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The Marble Palace, located in the center of the Northern Capital, is considered one of the most magnificent and striking buildings in the city. This architectural monument of the 18th century is truly unique. The fact is that this is the first building in St. Petersburg, in the decoration of the facade of which a natural material was used - marble. It should be noted that 32 types of marble were used for the construction, brought from different countries.
The Marble Palace became a gift for the Queen's favorite - Grigory Orlov. Catherine decided to generously thank Grigory Grigorievich for helping her to become empress.
Initially, on the site of the Marble Palace, there was a two-storey building of the Post Office, built according to the project of Domenico Trezzini. Here Peter I held his assemblies and festive events. There was also a restaurant, hotel and post office in the building. Interestingly, in good weather, Peter came here on foot from Summer garden... In winter, the hotel guests lived like on a powder keg. If the king unexpectedly came to the Post Office, then all the tenants were instantly evicted. After a while, the Manezh was built here, and the post office moved to another place. But the new building of the Manege burned down in 1737.
In 1769, by order of Catherine II, a large-scale construction of the Marble Palace began here under the leadership of the architect Antonio Rinaldi. This magnificent building was a gift for the favorite of the tsarina - Grigory Orlov. Catherine decided to generously thank Grigory Grigorievich for helping her to become empress. Of course, Orlov could not help but make a return gift and chose the luxurious Nadir Shah diamond as a present. The cost of the stone was 460 thousand rubles - fabulous money for that time. By the way, about the same amount of money was spent on the construction of the Marble Palace itself.
There is a version that Catherine II personally sketched the project of the Marble Palace.
The marble for facing the building was brought from Italy, Greece and Russia.
It is interesting that a large box with coins was laid in the foundation of the building, which is also made of marble. About 300 people worked daily at the construction site of the Marble Palace. The Empress personally followed the progress of the work and encouraged the most active builders.
The interior decoration of the Marble Palace is striking in its magnificence. Everything here was thought out to the smallest detail. The main staircase was decorated with statues of Morning, Day, Evening and Night, as well as sculptural groups that personified the spring and autumn equinox. In addition to the luxurious halls, there was a library, a large art gallery, bedrooms, living rooms, an office, Turkish and Greek baths. The construction of this huge house was delayed. Count Orlov died without seeing the finished palace. True, in those years he was no longer the favorite of the empress.
Later, the Marble Palace belonged to the grandson of Catherine II, Konstantin Pavlovich Romanov and his children. After the revolution, the building was nationalized, and all the rich collections were transferred to the Hermitage. In the palace at different times there were such organizations as the People's Commissariat of Education, the Office of Palaces-museums, the Central Bureau of Local History and others. In 1992, the house was given over to the Russian Museum. An equestrian monument to Alexander III was erected in front of the building.
Practical information
The Marble Palace is located at: St. Petersburg, Millionnaya Street, 5/1, Nevsky Prospekt metro station.
The ticket price for adult visitors is 350 RUB, for schoolchildren and students - 170 RUB. You can buy a complex ticket to visit the Marble, Mikhailovsky, Stroganov palaces and the Mikhailovsky castle for 650 RUB. The reduced price of such a ticket is 300 RUB. For photography you will have to pay an additional 500 RUB.
Address: Millionnaya St., 5/1
The prices on the page are for September 2018.
Among the many architectural and historical monuments of the world, there are special ones that embody a whole layer of architectural trends, the names and destinies of famous personalities of past centuries. A striking example of this is the Marble Palace in St. Petersburg - a colossal majestic structure, a real "marble fairy tale". Now it is one of the famous tourist sites of the "Venice of the North", striking in its grandeur of size, magnificence and virtuosity of decoration. The richest history of the palace, connected with the royal dynasty of the Romanovs, cannot but excite and interest people of the 21st century.
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Arrangement of the office
Natural wood and leather are mainly used in the interior design of the office. The walls, adorned with highly artistic canvases and portraits, are covered with gilded leather wallpaper illustrated with royal coats of arms. The ceiling is sheathed in mahogany, furniture is made of different types of wood, and oak parquet covers the floor. The prince's armchair resting on the front "legs" in the form of gilded swans with raised wings is a special rarity of the study.
Other rooms of the apartments
Wood is also present in the interiors of other rooms. The owner was especially fond of the Musical "Gothic" living room, decorated in an unusually picturesque Gothic style with wooden openwork panels at the bottom and pasted over with gray leather wallpaper with gilded ornaments. An elegant mock-up of a Gothic temple mounted on a panel adorns one of the living room walls. The antique black lacquered piano symbolizes the purpose of the room.
Owners
The change of owners of the Marble Palace, dictated by time and circumstances, can be arranged in a symbolic row.
The first owner of the palace, the closest favorite of Catherine G. Orlov, adjutant general and owner of many other ranks and titles, became the owner of the palace, before its official opening 2 years (he died in 1783).
- The second owner, the grandson of Catherine Konstantin Pavlovich, was the owner of the palace until 1831. Moreover, in 1797-98, the building was given over to the residence of the last Polish king S.A. Poniatowski, who died suddenly in 1798).
- The third owner, another grandson of the Empress, Konstantin Nikolaevich, was granted by the palace in 1832, when he was 5 years old. Until the age of majority of the prince, numerous courtiers lived in the building. Having become the wife of the prince, the owner of the palace along with him was the Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna, a bright outstanding personality of her time. During the life of K.N. (1827-92), the palace was called Konstantinovsky.
- The fourth owner was the next grandson of Catherine I - Crown Prince Konstantin Konstantinovich, who owned the building until 1915, making the palace a kind of temple of art. In magnificent halls, dramatic performances were held, musical concerts of great musicians and composers were held, creative meetings of writers and poets were organized.
