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The Winter Palace
Francesco
Bartholomeo Rastrelli said about his creation, the Winter Palace, that
it was constructed "...for the glory of Russia solely" and was to become
the embodiment of greatness and power of Russia that in the mid 18th century
became one of the most significant countries. During the reign of Elizaveta
Petrovna, joyfull and light-hearted Empress, who nevertheless managed
to enlist the services of able
and energetic people, Russia was steadily following the path foreordained
by Peter I. The energy of that time was realized in immense construction
of Saint Petersburg that according to the aspirations of Elizaveta was
to become one of the most brilliant capitals of the world. The city was
adorned with magnificent buildings of the Anichkov Palace, the Naval Cathedral
of St.Nicholas, the Church of St.Vladimir, the Smolny Cathedral, luxurious
palaces of the Petersburg nobility - the Stroganovs, Vorontzovs, Shuvalovs.
One of the creators of the new image of Saint Petrsburg was Francesco
Bartholomeo Rastrelli, the architect of great talent. It was he who was
commissioned to construct the new winter residence. In 1754 the design
of the palace was adopted. The construction lasted for eight long years
that were the last years of Elizabethan reign and a few years of the reign
of Peter III.
In autumn 1763 Catherine II returns to Saint Petersburg after her coronation
in Moscow and becomes a sovereign mistress of the new palace. The construction
of the Winter Palace needed a lot of money and a great number of workers.
Nearly 4 thousand people worked at the construction site. The best masters
from all over the country were gathered here. In the register of the Department
for Construction there are "good masons, carpenters, blacksmiths, metal
workers, joiners, masters in casting and chasing, carving and gilding
of wood, plasterers and potters. The workers lived in the huts covering
all the space of the modern Palace Square and Alexander's Garden. When
the construction was completed General Nikolai Korff, the chief of the
city police, offered Peter III to permit the citizens of Saint Petersburg
to take construction debris and other wastes that surrounded the palace.
This witty decision helped to clear the square in a few hours, which seemed
impossible, and let the Emperor to enjoy himself looking through the window
at people dragging everything they could find at hand.
The Winter Palace startles with grandeur scale, luxury and variety of
ornamentation on the one hand and integrity and proportionality of the
parts on the other. This building fully revealed all characteristic features
of Rastrelli's style, the Russian Baroque style: majestic gala forms,
abundance of decorative details, irrepressible strive for brilliancy,
luxury and buoyancy. The architect designed the palace as part of the
city landscape - a huge closed volume with an inner court and free facades
secluded from any other buildings. The main facade facing the Palace Square
has three grand projections. The widest of the projections in the middle
of the building is cut by three arches leading into the big main court.
Coaches of the Empress and her guests would pass a sentry and approach
the main entrance in the northern wing. The facades of the palace are
embellished in the manner typical of Rastrelli: various and imaginative
decor stressed unusual for that time height of the building that dominated
the city. Visually that effect was underlined by two tiers of columns
arranged by the architect above each other. To crown the building on the
roof there was a balustrade of decorative stone sculptures and vases that
continued the vertical axis of the columns. Originally the palace was
painted with pinkish yellow paint as drawings of the 18th - early 19th
centuries demonstrate.
Arrangement
of rooms inside the palace is clear and logical. In the four corner projections
of the building the architect placed the main interiors of the palace:
the Grand Staircase, the Throne room, the Church and the Theatre. Between
them all other large and small halls, living rooms, galleries, store-rooms
are arranged basing on a principle of suite of rooms. All in all there
are more than 460 rooms as the architect himself testified. Official rooms
on the first floor were designed in the Russian Baroque style of the mid
18th century. It is characterized by suite principle of arrangement of
rooms, enormous halls full of light due to the double tiers of large windows
and mirrors, splendid rocaille decor widely spread at that time in Europe.
