Alupka - a resort town as part of Big Yalta, located at the foot of Mount Ai-Petri, 17 km south-west of the city of Yalta in Crimea.
Vorontsov Palace and its park complex - "Zest" Alupka landscape and the main attraction of the seaside town.
Holidays on the Black Sea in Alupka attracts tourists with a mild climate without sharp seasonal fluctuations, healing sea and pine air, in which one can breathe easily and freely, as well as a picturesque view of the environs of a Russian seaside town on the southern coast of Crimea.
A particularly mesmerizing view opens up to Alupka from the sea: in the center of the panorama, on a hill, is the magnificent Alupka Palace (Vorontsovsky); The buildings of coastal sanatoriums stretch along the sea in a chain and are buried in the greenery of parks, and above them are the battlements of the majestic Ai-Petri mountain.
Ai-Petrinsky mountain range - one of the highest in Crimea. Like a shield, he closes Alupka from the northern cold winds, and the largest number of sunny days in a year (compared to Black Sea resorts Caucasus) make this town on the Black Sea coast an excellent resort - the second after Yalta on the southern coast of Crimea.
History of Alupka.
The history of Alupka begins in the 6th-5th century BC, when the first Taurian settlement was founded on these blessed lands. Archaeologists have found the remains of fortifications and a large burial ground on Mount Krestovaya. In the X century, Alupka belongs to the Khazars, in the XIV century it passes into the possession of the Genoese, who built a port and defensive structures here, and later becomes a Tatar village. After the annexation of Crimea to Russia, these lands saw new owners: aristocrats and tsarist nobles. In the 20s of the XIX century Alupka became the estate of the Governor-General of the Novorossiysk Territory - Count Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov, who decided to build a palace here. Until the 80s of the XIX century, Alupka was still a small village. The local population was mainly engaged in gardening and viticulture.
At the end of the 19th century, Alupka began to rapidly develop as a resort due to the fact that Russian "luminaries of medicine" recognize the healing properties of the local climate for the treatment of broncho-pulmonary diseases and the healing of the whole organism. Dachas of aristocrats, shops, boarding houses, hotels, post office and telegraph office appeared in Alupka, and roads were also built. In 1902, back in tsarist Russia in Alupka, the first sanatorium for children began to operate on voluntary donations.
During the years of Soviet power, sanatoriums were being built at a rapid pace in Alupka, of which there were already more than twenty by 1940.
Alupka received the city status in 1938.
Is a narrow strip of large and small pebbles, 4 km long along coastline... There are 6 beaches and 23 beaches in sanatoriums in total. The main beach is a free city beach, which is located under Vorontsov Park. To the beach Cote d'Azur", Which is located at the bus station, you can drive up by car (there is a paid parking lot).
The mild climate, dry air of Alupka with the scent of pine, the Black Sea - the best place for the treatment of lung diseases. Here is the first children's sanatorium in Europe for the treatment of bone tuberculosis (the founder is Professor A.A. Bobrov). In 1982 a tasting wine hall for 240 seats "Massandra" was opened in Alupka.
Vorontsov Palace in Alupka.
Vorontsov Palace (Alupka) is the former summer Crimean residence Governor General of the Novorossiysk Territory count Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov... Today is Alupka Palace and Park Museum-Reserve... It fits perfectly into the amazing landscape with a mountain range, evergreen vegetation and several narrow streets of the town that rise uphill from the sea coast. It is built of diabase, a material that is twice as strong as granite and is mined on the Crimean peninsula. The gray-green color of the stone creates a single architectural composition of the Vorontsov Palace with nature.
Photos of the Vorontsov Palace.
The palace was designed by the English architect Edouard Blore. Construction was carried out from 1828 to 1848. The decoration lasted until 1852. The architecture of the palace is unique. It consists in a combination of different styles:
- The North Facade is late English Gothic;
- The Western Facade is a European medieval castle, fortress of the 8-12th centuries;
- South - elements of India and the East. Huge dome of the South facade with Arabic inscriptions, open towards the Black Sea, has a romantic look. The "Lion's Terrace" with gradually alert "kings" of animals adorns the magnificent staircase leading to the entrance to the castle from the side of the park. Three pairs of lions in Carrara white marble were made in the workshop of the Florentine sculptor Bonnani, but the most famous (lower) is the "Sleeping Lion".