Exhibitions and expositions
In Soviet times, a branch was organized in several halls of the Marble Palace. Central Museum V.I., which was the first example of using an architectural monument in a new capacity, corresponding to the needs of society. The work on the reconstruction of the premises was supervised by the architect N. Lancere, and the museum was opened in 1937, a sadly memorable year for the country. The expositions of the museum familiarized visitors in detail with the life and revolutionary activities of the leader of the proletariat.
Modern concept - propaganda of art
Today the most beautiful building northern capital, donated to the Russian Museum - a center for displaying works of "Russian art in combination with world trends. Here, through permanent and temporary exhibitions and exhibitions, objects of painting, sculpture and other genres are widely represented. Various thematic expositions are regularly organized:
- The collection of the Rzhevsky brothers (masterpieces of graphics, painting, sculpture, objects of applied art - only 503 copies).
- Konstantin Romanov is a poet of the Silver Age (in the authentic setting of his study and the Music Room).
- Ludwig Museum (works of German classical art of the 19-21 century).
- Dialogue of German sculptors E. Barlach and K. Kollwitz with Russian contemporaries (220 works by modernists and works by Russian masters).
In addition, temporary exhibitions are constantly held to showcase world art.
Legends and traditions
Like all significant architectural monuments, the history of the Marble Palace is surrounded by myths. One of the legends says that when the foundation was laid, a box filled to the brim with royal coins was walled up in it. Although there is no exact information about this, rumors about the mysterious box continue to live on. There is a legend about why the empress took away the palace presented to Konstantin Pavlovich. Allegedly for the fact that he, being 16, fired live rats from a cannon, frightening his young wife. One of the legends tells of a secret door through which Catherine entered on a meeting with Orlov, when the palace was still under construction.
Marble palace
The Marble Palace is the oldest building on the Field of Mars, one of the most beautiful palaces in St. Petersburg, built in 1768–1772 on the site of the Peter's post office yard by Antonio Rinaldi for the favorite of Catherine II, Count Grigory Orlov. It was named "Marble" because different types of marble were used in its interior and exterior decoration. For a long time, the palace housed the V.I.Lenin Museum (now a branch of the Russian Museum).
It would seem - a famous building with a famous history. When I proposed this topic to Viktor Mikhailovich, he doubted. But we decided to take a chance. And this is what happened.
Antonio Rinaddi, builder of the Marble Palace, was born in 1709 near Naples. Studied with Luigi Vanvitelli, one of the greatest architects of the late Italian Baroque.
In 1752 Rinaldi arrived in Russia. Rather, to Little Russia - that was how Ukraine was called then. He was invited by Kirill Razumovsky, the then all-powerful hetman of Little Russia. He became a hetman at 22, and at 18 he was appointed president of the Academy of Sciences. Everyone knew that such a high appointment was connected with the fact that his brother Alexei Razumovsky was the favorite of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna and, according to rumors, her morganatic husband. The Razumovskys came from Ukraine, they grazed oxen in childhood. Alexei had a wonderful voice, he was noticed, they took him to the capital as a singer - and there the empress drew attention to him. At one time, Alexei Razumovsky - "the night emperor of Russia," as he was called - was all-powerful. But he left a good memory of himself: he did not climb into politics, did no harm to anyone, did not suffer from avarice, and, they say, until his death, he kept in the closet in his office the shepherd's scroll, in which he once appeared in Petersburg. And he did not forget his relatives. Cyril received a decent education and, becoming hetman, decided to make the city of Baturyn the capital of Little Russia. And what a palace, stone houses, a university ... And Antonio Rinaldi is building a hetman's palace in the Baroque style in Baturyn. When in 1764 Catherine II abolished the hetmanate, Baturin remained in the possession of the Razumovskys. Later, Charles Cameron rebuilds the palace, taking into account Rinaldi's plans.
Antonio Rinaldi
The first building of Antonio Rinaldi in the St. Petersburg province was the Cathedral of St. Catherine in Yamburg (Kingissepp). The graceful, light building looks a bit like a whipped cream cake and is still the symbol of this small town.
Upon arrival in St. Petersburg, Antonio Rinaldi called himself "the architect of the Grand Duchess." This is essential. After all, Peter III was officially his customer. Apparently, Rinaldi was a supporter of the future Empress Catherine II. Therefore, it is not surprising that when she ascended the throne, and Peter III died "from an attack of hemorrhoidal colic" in Ropsha, it was Rinaldi who became the leading architect of St. Petersburg. Oranienbaum - Roller Coaster, Chinese Palace. Gatchina - the Grand Palace. Tsarskoe Selo - monuments of military glory. Prince Vladimir Cathedral on Petrogradskaya ... The name of Rinaldi is associated with the Myatlevs' mansion on St. Isaac's Square and - what is most interesting - with house number 12 on the Moika River embankment. This is the last Pushkin address. Rinaldi himself, of course, did not build this house. But at the beginning of the 19th century, the old house of Peter the Great was rebuilt by an unknown architect. And he took the Marble Palace as a prototype, although, of course, house No. 12 on the Moika Embankment did not turn out to be so luxurious. Some experts believe: "by the general character of the building's outline, a certain similarity with the general architectonic structure of the Marble Palace is noticeable."
Marble palace from the side Dvortsovaya embankment... year 2014
It is also known about Rinaldi that he was a romantic, a dreamer, an enthusiast of his craft - for example, he personally searched for some special marbles for decoration in Italian quarries.
Alas, in 1784 an accident happened: the architect fell from the woods while inspecting the Bolshoi Theater (in the place where the Conservatory is now). He went to Rome, but until his death in 1794 he received a pension, 1000 rubles. a year, appointed to him by Empress Catherine II.
