With the coming to power in Russia of Emperor Peter I, a grandiose era of transformations began in the state, which became the impetus for changes in urban planning and architecture.

Catherine's "Golden Mansions"

In 1703 the Emperor founded new town- St. Petersburg, and already 9 years later, the construction of a small house for Empress Ekaterina Alekseevna, the wife of the monarch, begins. It was located on south coast Moika and was a small house with a turret, which ended with a gilded spire. The building was named "Golden Mansions". Subsequently, this area was called Tsaritsyn Lug and became part of the Summer Garden - a large royal estate. Exotic fruits were grown on its territory for the Empress: pineapples and bananas.

A few years after the construction, it was decided to build a grandiose palace that would crown the tetrahedral dome, but the plan was not realized.

Failed construction

In 1730-1740. in power was Empress Anna Ioannovna, who, a few years before her death, instructed the architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli to build a palace on Tsaritsyn Meadow, and this should have been done as soon as possible. However, the death of the empress did not allow the architect to proceed with the execution of her order. Her successor, Anna Leopoldovna, also wanted to build her own palace on this site, the construction was entrusted to the same Rastrelli. In February 1741, the architect prepared the necessary drawings, but it was not possible to present them to the empress: in March, a coup d'état was carried out, and Empress Elizaveta Petrovna came to power.

Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli

Created the Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli - the greatest architect of the 18th century. He came from an Italian aristocratic family and held the title of count. His father was the sculptor Carlo Rastrelli, who worked for a long time at the court of the French Sun King Louis, and after the death of the latter he was invited by the Russian emperor to Russia.

Bartolomeo with early years was attracted by his father to work on various projects, went to study in Europe. The first documented work of Rastrelli in Russia was the three-story palace of Dmitry Kantemir, built in the style of Petrine baroque.

In the 1730s, Rastrelli was engaged in the construction of the Rundale Palace and the palace in Mitava, which he was building on the orders of the Duke of Courland. It was on the recommendation of Biron of Courland that Rastrelli became the court architect.

Architectural style of Rastrelli

Bartolomeo created a unique style in architecture. So, he began to use semi-circular window endings on the facades, and he usually assembled semi-columns in pairs and bundles. External columns usually did not play a constructive role, but were intended only for decoration. His palaces were characterized by huge ceremonial halls, covering the entire depth of the floor, and when designing interiors, he tried to avoid curved lines. All its buildings are characterized by screaming power, grandeur and solemnity, even pomposity. Rastrelli abandoned the traditional strip foundations, preferring platforms made of brick and stone based on piles, which, in turn, made it possible to partially redistribute the load, and this was very important for the weak soils of St. Petersburg.

Creations of the great architect

The great architect, in addition to the Rundale and Mitava palaces, built such buildings that became attractions:

1. Great Peterhof Palace.
2. Andrew's Church in Kyiv.
3. Smolny Cathedral in St. Petersburg.
4. Vorontsov Palace.
5. Hermitage Museum.
6. Winter Palace.
7. Royal Palace in Kyiv, etc.

Lost buildings of the architect

Some of his buildings on this moment lost:

• Kantemir Palace.
• Throne room on the Yauza.
• Winter Palace of Anna Ioannovna.
• Winter Kremlin Palace.
• Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna.
• Travel Srednerogatsky Palace.

The history of the construction of the Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna

The exact date of laying the foundation of the palace has not been preserved. According to one version, during the laying of the foundation in July 1941, Anna Leopoldovna was present with her husband, Prince Anton Ulrich, according to another, the laying took place a month earlier. However, the spouses were not destined to live in the new palace.

Rastrelli received an order to complete the palace he had begun from Tsesarevna Elizaveta Petrovna, who became Empress. The construction was completed in 1743 - it was the first palace of the empress, built personally for her, and the empress liked it so much that she doubled the salary of the architect - up to 2500 rubles a year.

The Empress used the summer residence from May to September every year, she devoted this time to her rest, almost not doing important state affairs. In 1754, it was here that Grand Duke Pavel, the son of Ekaterina Alekseevna, was born, and here Elizaveta Petrovna staged celebrations to mark the end of the seven-year war and the conclusion of peace with Prussia. Then the empress began to visit the palace less and less, spending more time in Tsarskoye Selo, and the palace gradually began to deteriorate.

Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna: description

The architecture of the Summer Palace is such that it is simply impossible not to notice that the author of the project was impressed by the French Versailles. The building is characterized by the closedness of the ensemble of the front yard in front of the palace, traditional for the Baroque. A detailed description of the brainchild of Rastrelli did not remain, but some memories of the imperial estate were found.

