home Som Biography. Smolny Cathedral - the pearl of Rastrelli Rastrelli projects

Biography. Smolny Cathedral - the pearl of Rastrelli Rastrelli projects

Russian architect Italian origin, creator of the "Elizabethan Baroque".

Childhood and youth

Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli was born in 1700 in Paris. His father was the famous court architect and sculptor Bartolomeo Carlo Rastrelli. Rastrelli Jr. was instilled with a love of art from early childhood. The father did not even think of preventing his son from following in his footsteps; Moreover, Bartolomeo Jr.’s passion for architecture was encouraged in every possible way in the family. In Paris, where Rastrelli spent his childhood and part of his youth, he began to learn the basics of architecture. As you might guess, his first teacher was Rastrelli Sr. Then enjoying great authority at court, Carlo Rastrelli could not think that the fame of his son would one day surpass his own, because now, when the family name is mentioned, the first thing that really comes to mind is the Winter Palace, which Rastrelli the son would one day build.

A Florentine by birth, Carlo Rastrelli worked at the court of the “Sun King” Louis XIV, and after the death of the latter he was invited to work in. Rastrelli signed a contract for a period of three years. This is how the Rastrelli family ended up at Peter’s court. Here Bartolomeo finally confirmed his choice future profession. The influence had a lot to do with it: at that time it was in many ways superior to other European cities. Even internships abroad (it is believed that young Rastrelli improved his architectural skills in Italy and France) did not discourage him from continuing to work in St. Petersburg. The father, seeing his son’s desire, tried to help him in every possible way. Rastrelli helped his father design the Strelninsky Palace and was involved in interior decoration of the palace.

The earliest documented work of Rastrelli Jr. is considered to be a palace made in the style of Peter the Great's Baroque. Then his work did not attract much attention and left ordinary people indifferent, because there were a lot of similar buildings in St. Petersburg. The most outstanding works of Rastrelli, which glorified his name throughout the centuries, are yet to come.

Early creativity

In 1730 Russian Empire headed by the niece. The new empress was a well-known lover of luxury and sophistication, which could not but affect her architectural preferences. Both Rastrelli were soon invited to an audience with Anna Ioannovna. Both Rastrelli and the Empress herself were pleased with the result of the meeting, who decided to entrust Rastrelli Sr. with the construction of several palaces at once - in, and then in Lefortovo. Rastrelli's father, who was primarily a sculptor rather than an architect, took charge of the construction work, and Rastrelli Jr. began developing projects. By that time, the education and experience he had acquired, like nothing else, helped him to cope with the major tasks entrusted to him with honor.

Meanwhile, Anna Ioannovna begins to bring her favorites closer to her, the most prominent of whom will be the Duke. The Empress's patronage allows Biron to influence both the internal and foreign policies of the Empire. In 1732, Biron planned to build an arena between Bolshaya Morskaya Street and Nevsky Prospekt. Seeing the success of the young architect, he without hesitation entrusts this task to the young Rastrelli. Then, in the 1730s. Bartolomeo Rastrelli builds the Rundāle Palace and the Mitau Palace for Duke Biron. All these buildings were erected in Courland and represented living evidence of the evolution of Rastrelli's architectural skill. There is an emerging trend towards its own style: now it gravitates towards embossed half-columns, gradually abandoning pilasters and rustication.

During the same period, Rastrelli began designing the Summer and Winter Palaces. As an architect, he is entering his heyday. In 1732, Rastrelli got married and soon became the father of many children: Joseph Yakov, Elizaveta Katerina and Eleanor were born into his family. However, only one daughter lived to adulthood: Joseph and Eleanor died in 1737-38. from cholera, which was rampant in St. Petersburg at that time.

It is noteworthy that the change of power, which went down in history as the “era of palace coups,” had virtually no effect on Rastrelli’s career. Moreover, in 1738 he became chief architect with an annual salary of 1,200 rubles and a service apartment in the former Winter Palace, where his family also settled. Then the eminent Italian could afford almost everything. Creating luxurious buildings, he led an equally pompous lifestyle, taking advantage of the favor of the imperial power.

Soon a new interesting project appears on the horizon - the construction of a palace for the commission. But Rastrelli did not have time to complete the palace, since she who came to power in 1741 extremely disliked everything German, and she did not at all like Rastrelli’s connection with Biron and Minich. The hostility of the new empress reached the point that she ordered not to recognize Rastrelli's counthood, to delay the payment of salaries and not even give him new construction projects. However, it was not in Rastrelli’s character to give in to difficulties.

Elizaveta Petrovna in the life of Rastrelli

The distrust with which the new empress treated Rastrelli’s work did not break his character. By that time he was already quite famous in St. Petersburg and received many orders. In addition, as a person, Rastrelli perfectly knew how to adapt to those around him, which was very useful to him in his dealings with Empress Elizabeth. The art of diplomacy ultimately helped him to inspire confidence in the empress, who had previously been prejudiced towards Rastrelli.

