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Favorite palaces of Russian empresses. Panorama of the Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna

In 1741, as a result of another palace coup, the youngest daughter of Peter I, Elizabeth, became the Russian Empress. Many contemporaries perceived the accession to the Russian throne of Elizabeth Petrovna as a guarantee of a return to the traditions of her father's domestic and foreign policy. A new stage in the development of culture, science and art began in the country.

The capital of Russia also experienced a new period of prosperity. The city was built quickly, new ones appeared official residences, palaces, cathedrals, theaters. The reign of Elizabeth is the period of dominance in European architecture of the Baroque style, which is characterized by the pomp and quirkiness of architectural forms, the luxury of decoration using stucco details, gilding, sculpture, and painting. At that time, the talented architect Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli was working in St. Petersburg, and it was he who created the masterpieces of Russian baroque, reflecting the idea of the triumph and power of the country, which has become one of the largest world powers.

Rastrelli received an order for the construction of the first building for Elizabeth when she was not yet an empress. The Tsesarevna ordered the construction of the Summer Palace for her on the territory of the Third Summer Garden (the modern territory bounded by the Fontanka, Moika, Italianskaya Street and the Catherine Canal).

Thanks to the surviving engravings and drawings, today we can imagine what this creation of Rastrelli looked like. The first floor of the palace was made of stone, the second - wooden. The palace was painted in light pink, the basement was gray. The palace had two facades: one was turned towards the Nevsky prospect, the other - the main one - towards the Moika, towards the Summer Garden. A wide road was laid from the Nevsky prospect along the Fontanka, greenhouses stretched along it, fruit trees grew, there was also the Elephant Yard, while its inhabitants could swim in the Fontanka in the summer.

It was possible to get into the territory of the palace through a wide gate with an openwork lattice, decorated with gilded eagles. In front of the main façade facing the Moika, huge figured flower beds were arranged, neatly trimmed trees were planted - a real regular park turned out. Rastrelli himself wrote: "The building had more than one hundred and sixty apartments, including a church, a hall and galleries. Everything was decorated with mirrors and rich sculpture, as well as a new garden, decorated with beautiful fountains ...". In 1745, a covered gallery was built for the passage from the palace to the Summer Garden across the Moika.

The queen was very fond of her luxurious Summer Palace. Every year at the end of April, she, along with the whole court, moved from Winter Palace in Summer. The move turned into a whole ceremony with orchestral music and artillery fire. At the end of September, Elizabeth again returned to the Winter Palace.

In September 1754, the future emperor Paul I was born in the summer residence of Elizabeth. Fate decreed that at the very beginning of his reign it was he who demolished the dilapidated Summer Palace and ordered the construction of a castle in its place, which we today know as Mikhailovsky. And it was here that the life of Paul I tragically ended.

The text was prepared by Galina Dregulyas

For those who want to know more:
1. Architects of St. Petersburg. XVIII century. SPb., 1997
2. Ovsyannikov Yu. Great architects of St. Petersburg. SPb., 2000
3. Anisimov E.V. Elizabeth Petrovna. M., 2000

Founded by Peter I of the royal estate. Here, near the junction of the Moika and the Fontanka, shortly before her death, Empress Anna Ioannovna ordered the architect F. B. Rastrelli to build the palace "with extreme haste." During her lifetime, the architect did not have time to start this work.

In late 1740 - early 1741, Anna Leopoldovna, who took power into her own hands, also decided to build her own house on this site. On her behalf, Governor-General Minich ordered Rastrelli to draw up an appropriate project. The drawings were ready by the end of February 1741. But the architect was in no hurry to provide them to Munnich, but took the documents to the Hof quartermaster's office, which delayed the approval of the project for several weeks. Probably, Rastrelli guessed about the imminent change in power and was in no hurry to carry out the order. The architect was right. On March 3, Petersburg was informed of Minich's resignation. On November 24, a palace coup took place, as a result of which the daughter of Peter I, Elizabeth, came to power. By this time, the Summer Palace had already been laid.

