The Great Tsarskoye Selo Palace is a Baroque masterpiece created by Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli for Elizabeth Petrovna. During the Great Patriotic War, the palace was destroyed; to date, 32 of the 58 halls have been restored, including the Amber Room. Perhaps this is the most impressive Russian “remake”.
// Part 27
1. At the heart of the central part of the palace are two-story “stone chambers” built in 1717-1724 by the architect Braunstein for Catherine I. 
2. The modern palace was erected in 1748-1756 by the chief architect of the imperial court, F.-B. Rastrelli. 
3. Now on the side of the building there is a monument to the famous architect. 
4. The facade of the palace is presented in the form of a wide azure ribbon with snow-white columns and gilded ornaments, giving the building a special chic. 
5. In the north-eastern part of the building is the Palace Church of the Resurrection. 
6. Nearby there is a building connected to the palace by an arch. 
7. The front courtyard of the residence is limited by two circumferences and contains a parade ground. At the edges there are two yellow service (kitchen) buildings. 
8. To get inside the palace in the summer, you need to stand in a forty-minute line in the heat. 
9. While waiting, look at the details of the building. 
10. The last large-scale restoration of the building was more than ten years ago, now the facades need cosmetic repairs. 
11. The blue and gold paints have faded. 
12. The columns of the palace support sculptures of Atlanteans; their faces can only be seen if you come close to the building. 
13. First of all, we get to Grand staircase, decorated with the sculpture “Waking Cupid” from 1860. 
14. The staircase was created under Catherine II by Charles Cameron on the site of the Chinese Hall. In memory of this, the interior is decorated with vases and dishes made of Chinese porcelain. 
15. The ceiling of the hall is decorated with paintings “Aeneas and Venus”, “Jupiter and Callisto” and “The Judgment of Paris”. They replaced canvases that were destroyed by collapsed ceilings during the war. 
16. The stucco decoration of the walls and the caryatids framing the doorways were restored based on the discovered details and pre-war images. 
17. The large clock was also recreated. 
18. Green dining room- part of the personal chambers of Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich and his first wife Natalya Alekseevna, built under Catherine II on the site of an open terrace - a “hanging” garden. 
19. Interior Waitress decorated with mahogany chairs, a Swedish chest of drawers from the second half of the 18th century and a sculpture by M.-A. Collot "Head of a Girl" from 1769. 
20. Small White dining room in the personal chambers of Elizabeth, Catherine II and Alexander I. Its interior was formed after the fire of 1820. 
21. In the ceiling lamp there is a copy of the painting “The Bathing of Venus” by K. Vanloo. 
22. Located next door Chinese living room of Alexander I.
23. Its interior is distinguished by silk upholstery of the walls painted with watercolors in the Chinese style. 
24. On the walls are portraits, including those of Emperor Peter II, painted by I.-P. Ludena. 
25. Next - Pantry, which until 1761 formed part of the Dressing Room on Elizabeth Petrovna’s half. 
26. For the lampshade, a painting by the 17th-century Italian artist P. da Cortona “Fishing Corals,” donated from the Hermitage collections, was used. 
27. Cavalier's dining room- a small hall, visually enlarged by mirrors and false mirror windows. 
28. On the tables are items of the famous “Order” services, decorated with signs and ribbons of Russian orders. 
29. The picturesque ceiling in the center of the ceiling is decorated with a painting by an unknown Russian master of the mid-18th century based on the ancient myth of the sun god Helios and the goddess of the dawn Eos, obtained from the funds of the Russian Museum. 
30. White formal dining room intended for ceremonial dinners and “evening dishes” of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna in a narrow circle of those close to her. 
31. Green Pillar under Catherine II, it served as a pantry where silverware and porcelain were stored. Here is one of the multi-tiered tiled stoves with cobalt painting, columns and niches. Similar stoves, created according to Rastrelli’s sketches, were an integral part of all the halls of the palace’s front suite. 
32.
33. B Portrait Hall ceremonial images of royalty were shown. Nowadays, in addition to portraits, you can see one of the empress’s dresses. 