So, the summer residence of Elizabeth Petrovna consisted of 160 apartments, there were both the personal chambers of the queen, and numerous halls, galleries and even a church. In order to get to the territory of the palace, it was necessary to go through wide openwork gates made of lattices, crowned with gilded eagles. According to the architect, “everything was decorated with mirrors and rich sculpture, as well as a new garden, decorated with beautiful fountains, with the Hermitage built at the ground floor level, surrounded by rich trellises, all the decorations of which were gilded.”

The building had two facades. The main one was facing the Moika, flower beds and neat trees were placed in front of it, which turned this territory into a park. The second facade was turned towards Nevsky Prospekt, where, by order of Bartolomeo, a wide road, along which there were numerous greenhouses with flowers and trees.

The first floor of the Summer Palace of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna was made of stone, but the second was completely wooden. The building is designed in pink tones, and the basement rooms are in gray. The ground floor was faced with green granite. Inside the palace, all rooms were decorated with Bohemian mirrors, marble sculptures and paintings by famous artists. The Hermitage was built at the level of the first floor, where paintings of religious and biblical content were kept, some of which have survived to this day.

In the main building there was the Great ceremonial hall, at the western wall of which the royal throne was located. In order to get to the Throne Room, it was necessary to pass a series of living rooms and a huge front staircase, decorated with gilded carvings. The throne room struck with its grandeur, which was further emphasized by the cunning arrangement of candelabra and chandeliers, which created the impression of a two-light volume. Several curly staircases also led to the Throne Hall from the side of the garden, each of which was supplemented by ramps. The imperial chambers were located in the eastern wing of the palace, and the courtiers lived in the western wing. Each of the rooms of the palace was lavishly decorated with various statues and vases. The facade of the building was crowned with numerous balustrades.

palace park

The entire territory of the palace complex was surrounded by a decorative park. The garden also had magnificent fountains, and the park itself was a complex labyrinth of green spaces. On the territory of the complex, Rastrelli created three unusual fountain pools of complex outlines. Small gazebos and benches were equipped throughout the park, and carousels, swings and slides were located in the center. Also, according to the architect's idea, two artificial trapezoid semicircular ponds were created, which, by the way, have survived to this day.

Subsequent changes

Francesco Rastrelli continued to work on the summer residence of the Empress for many years. So, he was engaged in decorating the walls with figured architraves, atlantes and lion masks, 9 years after the completion of construction, he added a new gallery hall from the northeast side of the palace. Such constant changes only pleased the Empress, while the owner the architectural integrity of the building was of little interest. The main thing is that new buildings are as luxurious as possible.

In 1745, by order of the Empress, a covered gallery was built to move from the palace to the Summer Garden, its walls were generously decorated with art paintings. In 1747, the architect created a terrace with a fountain in the center, located on the same level as the Hermitage pavilion. Around the perimeter, it was fenced with a gilded lattice.

A little later, a church appears on the territory of the summer palace, which expands the palace complex from the Fontanka side, and bay windows appear on the facade from the western side.

On the territory of the palace, Rastrelli also built water towers with aqueducts, which were also generously decorated with paintings.

Catherine period

The Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna in St. Petersburg became the site of the triumph of Catherine II. It was here that she arranged an official reception for foreign diplomats after her accession to the throne, and here she learned about the death of Peter III. Not living in the residence, Catherine bestowed it first on Grigory Orlov, then Grigory Potemkin.

In 1777, a flood occurred, which greatly damaged the already dilapidated palace. No one began to restore the damaged water cannon, and the aqueduct was dismantled.

The Summer Palace of Elizaveta Petrovna was demolished in 1797 by order of Emperor Paul I. A few weeks after his accession to the throne, he ordered the construction of a new impregnable castle-fortress on the site of the already dilapidated building, since the emperor did not want to live in the Winter Palace at all. There is a legend according to which one of the guard soldiers appeared to the Archangel Michael, who ordered that the tsar be told about the need to build a church on the site of the palace, which became part of the Mikhailovsky Castle complex. That is how the Mikhailovsky Castle grew up on the site of the Elizabethan summer residence in 1800. The decoration of the summer residence of Elizabeth was neatly folded and taken to other royal estates.

How to get to the Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna? Unfortunately, it didn't survive. On the site of the Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna (address: St. Petersburg, Sadovaya Street, 2), the Mikhailovsky, or Engineering Castle, is currently located. In order to get to the castle, it is enough to use the metro, you need to get off at the Nevsky Prospekt or Gostiny Dvor station.

