inlaid with mother-of-pearl in the Western Cabinet); others are the work of European masters in the Chinese spirit. The Eastern Cabinet presents the work of English furniture makers of the 18th century with lacquer painting decoration: a desk and chairs, a grandfather clock; in the Western - a unique bureau-cylinder of the French work of the 1770s.

At that time in Europe, especially in France, the production of furniture in the style of “chinoiserie” was well established, stimulated by the high interest of the aristocracy in the Far Eastern exotic and the rarity of original products. Remaining structurally European, this furniture successfully imitated Chinese furniture due to murals and decorative details. Many prominent artists worked on interiors rich in color under the direction of Wallen-Delamote: Antonio Perezinotti, brothers Alexei and Ivan Belsky, A. Trofimov, I. Skorodumov, “lacquer master” Fyodor Vlasov. The modern exposition of the museum also includes a collection of porcelain items of the 17th-19th centuries made by Chinese and Japanese masters: dishes, vases, candlesticks, figurines; Cantonese enamel, painted lacquer boxes and cabinets. The passion for Chinese art, characteristic of the 18th century, in addition to painted silks in the Divannaya, has another reflection in Peterhof: the “Lacquer Chamber” of Peter I is preserved in the Monplaisir Palace.

picture room

A spacious two-height hall, framed by Chinese cabinets, occupies a central place in the layout of the palace premises; the compositional axis of not only the palace itself, but also the Lower Park and the Upper Garden passes through it. From the large windows-doors of the lower tier, facing on both sides, you can see the perspective of the Sea Canal, cutting through the Lower Park and going to the Gulf of Finland, and the pools of the fountains of the Upper Garden (windows-doors lead to balconies, the only ones in the palace).

The Picture Hall is one of the oldest rooms Peterhof Palace, it was created during the construction of the “Upland Chambers” of Peter I. In the original version of the building, the hall was the largest front room. The volumes and proportions of the hall have not changed for all subsequent reconstructions; he even retained elements of the original decoration according to the emperor's plan, which was embodied by J.-B. Leblon and N. Michetti. These include the stucco cornice, the painting of the chapels and the plafond by Bartolomeo Tarsia on the theme “History of Hieroglyphics”, created in 1726. A complex multi-figure canvas (more than thirty characters) glorifies the hero (Peter I); a standard with a double-headed eagle flutters above it, around it are the ancient gods Themis, Athena, Ceres, Mercury; allegories of Eternity in the form of a winged woman with a ring, Truth, striking Ignorance, Vice, fleeing from the Light. Made in a monochrome manner, the tempera painting on the padugs, compositionally merged with their shape, continues the theme of the plafond. The attributes and emblems of military glory are depicted, large-scale figures symbolize time, truth, glory, power, patriotism and naval victories. The profiles of Neptune, Mars, Apollo and Bellona are inscribed in the corner medallions surrounded by banners. On the longitudinal padugs there are also allegories of the four elements.

Doors with desudeport (photo - Andrey Korzun)

It is known that during the reign of Peter the Great, the interior was decorated with French tapestries and 16 paintings by Italian painters, for which the hall was called the Italian Salon. In the future, the decor of the hall was repeatedly altered. In the 50s of the 18th century, the interior was changed according to the project of B.F. Rastrelli: parquet appeared in the hall, replacing marble tiles, mirrors in baroque frames, as well as exquisite desudéportes. Their expressive sculptural composition of a female bust surrounded by birds with outstretched wings is repeated many times in various variations in further palace chambers.

In 1764, the hall acquired its present form, when, according to the project of J. B. Vallin-Delamote, the tapestry hanging of paintings belonging to the brush of P. Rotary was completed. Arriving in Russia in 1756, Count Pietro Rotari enjoyed a reputation as a master of an idealized portrait, was appointed court painter and enjoyed the favor of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. He left a mark on Russian painting: F. S. Rokotov and I. S. Argunov studied under him. In 1762 Rotary died; Catherine II ordered to purchase from the widow of the Italian artist all of his paintings that remained in the studio. Rotary brought some of them with him from Germany and Italy, but most of them were created in Russia. A great connoisseur of costume, Rotary liked to draw idealized portraits of young girls or men in national dress (Polish, Russian, Turkish, Hungarian, Tatar, etc.). Most of the artist's works that ended up in Peterhof are just such portraits. Rotary was a prolific and fashionable artist: in the Chinese Palace of Oranienbaum there is a Rotary office, in Arkhangelsk, the Yusupov estate near Moscow, there is a Rotary salon; his works are represented in the collections of Russian and foreign museums. But the largest collection of the artist's works is presented in the Picture Hall: 368 paintings occupy almost the entire area of ​​the walls. Tapestry hanging was often used to decorate interiors; in Peterhof, the Hermitage pavilion was decorated in the same way, in the Great Catherine Palace there is also a Picture Hall, where the same principle of placing paintings is implemented. However, there was no case that the tapestries were composed of the works of only one artist; in this regard, the interior is unparalleled. The hall, which in the time of Elizabeth Petrovna was briefly called the Old, began to be called the Cabinet of Fashion and Graces or the Rotary Gallery; over time, the modern name stuck to it.