But back to the Marble Palace. It was called the "House of Gratitude" - after all, the favorite of Catherine II Grigory Orlov was an active participant in the coup of 1762, which elevated her to the throne. At one time there were even rumors that Catherine was going to marry him. But she, apparently, was told that it is unlikely that "Mrs. Orlova" will be able to remain the Empress of All Russia.
The Marble Palace from the Neva
The Rinaldi façades of the Marble Palace have come down to us almost unchanged. The main façade is east, the one that now opens onto the garden. He is noticeably more elegant than the others. The garden originally extended to the Red Canal, which connected the Moika with the Bolshaya Neva in the 18th century. (It ran along the western border of the Champ de Mars and was buried in the 1770s). The Manege building (A. Bryullov, 1840s) on the opposite side of the modern garden did not exist then. The northern facade is perceived across the Neva, therefore it is more restrained, without small details. The main "feature" here is a combination of marble overflows and Neva water. The sculptural decoration of the palace was made by the wonderful master Fedot Shubin.
The Manege, built by A. Bryullov, is a rather modest service building. But from the side of the garden, it is decorated with a long bas-relief "The adoption of a horse into the service of a man." It features 33 horses - the largest herd in the city! The author of the bas-relief is the incomparable Pyotr Klodt.
The service building of the Marble Palace and a fragment of P. Klodt's bas-relief. year 2013
I have already mentioned that Grigory Orlov did not manage to live in the palace. After his death, the palace was taken into the treasury. At one time, an exile lived in it - the king of Poland Stanislav-August Poniatowski, once a favorite of Catherine (he was even considered the father of Paul the First). King Stanislav died in the Marble Palace. He was buried in the Church of St. Catherine on Nevsky (a joint creation of Antonio Rinaldi and Jean-Baptiste Valen-Delamot), then in 1938 the king's ashes were transported to Poland and buried in the former ancestral estate of the Poniatovskys, 35 km from Brest. Later, these lands were annexed to Belarus, the king's grave was plundered. Only in 1988, in the wake of perestroika, at the request of the Polish government, a Soviet archaeological expedition began searching for the remains of King Stanislav's burial. Alas, only a little survived, and what remained was transported to Poland and finally rested in the Church of St. John in Warsaw. And about the Marble Palace has long been said: "Built for one favorite, the other died here."
Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich
The next owner of the palace, the second son of Paul I, Grand Duke Constantine, left an unkind memory of himself. He was a rude, hot-tempered man, a real soldier. His wife Anna Fyodorovna, Duchess of Saxe-Coburg, hid in a huge vase when Konstantin Pavlovich was having fun, firing blank charges from a cannon along the corridors of the palace. In the end, the poor Grand Duchess fled to her parents. The Grand Duke also stained himself with outright criminality - he and his drinking companions kidnapped and dishonored a certain Mrs. Araujo, a mother of two children. “It was the most vile story that darkened the beginning of Alexander's reign. The unhappy woman died, unable to withstand the abuse and shame. Since Mrs. Araujo was a foreign citizen, and not a powerless Russian, Emperor Alexander I ordered her relatives to be paid 20 thousand rubles. and sent brother Constantine away from Russia - as governor to Poland.
The Polish beauty Janetta Grudzinskaya, who became his morganatic wife, managed to calm down the Grand Duke somewhat. Emperor Alexander bestowed upon her the title of Princess Lowicz. Konstantin had no legitimate children, and the Marble Palace passed to the Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich.
Konstantin Nikolaevich, the second son of Nicholas I, was preparing for the naval service according to family tradition. He commanded the frigate "Pallada" (later he made trip around the world Goncharov). He founded the Russian Geographical Society, "Morskoy Sbornik" - a journal in which Goncharov, Stanyukovich and other famous writers were published. Konstantin Nikolaevich was seriously involved in the affairs of the Naval Department, and the Russian fleet owes a lot to the Grand Duke. In family life, at first he was very happy, he married the beautiful Duchess of Saxe-Altenburg, who at baptism took the name of Alexandra Iosifovna. But then he fell in love with the ballerina Anna Vasilyevna Kuznetsova, the bastard daughter of the great tragedian Vasily Andreyevich Karatygin.
Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich
Many knew about the second family of the Grand Duke. Emperor Alexander III had a sharply negative attitude towards his uncle's behavior, but despite his dislike of Konstantin Nikolaevich, in 1883 all his illegitimate children were given the patronymic “Konstantinovichi”, the surname “Knyazevy” and personal nobility, and in 1892 - hereditary. Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich ended his life as a paralyzed helpless old man who had lost his speech. He was faithfully looked after by his unloved wife.
The marble palace was inherited by the eldest son of Konstantin Nikolaevich, also Konstantin. Konstantin Konstantinovich entered the history of Russian literature as a poet of the Kyrgyz Republic.
In those carefree years
we didn’t know everyday prose,
how good then
how fresh the roses were.
Marble palace,
Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich
In terms of character, inclination to mysticism and melancholy, of course, Konstantin Konstantinovich would have preferred a different life, far from drill and shooting. But - the Romanovs had to serve the Tsar and the Fatherland, first of all, in the military field. This was not discussed. Therefore, the poet of the Kyrgyz Republic, from birth, had to become the chief of the 15th Tiflis Grenadier Regiment, as a young man - to begin service in the Naval Department, which was led by his father, Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich, and later - to command the Preobrazhensky regiment, be the chief, then - the inspector general military educational institutions. Of all the Romanovs, only the son of Konstantin Konstantinovich, Oleg, entered a higher civilian educational institution, the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, before military service, and successfully graduated from it. By the way, it was Oleg Konstantinovich who published Pushkin's manuscripts at his own expense, wrote poetry himself (albeit rather weak), in a word, he tried to move away from the obligatory canons of behavior of the Romanov family. At the beginning of the First World War, Oleg Konstantinovich died at the front.