Rastrelli's first project during the reign of Elizabeth was a wooden summer palace in St. Petersburg, which, alas, has not survived to this day. That period was extremely fruitful for Rastrelli - he actively worked on art, designed St. Andrew's Cathedral in Kyiv, and in 1752-1757. rebuilt the Catherine Palace in . In addition, Rastrelli managed to supervise the restoration of the palace in Strelna.

Among Rastrelli's latest grandiose projects, it is worth highlighting the ensemble and the Winter Palace. Despite the enormous potential, the time of Rastrelli as an architect was coming to an end - along with the life of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna and the era of the brilliant, luxurious Baroque architectural style.

Sunset Rastrelli

In 1761, Elizaveta Petrovna died. After her death, Baroque, so beloved by St. Petersburg, very quickly went out of fashion, and Rastrelli began to receive fewer and fewer orders. She ascended the throne and quickly brought the architect Antonio Rinaldi closer to her, who soon became the leading master at the imperial court. Rastrelli found himself out of work. The luxurious lifestyle that the architect had led for many years was replaced by dire financial need. In 1762, Rastrelli went on a yearlong vacation to Italy to improve his health. There he is also trying to find a new customer: Rastrelli was still the breadwinner of his family and tried to make money in any way. Soon he receives news that the interior decoration of the Winter Palace is being remodeled by the architect Valen-Delamot. They didn’t even think of entrusting him, Rastrelli, with this work. Soon Rastrelli was fired altogether - the Empress signed a decree dismissing the architect, although she provided him with a salary of 1,000 rubles a year.

In 1764, the once basking in glory and now completely forgotten architect left St. Petersburg. In Courland, where Rastrelli soon appeared with his family, he completed the construction of the Mitau and Ruenthal palaces that he had once begun, commissioned by Biron, who had recently returned from exile. Rastrelli's last project is considered to be the Courland estate of Grünhof, which was completed after the architect's death by another author, Jensen.

Unfortunately, further fate Rastrelli is unknown. The last place where the architect's family lived was most likely Lithuania, but the date of Bartolomeo's death and traces of his grave are subsequently lost. It is assumed that Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli died in April 1771, since the decree on the payment of the pension that was assigned to Rastrelli's heirs was dated this month.

In memory of the architect's achievements, the square in front of the Smolny Monastery was named after him.

Relevant to populated areas:

In 1715 he arrived with his family in St. Petersburg at the invitation of Peter I, where he spent most of his life. According to the architect's design, outstanding architectural structures were built in the city, including the Winter Palace, Stroganov Palace, Vorontsov Palace and others. Presumably, he died in St. Petersburg.

RASTELLI, BARTOLOMEO FRANCESCO(Bartholomew Varfolomeevich) (Rastrelli, Bartolomeo Francesco) (1700–1771), architect, the largest representative of Baroque architecture in Russia.

Born in Paris, in the family of the Italian sculptor B.K. Rastrelli ( Cm. RASTELLI, BARTOLOMEO CARLO). In 1716, together with his father, who was invited to Russian service, he came to St. Petersburg. In 1725–1730 he studied abroad, most likely in Italy.

The young architect’s first independent work (before that he had completed a project for the park development of the Strelna manor entrusted to his father) was the house of the Moldavian ruler A. Cantemir in St. Petersburg (1721–1727). Appointed in 1730 as the court architect of Empress Anna Ivanovna, he designed for her a wooden palace on the banks of the Yauza (Annengof in Lefortovo; not preserved), as well as a new one, the so-called. third Winter Palace in St. Petersburg (1732–1736). In 1736–1740 he built palaces for Count Biron in Rundale (Ruentale) and Mitava (Jelgava) in Courland (now Latvia). The most significant among Rastrelli's early works was the wooden Summer Palace in St. Petersburg (main works 1741–1744), which was subsequently dismantled during the construction of the Engineering Castle. All these buildings are characterized by a very restrained baroque style with fairly flat facades and a moderate use of sculpture; Without departing too far from the architecture of Peter the Great's time in the sense of moderate decoration, Rastrelli at the same time preserves and even enhances (especially in Summer Palace) its inherent spatial scope. His ability to think spatially and spatially, in a wide landscape, was facilitated by his gift as a graphic artist (Rastrelli’s drawings and sketches belong to the masterpieces of European architectural drawing of the 18th century).