34. The ceiling of the hall is decorated with a picturesque lampshade “Mercury and Glory” transferred from us. 
35. The first in a series of the most impressive halls of the Tsarskoye Selo Palace - Picture hall with an area of 180 m². 
36. Paintings are placed in it according to the principle of trellis hanging. When placing works on the wall, Rastrelli took into account, first of all, their size and color scheme: separated from each other by a narrow gilded baguette, the paintings merge into a single colorful “carpet”. 
37. The “Olympus” lampshade, a copy of the lampshade of the Jordan Staircase of the Winter Palace, is in harmony with the overall color of the walls. 
38. Big hall, or the Light Gallery - the most significant ceremonial room of the palace, created according to the design of the architect F.-B. Rastrelli in 1752-1756. 
39. Its area is more than 800 m². 
40. Alternating large windows with mirrors visually expands the boundaries of the room. 
41. The sculptural and ornamental carvings, covering the planes of the walls with a continuous pattern, were made according to the sketches of Rastrelli and the models of the sculptor-decorator Dunker by 130 Russian carvers. 
42. The original pictorial ceiling was painted in 1752-1754 according to a sketch by the Venetian artist D. Valeriani. It consisted of three independent compositions depicting the “Allegory of Russia”, “Allegory of the World” and “Allegory of Victory”. 
43. In the 1790s, due to the deformation of the ceilings, Valeriani’s ceiling was removed to the palace storerooms, and in 1856-1858, artists F. Wunderlich and E. Franciuoli created a new composition “Allegorical image of Science, Art and Diligence.” This lamp was destroyed during the war. 
44. In the 1950s, during restoration, the side parts of the old lampshade, “Allegory of Peace” and “Allegory of Victory,” which were considered lost, were discovered. It was decided to recreate Valeriani’s ceiling, returning the surviving compositions to Tsarskoye Selo. The central part was restored according to sketches and descriptions made by Valeriani himself, as well as according to a drawing by Stackenschneider from 1857. 
45. Amber room rightly called one of the wonders of the world. Initially, this interior was created for the Prussian queen Miria-Charlotte, but in 1716 it was presented to Peter the Great by Frederick William I, but only under Elizabeth did it find a place in the old Winter Palace. With her, the precious panels were carried in her arms (!) to Tsarskoe Selo. Rastrelli installed them in the middle tier of the walls, separating them with pilasters and mirrors, and decorated the room with gilded carvings. Where there was not enough amber, fragments of the walls were covered with canvas and painted “to look like amber” by the artist Belsky. After the capture of Pushkin by German troops, the panels were taken away by the Kunstkomission team and until 1944 were exhibited at Königsberg Castle. When the Germans retreated, the panels were again dismantled, packed into boxes and taken to an unknown destination. 
46. Restoration of the room began in 1979. In 2000, a Russian typesetting chest of drawers from the late 18th century and a Florentine mosaic “Touch and Smell,” which were part of the room’s original decoration, were returned to the museum, discovered in Germany. By 2003, the decoration of the hall was completely restored. 
47. In an inconspicuous corridor of the palace hangs a painting depicting the palace in a terrible state in 1944. It reminds us of the enormous damage war can do to history and culture. 
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The history of Tsarskoe Selo begins from the moment Emperor Peter I gave the Saar manor to his wife Catherine in 1710. 7 years later, construction of the house begins under the leadership of the architect Braunstein, and after 7 years it ends, and the Empress awards it the name “Stone Chambers” "
The palace acquired its now famous appearance during the reign of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. The facade of the building was painted azure, which wonderfully harmonized with the gilded decorative elements. The palace becomes three-story - the northern side is now crowned with the golden domes of the church, and a magnificent front porch adjoins the southern side. The monogram of its owner, Elizaveta Petrovna, appears on many elements of the jewelry. Changes also affected the interior. For the first time, a new layout was used here - the rooms moved from one to another along the entire length of the palace, forming the so-called Front Enfilade. The author of these changes was the famous architect Rastrelli, who also worked on the creation of the architectural complex of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg.