In the museum exposition of the hall, as an illustration, some pieces of furniture are presented, reminiscent of the previous use of the hall. Folding card tables from the 18th century indicate that card games were often played here. The hall has a piano made in Moscow in 1794 (master Johann Stümpf); in the 19th century, musical evenings were held here for a narrow circle of people close to the court.

partridge living room

Partridge living room (Boudoir) Petrodvorets opens a suite of rooms in the women's half of the palace. Located in the immediate vicinity of the bedroom and dressing room, it was used for the morning pastime of the empresses in the immediate environment. The room is located in the old, Peter's part of the palace. Before the redevelopment undertaken by B. F. Rastrelli, there were two small rooms in place of the living room, and one of them had no windows. Subsequently, the Rastrelli interior was reworked by Yu. M. Felten, who, however, did not change its general character: some gilded ornaments were left on the walls and doors, and the alcove that separated the sofa located in the living room from the rest of the room remained. Felten created a new niche for the sofa, smoothly bending the plane of the walls towards the alcove.

The room owes its name to the exquisite decoration of the walls. A pale blue silk fabric with a silvery sheen with woven images of partridges inscribed in an ornament of flowers and ears of wheat, created according to the sketches of Philippe de Lassalle (de la Salle). The Lyon artist was very famous in the second half of the 18th century: he worked on sketches for upholstery silks for the residences of all European monarchs. The drawing with partridges was specially developed for the Peterhof Palace; the customer of expensive silk was Catherine II. The dilapidated fabric in the 19th century was twice (in 1818 and 1897) renewed at Russian factories in strict accordance with the original. A surviving piece of cloth, woven at the end of the 19th century, was used in the reconstruction of the interior after the war to tighten the western wall of the living room and as a model for making upholstery for other walls.

The ceiling of the living room is decorated with an oval ceiling, allegorically depicting the Morning chasing the Night (by an unknown French artist of the 18th century). Previously, the ceiling was painted in tempera by the artists brothers Alexei and Ivan Belsky, but the painting was irretrievably lost during the war.

Four works by J. B. Greuze are exhibited in the Partridge Living Room, including “A Girl Sitting at the Table” (1760s). Another notable exhibit of the room is a harp made in London at the end of the 18th century by a branch of the firm of the French musical instrument maker Sebastian Erard.

dressing room

The next room - the dressing room - is distinguished, first of all, by the fact that its walls are lined with a matte green fabric, which converges at the top in folds, creating a feeling of sunlight.

sofa room

The central place in the apartments of the female half is occupied by the front Bedchamber. It is located in the enlarged Rastrelli risalit of the central, Peter's part of the palace. However, only elaborately carved wall panels, window frames, and doors, as well as the “zigzag” parquet pattern typical for most rooms in the middle of the 18th century, remind of the decoration of the Elizabethan time. Basically, the appearance of this interior was formed in 1770, when the architect Yu.M. Felten rebuilt the front bedroom for Catherine II, creating a complex of two rooms with the help of wooden partitions - the Empress's Bedchamber and the Crown Room. The main architectural accent, which determines the appearance of the room, was transferred by the architect to a partition with an alcove niche, where a front bed was once installed.
Being a master of the period of formation of classicism, Felten, a student of F.-B. Rastrelli, although he also uses gilded wooden carvings here, however, along with intricately curving stylized golden shoots across a white and pinkish field, uses a geometrically clearly defined flat ornament, calm round rosettes, sagging as if under their own weight garlands of flowers. Ribbons with bouquets of flowers and laurel shoots, flowing in vertically oriented piers, add a special sophistication to the composition. during the construction period - greater comfort of the residential interior, and first of all intimate rooms. Separating the Bedchamber from the enfilade would require significant restructuring and redevelopment. Felten proposed a different solution, using the location of the Bedchamber in the risalit of the building. In 1779, a wooden “Turkish partition” with lancet arches was installed from door to door across the room. It was made from alder and linden by carpenters Ozhigin and Zabarovsky under the guidance of free carpenter Vekman.
The front bed in the alcove niche disappears, and behind the partition near the western wall there is a wide and low “Turkish” sofa “with a fit”. According to legend, Potemkin sent it to Catherine II from the front of the Russian-Turkish war. There was a fashion for such sofas at that time, and in many palaces of St. Petersburg "sofas to Turkish taste" appeared. Since that time, the room was called the Divan. The walls of the Divannaya are upholstered with “Chinese silk fabric with various figures”. The plot of the painting is ordinary everyday scenes. People talk quietly in small houses, go fishing, watch the performance of a street trainer, hunt, buy decorative indoor flowers from a merchant, etc.