The highest flowering of the master's creativity comes in the middle of the century. In 1745–1757 he led the reconstruction work royal residences in Peterhof (now Petrodvorets) and Tsarskoye Selo (now Pushkin). Having connected the previous buildings into integral ensembles, he unites them with a common rhythm using facades of enormous length and internal ceremonial enfilades, to which the entire layout is subordinated - according to the “gallery-block” principle. In Peterhof, the architect transformed and significantly increased Grand Palace, re-creating almost the entire interior decoration. The Tsarskoe Selo Grand Palace, also practically created anew, is particularly grandiose and splendid; Baroque here reaches its utmost plastic splendor in the complex alternation of columns, window openings, sculptures and architectural decoration; A major role, which is generally typical for the master’s work, is played by the coloring of the walls (in this case, intense turquoise). In all cases, the striking luxury of the interior design (with an abundance of mirrors, gilded carvings, decorative paintings, etc.) is combined with an extraordinary - and at the same time thoughtful - scale. Sophistication and scale merge together in the arrangement of the main entrances to buildings and park areas (in Tsarskoye Selo Park, Rastrelli, in particular, completed the Hermitage pavilion begun by S.I. Chevakinsky and built the Grotto). In 1754–1762, according to Rastrelli's designs, a new Winter Palace was built, which also amazes with the union of picturesque luxury of façade plasticity and general silhouette with the logical rigor of the layout, visibly subordinating the vast urban area.

Among Rastrelli's other works are the Vorontsovsky (1749–1757) and Stroganovsky (1752–1754) palaces in St. Petersburg. In addition to palace architecture, the master radically updated Russian church architecture: in 1747–1750 he created a project for recreating the collapsed tent of the Resurrection Cathedral New Jerusalem Monastery near Moscow (later decorating the interior of the cathedral with rich stucco decoration), as well as the project of St. Andrew's Cathedral in Kyiv, the construction of which was led by I.F. Michurin in 1748–1767. The largest of his church buildings, as well as his last great work, was the Smolny Monastery in St. Petersburg (1748–1764) with residential buildings and churches arranged in an ensemble around the central Resurrection Cathedral; the latter, like St. Andrew's Church in Kyiv, is centric in plan, combining Western Baroque innovations with traditional Russian five-domes.

With the coming to power of Catherine II, the fashion for baroque went away, and the Smolny Monastery, although already established as an ensemble, remained unfinished (in particular, the giant bell tower planned by Rastrelli was not erected). Having ceased receiving orders, the master retired from the post of chief architect in 1763. In 1764 he decorated the Bironovsky palaces in Mitau and Ruenthal. In 1762 and 1767 he traveled to Italy in the hope of improving his affairs (including by exporting paintings by Italian artists for sale in Russia).

Great works of the architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli

Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli was born into the family of the court architect and sculptor Bartolomeo Carlo Rastrelli (Rastrelli of Florence) in 1700, in Paris. From an early age he learned his craft from his father and was his apprentice.

Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna Wooden, replaced by the Engineering Castle

After the death of the Sun King Louis XIV, Bartolomeo signs a contract according to which he undertakes to go with his son and students to St. Petersburg to work in the service of His Royal Majesty Peter for 3 years. So this Italian family ended up in Russia in 1716, in a city that in those years surpassed everything in scope greatest cities Europe.

Projects for framing window, doorways and niches for the Winter Palace (1, 2), windows of a wooden gallery at Monplaisir (3). 1750s

Shafirov Palace (1720)

Here young Francesco helps his father design the Strelninsky Palace and carry out interior decoration in the palaces of Shafirov and Apraksin, which were built by the great Leblon

Palace of Prince Dimitry Kantemir (on the site of house No. 8 on Palace Embankment and house No. 7 on Millionnaya Street). 1721 - 1727, architect F.B. Rastrelli. This building fit into the mainstream of Peter the Great's Baroque and differed little from similar structures. In 1721 - 1727 Francesco Rastrelli performs his first independent work - the Palace of Antioch Cantemir in the style of Northern European architecture.

Gromov's mansion

Annenhof: Summer Palace A.I. (Moscow) The summer residence next to the Golovinsky Palace on the banks of the Yauza was built according to the design of F.B. Rastrelli in 1731. - a wooden palace on a stone foundation - a huge palace complex, built under the influence of Versailles, with a wide court d'honneur, a large park area - a two-story building, a plan of 4 buildings - horizontally elongated - had several buildings with a reduced volume in contrast to the central part palace - symmetry in the orientation of the palace - together with the side wings of the palace, the wings form a closed courtyard, the so-called courtyard. There was also a Winter Annenhof (wooden) built according to Rastrelli's design in 1730 in the Kremlin and moved to a place next to the Summer Annenhof in 1736. Rebuilt many times.