Beginning in 1770, during the era of Catherine II, the famous architect Charles Cameron worked in the palace. Under his leadership, the decoration of the residence acquired the features of ancient architecture. Under Alexander I, the architect V.P. Stasov was already in charge of decorating the rooms; during this period, the main theme of the interiors became the brilliant victory over Napoleon.
Halls and rooms of the palace
The main hall of the palace, the largest in all the palaces of St. Petersburg, is the Great Hall, or the Throne Hall. The ceilings reach about 47 m in height, and its width is approximately 18 m. Attention is immediately drawn to the magnificent parquet flooring and the majestic lampshade that covers the entire ceiling. The images on the ceiling symbolize Abundance, Science and Art, War and Victory.
Walking through the famous Front Enfilade with huge wall-length windows, you can see the Silver and Blue offices, the Lyon and Arabesque living rooms, the domed dining room and the Chinese room, the waiter's room, the bedchamber, and the front office. The famous Amber Room deserves special mention. In 1716, King Frederick William I of Prussia presented Peter I with amber panels. Since the cabinet area was slightly larger than the panels, we had to order the missing elements, which required approximately 450 kg of stone. Today every schoolchild knows the fate of this room; fortunately, after it was lost during World War II, it was restored.
Practical information
Address: Pushkin, st. Sadovaya, 7. Website.
Tsarskoe Selo is located just 25 km from St. Petersburg. The journey by car along the Pulkovskoye and Petersburgskoye highways will take from 30 minutes to an hour. By train: from Vitebsky railway station to the Tsarskoe Selo station, then from the Pushkin bus station by bus or minibus No. 382 to the Tsarskoe Selo Museum-Reserve stop. The total travel time is about an hour. In addition, buses and minibuses run from the Moskovskaya, Kupchino and Zvezdnaya metro stations to the museum.
Opening hours: from 10:00 to 18:00 (ticket sales until 16:45). Closed: Tuesday and last Monday of the month.
Under 16 years of age, admission is free, tickets for students, schoolchildren and pensioners of the Russian Federation - 350 RUB, adult tickets - 700 RUB. You can also buy an audio guide, it costs 200 RUB. Visa, MasterCard, UnionPlay and Maestro cards are accepted at the box office. Photography is prohibited in the Amber Room. Prices on the page are for October 2018.
The famous magnificent large Catherine Palace in St. Petersburg, which represents the central part of a huge architectural ensemble, is located on the territory of Tsarskoe Selo. Every day its halls are visited by several thousand tourists from all over the world. The building is an imperial palace, which was previously the summer residence of Elizabeth Petrovna, as well as Catherine I and Catherine II. This attraction is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The residence was named in honor of Catherine I, by whose order it was built. The start of construction dates back to 1717. From that moment on, the building was rebuilt several times; at this point in time it is a striking example of late Baroque.
After a tourist finds out the address of the Catherine Palace, he, as a rule, tries to find out when exactly is the best time to visit it. There is simply no clear answer to this question. In summer you can fully enjoy the facades of the palace, as well as views of the huge park, wide green alleys, and take a walk near the Big Lake. Horseback riding or a ride in an electric car are also very popular. You can ride a gondola around the lake. The only drawback of the summer period is the huge influx of guests, so in order to get inside the palace a tourist will have to stand in line for a lot of time. Experienced travelers claim that the park is best visited in spring or summer, but you can get inside the palace in winter.
The literature often mentions the Catherine Palace in autumn. Indian summer seemed to poets to be a particularly wonderful period. The imagination is amazed by the riot of colors, the foliage on the trees of the most unusual colors merges into a single composition.
Indeed, autumn for these territorial regions is considered a prosperous season for planning travel. Thus, the Catherine Palace in St. Petersburg can be visited in the middle - end of September, when the rainy season has not yet begun, but the sun is no longer so hot. The autumn decoration of the garden looks just as great as its spring version, but from March to early May the St. Petersburg weather is rainy.