As a precious relic, a modest egg-shaped porcelain vase is preserved in the Divan. It is decorated with finely executed blue underglaze cobalt painting. Handles - in the form of bunches of leaves of aquatic plants with a bearded old man's mascaron. On the vase are tiny images of a double-headed eagle and a circle with an arrow. This is how the great Russian ceramist, friend of M.V. Lomonosov Dmitry Ivanovich Vinogradov. He has the honor of creating in 1748 the first products from domestic porcelain.
At that time, only two factories in Europe - Meissen near Dresden and Vienna - produced porcelain products. The method of their production was kept in the strictest confidence. DI. Vinogradov, after much research, compiled his own recipe for making ceramic mass. With his direct participation, the first products were produced at the St. Petersburg Imperial Porcelain Factory, founded in 1744. The vase in Divannaya was made in the middle of the 18th century. Two decades later, at the same St. Petersburg factory, it was made according to the model of the sculptor J.-D. Rashetta amazing in terms of high artistic and technological perfection the figure of a dog lying on a green pillow. Along with ceramics, Russian glass production was successfully developing in the 18th century. The Petersburg glass factory was not inferior to the best factories in Europe in terms of the quality of glass and especially crystal. Russian masters were famous for the production of crystal lighting fixtures. In the Divannaya you can see a crystal chandelier with a ruby ​​glass stem from the end of the 18th century, and on the table by the mirror there are magnificent girandoles from the 1760s. On a table in the center of the room is a coffee machine for two people. It was made at the Vienna Porcelain Factory, as legend has it, for the grandchildren of Catherine II, Alexander and Konstantin. Above the sofa hangs a portrait of Elizaveta Petrovna as a child - a copy of a portrait by Louis Caravaque. Louis Caravaque came to Russia at the invitation of Peter I and lived here for many years, until his death. He depicted the daughter of Peter I naked, lying on purple lined with sables. In her right hand she holds a medallion with a portrait of her father. Although such an image was rather bold for its time, the portrait enjoyed great success and was repeated several times both by Caravaque himself and by contemporary artists. The portrait in the Divanna was painted by Buchholz. In the Divannaya there is a set of French-made furniture in the style inherent in the second half of the 18th century, a charcoal German chest of drawers of the middle of the same century with intricately twisting walls (such chests of drawers were aptly nicknamed “bomb”) and a mirror recreated by restorers from a photograph in a carved gilded frame.

Cabinet of the Empress

The name of the room did not mean at all that its mistress was regularly engaged in state affairs here. Often people came here only to play a game of cards in a close circle of close associates. Until the Great Patriotic War, the Cabinet preserved gilded wood carvings, silk draperies, typesetting parquet, which appeared here in the 50s and 60s of the 18th century.
In the summer of 1849, they delivered to Peterhof, and the next year they installed in the Empress's Cabinet “a porcelain fireplace painted with flowers and fruits, decoration on pink ground with gold”. A huge mirror in a porcelain frame was placed on the fireplace shield. The chandeliers, the fireplace screen and the table were also made of porcelain. These wonderful products of the imperial porcelain factory, like all the details of the decoration, perished in 1941. A special charm is given to the Cabinet by a wonderful pattern of silk. He appeared here probably in the 18th century. In 1818 it was replaced by a raspberry damask with flowers and birds. But soon the walls of the Cabinet were again decorated with white satin with bouquets and baskets. The Cabinet reproduces the decoration of the second half of the 18th century, during the reign of Catherine II and the enthusiasm for the ideas of the French enlighteners. In the corners of the room are busts of Rousseau and Voltaire. On the walls - ceremonial portraits of the reigning persons. Catherine is shown standing in full dress. With her right hand, she points to the desk, where books and manuscripts are scattered, which should have testified to the constant concerns of the “enlightened monarch”. The portrait of Elizaveta Petrovna by an unknown Russian artist of the middle of the 18th century is the exact opposite of the previous one. Elizabeth sits comfortably in the throne chair, her expression is carefree, a friendly half-smile on her lips. Almost playfully she holds a scepter in her right hand. On the western wall is a portrait of the son of Catherine II, Paul I, a copy from the work of the artist J.-L. Voila, and his wife Maria Fedorovna. One of the favorite landscape painters of the second half of the 18th century, whose canvases were willingly acquired for Russian palaces, was a German painter who permanently lived in Italy, Jacob Philipp Hackert. His painting “View of the Grotto of Neptune at Tivoli near Rome” is on the east wall. In the center of the Cabinet is a round mahogany table with a marble board. This is an extremely rare example of the work of the master Marc David Couleru, who lived in the small French town of Montbéliard on the border with Switzerland. M.-D. Kuleryu worked mainly with ebony; furniture made by him from mahogany - piece copies.