Winter Kremlin Palace Replaced by the Grand Kremlin Palace

Anna Ioannovna, the niece of Peter I, who ascended the throne, sought to surround herself with all the most exquisite things. Rastrelli the elder goes with his son to an audience with the young empress, after this meeting he was entrusted with the construction of the empress's palace in the Kremlin (Annengof), and then to Lefortovo. Rastrelli Sr., being more of a sculptor than an architect, supervised this construction, and Rastrelli Jr. developed the projects.

Traveling Srednerogatsky Palace Distorted by numerous reconstructions

In 1732, the Empress's favorite Biron commissioned Francesco Rastrelli to build an arena between Nevsky Prospekt and Bolshaya Morskaya Street. At the same time, the young architect was designing the Summer and Winter Palaces.

Winter Palace A.I. in S-P Home construction in 1732. Rastrelli created such a large scale for the first time stone structure: there were four hundred and sixty halls and rooms in it. The Winter Palace was to become the new residence of the Empress and the most significant building in St. Petersburg. - It was built three-story, taller than all the buildings that stood on the Neva embankment. - The variety of impressions that the Winter Palace produces from different points of view depends to a large extent not only on the arrangement of columns and differences in the composition of the facades, but also on the decorative decoration. - The interior layout of the palace was clear and logical. Rastrelli's plan basically boiled down to the following. Throughout the lower floor there were galleries with arches. Galleries connected all parts of the palace. The interiors were in the Baroque style. enfilade construction of the front chambers. In the Winter Palace R, symptomatic new elements appear, in particular, round rusticated columns supporting the balcony of the front floor; the sculpture of the pediment appears, and there is a desire to unite the windows vertically. The throne room, for its design, R uses a fairly developed baroque repertoire. In the interiors of the hall, R appears more actively, in the plastically developed spirit of the baroque, than in the facades.

Modern Winter Palace

In the Winter Palace (1754-1764), which was built to replace the previous building, also built by Rastrelli, the architect was faced with a new task: to build a palace, which, in its significance and architecture, was to dominate the ensemble capital city. Rastrelli designed the palace in the form of a huge rectangular closed block with an internal front courtyard. (he proposed to place a round square in front of the palace, decorated with a perimeter colonnade; in the center of the square a monument should have been installed, which now stands in a different place (an equestrian monument made by Rastrelli’s father).)

The powerful architectural mass of the palace was designed according to the role of each of its facades in the city ensemble. Develops one motive, but the rhythmic structures are different. On the Neva side, the side projections were made very wide; in the middle part, the entrance was marked - a three-span columned entrance, thus emphasizing in the facade its longitudinal direction along the river embankment. Widely spaced columns and wide windows => calm rhythmic composition, t.z. from the Neva. On the opposite side, he used the opposite technique: stepwise advancement of the powerful center of the facade, which here corresponded to the dominant significance of the palace facade in the ensemble of the planned square.

The Jordan Staircase is also a creation of Rastrelli

The facade from the Admiralty side, formed by the protruding corner parts of the palace and the recessed middle part, emphasizes and shades the length of the two main facades, being an intermediate link between them. The plasticity of the palace facades is richly and strongly developed with a complex rhythm of arrangement of columns, with various forms of window frames and numerous pediments, with many vases and statues placed above the parapet balustrade. The height of the facades is divided into two tiers, treated with composite order columns; Bottom - base. The columns of the second tier unite the second and third floors, corresponding to the location of the main palace premises here. The vertical construction of columns stacked on top of each other is continued by placing the sculpture on the parapet.

In the same year, Francesco marries, and soon children are born to the young family - the same age Joseph Yakov (1733), Elizabeth Katerina (1734), Eleanor (1735). Two of them, Joseph and Eleanor, die of cholera in 1737 - 1738

Mitavsky Palace

The following two works, done in mid. 30s made for Duke Biron on his Courland estates. Biron built them in his homeland - Mitavsky Palace (1738-42). With the exception of this period, most of P's buildings are documented graphically. Rastrelli's architecture has reached us in good condition. Between us is a large-scale building of three buildings with a front yard that tends to be closed. Fences mark the entrance to the palace space. On the one hand, Rastrelli gravitates towards a closed, self-centered structure, on the other hand, he reveals one dominant element - the elongated central building reveals itself in the composition of the surrounding spaces independently due to its façade.

Rundāle Palace

Biron's country estate in the town of Rundal (1736) is the second significant gardening work of R (together with Annenhof). The palace is even more characteristic - it has a square-shaped plan of 4 buildings, opposite are the stables. Adjacent to the palace is a developed palace composition; it has features somewhat different from the garden in Annenhof. There is a completely undeveloped part of the territory here, so Rastrelli includes the adjacent forest in the composition of the ensemble; the entire complex as a whole is created on a completely flat area.