Konstantin Konstantinovich died in 1915. I did not see how the building of the Russian Empire collapsed, how the imperial family died. Konstantin Konstantinovich did not have a chance to find out that his sons Ioann, Igor and Konstantin, together with the Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna, Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich and Prince Vladimir Paley, were thrown alive into a mine near Alapaevsk. Of all the male “Konstantinovichs”, only Gabriel was able to escape (he was literally snatched from the clutches of the Chekists by the ballerina Nesterovskaya, whom Prince Gabriel later married in exile), and fifteen-year-old George.
And one more poetic page from the history of the Marble Palace:
The wind full of Baltic salt
Ball of blizzards on the Champ de Mars
And the invisible ringing of hooves ...
And immeasurable anxiety
Who has little left to live
Who only asked God for death,
And who will be forgotten forever.
Anna Akhmatova.
"Poem without a Hero"
Assyrologist Vladimir Kazimirovich Shileiko lived in the Manezh after the 1917 revolution. In 1918 he married the poetess Anna Akhmatova, with whom he had long been in love. By the way, Shileiko himself wrote good poetry:
In the bitterness of the year
With the last sound of heights
With a short swan song
You are one star.
The marriage quickly fell apart. Shileiko, in the words of Akhmatova, was a person "unsuitable for living together," but the echoes of a short life on the Champ de Mars remained in Poem Without a Hero.
“Corner of the Field of Mars. House built at the beginning of the 19th century by the Adamini brothers. It will be hit by a direct bomb in 1942. A high bonfire is burning. The sound of the bell ringing from the Savior on Spilled Blood is heard. On the Field behind a blizzard, the ghost of the palace ball. In the interval between these sounds, Silence itself speaks. "
For a long time the Museum of V.I.Lenin was located in the Marble Palace. They say that this actually saved the palace from being plundered. And they probably did not spare money for the repair and restoration of such a museum. Now it is a branch of the Russian Museum. And in the garden in front of the palace there was an armored car "Enemy of Capital" for a long time, from which Lenin allegedly spoke. Meticulous historians question the very fact of the performance (few), the type of armored car (slightly more) and whether it is the same armored car in general or just similar (many). Now the armored car has moved to a museum by profile - to the Military-Historical Museum of Artillery, Engineering Troops and Signal Corps. And its place "temporarily" (there is nothing more permanent than temporary) was taken by the monument to Alexander III by sculptor Paolo Trubetskoy. In 1899-1909, when Trubetskoy was working on the monument, a special workshop-pavilion made of glass and iron was built for this on Staro-Nevsky Prospect, not far from the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. According to Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, Trubetskoy created a caricature of his brother. However, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna liked the sculpture, and her opinion was decisive.
... on a hard-to-reach horse,
Squeezed into the ground, the emphasis of the hooves,
Half asleep, inaccessible with excitement,
Motionless, squeezing the bridle, stands.
This is how V. Ya. Bryusov expressed his impressions of the monument in the poem Three Idols.
Monument to Alexander III at the Marble Palace. year 2013
The monument is far from simple - it can also personify the strength of foundations, the inviolability of laws, firmness of views - and stupidity, stubbornness, slow-wittedness - depending on how you relate to the personality of Emperor Alexander III.
Spawned a monument and numerous epigrams:
A chest of drawers on the square
There's a hippo on the dresser
On a hippopotamus,
There is a hat on the flap.
(There is a hat on the wrap,
What a fool is this daddy?)
There is another epigram
Third Wild Toy
for a Russian slave:
There was a Tsar Bell, Tsar Cannon,
and now the Tsar- ...
(substitute the rhyme yourself).
During the revolution, Znamenskaya Square is a place of meetings. The monument, apparently, greatly annoyed the protesters - either a red bow would be attached to the tsar, or a placard would be hung with rhymes by Demyan Bedny:
Later, these "immortal lines" were knocked out on the pedestal of the monument.
In 1937, in connection with the reconstruction of Vosstaniya Square and the tram tracks on Nevsky Prospect the monument was removed and transferred to the Russian Museum. It was kept in the courtyard of the museum and almost died during the Great Patriotic War. At the beginning of the war, the museum staff dug a deep hole, but could not lower the heavy bronze sculpture into it. I had to carry buckets and sacks of sand from the barges on the Moika. As a result, the statue was still covered with sand, sheathed with boards and covered with logs on top. Nevertheless, the monument to Alexander III was the only sculpture in Leningrad that received a direct hit from an artillery shell. However, the shelter still held out.
Now Alexander III "registered" in the courtyard of the Marble Palace. The high pedestal created by Fyodor Shekhtel, unfortunately, has been lost. There is a proposal: to return the monument to the square, and to move the stele located there ("A Parachutist's Terrible Dream", "A Bayonet in the Throat of Nevsky Prospekt") to be moved to Courage Square.
This text is an introductory fragment. From the book Another Petersburg author Rotikov Konstantin KonstantinovichChapter 13 Millionnaya Street. Marble Palace. Field of Mars. "Halt of Comedians" and "Stray Dog" by Telamoni Hermitage. - Knight on Winter Palace... - Nice personality of Peter III. - Hermitage employees. - Lenya Kanegisser as a tyrannicide. - Count A.I.Sollogub. -
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No. 17/46 Stroganov Palace 1753-1754, F.B. Rastrelli; 1788-1800s, internal restructuring, F.I. Demertsov, A.N. Voronikhin The ancient and famous family of the Stroganovs (Strogonovs), the largest industrialists and landowners in Russia, made a huge contribution to the development of domestic
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From the author's bookThe Marble Palace The Marble Palace is the oldest building on the Champ de Mars, one of the most beautiful palaces in St. Petersburg, built in 1768–1772 on the site of the Peter's post mazankovy yard designed by Antonio Rinaldi for Catherine II's favorite Count Grigory Orlov.