Large blue living room

This room, in the row of front rooms of the palace, occupies the same position in its eastern part as the Chesme Hall at the western end of the enfilade. The living room has a window to which the axis of the front suite of the palace is oriented. The Porcelain Banquet Service, made at the Imperial Porcelain Factory in the 19th century, is exhibited in the Blue Drawing Room. On the objects of the service, one can see both the hallmarks of the time of Nicholas I, and later ones (finishing was carried out to replace the lost items). In total, there were about 5570 items in this service. They began to manufacture it in June 1848 and finished in September 1853. The Sevres service "with cabbage leaves" served as a model for this Banquet. At the beginning of the war, most of the service was evacuated. The rest of the Nazis plundered. During the liberation of one of the cities of East Prussia, Soviet soldiers found boxes with tea utensils, on which were the inventory numbers of the Peterhof Palace. The salvaged items were carefully sent back to their homeland and now again take their place in the museum exposition. The decoration of the table is complemented by vases and glasses made of lead crystal with diamond cut Russian work of the 20s of the XIX century.

Four large candelabra with dolphin figurines, brought from Saxony in the second half of the 19th century, decorated the Blue Drawing Room even before the war. Near the eastern wall are two cupboards, richly decorated with bronze, by an outstanding French bronze maker of the mid-19th century. Ferdinand Barbidien. Sofa and armchairs French work of the late XVIII century. Of the paintings, the most interesting is the ceremonial portrait of Catherine II - a copy from the portrait by D.G. Levitsky - and a portrait of Maria Feodorovna, the wife of Paul I, fashionable at the end of the 18th century. French artist Vigee-Lebrun. The accessories are superbly written out, the texture of the fabrics on the dresses and draperies is subtly worked out. With the help of the language of allegories, the virtues of empresses are glorified. These are typical examples of official ceremonial portraits. To the right of the fireplace is a portrait of Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich, the future Emperor Peter III.

oak cabinet

The oak cabinet is the oldest interior of the palace; its decoration was carried out in the first quarter of the 18th century. In the emperor's office, oak is the defining material for artistic decoration. Oak shields completely cover the walls, giving the interior an amazing warmth and comfort. The walls of the cabinet are covered from floor to ceiling with wooden shields, and if the panels of the bottom of the walls are smooth, then vertically elongated panels are placed above them, completely covered with unusually elegant carvings. The carving also covers doors, desudéportes, panels over mirrors and a fireplace. Such an interior solution made a strong impression. Berchholtz, who visited here in 1721, made the following entry in his “Diary”: “Especially remarkable is the study, where there is a small library of the king, consisting of various Dutch and Russian books; it is finished by a French sculptor and is distinguished by its excellent carvings.” This "sculptor" was Nicolas Pinault, an outstanding master who arrived in Russia in August 1716. His art was highly regarded by his contemporaries. The unsurpassed decorator Pino himself drew sketches for his future works. An album kept in the State Hermitage testifies to his mastery. Among the many projects here are Pinot's drawings for the panels of the Oak Cabinet of the Grand Palace. Some of them were embodied in wooden carvings almost without changes, the composition of others was significantly modified in the process of work.

The office was arranged in the southern part of the palace "according to Leblon's drawing." It was he who suggested that Pino carve, for he believed that “since monotonous solid panels are boring for the eyes, they resort to decorating them with frames, paintings, pilasters ...”
At the end of 1718, the “free carvers” Fole, Rust, Foudre and Tacone set to work. N. Pino made the laying of the composition on oak shields, and the carvers had to “cut and clean” the panel. A year later, the first eight panels were completed, and in 1720 the remaining four were completed. In addition, Fole carved ornamental decorations for the pilasters separating the panels and panels above the fireplace, and Rust made desudesports, mirror frames and carvings over them. Master Michel also participated in the work.

The Oak Cabinet, associated with the name of Peter I, has long been treated as one of the relics. Therefore, it was generally accepted that the interior of the cabinet had not undergone any changes since its creation. In fact, it turned out that things were different. In the middle of the 18th century, during the expansion of the palace according to the project of Rastrelli, a doorway was pierced in the eastern wall of the Oak Cabinet instead of a window. At the same time, the stove with a small side fireplace on the northern wall also disappears and a marble fireplace with a mirror in a carved frame is built instead. Following this, one of the doors symmetrically located on the northern wall, corresponding to the existing one, is being liquidated. These alterations make it necessary to supplement the number of panels with two more. At the same time, their location on the walls was violated. And now one can only guess about the intention of Leblon and Pinot.