Concerning the date of laying the palace in local lore literature, there are different versions. Historian Yuri Ovsyannikov in the book "Great Architects of St. Petersburg" writes that it took place on July 24, 1741 in the presence of the ruler Anna Leopoldovna, her husband Generalissimo Anton Ulrich, courtiers and guards. Georgy Zuev in the book "The Moika River Flows" calls the month of laying the Summer Palace not July, but June. The same opinion is shared by K. V. Malinovsky in the book "St. Petersburg of the 18th century".

New house became known as the Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna. Immediately after her accession to the throne, she entrusted Rastrelli with the completion of its interior decoration. The draft building was ready by 1743. The palace became the first own home of Elizabeth Petrovna, in which no one had lived before her. As a reward for this work, the empress raised the architect's salary from 1,200 to 2,500 rubles a year.

The Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna was connected to Nevsky Prospekt by a road running along the Fontanka. The approach to the building was flanked by a one-story kitchen and guardhouse. Between them were gates decorated with gilded double-headed eagles. Behind them is the front yard. The main facade of the palace faced the Summer Garden, to which a covered bridge-gallery led through the Moika since 1745. The first floor of the building was made of stone, on it rested wooden walls of light pink color treated with plaster. Against their background, white window trims and pilasters stood out. The ground floor of the palace was lined with greenish granite.

In the central building there was a two-height Grand Hall with the royal throne against the western wall. The Empress lived in the eastern wing of the palace, on the side of the Fontanka. Courtiers lived in the west wing. Rastrelli wrote about the Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna:

"The building had more than one hundred and sixty apartments, including here the church, hall and galleries. Everything was decorated with mirrors and rich sculpture, as well as a new garden, decorated with beautiful fountains, with the Hermitage built at ground floor level, surrounded by rich trellises, all decorations which were gilded" [Cit. according to 1, p. 264].

In the aforementioned Hermitage, built in 1746, according to Jacob Stehlin, paintings of exclusively religious and biblical content were kept. Some of them are now in the State Hermitage and the Pavlovsk Palace. The halls of the Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna were decorated with Bohemian mirrors, marble sculptures and paintings by famous artists.

Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli was not completely satisfied with this work of his. Ten years after the end of construction, he was still finishing and reworking something. The walls of the building were decorated with figured window frames, atlantes, lion masks and mascarons. In 1752, Rastrelli added "a new large gallery hall" to the northeast corner of the palace. The owner of the palace had little interest in the architectural integrity of the building. The main thing for her was only the luxury of the surrounding space.

On April 30, the Empress moved to the Summer Palace from the Winter Palace with her entire court. Return - 30 September. Here Elizabeth took a break from her public service. In the Summer Palace, she preferred only to relax.

Here, in 1754, Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich, the future Emperor Paul I, was born and spent the first years of his life. The Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna in 1762 became the site of celebrations on the occasion of the conclusion of peace with Prussia after the end of the Seven Years' War.

For Catherine II, the Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna became the place where she received official congratulations from the diplomatic corps on her accession to the throne. Within its walls, she heard the news of the death of Peter III.

In the very first month of the reign of Paul I, on November 28, 1796, a decree was issued: " for the permanent residence of the sovereign to build with haste a new impregnable palace-castle. He should stand on the site of the dilapidated Summer House". The emperor did not want to live in the Winter Palace. He preferred to live in the place where he was born. So, allegedly, the decision was made to build a new palace, which replaced the Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna.

It is difficult to name another building that would have existed on the territory of the Imperial Summer Garden for such a short period of time - only fifteen years - and left such a bright mark on history. For eight years, the Summer Palace of Anna Ioannovna remained imperial residence where the political pulse of the entire Russian Empire beat.