The presence of a flat area allows Rastrelli to use the basic techniques of French park construction: he uses a five-ray system of alleys converging at the facade. Regular park parts are inserted into this radial composition. A special feature of the park is the presence of a bypass canal, which is not typical for a French park. The palace complex consists of two main buildings: a square-shaped palace and a rectangular complex of stables with an inner courtyard. R creates developed enfilade compositions - he introduces 2 parallel enfilades into each building. In the central part of the front (end) building, the entrance is located in the center; here is the front vestibule, but the staircases are spaced to the right and left parts of the internal spaces. The lobby allows you to walk through it and exit into the park. Arch language: Rastrelli's buildings are distinguished by the aesthetics of architectural details. The specifics of the façade solution are almost the same as in Mitau; pilasters are used only in the protrusion of the central projection and work with window openings. Rastrelli adheres to the general stylistic direction that is characteristic of Anna’s time as a whole - the architecture is flat, not plastic, restrained in its façade edition.

In 1738, he became chief architect, he was entitled to a salary of 1,200 rubles a year, a service apartment in the former Winter Palace.

In St. Petersburg, on behalf of the new favorite Minich, the architect began designing a palace for Anna Leopoldovna. He did not have to complete this project; Elizabeth, who came to power, had a dislike for everything German and she did not like Rastrelli’s connection with the Germans Biron and Minich. In 1742, Elizaveta Petrovna ordered not to recognize Rastrelli's countship, to delay the payment of his salary and not to give him any instructions for construction.

Annichkov Palace

But Francesco Rastrelli did not despair; he saw the passion of the new empress and her court for sophistication and luxury and understood that no one but him could meet the demands of the imperial court. And so it happened: soon the Empress already instructs the architect to complete the construction of the Summer Palace, which he began for Anna Leopoldovna, then, in 1744, another construction must be completed. This time we are talking about the Anichkov Palace started by Zemtsov, continued after it by the Dmitrievs, which did not please the taste of the Empress.

Great Peterhof Palace

For Elizaveta Petrovna, the idea of Peterhof was connected with the idea of a memorial ensemble; this is the only country residence to which Peter gave an official character, his Versailles. The composition of the Peterhof park was quite developed and complex, and the palace was quite small. The dimensions of the Peterhof Palace were absolutely unacceptable for Anna’s time. Peter's Palace in Peterhof - Rastrelli, while reconstructing it, had to preserve Peter's face, the aura of time. Therefore, the architect is faced with the task of modifying, preserving its face, and expanding the palace complex. Rastrelli modified the scale, preserving the iconography: he added side buildings, erected new pavilions (one for the church, the other secular), connected them with galleries, built on the central building and the volumes attached to it with a third floor

In the same year, after the death of Bartolomeo Rastrelli, Francesco considers it his duty to complete the creation of the equestrian statue of Peter I, begun by his father. In 1746, Elizaveta Petrovna decides to expand the Peterhof Palace and entrusts the work in Peterhof to Rastrelli. One after another, the architect creates reconstruction projects, the final version of which is approved on January 23, 1749, and for three years Francesco Bartolomeo supervises this construction.

Peterhof Church

The architect performs a huge amount of work, but Elizabeth is in no hurry to return the title of chief architect to him, and his salary remains the same. Rastrelli decides on a trick - he announces his departure from Russia, and only after that he regains the desired title and now a salary of 1,500 rubles a year.

Saint-Petersburg, Russia. Vorontsov Palace on Sadovaya.

Catherine Palace(also known as the Great Tsarskoye Selo Palace, the Great Catherine Palace, the Great Palace, the Old Palace - former imperial palace, the official summer residence of three Russian monarchs - Catherine I, Elizabeth Petrovna and Catherine II; The palace is located 26 km south of St. Petersburg in the former Tsarskoe Selo (now the city of Pushkin). Included in the list of Objects World Heritage UNESCO. The building was founded in 1717 by order of the Russian Empress Catherine I, after whom it is named; During the 18th century it was rebuilt several times and in its present form is an example of late Baroque. During Soviet times, a museum was opened in the palace. During the Great Patriotic War, the palace was severely damaged. Its restoration took many years and is not yet complete. The restoration is carried out by the Leningrad School of Restorers on a strictly scientific basis.

Pavilion "Grotto" in Catherine Park Tsarskoe Selo

Pavilion "Hermitage" in Catherine Park of Tsarskoye Selo

In subsequent years, he created such masterpieces as the Vorontsov Palace (1749 - 1752), the Stroganov Palace (1753 - 1754), the Catherine Palace, perestroika (1752 - 1757), and the Hermitage Pavilion (1748 - 1752 .), grotto (1755 - 1762) in Tsarskoe Selo (Pushkin), palace in Ropsha. The most famous works Rastrelli of those years is the ensemble of the Smolny Monastery (1748 - 1757) and the Winter Palace (1754 - 1762) with its famous Jordan Staircase.