The palace ensemble consists of 5 buildings, open and closed courtyards, terraces. Vorontsov Palace looks both austere and graceful, stable and romantic. West Side the palace (the so-called Shuvalovsky passage) appears before tourists in the form of a stone-paved street medieval town with old fortress walls with powerful towers and narrow loophole windows. The southern facade is famous for a high portal with a deep niche, on the frieze of which the saying “There is no winner but Allah” is inscribed in Arabic script.
Eastern and Western architecture is united by carved stone decorations of the palace, battlements and Gothic chimneys, as well as domes directed upward in the form of mosque minarets and thin turrets on the sides. All this splendor is complemented by the natural pattern of Mount Ai-Petri.
Each of the 150 rooms that make up the palace ensemble is unique: the Calico Room, the Blue Living Room, the Front Dining Room, the Winter Garden, the Chinese Study, the Billiard Room, and the Vestibule. The luxury and love of the owners for their home is visible everywhere. The special pride of the Alupka Palace is its luxurious Gothic style fireplaces made of marbled limestone and polished diabase stone.
"Front dining room" - the most majestic hall of the Vorontsov Palace. Its interior is made in the style of knightly castles. Tourists are impressed by: a decorative marble fountain with a balcony overlooking it for musicians; walls decorated with wood carvings; candelabra from the Ural malachite. High ceilings, bog oak doors, austere furniture and oak panels add solemnity to the hall.
"Blue living room" - this is a bright, elegant hall with a stucco openwork pattern of leaves and flowers, covering the blue bliss of the walls and ceiling. She has Turkish furnishings and luxurious fabrics.
"Winter Garden" - a combination of marble sculpture with rare evergreens. Copies of antique sculptures and portraits of the Vorontsov family, made in marble, constitute the main interior of the Winter Garden.
Winter garden in the Vorontsov Palace Photo.
5 terraces of the Vorontsov Palace park - these are stylized five stages of medieval gardens with flower beds and clipped plants. The Upper Terrace has many marble vases, fountains, benches among the rose gardens, while the Lower Terrace is distinguished by an abundance of wall fountains.
In 1921 the Vorontsov Palace became a museum. Since 1990 it has been the Alupka Palace and Park Museum-Reserve. There are guided tours, exhibitions, including the "Vorontsov Family Gallery". In 2007, a new exposition “House of Count A.P. Shuvalov ".
Rest in Crimea can turn into an interesting adventure that will remain in your memory forever. The main thing is to properly plan your visit to the most interesting and exciting attractions. One of them is the noble Vorontsov Palace, which definitely deserves attention. The building is located in scenic location by the sea and at the foot of Ai-Petri. It is surrounded by a magnificent park that harmoniously complements the amazing view. A visit to the palace will give you truly unforgettable emotions and the opportunity to feel like a guest of an eminent prince.
Vorontsov Palace in Crimea: history
The exquisite Vorontsov Palace combines the severity of English architecture and the luxury of Indian palaces. The building is in harmony with the local landscape and mountain-sea panorama. It also has interesting storywhich dates back to 1828.
The construction of the palace began by order of Count Mikhail Vorontsov, known for his courage and participation in many military events. He personally chose the ideal location for his estate and invited an Englishman, Edward Blore, as an architect. The architect managed the process remotely and never came to the construction site. The very process of building the palace was quite lengthy and took 20 long years - from 1828 to 1848.
The count's estate was built of a very strong stone that must be handled with confidence and skill - diabase. It was he who beautifully decorated the exterior of the building. The stone was processed by hand by specialist stone-cutters who were brought in from central Russia. The costs of building the palace reached a tidy sum - 9 million silver rubles.
Vorontsov himself did not live in the palace for a very long time, since he had to leave for the Caucasus on assignment. However, his daughter settled in it with her children. Then, after the death of the count, the estate was inherited by his son. After the revolution and the change of government, the palace, along with the lands, were nationalized. In 1945, the Vorontsov estate became the seat of the British delegation for some time. Chapters met in the front dining room allied states - Churchill, Stalin, Roosevelt.