The summer wooden palace of Anna Ioannovna is part of the group of buildings that have not survived in the Summer Garden. In the walls of this palace in 1740, the Empress ended her life, and here her will was announced. Biron's regency was proclaimed here, and high dignitaries and guards swore allegiance to the young emperor John Antonovich. One of the most dramatic pages of our history is connected with the beloved palace of Anna Ioannovna - the arrest of the Duke of Courland Biron, the former favorite of the Empress. It is not surprising that the imperial residence, which received such gloomy fame, was dismantled eight years later.

The Summer Palace of Anna Ioannovna was erected in 1732 on the Neva embankment on the site of the Hall for Glorious Celebrations, which was dismantled on this occasion. The architect was Francesco Rastrelli with the participation of his father, Bartolomeo Rastrelli.

It was a one-story palace, significantly elongated in length. The summer wooden palace differed sharply from the palace of Peter I, which stood on the banks of the Fontanka. Rastrelli singled out the central part of the building, and arranged descents to the water from the side wings. An elegant balustrade ran along the edge of the roof, the monotonous rhythm of which was broken by figured carvings and decorative sculpture. Columns and often placed windows decorated with platbands greatly enriched the facades of the palace, giving it the character of a baroque building. After the construction of the palace was completed, the new residence of the Empress acquired the function of a kind of “Neva facade”, through which one could go to the Summer Garden.

According to Rastrelli, the palace had twenty-eight apartments. It is known from other sources that in 1741, after the death of the empress, the following chambers were in the palace: “Anticamora”, where ambassadors were received; "Comedy"; chief marshal's quarters, bedroom of the empress, large imperial hall, ten chambers of the Duke of Biron, four chambers, which were occupied by his son Peter. In addition, the palace contained the chambers of the ladies-in-waiting, an office for writing; state-owned chambers, where ward garments were kept, and armory chambers. It is also mentioned that Biron's bedroom was upholstered with carpets. Exactly this detailed description of the inner apartments of the Summer Palace, which we have today.

On the plan of the wooden palace of Anna Ioannovna, made from a copy of the drawing of 1732, it is clearly seen that the building included two enfilades of halls. The rooms of the northern suite overlooked the Neva, and the southern one overlooked the garden. The Neva enfilade was made up of large halls - this was the front part of the palace. Apparently, the throne room was located along the axis of the building; the throne room is shown in it on the plan of the palace. Further to the west, through three rooms, was the front bedchamber. In the eastern building of the palace, separated by a risalit, there was the largest hall of the palace. Judging by the description, the palace housed the "Comedy", that is, a hall for theatrical performances. Obviously, it was this large hall in the eastern wing of the building that served as the "Comedy". The garden enfilade consisted of smaller rooms. Perhaps there were living quarters here; they are grouped into apartments separated by hallways and having access to the garden. Since the ceremonial bedchamber was located in the Nevsky enfilade, it can be assumed that there was a daily bedchamber in the Sadovaya enfilade, in which the Empress died. Biron's apartments also overlooked the garden and adjoined the imperial apartments: this is confirmed by the message of Lieutenant Colonel Manstein, who arrested the duke.

Anna Ioannovna first moved to her Summer residence immediately after the wedding of her favorite brother, Gustav Biron, with Princess Menshikova, celebrated in the Winter Palace on the first day of summer 1732.

Anna Ioannovna lived in the Summer Palace according to a precisely established order - from the beginning of May to the end of September (excluding a few weeks in June and July spent in Peterhof). The imperial court always moved to the Summer Palace with special splendor. Anna Ioannovna sailed along the Neva to the thunder of cannon shots on a sixteen-oared yacht decorated with gold with a magnificent cabin in the form of a room, decorated with green velvet.

2 Pokrovsky Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna

Empress Elizaveta Petrovna is one of those rare post-Petrine Romanovs who loved Moscow. Her sympathy also extended to the village of Pokrovskoye-Rubtsovo, which belonged to her, on the banks of the now defunct Rybinka River, which flowed into the Yauza. The village itself with a wooden "pleasure" palace, the Church of the Intercession, a pond and a garden has been known since the 16th century. Its first owner was Protasy Vasilievich Yuryev, from whom the Romanovs got it in difficult ways. The holdings were large.