In Pokrovsky, in her youth, the daughter of Peter 1 Elizabeth lived. Removed from the court by Anna Ioannovna, she built a newfangled palace in the estate, indulged in carefree amusements here, arranging holidays with friends, forcing the Pokrov peasants to dance on them. The Moscow historian and writer I. K. Kondratiev writes that “being by nature a cheerful character, the princess participated here in festive round dances composed of Intercession girls and young women, dressing in their beautiful costume: in a colored satin sundress and kokoshnik, or in brocade a kiku with pearl fragments and a braid, or just like a girl, weaving their Yaroslavl ribbon into a tubular braid ... Since then, one must think, they sang the song:

In the village, the village of Pokrovsky,
In the middle of the big street
Played out, danced
Red girl soul."

Although after her accession to the throne, Elizaveta Petrovna did not forget Pokrovskoye, dear to her heart, she ordered the architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli to make the palace even more magnificent - but still she doesn’t go there so often anymore.

The village calms down, but sometimes holidays were still held here: visitors had fun on the carousels and swings, and sleighs or carriages rolled down from a huge, almost 400 meters long rolling mountain. This mountain was purposely made for the arrival of Catherine II in 1763, but even in her absence she allowed "rolling in summer and winter to the nobility and merchants, and to every rank of people, except for the vile ones." Visitors were also waiting for "a tavern with food, tea, check-lady, coffee, Gdansk and French vodka, grape drink, half a beer and mead." Approximately from the second half of the XVIII century. the village becomes an ordinary suburb of the city, and then a part of it, in which the intensive construction of factories and plants begins.
Well, now in order.

st. Gastello 44. The former Pokrovsky Palace of the "beautiful Elizabeth" has a long and largely unexplained history. It is known that here on the bank of a large pond there were wooden mansions intended for the stay of the royal family. So, in 1713, Princess Maria Alekseevna, later the future Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, lived in them together with her relatives Skavronsky and Gendrikov. It is possible that in the mid-1730s stone chambers were built instead of wooden mansions, architect. M.G. Zemtsov.

In the great Moscow fire in May 1737, the palace burned down completely.
In 1742 - 1743. it was rebuilt into an elegant baroque palace designed by the architect F.B. Rastrelli.

Catherine did not like the palace and almost never visited it even in the beginning. It fell into disrepair in the 19th century.
The palace survived until the 70s. 19th century
At that time, it was given to the Pokrovskaya community of sisters of mercy, and the architect A.P. Popov rebuilt it into a sister building in the spirit of elegant architectural decoration of the 17th century.
In Soviet times, the palace was one large communal apartment, where 4 nuns lived out their lives in semi-basement cells by the grace of God.
In the 1970s, the palace was restored and given to the State Research Institute for Restoration (GOSNIR), which still occupies it.
The palace in plan is similar to the letter "Sh"

Its central part is richly decorated

On both sides there are porches in the old Russian style.

richly decorated windows

In the mezzanine of the central part there was a house church, today we take its head, which is still without a cross, for a belvedere.

The palace stands on a hillock, in front of it was a small kurdener, which descended to a pond, which was formed from the dammed Rybinka River, which flowed into the Yauza not far from the palace. A beautiful wooden bridge was laid from the palace to the middle of the pond, where there was an island and a wooden Resurrection Church.
Now, on the site of the pond and all this beauty, a residential building in the Stalinist Empire style has been built, Rybinka was enclosed in a pipe ... and the palace is shaking from the trains that pass right in front of it along the Kurskaya line railway, which was built by the industrialist P. von Derviz.

But about him, or rather about his traces in Pokrovskaya-Rubtsovo, there will be the next post.

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 the 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 central part buildings, and from the side wings arranged descents to the water. 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 palace had the following chambers: “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, arranging former palace huge communal apartments that 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

Big Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo - 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. over creation Amber room the best craftsmen from different countries worked 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 parquet floors made of various breeds wood (there are up to 36) - 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 along northern facade the premises of the front enfilade depart in both directions. 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 prevented the German army from occupying 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.