Later, the palace acted both as the state dacha of the NKVD and as a sanatorium. Only in 1956 it became a museum. Nowadays it is very popular among tourists who come even from abroad. Here you can see various works of painting, applied art, sculpture. Also old documents, lithographs, drawings.
What else is interesting about the Vorontsov Palace in Yalta?
The general impression of the grandeur and sophistication of the palace is complemented by the unique Vorontsov Park, which arouses the same interest of tourists as the estate itself. It allows you to enjoy unique plants that have been carefully selected to suit the local climate and topography. They were brought to Crimea from different corners the world, there are about 200 different types of vegetation in the park.
The park was created by a German gardener, Karl Kebach, who happily set to work. He planned the area like an amphitheater with a clear structure. The park itself was supposed to maintain a connection with the palace and complement the chosen style in architecture. Karl Kebach managed to achieve this goal, because the park fits perfectly into the overall concept.
The park is conventionally divided into lower and upper. Its lower territory is decorated in the style of Renaissance gardens. There are graceful fountains, stone benches, Byzantine columns, beautiful vases, marble sculptures. It also provides access to the beach.
The upper territory was created in the English style of romanticism, which was characterized by naturalness and naturalness. There are shady ponds, a well-thought-out system of lakes, picturesque glades, areas of the Crimean forest, rocky fragments, grottoes, small waterfalls. This part of the park was conceived as a perfect place for contemplating the mountains and the sea.
The park almost always remains green, as pines, spruces, cypresses, cedars, and firs grow here. In the warm season, delicate magnolias, amazing cercis, and various exotic shrubs bloom here. The territory of the park is captivating with its beauty and elegance; many guests of the peninsula often visit only the park and enjoy the exterior of the palace. Photos of the Vorontsov Palace in Crimea and its original park will be an excellent souvenir that will remind you of an unforgettable vacation.
How to get to the Vorontsov Palace in Yalta?
The exact address of the Vorontsov Palace in Crimea: Alupka, Palace Highway 18. You can get there in several ways:
- Use public transport. If you get from the Yalta bus station, you should use buses No. 107 or No. 115. The stop at which you will need to get off is called "Bus station" and it is located in Alupka. Then you need to go to the western gate and through them go to the territory of the palace. You can also get to the complex from the city center. To do this, you should use minibus No. 132, which will take you to final stop under the name "Vorontsov Palace". Then you need to go to the northern main entrance to the building.
- Get there by car. This travel option is the most comfortable and fastest. From Yalta you should take the Yalta-Sevastopol highway and move to the Alupka sign. Travel time can take 15-20 minutes.
- Take a taxi. In Yalta, you can order a taxi directly to your hotel and from there drive to the palace. Such a trip will be as comfortable as possible, but its cost is more expensive than other options.
- Take a ride on a scheduled boat. The journey starts from the sea station in Yalta, from which a boat departs every 2 hours. The journey takes about 35 minutes. The ticket costs 100 rubles, the price is quite affordable. You will need to get off the boat in Alupka and go up a little towards Vorontsovsky Park.
The ticket price for visiting the Vorontsov Palace in Crimea is 350 rubles for adults and 200 for children. This cost includes sightseeing tour... Visiting thematic exhibitions in the palace is paid separately if you want to see them. A tour of the park of the complex is also paid separately. There is a souvenir shop in the palace where you can buy small items as a keepsake.
Where to rest after visiting the sights of Yalta?
The unique Villa Elena Hotel & Residences will be the best choice for a perfect holiday. Here guests will be able to enjoy an atmosphere of luxury, which gives an incredible home comfort... You can stay in a magnificent historical building with its own unusual history since 1912. A modern building is also available, which will delight rooms with an exquisite interior. On the territory of Villa Elena you can visit a restaurant, relax by the pool, spend time in the spa center.
Vorontsov Palace in Alupka is a stunningly beautiful palace surrounded by a charming park, located at the foot of Ai Petri Mountain. There are a lot of attractions on the southern coast of Crimea, but Alupka is always full of tourist groups... There is something special and attractive about this place. The English castle of Count Vorontsov in the Crimea, immersed in greenery, leaves no one indifferent, and makes you come back there again and again.