Under Anna Ioannovna, removed from the court, Elizaveta Petrovna lived in Pokrovsky-Rubtsovo. According to legend - fun, arranging holidays, dances and festivities. In 1737 the wooden palace burned down. In 1739, Elizabeth built a new one on the shore of the pond: one-story, on a high basement, with a central double-height hall. The interiors of the palace have not survived, but it is known that they were decorated in Japanese and Chinese styles. A luxurious park with a roller coaster and carousels was arranged in 1752 by the architect B.-F. Rastrelli. He also made a project for a new palace, which was not implemented.

On the other side of the pond, the Church of the Resurrection of Christ was built, connected to the palace by a passage and a bridge. In 1790 it was abolished.

After the death of Elizabeth, the palace was practically not used. In 1872, the territory was given to the Pokrovskaya community of sisters of mercy. The community made alterations according to the project of P. P. Skomoroshenko: they built on the second floor, built side wings, revived the Church of the Resurrection, but already in the central hall, changed the decor of the facades to the current one.

The community was closed in the 1920s, having arranged huge communal apartments in the former palace, which existed here until the 1980s. The pond was filled in, and the current Gastello Street was laid in front of the palace. Currently, the palace houses the State Research Institute of Restoration.

3 Great Catherine Palace

The Grand Catherine Palace in Tsarskoe Selo is the favorite residence of Elizabeth Petrovna and Catherine II. The Catherine Palace is the compositional center of the Catherine Park and one of its main decorations. The majestic building occupies the central part of Tsarskoye Selo.

The history of the palace begins in 1717 with the construction of the "Stone Chambers" for the wife of Peter the Great, Catherine the Great. According to Braunstein's project, it was a modest two-story building, the architecture of which was typical of similar buildings in Russia at the beginning of the 18th century. In 1724 the construction of the palace was completed. In honor of this, a grand celebration was arranged in the new palace.

The first restructuring of the "Stone Chambers" began after her accession to the throne in 1741, Elizabeth the First. Several architects were replaced before, at the end of 1748, the construction was headed by the chief architect of the imperial court, Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli. And by the end of July 1756, instead of a modest building, the empress and her guests were presented with a chic baroque palace, striking in beauty and size. The azure facade was decorated with white columns, moldings and figures of Atlanteans. The gilded ornament gave the palace an even more solemn look. From the central part of the palace there were outbuildings connected by covered galleries. The gilded domes of the five-domed palace church rose above the northern wing. And above the southern wing shone a gilded dome with a multi-pointed star on the spire. The facades of the palace are 300 meters long, and almost 100 kilograms of pure gold were used to gild the exterior and interior decorations.

The interior layout and decoration have also been modified. The front rooms were located along the entire length of the building, forming the front golden enfilade. The Picture Hall and the famous Amber Room appeared. The Picture Hall presents more than a hundred paintings by Western European masters of painting of the 17th - early 18th centuries of various national schools. The best craftsmen from different countries worked on the creation of the Amber Room for more than five years.

The next stage in the design of the ceremonial and residential halls of the palace dates back to the 1770s. The new mistress of the residence, Empress Catherine II, who was fascinated by ancient art, wished to decorate her apartments in accordance with fashionable tastes and entrusted them to the Scottish architect, an expert on ancient architecture C. Cameron.

The interiors he created - the Arabesque and Lyon drawing rooms, the Chinese Hall, the Dome dining room, the Silver Study, the Blue Study (Snuffbox) and the Bedchamber - were distinguished by their exquisite beauty, the severity of decorative design and the special elegance of decoration. Unfortunately, these halls were destroyed during the Great Patriotic War and have not yet been restored.

4 Chinese Palace in Oranienbaum

The Chinese Palace is part of the grandiose palace and park complex "Own Dacha" of Empress Catherine II. The palace was built by the architect Antonio Rinaldi. According to his project, a large rectangular pond was dug in front of the southern facade of the Chinese Palace, on the left bank of which a maid of honor was built, and on the right bank a place was allocated for a coffee house (the project of this building was never implemented). At the eastern facade of the palace, already beyond the border of the Own Dacha, the Kitchen Building was built.