From the author's bookThe prince's palace The most ancient information about the prince's palace is reported by Ibn-Fadlan, who says that the prince's palace is a huge room, where up to 400 people can simultaneously stay. There is a throne in it, on which, towering over his servants, sits
Marble palace
The first building on this site between Palace Embankment and Millionnaya Street appeared in 1706.
The Postal Yard was built here on the banks of the Neva: "The postmaster shared this house with an innkeeper who had been discharged from Danzig, with whom it was possible to live and who also often hosted large parties."
Unknown artist. First Post Yard
On May 8, 1714, the Hanoverian envoy Weber reported: "His Imperial Majesty has now admitted that it is necessary to lay an inn and a hotel, which have not yet existed and are very inconvenient for visitors."
From June 1714 to autumn 1716 here according to the project Domenico Trezzini a new Post Yard ("Post-Gaus") was built with a pier for two "post frigates" regular flights between Petersburg, Danzig and Lubeck.
Domenico Trezzini
The new building was a two-storey hut building with a large courtyardwhere horses and carts were left. On the first floor there was a restaurant, on the second there was a hall where Peter I organized assemblies and other solemn events. There was also a hotel, the guests of which were evicted in any weather when the king arrived here. In addition to guards and servants, a postmaster, secretary, translator and three postmen worked here.
Kirsanov N. Post yard
Postmaster Heinrich Krauss was invited to organize a postal service in St. Petersburg. In 1716, he was dismissed due to bribery, and Friedrich Asch was appointed to replace Krauss. This man played the role of not only the chief of the post office, but also the censor, the hotel administrator.
By decree of Peter I, 12 musicians came out to the gallery that surrounded the Post Yard every day at 12 o'clock, who, with their loud playing on wind instruments, notified St. Petersburg residents about the approach of noon. The post yard was one of the places where the famous Peter's assemblies were held. Peter I and Catherine I came here on foot from the Summer Garden.
The embankment near the Postal Yard was called Pochtovaya, now it is Palace Embankmenterezhnaya.
The mazankov building quickly decayed. In September 1720, the cabinet secretary of Peter I A. V. Makarov wrote to U. A. Senyavin:
"Her Majesty the Empress the Queen told you to announce that the upper huts in the Post Yard should be repaired, and ordered to put up the stands below so that the floor does not break off, and in the upper floors in bacon and in another big one, where there are tables, to upholstery with some kind of wallpaper. If you please consult with the architecture, if these huts are not strong, then it is necessary to make slats in the front wall of the Neva in the spring, and for that to prepare the materials in advance. "In January 1726, the Academic School opened at the Post Yard, which was organized by the French artist Louis Caravacca. For the first time in Russia, learning to draw from a living model began here, as was usual for European schools. One of the rooms served as a full-scale classroom, where Foma Andreevich Bykov, a peasant in the estate of the synodal government of the Ostashkovskaya Sloboda, posed naked.
Louis Caravacc
On August 7, 1731, Trezzini received an order from Field Marshal Minich to demolish the old Postal Yard, and to build the guardhouse and stables of the Life Guards Cavalry Regiment in its place. Two weeks later, the architect was already requesting a brick for construction. The post yard was transferred to St. Isaac's Church. The Manege was built here by 1732. A fire in 1737 destroyed this building. The vacant place was cleared and named the Upper Embankment Square. It adjoined Tsaritsyn's meadow.
Makhaev MI Prospectus of the old winter palace with a canal connecting the Moika to the Neva. 1750 year
K.P.Beggrov. Palace Embankment. 1826 year. Copy from the drawing by K. Sabbat and S. Chifflard
Lamoni D. F. Neva embankment near the Summer Garden. End of the 1780s.
Shown is the section of the Palace Embankment from the Lebyazhya Canal towards the Marble Palace. Depicts Betsky's house (2 Dvortsovaya Embankment) with a surviving hanging garden... The artist made promising inaccuracies: the distance between the Marble Palace and the house of F.I.Groten was reduced (Dvortsovaya emb., 4).
Makhaev M.I.Millionnaya Street Prospect from the Main Pharmacy. 1751 year
Montferrand O. Millionnaya Street. 1830s - early. 1840s
In 1768-1785, the architect Antonio Rinaldi built a palace here called Marble.
Antonio Rinaldi
The Marble Palace was erected at the direction of Catherine II as a gift to the favorite of the Empress Grigory Grigorievich Orlov.
Vigilius Eriksen. Catherine II Alekseevna (the Great). 1716-1749
Grigory Orlov. Portrait by Fyodor Rokotov, 1762-1763
The gift was made for Orlov's active participation in the events of 1762, as a result of which Catherine was on the Russian throne. At first, she intended to make the inscription on the pediment: "Erected by grateful friendship", but in the end she replaced it with "The building of gratitude". The count's reciprocal gesture was a huge Persian diamond "Nadir Shah" weighing 189.62 carats and worth 460,000 rubles. The price of the precious stone did not quite match the value of the palace itself. Now this diamond is known under the name "Orlov".
Alekseev F. Ya. View of the Palace Embankment from Peter and Paul Fortress... 1790s
Jacotte L. Marble Palace. Ser. XIX century.