The palace in Alupka is a former dacha, the summer residence of a prominent politician of the 19th century, the former governor of Novorossiya Mikhail Vorontsov. The love of the Russian politician for everything English was understandable - the father of Count Vorontsov was the ambassador of the Russian Empire to England, so Mikhail spent his entire childhood in London. After nationalization, the former residence became a museum.
On excursions in the Crimean Vorontsov Palace I was twice: the first time in April, the second time in August. In every season of the year, the palace and the area that adjoins it looked amazing. It is best to choose April or September to visit the palace, while the season is not crowded here.
In order to get to the main entrance to the palace, you need to walk along a narrow corridor of the palace walls (Shuvalovsky passage). In summer, it is pretty cool here, as there is almost always a shadow here. When you come here for the first time, you don't expect to see a real English castle in Crimea. Passing along a narrow, harsh passage, the heart stops in anticipation of something unusual. And very soon curiosity will be rewarded with interest.
After passing the path through a corridor of powerful walls, tourists find themselves in a small square in front of the palace. Before the gaze there is a castle built in the English style, and by the same architect Edward Blair, who was the author of Buckingham Palace in London.
The first thing you notice is the unusual material of the castle walls and walls. Later, according to the guide, we learned that this is a very hard and rare stone of volcanic origin - diabase. The palace was built by more than 6 thousand Vorontsov serfs, as well as skilled masons specially brought from Moscow and Vladimir regions... Each stone has been handcrafted to create an unusual surface! The work must be said to be skillful and very painstaking. Vorontsov built this castle with his own money, for himself, conscientiously.
In the courtyard, we waited for the excursion group to form and, looking up, we saw the Ai-Petri teeth brightened by the sun's rays - a kind of pointed rocks located at the very top of the mountain. This is one of best landscapes Crimea!
The excursion to the Vorontsov Palace is free to enter, they are held daily. Each group is accompanied by a guide, the excursion is in Russian. It was very interesting to listen to the guide, from her lips we heard a lot of interesting information about the history of the palace.
In a few minutes we crossed the threshold and felt as if in an old English castle. The palace has many architectural features: on one side (north) the building resembles an English castle, and on the south facade - a Moorish mosque. In addition, the castle is so skillfully inscribed in the mountain landscape that it seems as if nature itself created and located it here.
The castle has more than 150 rooms, but about 9 ceremonial chambers are open for excursions.
This palace belonged to three generations of the Vorontsovs, so the interior elements changed slightly, because each owner wanted to bring something of his own, modern.
In the beginning we got to the front dining room. Particular attention was drawn to a small bowl, which somewhat resembled a miniature fountain. As it turned out, this bowl served to cool drinks.
Each room of the Vorontsov Palace has its own unique style and flavor. It was very pleasant to be in the blue room, I liked it the most. Here, the walls are blue, with molded flowers and golden furniture.
The dining room, decorated in the English style, is very interesting.
In the office
After visiting several other rooms, we went out into the winter garden, where we saw a variety of species of tropical plants and graceful figurines.
Winter Garden
From the conservatory, there is an exit to the terrace overlooking the sea. When we arrived there, we saw a beautiful sunset, which looked very romantic against the background of the sea horizon.
Sea view from the terrace of the Alupka Palace
On the way to the sea there is a staircase, on both sides of which there are sculptures of lions made of Carrara marble by an Italian master. There are also features here. At the very top of the terrace, there are awake lions, at the very bottom of the terrace there are figures of sleeping lions.
Lions, the terrace of the Palace in Alupka
Sleeping lions, Alupka
The Vorontsov Palace is surrounded by a magnificent park with many unusual plants from the subtropics and beyond. Walk on it in summer time years when everything blooms and pleases the eye - a pleasure.
Alupka Park is divided into two parts: Upper and Lower. The upper part of the park is more "wild", while the lower part is a well-kept classic English style park.
A copy of the Bakhchisarai fountain can be seen in the park.
A copy of the Bakhchisarai fountain
In the "wild" part of the park, numerous waterfalls, lakes, swans, and trees of unusual shapes are hidden.
Alupka Park also has its own attractions, such as "Big" and "Small Chaos". - a huge pile of stones of the diabase rock.
Great chaos
Swan Lake in Alupka Park.