The Chinese Palace, a brilliant example of the Rococo style in Russia, is rightfully considered the pearl of the Oranienbaum palace and park ensemble. Absolute authenticity makes this diverse suburb unique, distinguishing it from all the imperial residences that frame the Northern capital like a brilliant necklace.

Catherine II, while still a Grand Duchess, chose a "cherished" corner for herself in Oranienbaum. In her Notes, she recalls the year 1757: “I had a fantasy to build a garden for myself ... but I knew that the Grand Duke would not give me a single piece of land for this, and therefore I asked the Golitsyn princes to sell or give me 100 acres that had long been abandoned ... the land that they owned near Oranienbaum itself ... They willingly ceded it to me. I began to draw plans and lay out a garden, and since for the first time I was engaged in plans and buildings, everything turned out to be huge and awkward for me.

Ekaterina Alekseevna was able to start implementing her plan only five years later, with the accession to the Russian throne. In 1762, the construction of the Own Dacha begins, and, above all, “a stone house and a mountain”. All work was carried out "under the supervision" of A. Rinaldi and according to his drawings. Catherine II sometimes came to Oranienbaum, watching the construction of the Dutch House, or the Chinese Palace. The Empress celebrated the housewarming at the Chinese Palace on July 27, 1768. This Sunday was celebrated with a divine liturgy in the church of St. Panteleimon, and then a ceremonial meal was held in honor of the completion of the palace construction: the bishops, archimandrites, along with the nobles, dined and "drank to Her Highest Imperial Majesty's health."

In the 1770s, the Empress often visited Oranienbaum and received distinguished guests here: not only "foreign" ministers, but also royal persons - King of Sweden Gustav III, Austrian Emperor Joseph II - came with visits. On July 17, 1780, Catherine II showed the palace to her grandchildren, Grand Dukes Alexander and Constantine for the first time. Since 1796, Oranienbaum belonged to Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich (the future Emperor Alexander I), and in 1831 the residence passed into the sole possession of his brother Mikhail Pavlovich. Later, the wife of Mikhail Pavlovich Elena Pavlovna became the mistress of the estate, and then their daughter Ekaterina Mikhailovna, who married Duke George of Mecklenburg-Strelitz; their children - George, Mikhail and Elena - owned Oranienbaum until 1917.

The Chinese summer pleasure palace was named due to the luxurious decoration of four rooms, designed in the spirit of the ideas of that time about the art of the East. There are other names: "The house in the Upper Garden", "A small house, Her Imperial Majesty's own." And indeed, the loud definition “palace” is the least suitable for it - it rather resembles a park pavilion, standing on a low stylobate that forms a terrace.

The outwardly modest palace impresses with its interior decoration. Gilding and mirrors, shell ornaments, flower garlands, curls, intricately curved frames, stucco patterns whimsically running along the walls, ceilings and ceilings, exquisite murals shrouded in a pearl haze - all this creates an atmosphere of delicacy and comfort. Such is the Rococo style, which existed for a short time in the 18th century, but left a bright mark in Russia - the exquisite and intimate Chinese Palace in Oranienbaum. The stylized oriental motifs of decorative decoration and many genuine works of art from China and Japan give a special sophistication to the Rococo interiors.

The interiors of the Chinese Palace keep the original decoration of the 18th century: a rare collection of paintings by Italian artists, fine examples of Eastern and Western European porcelain, furniture of Russian and European masters. One of the main attractions of the palace are the unique parquets made according to the drawings of Rinaldi; they are unparalleled in Russian arts and crafts. Initially, the floors in the palace were made of artificial marble. In the 1770s, they were replaced with typeset parquets made of various types of wood (there are up to 36 of them) - oak, maple, birch, rosewood, boxwood, mahogany and ebony, Persian walnut, sacchardan (brown wood), amaranth and others. Parquet flooring, which is not repeated in any room, impresses with its complex pattern and exquisite color scheme.