History of the Catherine Palace
It is worth noting that the palace has survived several eras, which is why its architecture is reflected in each of them. In addition, the personal taste preferences of each of the rulers of those times for whom the building was the residence also had an influence. 1717 is considered the year the construction of the palace began, which was carried out under the strict guidance of the architect Johann Brauestein from Germany. The building was planned from the very beginning as the residence of Catherine I. The completion of construction dates back to 1724. According to the first design plan, the building was a small two-story building, made in the Dutch style. If you view photo of the Catherine Palace in St. Petersburg During the times of different rulers, certain dynamics can be noticed. For example, after Elizabeth Petrovna ascended the throne, she instructed famous Russian architects not only to increase the area of the building, but also to improve it.
As the story goes, modern tourists see the Catherine Palace exactly as it became during the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna.
The year 1752 was also a period of change. The Empress felt that the residence was too cramped and old-fashioned, so she entrusted its restoration to the architect known as Bartolomeo Rastrelli. The reconstruction work lasted four years. The changes were enormous; it was after this period that the building received the Russian Baroque style, in which it has remained to this day. One hundred kilograms of gold were used to gild the facade, which also decorated the statues located along the perimeter of the roof. The park area is also particularly elegant, the presentation of which together with the palace took place in 1756. At that time, the Catherine Palace in St. Petersburg made an indelible impression on foreign ambassadors and Russian nobles.
State rooms
The tourist is greeted by the Grand Staircase, for the manufacture of which white marble was used. An architect named I. A. Monighetti worked on its creation. This unsurpassed architectural creation occupies part of the Chinese Hall, which is distinguished by special thematic decorations, including porcelain dishes and vases. Particular attention should also be paid to such interior details as a large wall barometer and clock. The staircase is decorated with two Cupids, one of which is still fast asleep, and the other has just begun to wake up. Carved stucco molding of unsurpassed quality was used to decorate the ceilings and walls. The ceiling space is occupied by the famous painting “Aeneas and Venus”, “The Judgment of Paris”, as well as “Jupiter and Callisto”. The staircase leads its guests to the halls of the Catherine Palace in Pushkin, a photo of which can be viewed online:
In addition, there is enough information not only about the outstanding advantages of the attraction, but also about how to get to the Catherine Palace to save your time. The most convenient way to get to your destination is from the Vitebsky station, from where the train departs, heading to the platform called “Tsarskoye Selo”. From the station you can get directly to the museum by bus No. 371 or minibus No. 377.
It is noteworthy that each individual room is a unique, fully completed composition, which is characterized by moderate luxury. After the tourist understands where the Catherine Palace is located, he needs to understand that it is best to choose the time before lunch for the excursion, since it lasts quite a long time. In any case, it is better to visit the building itself and the surrounding park in two approaches, so as not to miss a single detail.
Audio guide, tickets 700 rubles, payment by card.
St. Petersburg, Pushkin city, Sadovaya street, 7
+7 812 415‑76-67, +7 812 415‑76-68
The Catherine Palace still amazes with its scale, splendor and beauty. Over the years of its centuries-old history, the palace has seen more than one generation of royalty; many great architects took part in the design and construction.
St. Petersburg, Catherine Palace. The beginning of the story
At the beginning of the 18th century, in the place where the luxurious palace was later built, there was a Finnish village called Saar Manor. In 1710, these possessions were donated by Peter I to his future wife Catherine (Martha Skavronskaya).
After the founding of St. Petersburg in 1703, the residence of the Tsar was considered Peterhof, which is located on the shores of the Gulf of Finland; it was built in 1710. But for many centuries, all the heirs to the throne loved the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoe Selo more and spent most of their time there. The palace became a real ceremonial residence.
In 1717, Catherine began construction of the palace. The German architect Braunstein was involved in the construction. At the same time, he was engaged in the architectural ensemble in Peterhof. Work on the building was completed in 1724, and a big celebration was organized on this occasion. “Stone Chambers” - that’s what she called her two-story mansion
Reconstruction of the palace under Elizabeth
She became the new owner of the palace chambers in 1741. On her instructions, at the end of 1742, the architect Zemtsov began rebuilding the palace, but his imminent death prevented his plans from being realized. Such prominent architects as A. V. Kvasov, his assistant Trezzini, and in 1745 S. I. Chevakinsky were involved in the work.