After the tour, I recommend taking a walk in this garden, resting in the shade of summer heat and, of course, take a lot of beautiful photos. This park is also called the Alupka Park, where you can see about 200 species of a wide variety of plants: exotic plants, various shrubs, acclimatized plants from other continents.
View from Vorontsovsky Park
Vorontsovsky park
The landscape of the park is presented in the form of an amphitheater, at the bottom of which there is an exhibition park pavilion "Tea House". We were not able to visit it, since it was closed for restoration.
Prices for visiting the Palace
The cost of an adult ticket is 70 hryvnia ($ 8.75), for children - 35 hryvnia ($ 4.38), a photo shoot - 10 hryvnia ($ 1.25).
How to get to the Vorontsov Palace
You can visit the Vorontsov Palace by getting to Alupka at the following address: st. Dvortsovoe shosse, 10. By car, you can get here along the Yuzhnoberezhnoe shosse, this route runs along the sea through the entire South coast of Crimea. If you go along this highway to the Vorontsov Palace from Sevastopol, then there will be a right turn to Alupka, and if from the Yalta side, then to the left.
From Yalta from the bus station you can get the following bus routes: 27, 26, 107, 42.
There are passing buses from Sevastopol: "Sevastopol - Miskhor", "Sevastopol - Yalta".
From Simforopol: buses "Simferopol - Simeiz", "Simferopol - Kastropol".
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Many romantic stories are associated with the Vorontsov Palace, which could well become the basis for a dozen ladies' novels. I will say more - Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin was involved in the love affair. But first things first.
The palace in Alupka is so harmoniously inscribed in the surrounding landscape, repeating with its Moorish turrets and Gothic battlements of the facades the outlines of the Ai-Petri mountain range located in the immediate vicinity, that it seems as if this entire architectural and natural ensemble has always been here.
The Governor-General of Novorossiya Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov began construction of a representative residence in the Crimea in 1824. In addition to Alupka in the south of Crimea, Vorontsov owned Massandra (I showed the Massandra Palace here), Ai-Danil and Gurzuf. But it was the Alupka estate that the count decided to turn into a summer residence.
Simultaneously with the construction of the palace, the construction of a road from Simferopol to the southern coast of Crimea began.
In the light of Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov was known as an Anglomaniac, so it is not surprising that he entrusted the creation of the palace project to the court architect of the Queen of England Edward Blore. It was he who designed Buckingham Palace in London. It is noteworthy that for twenty years of construction, Blore never came to look at his brainchild. The work was supervised by his assistant and student William Gunt, thanks to whom some amendments were made to the drawings in accordance with the characteristics of the terrain.
They did not go far to get a stone for construction - they took the Crimean volcanic rock dolerite (diabase) right from under their feet: the central, dining, guest, library and utility buildings of the palace complex were made of dolerite. By the way, Red Square in Moscow is paved with Crimean dolerite.
Vorontsov Palace was designed in the style of late English Gothic (Tudor era style), but with elements of oriental architecture, which is why from different angles it looks like a medieval castle or a residence of a Mohammedan ruler.
The reason for such an unexpected combination of styles in the appearance of the palace lies in the personalities of the architect and the customer. Edward Blore was well acquainted with the architecture of the British colony - with the architecture of India. Therefore, it was not difficult for him to combine the Tudor style with variations on the Indian architecture of the Mughal period in one project. Probably, in his view, such a mixture should correspond to the Crimea, given that the peninsula was Muslim for a long time. In addition, romantic trends prevailed in architectural fashion, which was to the taste of Count Vorontsov.
Portrait of Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov by Lawrence, 1823
On the west side is the main entrance to the palace complex... This part of the Vorontsov Palace resembles a medieval castle with round watchtowers, narrow loopholes and blank fortress walls.
Here we see the Shuvalov building and the Shuvalov gate driveway. The daughter of Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov, having married, became Countess Shuvalova, and her apartments were located in the right building.
Shuvalovskiy Passage between two fortified walls of rough masonry made of gray diabase blocks, with round crenellated towers and narrow lancet windows make us believe that we are in a medieval castle.
Shuvalovsky passage
A separate gate leads to the utility yard. In the center of the courtyard there is a plane tree planted during the construction of the palace. There is also a museum ticket office, where instead of a paper ticket you will be given a metal token.