With the death of Empress Anna Ioannovna, which followed in 1740, Biron became regent under the young emperor John Antonovich, who was 2 months old at that time. However, his reign was short-lived. Biron was arrested for abuse and exiled. The reign of the mother of the young emperor Anna Leopoldovna, who was appointed regent under him, was also short-lived. On November 25, 1741, as a result of a palace coup, the daughter of Emperor Peter I, Elizabeth Petrovna, ascended the throne. The time of her reign is the time of a powerful take-off of St. Petersburg architecture. She herself loved pomp and splendor, Elizaveta Petrovna wanted to see her father's brainchild decorated with beautiful buildings and therefore was very concerned about the front building in St. Petersburg and its suburbs. Having ascended the throne, Elizaveta Petrovna mainly lived in the Summer Palace on the site of the current Mikhailovsky Castle, which soon became cramped for the expanded imperial court. During her reign, the St. Nicholas Naval Cathedral, the Winter Palace were built, the ensemble of the Smolny Monastery was built, Tuchkov and Sampsonevsky bridges were erected, and, finally, Moscow University, the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg and the Corps of Pages were opened. She invited the best architects of Europe to St. Petersburg, and among them the brightest was Bartolomeo Rastrelli. He erected the best buildings in St. Petersburg. This is the Winter Palace, twice rebuilt by him, Anichkov, Vorontsovsky, Stroganov palaces; Great Peterhof Palace, Tsarskoye Selo (Catherine) Palace, Smolny Monastery and other buildings. Looking at the cathedral of the Smolny Monastery, Quarenghi, who did not like the architecture of the Elizabethan Baroque, with the words: “Well, the church!”, He took off his hat.
Upon arrival in St. Petersburg, Elizaveta Petrovna ordered the construction of two palaces for herself at once, one temporary, wooden near the Police Bridge, the other stone on the Neva embankment. Both palaces were built according to the project of B. Rastrelli. The wooden palace, although built as a temporary one, was decorated with great luxury.
Nevsky Prospekt by that time had become best street cities. Elizabeth oversaw its improvement. Decrees were issued forbidding building on main street city ​​wooden buildings. Only stone houses were erected on the avenue. But they were not like the current ones. As a rule, these were two-storey buildings with an obligatory front garden in front of the facade, fenced with a patterned cast-iron lattice. In 1755, Gostiny Dvor began to be rebuilt. Rastrelli's plan, which was notable for the great splendor of the building's decoration, was not implemented due to lack of funding. Now we see the Gostiny Dvor building, designed by the architect Valen-Delamote, who retained the layout of Rastrelli, but built the building in the style of early classicism.
Elizaveta Petrovna, according to her contemporaries, was very beautiful, lively and flirtatious. Her palaces were lined with mirrors in which she constantly saw her reflection repeated over and over again. For her bought up in Europe in in large numbers the most expensive clothes. After her death, the Empress had 15,000 dresses in her wardrobe, some of which had never been worn. She herself has never worn the same dress twice. And she demanded the same from the courtiers, whose appearance she monitored very much, issuing decrees one after another regulating the appearance of her entourage. For example, a decree was issued forbidding court ladies to wear dark dresses, a decree that to go to the masquerade only in a good dress, and not "in a vile one." And in the winter of 1747, a “hair regulation” came out, which ordered all court ladies to cut their hair bald and cover their heads with “black tousled wigs”, which she herself issued. The reason for such a tough establishment was that the powder from the empress's hair did not want to go off, the empress decided to dye her hair black, but for some reason this did not work out, and then she had to be the first to cut her hair and put on a black wig. And she did not like anyone to surpass her in beauty and perfection. Well, how was it not to publish a "hairy decree"?
The time of Elizabeth is the time when the baroque style reigned in art, which was a match for the cheerful character of the empress with her whims and love of luxury. architectural masterpieces Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli, who still amaze us with grace, luxury and splendor, is a monument to that time. And one of them is the Smolny Monastery, which was built by the Empress for herself. At one time she had a desire to abdicate and go to a monastery. Thousands of soldiers and artisans were rounded up for the construction of the monastery. It was built on a grand scale. And a few years later it was outwardly ready. But then the seven-year war began, and construction stopped due to lack of money. Soon, Elizabeth's desire to enter a monastery also disappeared.

