A small and modest palace, made in the stele of the «Peter’s Baroque» and then rebuilt according to the model of Versailles. And now it amazes with stucco, details, rich paintings, paintings, furniture and utensils. I rediscovered it for myself. But I was here as a little girl, back in Soviet times, and childhood impressions are very strong. Has something changed? I think a lot! I remembered only fragmentary details, but the impression of the richness of the decoration sat firmly in my childhood memories.
The palace was founded in 1714 under the guidance of the architect I. Braunstein. After 5 years, another architect, N. Michetti, reconstructed the palace. In 1745, during the reign of Elizabeth and on her orders, the palace underwent a large-scale restructuring under the direction of the architect B. F. Rastrelli. The work was completed in 1755 and the palace was inaugurated.
During the Second World War in 1944, the palace was partially destroyed. And here is the great merit of the restorers and artists who, using archival records, paintings, sketches and projects, restored this palace bit by bit so that we could admire it. By 1952, the appearance of the palace was completely restored, and in 1962 the first few halls let visitors through their doors.
We arrived before the opening of the palace and were among one of the first excursions. You can’t get into the palace without a tour, no way. We usually prefer not to use the services of guides, because we do not like to be set the pace when visiting the expositions. We love our rhythm. But here is the case when it is impossible to refuse. We stood in line at the cashier, were surprised that Yarik’s visit is free as a person under 14 years old. We went to the museum, put on “slippers”, headphones given to us to hear the guide of our group, handed over our things (jackets, backpacks, this is a must) and listened to valuable instructions about the features of the excursion. The camera hung on me, the son carried an additional lens in his hands. Every now and then during the tour in one of the halls the alarm rang. The bottom line is that when you just bend your head over the places fenced with conditional cables, the sensors are triggered.
front staircase front staircase
The palace consists of just over 30 rooms. I won’t say how much we went on the tour, after 10 the number was already mixed up in my head and many halls caused a state of mild deja vu. The most vivid impressions were left by the Throne Hall, the Dance Hall, the White Dining Room and the Grand Staircase. I will show some of the rooms in more detail:
Dance hall
Area 270 square meters. Lush and pompous, with a huge amount of gilding. I really liked the painting on the ceiling. I filmed in pieces, since there were two excursion groups in one hall, and because of the abundance of people, it was still not really possible to see anything. I really liked the plots on the small round paintings around the perimeter of the hall between the first and second rows of windows and mirrors. The feeling of airiness and quite a lot of light.
blue reception
The tour does not enter this hall, we look from afar.
Chesme Hall
The memorial hall, decorated by order of Catherine II in memory of the victory of the Russian fleet over the Turkish in the Battle of Chesma in 1770.
Throne room
The largest hall of the palace, 330 square meters. There are many paintings in the hall, but the central place is occupied by a painting depicting an equestrian portrait of Catherine II. The name of the painting is «Procession to Peterhof» by V. Eriksen. The plot of the picture: the queen on her favorite horse goes to Peterhof during the coup on June 28, 1762.
audience hall
A small hall designed by Rastrelli. It consists of large mirrors that visually increase the size of the hall.
white dining room
After the abundance of gold and the lavish decoration of the previous halls, here is a rest for the eyes. There are golden details, but everything is very restrained and concise.
Chinese cabinet
We ran through it with a guided tour. I managed to take only one photo.
picture room
For me, it’s a real eye-catcher. I love painting and would like to stay here longer. Fortunately, the tour of this hall went on for a long time, they told a lot, so I was able to shoot a lot and plenty.
partridge living room
The female half of the palace, the boudoir room of the Empress.
dressing room
Empress’s office
By the name it is clear that here the royal person was engaged in working affairs.
Large blue living room
Now the walls are decorated with silk fabric, modeled on the fabric of 1897. Before that, there were paintings on the walls.
Crown
The room looks like a bedchamber, but the most interesting thing is that the room was not used for this purpose. Why crown? Emperor Paul I ordered to install a crown stand here.
oak cabinet
One of the rooms to which the oldest of the interiors of the palace. Oak panels on the walls of 14 pieces 8 are authentic.
That’s the whole tour. I did not show you all the halls, something prevented me from filming all the interiors. But the most interesting ones can be appreciated. We leave, as in many museums, in a gift shop. This does not appeal to us, but lovers of such products are, of course, expanse here.
You can watch about this museum on video as part of a video from a trip to St. Petersburg:
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