Passing the outbuildings, we find ourselves in the front yard in front of the northern facade of the palace, facing the Ai-Petri and the upper park.
Northern facade of the palace
According to experts, the architecture of the northern facade with its vertical ledges, miniature decorative turrets and large bay windows harmoniously combines elements of the Gothic of the sixteenth century and the architecture of the Renaissance.
In front of the palace there are two parterres with marble fountains in the center of each. In a shady pergola of blooming wisteria, the "Selsibil" fountain, a copy of the "Fountain of Tears" from the Khan's Palace in Bakhchisarai, praised by Pushkin, is hidden.
Nearby, at the left wing of the palace, there is a white marble fountain "Source of the Cupid".
We walk around the palace on the east side to look at the southern façade, inspired by Indian architecture, facing the sea.
The blue and white escedra with two tiers of arched windows is decorated with a double toothed horseshoe-shaped arch and covered with stucco alabaster ornamentation, made in the Eastern tradition. At the level of the second floor, along its decorative frieze, there are three balconies with openwork gratings and a relief Arabic inscription - a sixfold repeated praise to the prophet: "And there is no winner but Allah." In the depths of the exedra there is a wide lancet door leading to the Blue Drawing Room of the palace, where we will go a little later.
To the left and right of the exedra are two symmetrical wings of an open terrace on the second floor, resting on cast-iron columns with capitals in the form of lotus buds. To the west of the eskedra there is the Winter Garden, behind it is the dining room, and further on the southern facade of the Shuvalov building.
A wide staircase with three pairs of lions descends from Eskeda to the sea - the Lion Terrace. At the entrance to the palace, the lions are awake, standing on guard, on the middle landing of the stairs they wake up or fall asleep, and those closer to the sea sleep peacefully with their muzzles on their paws. The Lion Terrace ends with a platform with exits to the lower park, to the Aivazovsky rock and Tea house by the sea.
Fountain "Bowl" in the lower park
The South Terrace is a favorite spot for posing and dressing up beautifully.
From here, the paths diverge to the Lower Vorontsovsky Park.
After examining the palace facade, it is interesting to look at the count's chambers. We immediately found out that the second floor and the mezzanine were closed for inspection: there was a time when the tourists went up to the rooms of the second floor, but the ceilings of the first floor suffered from this. In the end, the museum decided to leave only nine rooms on the ground floor accessible to tourists.
Like many other Crimean palaces, after the 1917 revolution, the Vorontsov castle was nationalized, but not turned into a health resort, but became a museum of noble life. Perhaps this lucky circumstance played an important role in the preservation of the palace interiors. During the Great Patriotic War, the palace was plundered, but not destroyed. From 1945 to 1955, a state dacha was located here. Finally, in 1956, the museum was reopened here.
Entering the palace from the north side, you find yourself in the corridor where the dressing room used to be. Now the books of the Alupka library of Count Vorontsov, who was a famous bibliophile, are kept in bog oak cabinets, completely covering one of the walls from floor to ceiling.
Another wall is decorated with ancient engravings depicting the construction of the palace and Alupka landscapes.
Landscape by Carlo Bossoli "Prince Vorontsov's Palace in Alupka"
Through the corridor we enter the State Office of the owner of the palace.
The central place on the western wall of the office is occupied by the portrait of Count Vorontsov by Louise Desseme. Mikhail Semyonovich was one of the most famous heroes of the Patriotic War of 1812. Nearby are the portraits of Borodino's heroes Lev Alexandrovich Naryshkin and Fyodor Semyonovich Uvarov by the famous portrait painter George Doe.
The walls of the office are covered with painted wallpaper, which was specially ordered in England. The massive wooden doors are complemented by oak paneling on the walls and a stucco wood-like ceiling.
Against the wall is an antique boule style ebony bookcase bought by the owner of the palace. The cabinet is decorated with a tortoise shell and intricate carved bronze inlay.
A round table, English chairs and armchairs with Gothic carvings are snugly nestled next to a bookcase. This arrangement of furniture gives the office an atmosphere conducive not only to business conversations, but also friendly meetings.
Another reminder of Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov's Anglomania is a bay window. This element, often found in English architecture, visually enlarges the space of the study and gives more light. A table covered with a green cloth and two armchairs were placed in the bay window. Sitting in an armchair, you can admire the upper park, and in clear weather and the Ai-Petri peaks.