Sadovnikov V.S. The embankment of the Neva at the Marble Palace. 1847 year
Bianki IK Marble Palace. View from the Dvortsovaya Embankment. Before 1872
Bachelier S. Panorama of the city of St. Petersburg. 1853 year. View from the bell tower of the Peter and Paul Cathedral
Malton T. Bolshaya Millionnaya Street and the Marble Palace. 1790 Copy from drawing by J. Hearn
According to one legend, the empress herself made a sketch of the future building and showed it to the architect. Knowing that the project was drawn up by Catherine, Rinaldi highly appreciated this work and immediately received a building permit. The building was founded on October 10, 1769; a marble box with coins is walled up in its foundation. Colonel of artillery MI Mordvinov supervised the construction work. The architectural supervision was carried out by Antonio Rinaldi and Pyotr Egorov. About 100 bricklayers and from 100 to 300 artillery fusiliers from Mordvinov's unit worked daily on the construction of the Marble Palace. Catherine II periodically visited the construction site and personally awarded the most distinguished workers.
Huge slabs of marble and granite were delivered along the Neva. They began to be brought here already in 1768. Brick vaults and walls were built in 1769, after which the primary processing of natural stone began. This work was carried out in the years 1770-1774. In 1774, they began to decorate the facades of the Marble Palace with marble and granite, and to decorate the interior.
Shortly before the completion of the work, Antonio Rinaldi fell from the scaffolding and was seriously injured. Without waiting for the completion of the construction of the Marble Palace, he left Russia for Italy.
The lower part of the facade of the Marble Palace was faced with granite, and instead of plaster, at the architect's suggestion, it was decided to use 32 types of marble for facing the walls. Hence its name - "Marble Palace". By the way, at first the building was called "The Stone House at the Postal Pier".
White marble was brought from Italy, it turned out to be cheaper than bringing it from Altai or the Urals. The rest of the facing material was mined in quarries near the Ladoga and Onega lakes. Marble was also used in the design of ten interior rooms of the building. The Marble Palace became the first St. Petersburg building faced with natural stone.
Marble Hall in the Marble Palace
Rinaldi stone flower
In 1780-1788, a service building of the Marble Palace was built in the eastern part of the site.
Service building of the Marble Palace
In 1780, the Red Canal was filled up, connecting the Neva and Moika, which ran on the site of the courtyard between the main and service buildings. Between the houses a lattice was installed by P.E. Yegorov, reminiscent of the fence of the Summer Garden.
Since 1780, the two upper floors have been finished. All work was completed by 1785. A turret with a clock was installed on the attic. On the sides of the tower were placed two figures by sculptor F.I.Shubin - Faithfulness (right) and Generosity (left). In total, there were about 40 works of this master in the palace.
Copper sheets were made for the roof in Sestroretsk. Their fitting and soldering was done so carefully that the roof did not leak until the 1931 renovation.
The main staircase of the Marble Palace is decorated with statues of Morning, Day, Evening and Night. On the site from the second floor to the third, there are sculptures that personify the autumn and spring equinox.
Main staircase
The staircase is decorated with sculptures of nymphs
On the first floor there were kitchens, boiler rooms and a church consecrated in the name of the Entry into the Temple of the Most Holy Theotokos. The service rooms were equipped with various mechanisms and devices. In the building on Millionnaya Street there was a machine for supplying water, a well with two pumps for supplying water to the ceremonial baths of the second floor. In the building on Marble Lane there is a well with a pump for supplying water to the Sadik. In the Nevsky building there is a pool for cleaning mechanisms.
In the northern part of the second floor of the Marble Palace, the Bolshaya Nevskaya suite was located. They got here from the Main Staircase through the Front and Oval checkpoint. From the Oval entrance one could get to the Lacquer Hall, or bypassing the Buffet and the Great Dining Room to get into the Marble Hall - the main room of the palace. The Marble Hall contains the "Sacrifice" bas-reliefs made for St. Isaac's Cathedral by A. Rinaldi. Behind this hall was the Orlov Hall, which glorified the activities of the Orlov brothers. Behind him - Catherine, who glorified Catherine II. From the south to Catherine Hall Grigory Orlov's private quarters adjoined: the front bedroom, a garden with five apple trees, five cherries and a fountain. In the southeastern part of the palace there was an Art Gallery with 206 masterpieces of painting by Rembrandt, Titian, Raphael, Correggio, Poussin, Groot, van Dyck and others. In the southwestern part of the palace - Greek and Turkish baths... In the northwestern part there are spare rooms of the Malaya Nevskaya suite: Study, Bedroom, Boudoir and Living room.
On the third floor of the Marble Palace there were living quarters, a library, two drawing rooms for playing cards, and a Chinese sofa room. In the building on Marble Lane there was a Ballroom.
Chistyakov I.F. Church of the Presentation of the Most Holy Theotokos in the Temple. Fragment of the iconostasis
The construction of the Marble Palace took so long that Count Orlov died before the completion of the work, on April 13, 1783. By the time of the death of Grigory Grigorievich, Catherine II had another favorite and the palace caused unpleasant emotions in the count. Together with his wife, he lived in one of the modest St. Petersburg houses, which was also presented to him by the empress.
One of the Petersburg legends says that there was a secret door on the side of Mramorny Lane, which Catherine II allegedly used when visiting Orlov. This legend is refuted by the fact that the count never lived in the palace.
After Orlov's death, Catherine II bought the Marble Palace from the count's descendants and presented it to her six-year-old grandson, Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich. The building was empty for more than 10 years. The Grand Duke settled in the palace only after his marriage to the princess of Saxe-Zaafeld-Coburg (in Orthodoxy Anna Fyodorovna) in February 1796. Later, for bad behavior, the empress evicted her grandson from the palace. Konstantin Pavlovich, who was 16 at the time of the wedding (his wife was 14), fired live rats from a cannon in the premises and mocked his wife.
Konstantin Pavlovich. Portrait of the young Grand Duke by Borovikovsky
In 1795-1796, the captive leader of the Polish Confederates, Tadeusz Kosciuszko, lived in the Marble Palace.