G. R. Derzhavin called the reign of Elizabeth "the age of songs." Elizaveta Petrovna really loved music and herself had extraordinary musical abilities: she played many instruments and composed songs. Thanks to her, Russia got acquainted with the guitar, mandolin, harp and other instruments. Opera, ballet, and also the drama theater, which she loved very much, flourished under her. Shakespeare, Moliere and, of course, the plays of the first Russian tragedian Alexander Sumarokov were played on the stage of Russian theaters. In 1750, Fedor Grigoryevich Volkov created a theater in Yaroslavl, the performances of which were a great success. Having learned about the "Yaroslavl comedies", the Empress summoned Volkov and the troupe to St. Petersburg by a special decree. The initiative of Sumarokov and Volkov in 1756 officially established the Russian Theater for the Presentation of Tragedies and Comedies, which marked the beginning of the creation of the Imperial Theaters of Russia. The theater was initially located in the Menshikov Palace, where in 1732 the Gentry Cadet Corps for minor nobles was opened. The first Russian tragedy "Khorev" was staged here, and in 1752 the actors of the troupe of Fyodor Volkov were placed here.
With the active secular life that Elizabeth led, sometimes she simply did not get around to governing the state. Ministers ran after her for months so that she could sign some document between dressing for a ball or a masquerade. Fortunately, the bureaucratic machine, launched once by Peter, continued its work, and things went on as usual. In addition, she had wonderful assistants. She could well rely on P. I. Shuvalov in domestic policy, in external policy on A. P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin, in the field of education on I. I. Shuvalov.
Balls and masquerades succeeded each other, competing with each other in splendor and splendor. But against the backdrop of this seemingly endless holiday, important events took place in St. Petersburg. Petersburg of this time is the Petersburg of Lomonosov, the founder of Russian science and poetry, this is the Petersburg of important geographic research and discoveries. In 1743, the eleven-year Second Kamchatka Expedition ended, and two years later the Academic Atlas was published with maps of the vast territory from Baikal to Anadyr and northwestern America.
Creating at one time the Academy of Sciences, Peter I thought of it as a center of higher education in Russia. This can be seen from the draft “Regulations of the Academy of Sciences and Arts”, which stated that the members of the Academy, working “on the perfection of the arts and sciences”, had to “publicly teach those arts and sciences”, that is, teach. That is, Peter thought of the Academy as a university. In 1745, M. V. Lomonosov became a professor at this Academic (or Petrovsky) University, who insisted that not only nobles could study at the university: “Not a single person is forbidden to study at universities, no matter who he is, and at the university, that student is more honorable, who has learned more. Such an attitude of a professor of the first higher educational institution in Russia, the founder of domestic science, opened the way to education for many talented young people. Among the first "natural Russians" who graduated from Petrovsky University were Antioch Kantemir, Ivan Magnitsky, Pyotr Remizov. The poetic "Satires" of Antioch Cantemir were very popular at that time and went from hand to hand in the lists.
The cultural demands and interests of the empress and the court, proximity to Europe, the very spirit of the city, which from birth was intended to be a “window to Europe”, also contributed to the increase in interest in culture and education. Gymnasiums, both public and private, appear in the city. In 1757, the "Academy of the Three Most Noble Arts" was formed in St. Petersburg - painting, architecture and sculpture. The construction of the building for the Academy of Arts on University Embankment will begin only in 1764, and from the moment of foundation until that time it was located in the house of the initiator of its creation, I. I. Shuvalov, in the Shuvalov Palace on Sadovaya Street, between Nevsky Prospekt and Italian Street. Her first students were Ivan Starov, Fedor Rokotov, Vasily Bazhenov. As a mosaic artist, M. V. Lomonosov became an honorary member of the Academy. Mosaic panel by M. V. Lomonosov "Poltava battle" is now in the building of the Academy of Sciences.
In 1751, on the Nikolaevskaya embankment of the Neva, the current embankment of Lieutenant Schmidt, the Naval gentry cadet corps was opened, which later became the Naval Academy. From the pier, where the monument to Kruzenshtern stands, all the outstanding Russian navigators and admirals went to sea.

St. Petersburg of the noisy Elizabethan era already bore little resemblance to Peter's modest "Paradise". By that time, a favorable environment for the development of the economy had developed in the city. He no longer required exceptional measures to attract the population and finances. The ever-increasing needs of the new capital transformed the whole region for many kilometers around. Thousands of wagons with building material, food, various products of local crafts were drawn from the Novgorod, Pskov, Olonets provinces. Hundreds of ships from Europe, barges, boats, rafts were looking for mooring places near the city's piers.
During her twenty-year reign, Elizaveta Petrovna did not sign a single death warrant. And perhaps that is why the internal life of the country as a whole during this period was stable - there were neither riots nor bitterness in the country. Some cruel amusements were forbidden: in Moscow and St. Petersburg it was forbidden to have bears, to shoot guns. In the field of foreign policy, this time was also a time of rest: out of 20 years of Elizabeth's reign, 15 years were peaceful. And four years of Russia's participation in the Seven Years' War (1756-1760) revealed the combat effectiveness of the Russian army, which defeated the hitherto invincible troops of Frederick the Great. And this is despite the eternal Russian confusion, theft in the rear, ill-conceived strategic plans.