The Bugle Study, the Damask Bedchamber, the Hall of Muses, the Blue and Pink Drawing Rooms… These very names speak of the exclusivity of the palace premises, their enduring artistic and historical value. In interior design, Rinaldi used the richest arsenal of decorative forms inherent in the Rococo style, achieving a harmonious relationship between the decoration of the palace and its architecture.

The center of the symmetrical composition of the Chinese Palace is the Great Hall, from which rooms extend along the northern facade in both directions. front suite. Two wings, including small enfilades, adjoin the main volume of the building from the south at right angles; the western enfilade housed the private quarters of Empress Catherine II, the eastern suite housed the rooms of her son, Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich.

The Chinese Palace is located in the southwestern part of the Upper Park. In front of the palace there is a meadow with flower beds, and centuries-old oaks serve as side wings and background for it. In the 18th century, the park was designed in the regular French style, and a pool of regular geometric shape was “inscribed” in its composition. By the middle of the 19th century, the nature of the parklands had changed: the layout became free, and the Upper Park acquired a romantic look. The reservoir turned into a pond, and its banks took on softer outlines.

As a museum, the Chinese Palace opened in 1922. During the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 Soviet troops defended the "Oranienbaum Piglet", which did not allow the German army to occupy Oranienbaum. The damage caused by the war did not distort the appearance of its monuments, and the skillful skill of the restorers only emphasized their highest artistic merit.

And, of course, the symbol of the Summer Garden and one of the symbols of St. Petersburg is the fence overlooking the Neva embankment, built in 1770-1784 by the architect Yu.M. Felton. But few people know that in this very place once stood Summer Palace of Anna Ioannovna, which surprised contemporaries with its splendor.

Embankment of the Neva at the Summer Garden. It was here that the Summer Palace of Anna Ioannovna once stood.

The history of the construction of the palace of Anna Ioannovna

Initially, during the reign of Empress Catherine I, the “Hall for Glorious Celebrations” was built here, which was a wooden gallery and a hall with 11 windows along the facade. On May 21, 1725, the wedding of Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna (1708-1728) with the Duke of Holstein (Karl Friedrich of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp, 1700-1738) took place there. From this marriage was born Karl Peter Ulrich, the future Russian Emperor Peter III (1728-1762).

In 1731, by order of Empress Anna Ioannovna (1693-1740, reigned 1730-1740), the "Hall" was broken, and in just 6 weeks in 1732 a luxurious wooden palace was erected. Its architect was Francesco Rastrelli, and his father, Bartolomeo Rastrelli, also took part in the work. On June 1, 1732, the Empress solemnly entered the new Summer Palace. For the following years, she lived here from the beginning of May to the end of September.

Empress Anna Ioannovna, from an engraving by I. Sokolov, 1740

The palace was a one-story, elongated room. The central part of the façade was singled out, slopes to the Neva departed from the side wings. Along the roof was a balustrade, decorated with carvings and sculptures. Frequent windows were mirrored - a rarity for that time; through them one could see the interior decoration. The palace had 28 rooms, 10 of which were occupied by Biron. When Anna Ioannovna lived in the Summer Palace, four yachts were moored on the Neva, which gave fireworks during festivities and feasts.

Drawings of the Summer Palace of Anna Ioannovna, made by F.-B. Rastrelli

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The mysterious death of the Empress

The Empress died in the Summer Palace, and the farewell ceremony was also held here. Her death was preceded by strange events. On October 5 (16), 1740, during lunch with Biron, Anna Ioannovna lost consciousness. Doctors declared the disease fatal. M.I. Pylyaev in the book “Old Petersburg”, referring to the lady-in-waiting Bludov, writes the following (grammar and punctuation are preserved):