In 1752, the great architect Rastrelli was brought in to work. Elizabeth decided to completely change the appearance of the palace because she considered it small and old-fashioned. It was after this grandiose reconstruction, which lasted four years, that the most beautiful, modern Catherine Palace was born, surprising us with its splendor even today. The presentation to foreign guests and nobles took place on July 30, 1756. The grandiose structure, 325 meters long, amazed the guests with its scale and grandeur.
The beauty and charm of the Catherine Palace
Today, for every tourist arriving in St. Petersburg, the Catherine Palace is in first place on the list of attractions. Why did this luxurious palace surprise guests so much when it opened and what still surprises them to this day?
The building was built in the Baroque style. Huge dimensions, as already mentioned: the length of the palace stretches along the line of the garden and is 325 meters; the beauty, grandeur, and uniqueness of the architecture still do not leave anyone indifferent.
The facade is made in azure color, white columns, and golden ornaments give the palace a solemn appearance. The special charm of the building's facade was emphasized by the figures of Atlanteans and stucco decorations. The northern building of the palace was crowned with five gilded structures; the southern building had a front porch, as well as a spire with a multi-pointed star. Under Elizabeth, the palace building became three-story, at the same time, the famous monogram in the form of “E I” appeared on the gates and decorations of the palace.
No less attractive are the interior apartments, built according to Rastrelli's designs. The front doors are located along the entire length of the palace. The entire Front Enfilade was painted with gilded carvings.
Right there, next to the Church of the Resurrection, gifted children studied there, including Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. In his honor, Tsarskoye Selo was renamed in Soviet times.
Catherine Palace in St. Petersburg
At the end of the 18th century, Catherine became interested in ancient architecture. The Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo underwent a final reconstruction. To carry out the work, she hired an expert on antiquity - an architect from Scotland, Charles Cameron. It was he who created the Blue, Silver cabinets, Arabesque, Lyon living rooms, Chinese hall and Dome dining room in the palace. All the interiors created by Cameron emphasized a sophisticated, strict style and surprised with the beauty and mystery of the decoration.
Thanks to the same architect, the Catherine Palace acquired the Chinese Blue Drawing Room, the State Blue Drawing Room, and the Green Dining Room. They were equipped specifically for Pavel Petrovich, the son of Catherine II and his highly respected wife, and a bedchamber and a waiter's room were also built for them.
In 1817, under Alexander I, the architect Stasov created the State Office with several adjoining rooms convenient for work. All these rooms were decorated in a style dedicated to the famous victory in the war with the great Emperor Napoleon.
1860-1863 The Catherine Palace experienced, perhaps, the last major stage of reconstruction and restructuring. The architect Monighetti was involved in the work. The main staircase of the palace was presented in the “second Rococo” style.
Until 1910, the Catherine Palace was called the Great Tsarskoye Selo.
Tour of the palace
Before everyone who visited Tsarskoe Selo, the Catherine Palace appeared as a wonder of the world. Bypassing modern, familiar interiors (turnstiles, souvenir shops, ticket offices), tourists will certainly find themselves in the Great or Throne Hall. Its dimensions are very impressive: length - 47 meters, width - 18. This hall is the largest among all St. Petersburg palaces. A picturesque lampshade covering the entire ceiling demonstrates allegories of Abundance, Peace, Navigation, Victory and War, Art and Science. Decorated in an artistic style, the parquet will attract curious glances for a long time.
Rooms with huge windows, as if uniting, move from one to another. So, while moving around, you can visit the Silver, Blue rooms, Arabesque, Lyon living rooms, Chinese hall, Domed dining room, Waiter's room, Bedchamber, designed by Charles Cameron. I would like to pay special attention to the mysterious Amber Room.
The Amber Room. History of creation
In 1716, the Prussian king presented Tsar Peter with amber panels as a gift, which were delivered to St. Petersburg. They decorated the Catherine Palace only in 1755. The Amber Room itself was somewhat larger than the area of the panels, and Empress Catherine II in 1763 ordered additional fragments for the amber panel from German craftsmen. For these purposes, 450 kg of amber was needed. The Amber Room acquired its final luxurious appearance in 1770. The huge panel occupied three tiers. The central area was covered by a mosaic depicting the five senses in an allegory. The entire room was lined with exquisitely crafted amber products, on which the best craftsmen of the 17th-18th centuries worked.