From the office we find ourselves in the Calico room. It is called chintz because the walls of the room are really covered with chintz.
On the walls there is an original fabric, the only flaw of which is the faded color. Originally, chintz was a crimson shade with small splashes of blue, which was combined with a fireplace made of pink Ural marble and a basket-shaped chandelier. The pinkish-blue highlights of the chandelier pendants echoed with the chintz on the walls.
Through the Calico room we pass into the Chinese study of the owner of the house Elizaveta Ksaveryevna Vorontsova, whose portrait by George Doe can be seen on the right wall from the entrance.
The room is decorated in the then fashionable oriental style, but without any specific ties to China, India or the countries of the East in general. Oak panels, tall lancet windows and doors leading to the south terrace, to the sea, are unexpectedly but successfully combined with silk and beaded rice mats on the walls and wood carvings in the interior.
The ceiling in the room is not wooden, as it might seem, but stucco. Russian peasant Roman Furtunov skillfully made a ceiling of plaster, imitating woodcarving.
By the window there is a round table made of Karelian birch. Nearby, behind the curtain, is a small corner cabinet, presented by Vorontsov by Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, wife of Nicholas I, as a token of gratitude for the hospitality shown to him.
And some lyrical digressions. From school, many know that Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin was carried away by the wife of the Novorossiysk Governor-General. It is believed that it was Elizaveta Vorontsova that Pushkin dedicated the poems "Burnt letter", "Rainy day went out ...", "Desire for glory", "Talisman", "Keep me, my talisman ...". In addition, in terms of the number of Vorontsova's portrait drawings performed by Pushkin, her image surpasses all others - in total 17 portraits were counted.
It was rumored that it was Pushkin who was the father of one of the daughters of Elizabeth Ksaveryevna. However, the researchers of the poet's biography have reason to assume that Pushkin was only a cover for the novel of Elizaveta Ksaveryevna with her relative and friend of Pushkin, Alexander Raevsky. In any case, we can say thanks to Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov, who "contributed" to the change of the poet's southern link to a link to Mikhailovskoye. Because it was there that Alexander Sergeevich wrote not only the novel "Eugene Onegin", but also his other poetic works, which became the pride of Russian literature. And by the way, the same researchers claim that Vorontsov himself had an illegitimate daughter with his wife's best friend Olga Stanislavovna Naryshkina. Portraits of Olga Stanislavovna and her daughter have always been kept among Vorontsov's personal belongings and even stood on the desktop of the front office.
But let's not linger in the Chinese office, but let's move on to the front lobby.
The front lobby is located in the center of the palace. Two small vestibules are symmetrically adjacent to it from the south and north, and offices and lounges are located on the west and east. The northern vestibule, like the northern facade of the palace, is made in the English style. In contrast to the English, the southern vestibule is decorated with carpets depicting the Persian Shah Fath Ali.
Following the traditions of the English style, the architect connected the vestibule with the chambers of the second floor with staircases, but hid them behind a wall, which makes it difficult to understand at first glance how the owners got from the first floor to their bedrooms.
On the walls of the vestibule there are portraits of the eminent ancestors of the owners of the residence, so that from the doorway, those entering the palace have an idea of \u200b\u200bthe nobility of the family and the origin of the owners of the house. The parents of Elizaveta Ksaveryevna Vorontsova - Countess Alexandra Vasilievna Branitskaya and her husband, crown hetman of Poland Ksaveriy Branitsky - are looking at us from the walls. The largest painting is a ceremonial portrait of Empress Catherine II by Rokotov.
From the lobby, we proceed to the east palace wing, which begins with the Blue Lounge. It is impossible not to notice the contrast between the adjoining front lobby and this sunlit room. The pale blue walls and ceiling are covered with a stucco pattern of leaves and flowers. Like the ceiling in the Chinese study, the skillful stucco molding of the living room was made by Roman Furtunov and his assistants.
The living room is divided into southern and northern parts by retractable wooden curtains, which when folded are almost invisible. In the southern part there was an "auditorium", where the furniture set was located, transported to Alupka at the end of the 19th century from the Odessa Palace. The interior is complemented by a carved fireplace made of white Carrara marble and huge vases - craters, painted in blue tones.