Portrait of Tadeusz Kosciuszko by Kazimierz Voinyakovsky
After the death of Catherine II, he was freed by Paul I. In 1797-1798, the former Polish king Stanislav August Poniatowski occupied the Marble Palace.
Lumpy-st. Johann Baptist. Portrait of Stanislav August Poniatovsky
He lived here together with his court of 167 people and 83 members of his suite. To receive the king and his entourage, part of the Marble Palace was rebuilt V. Brennoy.
Vincenzo Brenna
However, even after that, Poniatowski complained about the tightness. After his death on February 12, 1798, Konstantin Pavlovich returned to his residence. Despite this, it was in the Marble Palace that Paul I posthumously crowned Ponyatovsky.
Emperor Pavel I. Artist V. L. Borovikovsky
Under Konstantin Pavlovich, a large art gallery, a library, and a collection of porcelain were located in the Marble Palace. The Grand Duke placed the Arsenal of Russian and foreign weapons and uniforms in the Ballroom. In 1806-1807 A. Voronikhin remade a small suite of rooms along the Neva and a number of rooms along Millionnaya Street.
Andrey Nikiforovich Voronikhin
In the Marble Palace, Konstantin Pavlovich actually did not live since January 1813, when he joined the army in the field and made a foreign campaign with it. In April 1814 he became the governor of the Kingdom of Poland and left Petersburg.
After the departure of Konstantin Pavlovich, the Marble Palace passed to the Court Chancellery. Here apartments were rented to court officials. In 1830 the building was surveyed by architects V. Ochakov and H. Meyer. They recognized it as emergency, and a major overhaul began.
On March 6, 1832, Nicholas I handed over the Marble Palace to his second son, Konstantin Nikolaevich.
Nicholas I Konstantin Nikolaevich
After the fire in the Winter Palace in 1837, silverware and a foreign library were kept here. On August 20, 1845, the project for the reconstruction of the Marble Palace was approved, which was completed by A.P. Bryullov.
Karl Bryullov. Portrait of Alexander Pavlovich Bryullov
The ceiling of the Marble Hall was raised one floor. The front dining room is located next to it. One could get to Konstantin Nikolaevich's ceremonial office through the first reception room. Next to him, Bryullov created the Library, from which there was a passage to the Winter Garden, created on the site of the Sadik.
Winter garden in the Marble Palace
Then - the Great Hall, where concerts were held with the participation of M. Balakirev, A. Rubinstein, N. Rimsky-Korsakov. Nearby, Bryullov created a bathroom in the antique style, restored the Turkish and Greek baths that Voronikhin had liquidated. The arsenal was rebuilt in the Gothic style and was named the White Hall. Dance and music evenings were held here. In 1857, an organ designed by G. Metzel was installed in the White Hall.
White Column Hall in the Marble Palace
There is an entrance from the side of Mramorny Lane. Later, a legend appeared that it was through him that Catherine II went on dates to Orlov. The plafond "Judgment of Paris" was moved from the former Lacquer Hall to the Main Staircase. All work was completed by 1849. On December 29 of this year, Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich and his wife Alexandra Iosifovna moved into their new residence. By a decree dated December 20, 1849, the Marble Palace was ordered to be called "Konstantinovsky", but this name was rarely used in everyday life.
In the middle of the 19th century, a marble fountain group by an unknown sculptor "Putto with a branch" was installed in the garden between the Marble Palace and the service building.
The Marble Palace was rebuilt again in the 1860s. New offices, canteens and children's rooms were set up here. A power station appeared, which provided electricity not only to the premises of the palace, but also to the lanterns on the Champ de Mars. We have equipped lifting machines - elevators. In 1883 a telephone appeared here. The inhabitants of the palace amused themselves by listening to opera performances through it.
Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich was a supporter of the reforms of 1860-1870. In public life, the expression "the party of the Marble Palace" even appeared.
After the death of Konstantin Nikolaevich, the palace was owned by his son, Konstantin Konstantinovich, known under the pseudonym "K.R."
Konstantin Konstantinovich
Under him, chamber concerts, literary readings, and amateur performances were staged here. In 1884-1886, the architect A.K.Dzhiorguli reworked the premises of the first floor along Millionnaya Street: Reception, Opochivalnya, Gulevaya, Gorenka. They were decorated in the old Russian style, painted by the artist F. Sedov. The Bedroom, Living Room, Music Room, Cabinet have also changed. In 1898, on the initiative of Konstantin Konstantinovich, a meeting of the Imperial Geographical Society was held in the Marble Palace, at which a decision was made to build the Yermak icebreaker according to the project of Admiral S. O. Makarov. DI Mendeleev and S. Yu. Witte attended the meeting.
Bulla K. K. Marble Palace. Corner living room in the private chambers of Grand Duke K. K. Romanov
Bulla K. K. Marble Palace. Musical (Gothic) room in the private chambers of Grand Duke K. K. Romanov
Musical
Library K.R. in the Marble Palace
K.R.'s room in the Marble Palace
K.R.'s room in the Marble Palace
K.R.'s room in the Marble Palace
Apart from Konstantin Konstantinovich, Grand Duke Dmitry Konstantinovich also had apartments in the Marble Palace.
Dmitry Konstantinovich
During the First World War, the palace housed a hospital for wounded officers. At the beginning of the revolution, the widow of Konstantin Konstantinovich (he died in 1915) still lived here. In 1917, she and her children had to move to the Zherebtsov house on the Palace Embankment.