Amber room in the 20th century
The fragile amber components of the panel required special careful handling and care. During the war, this played a fatal role in the fate of the Amber Room. For best preservation, the room was not touched during the evacuation; it was left in the Catherine Palace. The Nazis took her to Konigsberg. During the war, the Amber Room disappeared without a trace. Several versions of her disappearance have been put forward, each of which seems plausible.
In 2003, the Amber Room was recreated in the Catherine Palace for the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg. For more than 20 years, a whole staff of employees, which included restorers, historians, chemists, and criminologists, worked to bring the masterpiece back to life. For the work, Kaliningrad amber was used, which was processed using special technology. Now the revived Amber Room is again available for visits. Well, where was the original lost? The mystery remains unsolved for now.
July 4th, 2014 , 10:32 am
The Great Tsarskoye Selo Palace is a Baroque masterpiece created by Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli for Elizabeth Petrovna. During the Great Patriotic War, the palace was destroyed; to date, 32 of the 58 halls have been restored, including the Amber Room. Perhaps this is the most impressive Russian “remake”.
1. At the heart of the central part of the palace are two-story “stone chambers” built in 1717-1724 by the architect Braunstein for Catherine I.
2. The modern palace was erected in 1748-1756 by the chief architect of the imperial court, F.-B. Rastrelli.
3. Now on the side of the building there is a monument to the famous architect.
4. The facade of the palace is presented in the form of a wide azure ribbon with snow-white columns and gilded ornaments, giving the building a special chic.
5. In the north-eastern part of the building is the Palace Church of the Resurrection.
6. There is a building nearby Imperial Lyceum, connected to the palace by an arch.
7. The front courtyard of the residence is limited by two circumferences and contains a parade ground. At the edges there are two yellow service (kitchen) buildings.
8. To get inside the palace in the summer, you need to stand in a forty-minute line in the heat.
9. While waiting, look at the details of the building.
10. The last large-scale restoration of the building was more than ten years ago, now the facades need cosmetic repairs.
11. The blue and gold paints have faded.
12. The columns of the palace support sculptures of Atlanteans; their faces can only be seen if you come close to the building.
13. First of all, we get to Grand staircase, decorated with the sculpture “Waking Cupid” from 1860.
14. The staircase was created under Catherine II by Charles Cameron on the site of the Chinese Hall. In memory of this, the interior is decorated with vases and dishes made of Chinese porcelain.
15. The ceiling of the hall is decorated with paintings “Aeneas and Venus”, “Jupiter and Callisto” and “The Judgment of Paris”. They replaced canvases that were destroyed by collapsed ceilings during the war.
16. The stucco decoration of the walls and the caryatids framing the doorways were restored based on the discovered details and pre-war images.
17. The large clock was also recreated.
18. Green dining room- part of the personal chambers of Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich and his first wife Natalya Alekseevna, built under Catherine II on the site of an open terrace - a “hanging” garden.
19. Interior Waitress decorated with mahogany chairs, a Swedish chest of drawers from the second half of the 18th century and a sculpture by M.-A. Collot "Head of a Girl" from 1769.
20. Small White dining room in the personal chambers of Elizabeth, Catherine II and Alexander I. Its interior was formed after the fire of 1820.
21. In the ceiling lamp there is a copy of the painting “The Bathing of Venus” by K. Vanloo.
22. Located next door Chinese living room of Alexander I.
23. Its interior is distinguished by silk upholstery of the walls painted with watercolors in the Chinese style.
24. On the walls are portraits, including those of Emperor Peter II, painted by I.-P. Ludena.
25. Next - Pantry, which until 1761 formed part of the Dressing Room on Elizabeth Petrovna’s half.
26. For the lampshade, a painting by the 17th-century Italian artist P. da Cortona “Fishing Corals,” donated from the Hermitage collections, was used.