Little by little, his favorite luxurious style of Russian or Elizabethan baroque begins to become a thing of the past. In 1758, according to Rastrelli’s design, the construction of Gostiny Dvor began, but soon due to the dissatisfaction of merchants, who considered his project too expensive, construction was suspended. The fashion for luxury is passing and there are fewer and fewer orders from Rastrelli.

St. Andrew's Church, Kyiv

Iconostasis of St. Andrew's Church

Mariinsky Palace, Kyiv

Rastrelli's experiments in organizing the sacred interior of Orthodox and Lutheran churches have been relatively little studied. In the 1740s. he designed the altar of the palace chapel in Ruenthal, which was later moved to the Mitau Palace. A sketch of this lost monument is kept in the Vienna Albertina. Based on stylistic considerations, B. R. Wipper attributes to Rastrelli the interior of the Trinity Church in Libau (1742-58) with the ducal box. In 1754, Rastrelli prepared a project for a five-tiered iconostasis and altar canopy for the Transfiguration Cathedral in St. Petersburg. He twice drafted a project for restoring the collapsed tent of the cathedral of the New Jerusalem Monastery, for which he also designed the decoration of the edicule.

House V.V. Engelhardt: Nevsky Prospekt, 30 / Griboyedov Canal embankment, 16, central District, Saint Petersburg

Large guest courtyard

Hermitage Pavilion in Peterhof

Rastrelli Grotto in Lefortovo

On August 10, 1762, Catherine II sent the chief architect on vacation to Italy for a year for treatment. There Rastrelli is trying to find new customers, at the same time he learns that the architect Wallen-Delamot has been commissioned to remodel the inner chambers of the Winter Palace for the new empress. On October 24, 1763, by the highest decree, the architect was dismissed with a pension of 1000 rubles per year. In 1764, Rastrelli and his family left St. Petersburg and went to Courland, where he was engaged in the construction of the Ruenthal and Mitau palaces in Jelgava.

Interiors by Rastrelli

Catherine Palace

Reconstruction of the amber room Catherine Palace

Also all interiors of Rundāle Palace

Fountain "Crown".

Summer Garden: Palace Embankment, Central District, St. Petersburg

Memory of Rastrelli
Rastrelli Square in St. Petersburg;

The monument in Tsarskoe Selo was erected next to the Catherine Palace in 1991 according to the design of Maria Litovchenko.

Bust of Rastrelli in the park of Manezhnaya Square in St. Petersburg (sculptor V. E. Gorevoy, 2003).

One of the galleries on the first floor of the Winter Palace is named after the great architect.

They were shot in the sculptural composition "In Memory of the Architects of St. Petersburg" Art. metro station "Gorkovskaya", in the park closer to the Arsenal Canal
Sources

Ovsyannikov Yu. M. Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli. — L.: Art. Leningr. department, 1982. - 224

Denisov Yu. M., Petrov A. N. Architect Rastrelli. Materials for the study of creativity.. - L.: State. publishing house of literature on construction, architecture and construction. materials, 1963.

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RASTELLI, BARTOLOMEO FRANCESCO (Bartolomey Varfolomeevich) (Rastrelli, Bartolomeo Francesco) (1700–1771), architect, the largest representative of Baroque architecture in Russia.

Born in Paris, in the family of the Italian sculptor BARTOLOMEO CARLO RASTELLI.
In 1716, together with his father, who was invited to Russian service, he came to St. Petersburg. In 1725–1730 he studied abroad, most likely in Italy.

Summer Palace of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna in St. Petersburg. Arch. F.B. Rastrelli. 1742-1744

All these buildings are characterized by a very restrained baroque style with fairly flat facades and a moderate use of sculpture; Without departing too far from the architecture of Peter the Great's time in the sense of moderate decoration, Rastrelli at the same time preserves and even enhances (especially in the Summer Palace) its inherent spatial scope. His ability to think spatially and spatially, in a wide landscape, was facilitated by his gift as a graphic artist (Rastrelli’s drawings and sketches belong to the masterpieces of European architectural drawing of the 18th century).

Rundāle Palace is a baroque palace complex in Latvia. Built in the 1730s

Winter residence of the Duke of Kurzeme and Zemgale E.I. Biron in Mitava (modern Jelgava)

The highest flowering of the master's creativity comes in the middle of the century. In 1745–1757, he led the reconstruction of the royal residences in Peterhof (now Petrodvorets) and Tsarskoye Selo (now Pushkin). Having connected the previous buildings into integral ensembles, he unites them with a common rhythm using facades of enormous length and internal ceremonial enfilades, to which the entire layout is subordinated - according to the “gallery-block” principle. In Peterhof, the architect transformed and significantly enlarged the Grand Palace, re-creating almost the entire interior decoration. The Tsarskoe Selo Grand Palace, also practically created anew, is particularly grandiose and splendid; Baroque here reaches its utmost plastic splendor in the complex alternation of columns, window openings, sculptures and architectural decoration; A major role, which is generally typical for the master’s work, is played by the coloring of the walls (in this case, intense turquoise).