Presently only some interiors of the palace preserve ornamentation resembling
the original decor of the halls of Rastrelli. Among them is the Grand
Staircase called in the 18th century the Ambassadorial Staircase. When
restoring the Staircase after the fire of 1837 the architect Vasily Stasov
preserved the magnificent design of Rastrelli and repeated the whole composition
of the interior almost without any alterations. As it was in the 18th
century the large space of the brightly lit interior richly decorated
with gilding was visually increased by the perspective painting on the
ceiling. The first flight of the Staircase with ornamented walls was the
basis of the whole composition, the second flight was decorated with allegoric
statues of Mercury, Fidelity, Equity, Wisdom, Might, Abundance, Justice
and Muse. Light pink pilasters of Rastrelli were replaced with monolith
columns of grey Serdobol granite, carved gilded balusters were changed
to the marble balustrade, white and golden colour started to dominate
the interior. The ceiling was decorated with the 18th century plafond
found in the store-rooms of the Hermitage and representing Olympus. One
contemporary of the restoration works in the palace testified that the
decor of the Staircase by Stasov "keeping the forms in line with the style
of Rastrelli was beautifully ennobled with new understanding of art concerning
purity, relief and rightness of the design".
The
Big Church designed by Francesco Bartholomeo Rastrelli was one of the
most grandeur halls in the Winter Palace devoid of any traditional cult
features. Rastrelli embellished the walls of the Church as well as the
walls in the gala rooms with curved intricate ornamentation and fluttering
naked "putti". Everything was pierced with secular buoyancy and solemn
elation. Carving and painting of the iconostasis merged with painting
and stucco of the sides of the ceiling and walls. The composition was
completed with the plafond "Resurrection of Christ". After the fire Stasov
restored the interior of the Church according to scarce old drawings and
designs which proves that he deeply penetrated into the specific style
of the Baroque. Close to the original design but in a more reserved manner
Stasov also restored the room leading to the Church.
Interiors
of the official and private rooms, Theatre (Opera House) designed by Jean
Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe, Yury Veldten and Antonio Rinaldi destroyed
by the fire were not restored. Big Throne Hall (St.George Hall) designed
by Giacomo Quarenghi in 1787 - 1795 despite its "eternal" decoration was
also destroyed by the destructive fire of 1837. Designs, drawings and
engravings made by the author give quite good idea about one of the best
examples of the official interior of the Russian Classicism. The huge
hall with two tiers of windows and doubled columns of Corinthian order
was particularly impressive. Stasov preserved all architectural proportions
of the Quarenghi's hall but still added absolutely new character to the
interior. Instead of polished pink columns he introduced columns of white
Carrara marble that also covered the walls of the hall. Stucco medallions
in the second circle were replaced with double marble pilasters, painted
plafonds representing flying figures against the blue sky background and
allegoric scenes on antique subjects gave place to the caisson ceiling
with bronze cast, chased, gilded control-rods and ornaments. The system
of copper ceiling, instead of the traditional wooden one, suspended on
the metal construction was an innovative engineering decision.
The
Trone dias had been changed several times before the fire. The Throne
of Catherine II made from the design of Quarenghi was decorated with gracefully
falling draperies of crimson velvet. When Paul I came to power it was
replaced with the gilded silver throne of Anna Ioannovna made by the famous
London master Nicholas Klausen in 1730-s. Instead of allegoric figures
supporting the shield with Catherine's monogram the wall behind the throne
was decorated with the marble high relief representing St.George. After
the fire the relief was restored in Paris from the design of Vasily Stasov.
Austere and magnificent architecture of the St.George Hall was in tune
with the solemn official ceremonies held here till the end of the reign
of Romanovs dynasty.
The Winter Palace designed by Rastrelli is a real masterpiece of Russian
architecture of the 18th century which formed the basis for the beautiful
architectural ensemble on the Neva river banks. Every new reign became
a new stage in the history of the official royal residence. The interiors
of it designed by the most famous architects of the 18th - 19th centuries
reflected changes in the styles and artistic tastes of different epochs.
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