27. Cavalier's dining room- a small hall, visually enlarged by mirrors and false mirror windows.
28. On the tables are items of the famous “Order” services, decorated with signs and ribbons of Russian orders.
29. The picturesque ceiling in the center of the ceiling is decorated with a painting by an unknown Russian master of the mid-18th century based on the ancient myth of the sun god Helios and the goddess of the dawn Eos, obtained from the funds of the Russian Museum.
30. White formal dining room intended for ceremonial dinners and “evening dishes” of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna in a narrow circle of those close to her.
31. Green Pillar under Catherine II, it served as a pantry where silverware and porcelain were stored. Here is one of the multi-tiered tiled stoves with cobalt painting, columns and niches. Similar stoves, created according to Rastrelli’s sketches, were an integral part of all the halls of the palace’s front suite.
32.
33. B Portrait Hall ceremonial images of royalty were shown. Nowadays, in addition to portraits, you can see one of the empress’s dresses.
34. The ceiling of the hall is decorated with transferred from Yusupov Palace picturesque lampshade “Mercury and Glory”.
35. The first in a series of the most impressive halls of the Tsarskoye Selo Palace - Picture hall with an area of 180 m².
36. Paintings are placed in it according to the principle of trellis hanging. When placing works on the wall, Rastrelli took into account, first of all, their size and color scheme: separated from each other by a narrow gilded baguette, the paintings merge into a single colorful “carpet”.
37. The “Olympus” lampshade, a copy of the lampshade of the Jordan Staircase of the Winter Palace, is in harmony with the overall color of the walls.
38. Big hall, or the Light Gallery - the most significant ceremonial room of the palace, created according to the design of the architect F.-B. Rastrelli in 1752-1756.
39. Its area is more than 800 m².
40. Alternating large windows with mirrors visually expands the boundaries of the room.
41. The sculptural and ornamental carvings, covering the planes of the walls with a continuous pattern, were made according to the sketches of Rastrelli and the models of the sculptor-decorator Dunker by 130 Russian carvers.
42. The original pictorial ceiling was painted in 1752-1754 according to a sketch by the Venetian artist D. Valeriani. It consisted of three independent compositions depicting the “Allegory of Russia”, “Allegory of the World” and “Allegory of Victory”.
43. In the 1790s, due to the deformation of the ceilings, Valeriani’s ceiling was removed to the palace storerooms, and in 1856-1858, artists F. Wunderlich and E. Franciuoli created a new composition “Allegorical image of Science, Art and Diligence.” This lamp was destroyed during the war.
44. In the 1950s during restoration Mikhailovsky Castle The side parts of the old lampshade, “Allegory of Peace” and “Allegory of Victory”, which were considered lost, were discovered. It was decided to recreate Valeriani’s ceiling, returning the surviving compositions to Tsarskoye Selo. The central part was restored according to sketches and descriptions made by Valeriani himself, as well as according to a drawing by Stackenschneider from 1857.
45. Amber room rightly called one of the wonders of the world. Initially, this interior was created for the Prussian queen Miria-Charlotte, but in 1716 it was presented to Peter the Great by Frederick William I, but only under Elizabeth did it find a place in the old Winter Palace. With her, the precious panels were carried in her arms (!) to Tsarskoe Selo. Rastrelli installed them in the middle tier of the walls, separating them with pilasters and mirrors, and decorated the room with gilded carvings. Where there was not enough amber, fragments of the walls were covered with canvas and painted “to look like amber” by the artist Belsky. After the capture of Pushkin by German troops, the panels were taken away by the Kunstkomission team and until 1944 were exhibited at Königsberg Castle. When the Germans retreated, the panels were again dismantled, packed into boxes and taken to an unknown destination.
46. Restoration of the room began in 1979. In 2000, a Russian typesetting chest of drawers from the late 18th century and a Florentine mosaic “Touch and Smell,” which were part of the room’s original decoration, were returned to the museum, discovered in Germany. By 2003, the decoration of the hall was completely restored.
47. In an inconspicuous corridor of the palace hangs a painting depicting the palace in a terrible state in 1944. It reminds us of the enormous damage war can do to history and culture.