A few days before the death of Anna Ioannovna, the guard stood in the room, near the throne room, the sentry was at the open doors. The empress had already retired to the inner chambers; it was past midnight, and the officer sat down to take a nap. Suddenly, the sentry calls for guard duty, the soldiers lined up, the officer took out his sword to salute. Everyone sees - the Empress walks up and down the throne room, bowing her head thoughtfully, not paying attention to anyone. The whole platoon stands in anticipation, but, finally, the strangeness of a night walk through the throne room begins to confuse everyone. The officer, seeing that the empress does not want to leave the hall, finally decides to go the other way and ask if anyone knows the intentions of the empress. Here he meets Biron and reports to him. “It can’t be,” Biron says: “I’m from the empress now, she went into the bedroom to go to bed. “Look for yourself, she's in the throne room. Biron goes and sees her too. “It’s something wrong, it’s either a conspiracy or a deception to act on the soldiers,” he says, runs to the empress and persuades her to come out in order to expose the impostor in the eyes of the guard, who uses some resemblance to her to fool people. The Empress decides to go out, as she was in a puddermantle. Biron goes with her. They see a woman, strikingly similar to the Empress, who is not in the least embarrassed. - Daring! - says Biron, and calls the whole guard; the soldiers and all those present see "two Anna Ioannovnas", of which the real and the ghost could be distinguished only by the outfit and by the fact that she came with Biron. The Empress, after standing for a moment in amazement, comes up to her, saying: “Who are you? Why did you come? Without answering a word, the ghost backs away, without taking his eyes off the empress, to the throne, ascends to it, and on the steps, turning his eyes once again to the empress, disappears. The Empress turns to Biron and says: This is my death, and goes to her room.

There are many unknowns in this story. Even as a child, Anna Ioannovna, a certain holy fool predicted that she would die after she saw her reflection without a mirror. In 1721, during a feast on the occasion of the proclamation of Peter I as emperor, the cracker announced that the women of the royal house would face death in a female guise. One could believe in mysticism, but ... The next day after the death of Anna Ioannovna, near the Green Bridge near the Moika River, a woman's corpse was discovered, strikingly similar to the late Empress. Was she the same ghost?

According to the will of Anna Ioannovna, signed the day after the appearance of the double, the throne passed to the 10-month-old John Antonovich, under whom Biron was regent. However, he did not have long to rule. On the night of November 8, Biron was arrested by Minich and exiled to. The baby emperor was taken from the Summer Palace to the Winter Palace, and from there to Shlisselburg.

The further fate of the palace

In 1748, already in the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna, the Summer Palace was dismantled and moved to Yekaterinhof, serving as building material for two outbuildings that expanded the main palace. And after the revolution, in 1926, after several fires, the Ekateringof Palace was completely dismantled. So the Summer Palace of Anna Ioannovna ceased to exist.

Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna- the unpreserved imperial residence in St. Petersburg, built by B.F. Rastrelli in 1741-1744 on the site where the Mikhailovsky (Engineering) Castle is now located. Demolished in 1797

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Construction history

Even then, the idea appeared to close the alley of the Summer Garden opposite the Karpiev Pond with a palace building. This is evidenced by the project - years, preserved in the archives. Possible author J. B. Leblon. It depicts a small nine-axis palace, the elevated center of which is completed with a tetrahedral dome. Wide one-story galleries cover the court d'honneur with a magnificent figured parterre, facing the Moika. Behind there is a garden with numerous bosquets of various shapes. Fruit plantings have been preserved on the territory of the present Mikhailovsky garden. However, things did not go further than plans.

However, while the construction was underway, a coup took place, and Elizaveta Petrovna became the mistress of the building. By the year, the palace, wooden on stone cellars, was roughly finished. The architect, in the description of the buildings he created, spoke of him like this:

“This building had more than 160 apartments, including the church, hall and galleries. Everything was decorated with mirrors and rich sculpture, as well as a new garden, adorned with beautiful fountains, with the Hermitage, built at ground floor level, surrounded by rich trellises, all the decorations of which were gilded.