Two panels, originally located, most likely, on the southern wall in the pier between the windows, and now placed in the southwestern and southeastern corners, were supposed to glorify Peter I and his wife in a symbolic form. Sketches for these panels are preserved in the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris. When translating these sketches into wood, N. Pino made some changes. On one panel, surrounded by a globe, navigational and astronomical instruments, a man in antique clothes is depicted. His head is decorated with a laurel wreath - a symbol of glory. Below, against the background of a trumpet and a lyre, is a scroll with the inscription: “La Vertus Supreme du Pierre Premier Empereur De La Grande Russie” (The Highest Virtue of Peter I, Emperor of Great Russia). On the panel in the southeast corner of the room, Minerva, the goddess of wisdom, is depicted in the central medallion. The field of the panel is decorated with symbols of sculpture, painting, architecture, music and trade. Two panels on the southern and one on the eastern wall are filled with symbols of military and naval power: swords, helmets, shields, battle axes, tridents of Neptune, etc. Before the war, a similar panel was preserved on the northern wall.

Two panels to the right of the fireplace have a completely different content. Various wind, string and percussion instruments seem to be suspended on ribbons with tassels. There are bagpipes, violins, castanets, triangles, etc. Recordings of melodies from the beginning of the 18th century are reproduced on open music books. In general, the diverse and magnificent carving of the Oak Cabinet was a unique ensemble in a symbolic form characteristic of that time, glorifying the flourishing of science, culture, trade and military power of the new Russia and its reformer Peter I. Things associated with the founder of Peterhof have long been preserved in the cabinet . Now on the bureau between the windows there is his camping alarm clock, made by the Augsburg master Johannes Benner. Such watches, enclosed in a leather case with glass, were taken on the road. Such watches often had only one hour hand. Near the western wall on a table is an Italian-made study of the late 17th century, made of ebony and bronze with inlays of lapis lazuli, jasper and various marbles. Chairs and armchairs from the first third of the 18th century with wicker seats have been in this room for a long time.

Also in Petrodvorets there is also the Standard and Cavalry, Secretarial and Crown rooms and an oak staircase, which, unfortunately, I did not find a single photo, and I consider it inappropriate to post information without a photo ... If someone is interested, I can post it, no problem)

church building

The church building is part of the architectural ensemble of the Great Peterhof Palace, built according to the project of Rastrelli in the 18th century. During the Great Patriotic War the church building was destroyed. In 1952-1958, the facades of the church building were recreated, but the dome was single-domed for a long time, the five-domed structure was restored only at the beginning of the 21st century. The central dome of the five-domed Church building is crowned with an Orthodox cross raised to a height of 27 m.

Four of the five children of the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II were baptized in the church building of the Grand Peterhof Palace - all children, except for the eldest, Olga, were born in Peterhof.

Work on the reconstruction of the Church building began in 2001 and continued until 2005. At this time, the exterior decoration of the building was recreated. Until the end of April 2011, it is planned to complete the entire range of works to recreate the interior of the church, the carved gilded iconostasis, stucco decoration, carved decorations, gilding and paintings.

The collection of materials and the study of analogues for the restoration of painting began in 2005, and the relevant historical information was prepared. The work is quite complex, it is especially difficult for contemporary artists to recreate the technique of the masters of the second half of the 18th century.

Armorial Corps

Symmetrically located in relation to the central part of the palace, the Armorial and Church buildings have gilded figured domes topped with lanterns and bulbs. The edges of the domes, lanterns and bulbs are decorated with gilded garlands of palm leaves.

The dome of the Heraldic Corps ends with a rotating weather vane in the form of a three-headed eagle with outstretched wings, an orb and a scepter in its paws. When viewed from any direction, the eagle is perceived as two-headed and, as it were, soars above the palace.

Special pantry

It is also worth mentioning the Special Storeroom of the “Building under the Coat of Arms” of the Grand Peterhof Palace. Under such a strange name, there is a museum of unusual, one might say intimate things of the Russian tsars - things that were of great value to them. Photos, unfortunately, could not be found, but it would be unforgivable not to write about the Special Storeroom)

The interior decoration of the middle of the 19th century was recreated by restorers. The type-setting floors, as Rastrelli conceived, are similar to those that adorn the Grand Palace. The most valuable exhibits are presented in three interior rooms. Here you can see the costume of Peter I, the dresses of court ladies. The costumes from Potemkin's wardrobe have suffered from time to time and have been altered more than once. They were kept in the treasury, then transferred to the theater department. It is hard to believe, but even the harness of the horse of Catherine II, on which she defended the right to the throne, has been perfectly preserved. Only the velvet is a little faded. Against the backdrop of luxurious interiors, two thrones are especially good. They came to Peterhof from the Moscow Kremlin. Russian emperors were crowned on historical thrones (for example, the wife of Nicholas II sat on the throne of Ivan the Terrible), but a new throne was ordered for solemn receptions for each coronation. The magnificent throne of Nicholas II was transferred from the Grand Palace to the Corps under the coat of arms. The brocade on it had to be replaced, but the old embroidery was transferred to it. Coronation and award items, imperial family jewels, porcelain, fans, snuffboxes shine in special showcases with "cold" light. An office, a bedchamber and a toilet - Catherine's residential apartments. The interior of her era is recreated here: a desk, portraits, a bed, a samovar, even a clockwork bird. In the dressing room there is a mirror in a silver frame by the French master, jeweler Louis XV. Starting with Catherine, all the Russian empresses looked into it.

