Address: Russia, St. Petersburg, Pushkin, Tsarskoe Selo
Architect, author of the project: Giacomo Antonio Domenico Quarenghi
Building: 1792 - 1796
Coordinates: 59 ° 43'15.5 "N 30 ° 23'33.5" E
Object of cultural heritage of the peoples of the Russian Federation
Content:
At the end of the 18th century, the powerful Empress Catherine II decided to present a beautiful palace to her beloved grandson. She planned to make a grand gift for the day of his marriage, but she began to build the palace when the future Tsar Alexander I was only 15 years old. The luxurious building is one of the adornments of Tsarskoye Selo, and many tourists come to see it.
A bird's eye view of the Alexander Palace
The history of the palace
The first stones for the foundation of the building were laid in 1792. The following year, the 16-year-old heir to the throne was married to Maria Luisa Augusta, who converted to Orthodoxy and became Elizaveta Alekseevna. When the palace was fully completed, the Grand Duke and his wife settled in it, as the crowned grandmother wanted. This happened in mid-June 1796.
The new palace and the residence of the empress - the Great Catherine Palace were only 500 meters away. The grandson visited his grandmother, and Catherine II loved to spend time in the Alexander Palace. However, the idyll did not last long. Unexpectedly for everyone, the empress was seized by paralysis, and on November 6, 1796, she died.
Colonnade view
Later, all Russian sovereigns lived in the Alexander Palace. Nicholas II especially loved this place. He was born in Tsarskoe Selo. Nicholas II valued the palace and put a lot of effort and money to rebuild the old building.
From 1905, 12 years before his arrest, Nicholas II spent in the Alexander Palace. Here the emperor received foreign ambassadors, celebrated the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty and the 200th anniversary of his country residence - Tsarskoe Selo.
In 1918, immediately after the execution of the royal family, the palace was opened to the public as a museum. Then an Orphanage was created on one floor, which was headed by the wife of the People's Commissar of Education A.V. Lunacharsky. Another floor was occupied by the Rest House for NKVD employees.
View of the palace wings
In 1941, at the very beginning of the war, ancient porcelain, chandeliers, marble products and furniture were removed from the building. However, some of the rare exhibits could not be evacuated, and they were plundered by the enemies. When Tsarskoe Selo was occupied by the Nazis, they placed the headquarters and the Gestapo in the imperial chambers.
The Germans destroyed part of the palace library and created a prison in the basements of the building. The square in front of the palace became a cemetery for officers and soldiers who served in the SS. During the shelling, the palace church, the main building and the adjacent park were badly damaged.
After the war, the palace was in real ruin. The surviving premises began to be used as warehouses for the museum-reserve, and restoration began in others.
Portrait hall
The restoration of the interiors continues today. They are scheduled to be completed in 2022. From 2010 to 2015, the palace was open to tourists. The guests were shown the Portrait, Semicircular and Marble Halls. Today, visitors see the palace only from the outside and enjoy walking in the luxurious Alexander Park.
Architectural features
The spacious two-storey building with double wings was designed by the talented architect Giacomo Quarenghi. A native of Bergamo, Italy, at the age of 35, he was invited by Catherine II to Russia and began to serve as an architect at the imperial court.
State office of Nicholas II
Before the construction of the New Tsarskoye Selo Palace, the architect built several buildings in Peterhof, St. Petersburg and Tsarskoye Selo. He was a great master of Palladian architecture, so he embodied the best traditions of noble classics in the Alexander Palace.
The symmetrical yellow and white building is elongated in length and is characterized by harmonious proportions and airiness. The central part of the northern façade is occupied by a graceful through colonnade of the Corinthian order. It gives the building a special solemnity.
From the side of the French part of the park, the facade is made in the form of a semi-rotunda with a beautiful spherical dome. Double-height columnar windows alternate with ordinary ones. The rooms inside are arranged according to the principle of a suite, that is, they are stretched in one line.
Rosewood living room
Interiors
The interior decoration of the Alexander Palace was created by the best Russian and foreign craftsmen. The strict Palladian style excluded unnecessary luxury, so there was never any gilding, elaborate ornaments and paintings. The walls of the ceremonial halls were decorated with artificial marble.
Unfortunately, the magnificent interiors are only partially preserved. Much of what can be seen today has been recreated by modern restorers. In the manufacture of stucco, decoration and furniture, they used old engravings, paintings, descriptions, as well as photographs of the palace taken at the beginning of the last century.
Maple drawing room of Alexandra Feodorovna
Of the ten private chambers of the emperor and his family members, three ceremonial rooms have been restored so far. All of them are located in the central part of the building. Since 1997, in the left wing there has been a permanent museum exhibition "Memories in the Alexander Palace", which tells about the life of the last Russian emperor and his family members. The right wing is still completely closed to tourists. Restoration work is being carried out there.
The Marble Room features authentic Empire style mahogany furniture and a carpet made from tiger skin. Among the unique exhibits, it is worth noting a vase-floor lamp, which Nicholas I received as a gift from the Prussian king Frederick Filhelm III. Visitors' attention is drawn to an amazingly beautiful grand piano made of three types of wood.
Semicircular hall
Of interest is the wall, decorated with a colorful tapestry, which depicts the French queen Marie Antoinette. In the palace you can also see an old watercolor depicting the last Empress Maria Feodorovna.
The portrait hall of the palace has been turned into a small art gallery. The central place in it is occupied by a large painting, which presents an equestrian portrait of the Russian Emperor Nicholas I. Most of the paintings exhibited here were once part of the personal collection of Nicholas II.
Lilac (Lilac) cabinet
Useful information for visitors
To get to the Alexander Palace, you need to enter the park. In the off-season and in winter, it is open from 10:00 to 18:00, and in the summer from 7:00 to 22:00. The day off is Tuesday. The entrance is free.
How to get there
The palace stands in the northern part of the green Alexander Park, at 2 Dvortsovaya Street. It is located in the city of Pushkin, 25 km from the south of St. Petersburg.
Piano in the Corner Drawing Room of the Palace
The easiest way to get to Tsarskoe Selo is by train. Trains run from Vitebsk and Baltic stations. From the railway station "Tsarskoe Selo" you need to take a bus or a fixed-route taxi and get to the stop "Dvortsovaya Ulitsa". From there you can walk to the palace. Regular buses to Pushkin run from the metro stations Moskovskaya, Kupchino, Moskovskaya and Zvezdnaya.