Despite the location in the city, the building is designed according to the manor scheme. The plan was created under the clear influence of Versailles, which is especially noticeable from the side of the court d'honneur: the successively narrowing spaces enhanced the effect of the Baroque perspective of the courtyard, fenced off from the access road by a lattice of magnificent drawings with state emblems. One-story outbuildings along the perimeter of the cour d'honneur emphasize the isolation of the ensemble, traditional for the Baroque. The rather flat decor of light pink facades (mezzanine pilasters with Corinthian capitals and rusticated stone plinth blades corresponding to them, figured window frames) was compensated by a rich play of volumes. Complicated in plan, strongly developed side wings included courtyards with small flower stalls. Magnificent access porticos led to stair volumes, as always with Rastrelli, displaced from the central axis. From front staircase a series of living rooms, decorated with gilded carvings, led to the most representative hall of the palace - the Throne Room. Its double-height volume accentuated the center of the building. Outside, curly staircases led to it, complemented by ramps from the side of the garden. Completed the appearance of the palace, giving it baroque splendor, numerous statues and vases on the pediments and balustrades crowning the building. Rastrelli decorated the space up to the Moika with flower stalls with three fountain pools of complex outlines.

As often happened with the creations of an architect, over time, a logical and harmonious initial plan changes to suit momentary requirements. In 1744, for the transition of the Empress to the 2nd Summer Garden through the Moika, he built a one-story covered gallery, decorated with paintings hung on the walls. Here, near the northwestern risalit, he creates a terrace hanging garden at the mezzanine level with the Hermitage pavilion and a fountain in the center of the stalls. Along the contour, it is fenced with a magnificent gilded trellis grate, they arrange multi-march gatherings in the garden. Later, a palace church was attached to the northeastern risalit, expanding it with an additional row of rooms from the side of the Fontanka. Bay windows appear on the western façade.

On the territory adjacent to the palace, a decorative park was laid out with a huge complex green labyrinth, bosquets, trellis pavilions and two trapezoidal ponds with semicircular ledges (which have survived to this day, they acquired a free outline during the reconstruction of the park under the Grand Duke's residence). About his work in the park in 1745, Rastrelli reports:

“On the banks of the Moika, in a new garden, I built a large building of baths with a round salon and a fountain in several jets, with front rooms for relaxation.”

In the center of the park there were swings, slides, carousels. The device of the latter is unusual: revolving benches were placed around a large tree, and a gazebo was hidden in the crown, into which they climbed a spiral staircase.

Another building, located in the immediate vicinity of the north-eastern corner of the palace, is associated with the name of the architect: the water supply system for the fountains of the Summer Garden, made in the 1720s. no longer gave sufficient pressure, and did not correspond to the brilliance and grandeur of the imperial residence. In the mid 1740s. Rastrelli builds water towers with an aqueduct across the Fontanka. The technically complex, purely utilitarian building made of wood was decorated with palatial luxury: the wall painting imitated magnificent baroque modeling.

Despite the fact that the palace was the grand imperial residence, there was no direct communication with the Nevsky Prospekt: the road that went among unpresentable random buildings (glaciers, greenhouses, workshops and the Elephant Yard stood on the banks of the Fontanka) turned onto Italianskaya Street, and only bypassing the palace and I. Shuvalov, built by Savva Chevakinsky, the crews through Malaya Sadovaya got to the central transport artery of the city. A direct connection will appear only in the next century thanks to the work of C. Rossi.

Elizaveta Petrovna was very fond of the Summer Palace. In late April - early May (as the weather allowed), the solemn transfer of the Empress from the winter residence was formalized with a magnificent ceremonial with the participation of the court, the orchestra, regiments of the guard under the artillery salute of the cannon at the Winter Palace and the guns of the Peter and Paul Fortress and the Admiralty. At the same time, the imperial yachts, which were on the roadstead opposite Apraksin's house, sailed to the Summer Garden. AT Return trip the queen departed in the last days of September with the same ceremonies.