Catherine Palace in Tsarskoe Selo

In all cases, the striking luxury of the interior design (with an abundance of mirrors, gilded carvings, decorative paintings, etc.) is combined with an extraordinary - and at the same time thoughtful - scale. Sophistication and scale merge together in the arrangement of the main entrances to buildings and park areas (in Tsarskoye Selo Park, Rastrelli, in particular, completed the Hermitage pavilion begun by S.I. Chevakinsky and built the Grotto). In 1754–1762, according to Rastrelli's designs, a new Winter Palace was built, which also amazes with the union of picturesque luxury of façade plasticity and general silhouette with the logical rigor of the layout, visibly subordinating the vast urban area.

Vorontsov Palace in St. Petersburg F.B. Rastrelli. 1749-1757

Among Rastrelli's other works are the Vorontsovsky (1749–1757) and Stroganovsky (1752–1754) palaces in St. Petersburg.

Stroganov Palace on Nevsky Prospekt, 19 in St. Petersburg

In addition to palace architecture, the master radically updated Russian church architecture: in 1747–1750 he created a project for recreating the collapsed tent of the Resurrection Cathedral of the New Jerusalem Monastery near Moscow (later decorating the interior of the cathedral with rich stucco decoration), as well as a project for St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Kyiv, which was built in 1748–1767 conducted by I.F. Michurin.

St. Andrew's Cathedral in Kyiv

The largest of his church buildings, as well as his last great work, was the Smolny Monastery in St. Petersburg (1748–1764) with residential buildings and churches arranged in an ensemble around the central Resurrection Cathedral; the latter, like St. Andrew's Church in Kyiv, is centric in plan, combining Western Baroque innovations with traditional Russian five-domes.

Cathedral of the Smolny Monastery F.B. Rastrelli. 1748-1764

Design model of the Smolny Monastery. Master J. Lorenz. 1750-1756

Having ceased receiving orders, the master retired from the post of chief architect in 1763. In 1764 he decorated the Bironovsky palaces in Mitau and Ruenthal. In 1762 and 1767 he traveled to Italy in the hope of improving his affairs (including by exporting paintings by Italian artists for sale in Russia).

Rastrelli died in St. Petersburg in 1771.

Catherine (Great) Palace in Tsarskoe Selo. Architect F.B. Rastrelli. 1752-1756

Catherine (Great) Palace in Tsarskoe Selo. Architect F.B. Rastrelli. 1752-1756. the Amber Room

Catherine (Great) Palace in Tsarskoe Selo. 1752-1756. Western façade

Catherine (Great) Palace in Tsarskoe Selo Eastern facade. central part

East façade

Atlanta

Grotto (Morning Hall) in Tsarskoe Selo. Arch. F.B. Rastrelli

Grotto (Morning Hall) From the south-east side

Hermitage in Tsarskoe Selo. Arch. M.G. Zemtsov, S.I. Chevakinsky, F.B. Rastrelli. 1743-1753

Hermitage in Tsarskoe Selo. 1743-1753. View from the southeast side

Catherine (Grand) Palace 1752-1756. East façade

Catherine (Great) Palace in Tsarskoe Selo. Arch. F.B. Rastrelli. 1752-1756. Eastern façade. central part

Catherine (Great) Palace in Tsarskoe Selo. Arch. F.B. Rastrelli. 1752-1756. Entrance gate

View of the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoe Selo from the front courtyard and circumferences. Engraving by P.A. Artemyeva, E.T. Vnukov and N. Chelnakov from the original by M.I. Makhaeva. 1761

Catherine Palace. Zubovsky building

Palace Square. Winter Palace.

Winter Palace in St. Petersburg

Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. Fragment of the western facade

Peterhof

Church of the Apostles Peter and Paul in Peterhof. F.B. Rastrelli. 1747–1751

Domes of the beautiful St. Andrew's Cathedral in Kyiv

Catherine Palace, Tsarskoe Selo. Photo by Vadim Gippenreitor

Monument to F. B. Rastrelli. in Tsarskoe Selo 1991.

Thank you genius architect Rastrelli - the creator of the most beautiful buildings in St. Petersburg!

SMOLNY CATHEDRAL

Pearl of RASTELLI

The majestic Smolny Cathedral began to be built by Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli during the reign of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, and it was completed by V.P. Stasov under Emperor Nicholas I.