Intimate things of Russian tsars

fan of love
A fan is a detail of a women's toilet, which has had a bewitching effect on ladies in all ages. For example, the fan presented by French diplomats to the wife of Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich is made of mother-of-pearl and paper depicting the scene of the meeting of the French delegation with the Grand Duke. But Catherine II owned a very simple bone fan, covered with fabric. But with a remarkable pattern - travel through an imaginary country of love.

Feather of Freedom
Among the personal belongings of Alexander II, it is worth paying attention to the gilded baptismal casket and the unique two-sided portrait of the future emperor. But the most expensive thing in the collection is an ordinary pen, with which Alexander signed the Decree on the abolition of serfdom in 1861.

power saddle
Catherine II ascended the throne thanks to the support of her favorite Orlov and the imperial guards. Everyone knows the riding portrait of the future empress in a guards suit of green cloth. Here is the same saddle embroidered with gold with all the harness, from which Catherine literally did not get off during the palace coup.

Inkwell of War
A massive silver writing set with four legs in the form of sphinxes, adorned with a swan with outstretched wings, catches the eye. This device, according to legend, Alexander the First took with him to negotiations in Paris during the Russian-French wars. After the death of Alexander, his mother Maria Fedorovna used the device, and then bequeathed it to her second son, Emperor Nicholas the First.

Samovar of excitement
Connoisseurs say that Catherine the Great was a big fan of cards. The so-called "Shakespearean" cards of 1787, which belonged to the Empress, are scattered on the playing table. Even the nominal silver samovar on Ekaterina's bedside table is painted with card suits.

Treasures of the boudoirs
The exhibition presents a wide range of toiletries and jewelry that adorned the boudoirs of the empresses: snuff boxes, bottles, jars, silver mirrors, diamond brooches and pearl earrings. Particularly striking is the maid of honor's brooch, studded with diamonds, which belonged to one of Maria Feodorovna's confidantes, with the empress's monogram.

Hours of the end of autocracy
A separate room is occupied by items made for the family of Nicholas II by the famous jeweler Faberge and his students. A clock and a magnifying glass that adorned the emperor's study, a tree with Easter eggs, one of which was made from a solid 18-carat emerald. There is also a huge Faberge silver goblet, which Nicholas II personally awarded to the winner of the annual yacht competitions in Peterhof.

In July 2009, Theo Faberge, the grandson of the famous Carl Faberge, bequeathed two Easter eggs to Peterhof. We are talking about commemorative jewelry: "300th Anniversary of St. Petersburg" and "Samson". The Easter egg "300th Anniversary of St. Petersburg" (marble, crystal, silver, gilding, engraving) was made in 2003 and exhibited in turn in Peterhof, Gatchina, the Museum of the History of St. Petersburg, Pavlovsk and Tsarskoe Selo. "Samson" - a silver egg covered with dark blue guilloche enamel. Inside is a golden figurine of Samson tearing the mouth of a lion.

About the palace and park “continuation” Grand Peterhof Palace can be read here)

Peterhof is one of the seven wonders of Russia according to the results of the voting "7 wonders of Russia" (2008)

On the coast of the Gulf of Finland, Peter I built several country residences of Russian tsars. The palace and park complex includes park ensembles, in which palaces and magnificent fountains are harmoniously located. The idea of ​​​​creation and architectural design belong to Peter I, and in translation from the Dutch "Peterhof" - "Peter's courtyard". The central place in the ensemble is occupied by the Great Peterhof Palace (address: St. Petersburg, Razvodnaya st., 2).

History of Peterhof

More than three hundred years ago, the construction of the summer country residence of Russian emperors began. The main work began in 1714, and in August 1723 Peterhof was opened, including the Upper Chambers (now the Great Peterhof Palace), Monplaisir and Marly Palaces . By the opening of the complex, several parks were planned and laid out, some of the fountains were put into operation. In subsequent reconstructions and restoration work after the Great Patriotic War, the architects preserved the plans of the great Peter, captured in his drawings and sketches.

upper garden

For the main entrance to the Grand Peterhof Palace, the Upper Garden was laid, which was formed in three stages over fifty years under the guidance of various architects. But initially it was used for growing vegetables and fruits, and the upper ponds served for fountains and fish farming. The upper garden was completed according to the project of B. F. Rastrelli in the early to mid-eighteenth century. At the same time, the famous statues of Pomona (the goddess of fertility), Zephyr (the god of the wind) and Flora (the goddess of spring) appeared in the park, as well as the composition "Neptune", located in the central pool.