After the February Revolution, the Ministry of Labor of the Provisional Government was housed in the basement of the Marble Palace. An agreement was even prepared for the purchase of the entire palace by the government for ten million rubles. However, after October 1917, the building was nationalized. Most of the art collections were donated to the State Hermitage. At first, the People's Commissariat of Labor worked here. After the government moved to Moscow in 1918, the palace housed the apparatus of the authorized People's Commissariat of Education, the Administration of Palaces-Museums, the Academy of the History of Material Culture (in 1919-1936), the Society for Sociology and Theory of Art, and the Central Bureau of Regional Studies.
After the liquidation of the academy, the Marble Palace was transferred to the Leningrad branch of the Central Lenin Museum. The building was rebuilt for museum purposes according to the project of N. Ye. Lansere and D. A. Vasiliev. The Main Staircase and the Marble Hall were preserved. Artistic decoration was preserved in some rooms. The museum opened on November 8, 1937. On January 22, 1940, an armored car was installed at the entrance, from which Lenin spoke on the day of his arrival in Petrograd on April 3, 1917. In 1983, it was restored and put back in front of the Marble Palace on April 15 of the same year.
In 1992, the Marble Palace was transferred to the Russian Museum. Lenin's armored car was sent to the Artillery Museum.
In 1994, the famous German conceptual artist Schult (H. A. Schult - pictured on the left) installed the composition "The Age of the Motor", which was a marble Ford Mondeo, in the place vacated after Lenin's armored car in front of the Marble Palace.
Ford did not stand for long, soon it was replaced by the long-suffering heavy monument to Alexander III
, using the same pedestal on which the Leninist armored car stood. Currently, the Marble Palace hosts temporary exhibitions of contemporary art, expositions of foreign artists. The premises are being restored.
Monument to Alexander III in front of the eastern facade of the palace
On January 24, 2002, the White Hall was presented to journalists after renovation. On June 7 of the same year, a meeting of the leaders of Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan took place here. They signed the charter of the Shanghai Regional Cooperation Organization.
Nikolai Konstantinovich with his mother, Alexandra Iosifovna and sister Vera
In April 1874, the mother of Nikolai Konstantinovich, Alexandra Iosifovna, discovered in the Marble Palace the loss of three expensive diamonds from the setting of one of the icons, which at one time Emperor Nicholas I blessed the marriage of his son Constantine with a German princess, who became Alexandra Iosifovna in marriage. Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich called the police, and soon the diamonds were found in one of the pawnshops in St. Petersburg.
First, they came to the man who took the diamonds to the pawnshop - the adjutant of the Grand Duke E.P. Varnakhovsky, whose guilt has survived to this day. During interrogation on April 15, he categorically denied involvement in the theft and said that he only took the stones given to him by the Grand Duke Nikolai Konstantinovich to the pawnshop.
Nicholas, who was present at the interrogation, swore on the Bible that he was not guilty, which, as they said, aggravated his sin. He told his father that he was ready, helping Varnakhovsky, not just an adjutant, but his comrade, to take the blame. Emperor Alexander II, who took the matter under his personal control, involved the chief of the gendarme corps, Count Shuvalov, in the investigation.
For three hours Shuvalov interrogated the arrested Nikolai Konstantinovich in the Marble Palace in the presence of his father, who later wrote in his diary: “No remorse, no consciousness, except when denial is already impossible, and then we had to pull out vein after vein. Fierce and not a single tear. They implored all that remained saints to alleviate the fate that lay ahead of him with sincere repentance and consciousness! Nothing helped!".
Ultimately, they came to the conclusion that the diamonds were stolen by Nikolai Konstantinovich, and the proceeds were to go to gifts to the prince's mistress, the American dancer Fanny Lear. At the "family council" - a general meeting of members of the royal family, after long debates (as options were proposed - to give up as a soldier, bring to a public trial and exile to hard labor), a decision was made that caused minimal harm to the prestige of the royal family. It was decided to recognize Grand Duke Nicholas as mentally ill, and then, by decree of the Emperor, he was forever expelled from the capital of the empire. Fanny Lear was expelled from Russia and forbidden to return here ever. She never met the Grand Duke again.
In fact, two sentences were announced to Grand Duke Nikolai Konstantinovich. The first, for the public, was to declare him insane. From which it followed that from now on and forever he would be in custody, under compulsory treatment, in complete isolation. The essence of the second verdict - a family one - was that it was forbidden to mention his name in the papers concerning the imperial house, and his inheritance was passed on to his younger brothers. He also lost all ranks and awards and was struck off the regiment's lists. He was expelled from Petersburg forever and was obliged to live under arrest in the place where he was told ...
In the memoirs of Fanny Lear there is an entry that very eloquently characterizes this woman herself, who was born and raised in the family of a Protestant priest: “Should there be such a loss in the family of ordinary people, -wrote to miss Lear , - it would be hidden there; here, on the contrary, they raised the police to their feet ... ".
There is another oddity in this matter. Despite the fact that the parents of Nikolai Konstantinovich and his august relatives did not leave the confidence that Nikolai Konstantinovich was ruined by his love for the courtesan and the lack of funds to satisfy her whims, the fact remains unapplicable that during a search in the desk of Nikolai Konstantinovich a sum was found , much larger than the one that was received for the stolen diamonds pledged in the pawnshop.
He was taken away from Petersburg in the fall of 1874. Until his last "stop", in Tashkent in the summer of 1881, that is, in less than 7 years, he changed at least 10 places of residence ...
The prisoner's younger brother, Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich, did not approve of the tough line of the imperial house: “Will the painful situation end soon, from which poor Nicholas is not given any way out? The most meek person could thus be taken out of patience, Nikola still has enough strength to endure his imprisonment and moral prison. "
Finally, having heeded the arguments of common sense, the cousin of the disgraced Grand Duke, Emperor Alexander III, allowed Nikolai Konstantinovich to go to the Turkestan region, to Tashkent ...