For musical evenings and theatrical performances, a grand piano is installed in the northern part of the Blue Living Room. In 1863, one of the founders of the Russian realistic theater Mikhail Semenovich Shchepkin performed here. In 1898, Fyodor Chaliapin sang at the Vorontsov Palace to the accompaniment of Sergei Rachmaninoff.
From the Blue Drawing-room the guests of the Vorontsovs went out to the Winter Garden. In the 19th century, almost every European palace had its own winter garden, which was used for reading and relaxation.
The winter garden serves as a transition from the central building to the dining room. Initially it was a loggia, which was later glazed, constructing a large lantern on top for better illumination. The walls of the winter garden are surrounded by ficus repens. The fountain and marble sculptures are surrounded by araucaria, cycad, date palms and monstera.
Near the glazed wall, consisting of huge French windows, there is a row of marble busts, including sculptural portraits of representatives of the Vorontsov family - Semyon Romanovich Vorontsov, Mikhail Semenovich himself and his wife Elizaveta Ksarevna. Next to them is a marble bust of Catherine II by Johann Esterreich. They say that for the excessive realism of her image in stone, the aging empress not only did not pay for the work, but also expelled the sculptor from Russia within 24 hours.
Passing the Winter Garden, not forgetting to admire the view of the South Terrace and the sea opening from the windows, we find ourselves in the next hall - the Main Dining Room. This is the largest and most pompous part of the palace.
The dining room area is about 150 square meters, the ceiling height is 8 m. Under the Vorontsovs, it was lit by dozens of candelabra and chandeliers. A huge table, made up of four shifted parts with polished mahogany countertops, rises atop beast-legged pedestals and takes up much of the room. A massive sideboard was installed near the window on the same lion's legs as the tables, and under the sideboard there was an Egyptian-style bathtub for cooling wine, which was filled with crushed ice.
In the center of the northern wall of the main dining room, between the fireplaces, there is a fountain, the niche of which is decorated with a majolica panel depicting fantastic birds and dragons. Above the fountain there is a carved wooden balcony for musicians.
The Billiard Room adjoins the Dining Room from the east. The closeness of this room to the Dining Room is reminiscent of two large still lifes by the Flemish artist Peter Sneiers "Pantry of Vegetables" and "Pantry with Fish" located opposite each other.
The Vorontsovs, like many other aristocrats, collected paintings. Especially at that time, the canvases of the painters of Holland, Flanders, Italy of the 16th-18th centuries were valued.
This is the last room of the Vorontsovs' quarters available for inspection. Now we can walk through the Upper Park.
The work on the creation of the park, which began even a little earlier than the construction of the palace, in 1820, was entrusted to the chief gardener of the South Coast of Crimea, Karl Antonovich Kebakh. When laying the park, the abundance of mountain springs was taken into account, which were used to create artificial lakes, numerous cascades and small waterfalls. In this part of the park, the murmur of water is incessantly heard.
Most of the paths in the Upper Park lead to lakes and the Great Chaos - a huge stone blockage of natural origin.
The largest of the park's lakes is Swan Lake. The gardener deliberately gave it an irregular shape in order to create the illusion of its natural and not artificial origin. Under the Vorontsovs, the bottom of the lake was strewn with semiprecious "Koktebel pebbles" - jasper, carnelian, chalcedony, which were found in abundance in Koktebel.
Near Swan Lake - Trout Pond and even further - Mirror. On the Mirror Pond, the water seems motionless, which is why the trees and the sky are reflected on its surface like in a mirror.
To the east of the lakes, in the landscape part of the park, there are four picturesque glades - Platanovaya, Solnechnaya, Kontrastnaya, where Himalayan cedar and yew berry rise in the middle of the lawn, and Chestnut.
Above the ponds, along a path through the Hall of grottoes, between skillfully placed fragments of rocks, the path leads to Great and Small Chaos. Millions of years ago, frozen magma as a result of earthquakes and landslides turned into a scattering of huge fragments. The creators of the park left the boulders intact, only removed small fragments and planted the top with pine trees. This is how the famous "Alupka chaos" turned out.
At this we will interrupt the walk along Vorontsovsky Parkso that there was a reason to come back here again.