This temple is rightfully considered the pearl of St. Petersburg baroque. By royal decree it became known as the Council of All Educational Institutions. It was during the period when its construction began by decree of Empress Elizabeth in northern capital the five-domed structure was restored - the traditional end of the Orthodox Church in and.

In terms of its picturesqueness, expressiveness of composition, and external decoration, the Smolny Cathedral is one of the pinnacles of world architecture.

Smolny Cathedral is part of architectural ensemble Smolny Monastery, which is located in St. Petersburg on the left bank of the Neva on Smolnaya Embankment.

The five-domed structure of the cathedral is made in a rather unusual way.

According to the original project, Rastrelli planned to build a single-domed cathedral modeled on European churches, but Empress Elizabeth stubbornly insisted on an Orthodox five-domed structure.

As a result, the cathedral was built with five domes, but only one, the central dome relates directly to the temple, the other four are bell towers

The corner churches of the monastery resemble palace buildings. If it weren’t for the domes with crosses, they would look like park pavilions connected to each other by arcades of galleries - the plasticity of their forms is so warmed by the living warmth. This is like a variation on the theme of the country royal palaces and pavilions that Rastrelli built and rebuilt in Tsarskoe Selo and Peterhof during the years of designing the Smolny Monastery. There is nothing angelic in the plump, snub-nosed faces of cherubs; they are an enthusiastic manifestation of earthly existence.

In the 1740s, the heir to the royal throne, Elizaveta Petrovna, decided to hold last years his life in the peace and quiet of the monastery, surrounded by one hundred and twenty noble maidens. Already being an empress, she ordered the construction of a monastery on the site of the Smolny House, the palace in which she lived her youth.

The monastery complex was to include a temple with house churches and a bell tower and an institute for girls from noble families.

The architect of the Smolny Cathedral is F. B. Rastrelli.

The cathedral was founded in October 1748, construction began in May 1751, but soon the war with Prussia began, after which funding for construction became insufficient and construction proceeded slowly.

Creating a fence for Smolny, did not use Rastrelli's design and did not try to imitate Baroque. As if “turning back,” he found the source of his inspiration in the living plant forms of the frieze of the Voronikhin fence of the Kazan Cathedral. The vertical rods of the lattice links are completed with palmettes - stylized palm leaves. The frieze running along the upper edge is made up of thick wreaths woven from branches and flowers. The cast iron links of the fence were made at the Aleksandrovsky foundry; the base was hewn from granite blocks taken from the foundation of the bell tower

The opening of the Smolny Institute took place on June 28, 1764, but the cathedral was completed by the architect V.P. Stasov only in 1835.

Stasov created the interior decoration of the cathedral in the spirit of his time. Spectacular and luxurious in its own way, it made a strong impression and put one in a solemn mood. The white masses of columns, lined with slabs of artificial marble, the polished Revel stone of the floor shone coldly, the gilding of architectural details and carved iconostases shimmered; refracting the rays of light, the edges of the crystal balustrade in front of the altars shimmered with all the colors of the rainbow. Huge iconostases, conceived as a continuation of the cathedral's interior, were filled with icons in gilded vestments and precious frames.

In 1970-1980, the Smolny Cathedral was a branch State Museum history of Leningrad. The building housed the exhibition “Leningrad Today and Tomorrow,” telling about the achievements of Leningrad industry.

In 1989, the Smolny Cathedral became a concert and exhibition hall. In 2004, the Smolny Cathedral concert and exhibition hall became part of the State Museum-Monument "St. Isaac's Cathedral".

Today the concert poster of the Smolny Cathedral occupies a prominent place in cultural life cities. The best choral groups in Russia and symphony orchestras perform there.

Unfortunately, most of the baroque elements of the decoration of the Smolny Monastery, which were supposed to be carried out according to Rastrelli's plans (bas-reliefs of pediments, statues and bas-reliefs, balustrades, vases, torches on cornices, gilding of facades and interiors, picturesque lampshades and iconostases) were either not created or lost. But even the few surviving details of this decor give an idea of the strict compositional program of the project.

The cathedral is decorated with elements of the elements of air (angels, clouds, angel wings) and water (rocailles and “pearls”). Powerful waves of volutes form a transition from the upper tiers of the temple to the lower ones, limit the desudeportes, “twist” the straight lines of the cornices, then dismember into streams and form curls. The decoration of the facades lacks not only all the motifs of fire (lion masks) and strength (military armor, shields and helmets - symbols of the angelic army), characteristic of the Russian Baroque, but even the garlands of flowers that Rastrelli loved - they are only in the interior. The decoration of the interior of the temple used elements of the elements of air (clouds, angelic figures, wings) and earth (fruits and flowers). Rocailles naturally grow into either angel wings or palm branches