The description of the palace can begin with the history of construction in 1714-1725, according to the project of architects I. Braunstein and J. Leblon, modest Upper Chambers were built with several halls for receptions, banquets and the emperor's bedchamber. Subsequently, in 1745-1755, it was rebuilt by Empress Elizaveta Petrovna. Under the guidance of the world famous architect B. F. Rastrelli, a three hundred meter palace with magnificent facades was rebuilt according to the model of Versailles. Thirty halls, decorated in different styles, delight with their magnificence and richness. After a walk through the Upper Garden, visitors find themselves in the Great Peterhof Palace. Tickets worth 600 rubles and reduced tickets worth 300 rubles can be purchased at the box office from 10:30 to 17:00. The palace today has become a historical and art museum with a huge number of exhibits, paintings and sculptures. The palace, as in former times, is the summer cultural center of Russia, where official meetings and receptions are held, as well as cultural events.

Main staircase, dance and reception halls

As planned by the imperial family, the palace was supposed to perform protocol functions and emphasize the growing strength of the Russian state. And diplomatic receptions, balls and masquerades surprise with wealth and abundance. The architect Rastrelli successfully coped with this task. Already getting on the main staircase, visitors see magnificent carved statues symbolizing the seasons, monumental bas-reliefs on the walls, cartouches richly decorated with gilding. Tempera painting, stucco and metalwork are harmoniously intertwined in the interior. Further, the passage is made in the style of the Arc de Triomphe, the snow-white columns of which support the pediment with allegorical figures "Loyalty" and "Justice". The dance hall ("Merchant") is made in a festive style for balls and entertainment events. This is a large room with an area of ​​270 square meters. Numerous mirrors in false windows of blank walls increase its volume several times. Then visitors enter the Chesme Hall, the passage to which is also through the Blue Reception. The Great Peterhof Palace was built by Peter I on the coast in order to emphasize the assertion of Russia as a maritime power. The Chesme Hall is named after the victory over the Turkish fleet at Chesme and the consolidation of Russia not only in the Baltic, but also in the Black Seas. The decoration of the hall and battle painting are dedicated to this goal. From here the guests proceed to the Throne Room.

Central part and Throne room

The Grand Peterhof Palace has a through vestibule, which is a passage between the Upper Garden and the Lower Park. Here is the office of Peter I (“oak”) and an oak staircase leading to the Picture Hall. Initially, its walls were decorated with French tapestries and several paintings of the Italian school. During the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna, Count Pietro Rotari was appointed court painter. It was the portraits of his work that finally filled the entire interior. After examining the paintings, passing the Western Cabinet, visitors enter the White Dining Room, which is made in light matte colors. The dining room was used for its intended purpose, and the modern exposition consists of light-colored dining room furniture and two hundred pieces of faience crockery. The Throne Hall has an entrance from the side of the Chesme Hall and the Audienz Hall, which adjoins the White Dining Room. This is the largest room of the palace (330 square meters), it is distinguished by massive stucco molding depicting imperial and military symbols, as well as numerous portraits of the royal family.

West wing of the palace

The western wing is the female half with the chambers of the Empress and her inner circle. It consists of a dozen small rooms. From the Eastern Chinese Cabinet, visitors entered the Partridge Drawing Room, where the Empress spent her morning hours. It is connected directly with the queen's chambers: the Divan, the Dressing Room, the Study and the Crown Rooms. On the other side are the Secretarial, Blue Drawing Room, the quarters of the guards of the cavalry guards. The western wing ends with the palace church. Rastrelli designed the temple of the royal family in his own style - gracefully and magnificently. This is not just a church, but a small palace with rich decoration and a lot of gilding.

lower park

The Great Peterhof Palace is built on a natural hill and conditionally separates the melancholy Upper Garden from the pompous, gilded fountains of the Lower Park. The sea channel, dug from the palace to the Gulf of Finland, was taken as the center line of the planning of the park ensemble. Four alleys leading to the Monplaisir Palace and the Hermitage pavilion depart from the canal in different directions. The park is designed in the French style, which is also called regular. It is characterized by the presence of sculptures, pavilions and symmetry in the planning of alleys and green spaces. Gardeners planted a large number of trees and shrubs brought from all over Russia, combining existing groves into a single complex.

Grand cascade and fountains

The facade of the palace overlooking the sea harmoniously flows into the ledges of the Grand Cascade with a variety of fountains and sculptural compositions. Inspection of the fountain ensemble "The Grand Cascade" can be started by leaving the Great Peterhof Palace after the tour. The operation of the fountains changes annually, depending on weather conditions. Tentatively, the opening takes place at the end of April, and the grand closing of the season - in mid-September. Ticket prices range from 500 to 150 rubles. The cascade consists of two waterfall stairs, along which there are numerous sculptures of the Upper and Lower grottoes. Two powerful streams of water fall from the cascade into the bucket of the Sea Canal, where the central water cannon "Samson tearing the lion's mouth" is located. The fountain group includes eight dolphins and four lions located at the foot. With their jets they form a kind of wreath around Samson. Around the central composition there is a large number of fountains depicting fairy maidens, naiads, tritons, ancient Greek gods and heroes. It is impossible to describe more than 140 different sculpture fountains in a short review, so it is better to see them once.

It will not leave visitors indifferent, and the cascades and fountains will be remembered for a lifetime.

Translated from French, Monplaisir means "my pleasure" - the traditional name for country buildings of that time.

The construction of the palace, the place for which was chosen by Emperor Peter I, was completed in 1723. Such masters as Leblon, Michetti, Braunstein took part in the development of the architecture of the building.

The total length of the building is 73 meters, on the territory of which there is a terrace, a copper statue of Neptune, a Monplaisir garden, a Sheaf fountain, four Bell fountains adorned with gilded bronze figures of Apollo, Bacchus, Faun, Psyche.

Nowadays, in the Monplaisir Palace, you can visit the museum, which is open from 10.30 to 17.00 daily, except for the last Wednesday of each month, and is also closed in rainy weather.

Palace "Cottage"

Palace "Cottage" - the central building of the palace and park ensemble of Alexandria, built in 1826-1829 for Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich and his family, designed by architect A. A. Menelas.

The architecture of the palace is made in the Gothic style, and it was built on the site of the ruins of the estate of A. D. Menshikov. In total, the building has 2 floors and an attic, with a clear layout.

In 1842-1843. a dining room with a marble terrace is attached to the eastern facade of the "Cottage".

After the October Revolution, the palace was a historical and art museum, and during the Great Patriotic War there was a medical center of the Nazi army.

In 1979, the palace opens to visitors.

Palace of Marly

The elegant Marly Palace is the compositional center of the entire Marly ensemble in the western part of the Lower Park of Peterhof. It is located on the lintel of two ponds - Marlinsky and Sektoralny. The construction of the palace began in 1720, it was designed by the architect I.F. Braunshtein. The palace was named Marly, in honor of Peter I's visit to the residence of Marly-le-Roi Louis XIV.

Initially, the palace was planned to be one-story, but when the building was brought under the roof, Peter I ordered it to be built on, and in 1723 the second floor was built. Many talented craftsmen worked on the design of the palace: sculptors, stonemasons, sculptors, parquet workers, and so on.

There are only eight rooms on each floor of the palace. The interior of the palace is elegant and austere. The Oak and Chinar cabinets are more ceremonially decorated; valuable types of oak and plane trees were used in their decoration. Also here you can see paintings by Western European artists of the 17th-18th centuries, furniture of the same period, personal belongings of Peter I, a small library is also kept in the palace.

During the Great Patriotic War, the palace was blown up by an enemy mine. In the post-war years, it was restored. As a museum, the palace was opened in 1982.

farm palace

The farm palace was built in 1831 as a country house for the emperor's family, and it became open to visitors only in 2010. Restoration work has been going on since 2003.

Before the building entered the museum complex (1979), a lot of events took place in the Farm Palace.

In Soviet times, there was a rest home, and during the Great Patriotic War, the palace was the headquarters of the Nazi troops. Immediately after the war, the hostel of the Petrodvorets Watch Factory moved into the building.

Grand Peterhof Palace

The Great Peterhof Palace is the largest architectural structure of the palace and park ensemble of Petrodvorets. It is located in the city of Peterhof on the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland.

The palace was built by the architect Francesco Rastrelli in the Elizabethan Baroque style. Its construction lasted from 1714-1755 and reflects several periods in the history of the imperial residence.

The facade of the Grand Palace, which is 300 meters, stretches along the coastline and impresses with its splendor.

Today it is the Historical and Art Museum, whose expositions provide an opportunity to get acquainted with the art of the Russian palace interior of the 18th-19th centuries. Visitors will be able to see many ceremonial halls, art galleries and salons of the Grand Palace, including the office of Peter the Great, which occupies a special place in the interior of the palace and is decorated with light oak.

Sea pier. Petrodvorets

Pier "Petrodvorets" is located in the Lower Park of Peterhof. Previously, Petrovsky Harbor was used both for ceremonial purposes and for household needs. In addition to receiving steamships with guests, large and small ships were also unloaded at the pier, bringing various supplies or building materials to Peterhof. When the days of illumination came, warships, decorated with multi-colored flags and lights, entered the water area.

In 1963, a modern wharf was built with its reinforced concrete piers. By order of Peter I, during the construction of the canal, its walls were strengthened with cobblestone on moss. But over time, the water destroyed the cobblestones, and the walls began to fall, blocking the canal. In 1728, the architect M. Zemtsov proposed laying out the walls of tiled stone and brick, and laying the bottom with cobblestones. At the same time, the canal was reconstructed.

Many passenger routes were organized to the pier from the center of St. Petersburg, ships departed from the Hermitage, the Kunstkamera, and the Bronze Horseman. From Palace Square, you will reach your destination by boat in half an hour. There is a helipad near the pier in Petrodvorets.

Sights of Peterhof