Chinese palace of Catherine II in Oranienbaum. Chinese Palace in Oranienbaum. Interior of the palace
The Chinese Palace is part of the grandiose palace and park complex “Own Dacha” of Empress Catherine II. The construction of the palace was carried out by the architect Antonio Rinaldi. According to his design, a large rectangular pond was dug in front of the southern facade of the Chinese Palace, on the left bank of which a Maid of Honor was built, and on the right bank a place was allocated for a coffee house (the project for this building was never implemented). At the eastern facade of the palace, already beyond the border of the Own Dacha, a Kitchen building was built.
In the middle of the 19th century, the Chinese Palace took on new shape. Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna is making great changes here. According to the design of architects L.L. Bonstedt and A.I. Stackenschneider, a second floor was added, a glazed gallery appeared, connected under the balcony that appeared at the same time and connecting two projections on the south side; small anti-chamber rooms were added to the end parts of the building on the east and west.
While the exterior of the palace has undergone changes, the interior decoration has been preserved, for the most part, from the 18th century. The Chinese palace embodied the fashionable influences and aesthetic preferences of the 18th century; all the decoration of the palace was made by European and Russian master artists with amazing imagination.
The Chinese Palace, a brilliant example of the Rococo style in Russia, is rightfully considered the pearl of the Oranienbaum palace and park ensemble. Absolute authenticity makes this diverse suburb unique, distinguishing it from all the imperial residences that frame the Northern capital like a brilliant necklace.
Emperor Peter I granted the lands on the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland, on which Oranienbaum would later be located, to his favorite, Prince Alexander Danilovich Menshikov, who at that time was in charge of the construction of the Kronstadt fortress on the island of Kotlin. The construction of the Great (Menshikov) Palace in the Baroque style began in 1711, and the date of the consecration of the palace church - September 3, 1727 - is considered its end. The authors of the project were architects J.M. Fontana, I.G. Shedel and I.F. Braunstein. In 1742, Empress Elizabeth Petrovna gave the estate to her nephew, the future Emperor Peter III. For him, the famous Italian architect Antonio Rinaldi built the “amusing” Peterstadt fortress and a miniature palace here. Later, Oranienbaum became the summer residence of Empress Catherine II. The so-called “Own Dacha” of the Empress consisted of the Chinese Palace (1762-1768), the Rolling Hill Pavilion (1762-1774), built by A. Rinaldi, as well as the Upper Park surrounding them.
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Oranienbaum received its name from a German toponym. The legend brought to us the story of an orange tree cultivated here already at the beginning of the 18th century, which gave the name to the city and was included in its coat of arms.
Catherine II, while still a Grand Duchess, chose a “cherished” corner for herself in Oranienbaum. In her “Notes” she recalls the year 1757: “The fantasy came to me to plant a garden for myself... but I knew that the Grand Duke would not give me a single piece of land for this, and therefore I asked the Golitsyn princes to sell or cede to me 100 dessiatinas for a long time.” abandoned... land that they owned near Oranienbaum itself... They willingly gave it up to me. I began to draw plans and lay out the garden, and since this was the first time I was working on plans and buildings, everything turned out huge and awkward for me.”
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Ekaterina Alekseevna was able to begin implementing her plan only five years later, with her accession to the Russian throne. In 1762, construction began on his own dacha, and, above all, “a stone house and a mountain.” All work was carried out “under the supervision” of A. Rinaldi and according to his drawings. Catherine II sometimes came to Oranienbaum to oversee the construction of the Dutch House, or Chinese Palace. The empress celebrated her housewarming in the Chinese Palace on July 27, 1768. This Sunday was marked by a divine liturgy in the Church of St. Panteleimon, and then a ceremonial meal was held in honor of the completion of the palace: the bishops and archimandrites, together with the nobles, dined and “drank to the health of Her Imperial Majesty.”
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In the 1770s, the Empress often visited Oranienbaum and received distinguished guests here: not only “foreign” ministers arrived on visits, but also royalty - King Gustav III of Sweden, Austrian Emperor Joseph II. On July 17, 1780, Catherine II showed the palace to her grandchildren, Grand Dukes Alexander and Konstantin, for the first time. Since 1796, Oranienbaum belonged to Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich (future Emperor Alexander I), and in 1831 the residence became the sole possession of his brother Mikhail Pavlovich. Later, Mikhail Pavlovich’s wife Elena Pavlovna became the mistress of the estate, and then their daughter Ekaterina Mikhailovna, who married Duke Georg of Mecklenburg-Strelitz; their children - Georgy, Mikhail and Elena - owned Oranienbaum until 1917.
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The Chinese summer pleasure palace was named due to the luxurious decoration of its four rooms, designed in the spirit of the ideas of the time about the art of the East. There are also other names: “The House in the Upper Garden”, “The Small House, Her Imperial Majesty’s Own”. And indeed, the loud definition of “palace” is least suitable for it - it rather resembles a park pavilion standing on a low stylobate forming a terrace.
The palace, modest in appearance, amazes with its interior decoration. Gilding and mirrors, shell ornaments, flower garlands, curls, intricately curved frames, stucco patterns whimsically running along the walls, arches and ceilings, exquisite paintings covered with a pearl haze - all this creates an atmosphere of delicacy and comfort. This is the Rococo style, which existed for a short time in the 18th century, but left a bright mark in Russia - the exquisite and intimate Chinese Palace in Oranienbaum. Stylized oriental decorative motifs and many original works of art from China and Japan add special sophistication to Rococo interiors. “The Chinese palace is a one-of-a-kind pearl, a work of art so complete, so harmonious, so amazingly executed - such a graceful, elegant trinket that, looking at it, one cannot help but admire it...” wrote the famous art historian A. . Benoit. The interiors of the Chinese Palace preserve the original decoration of the 18th century: a rare collection of paintings by Italian artists, fine examples of Eastern and Western European porcelain, furniture by Russian and European masters. One of the main attractions of the palace are the unique parquet floors, made according to Rinaldi’s drawings; they have no equal in Russian decorative and applied arts. Initially, the floors in the palace were made of artificial marble. In the 1770s, they were replaced by inlaid parquet floors made of various types of wood (there are up to 36 of them) - oak, maple, birch, rosewood, boxwood, mahogany and ebony, Persian walnut, sacchardan (brown wood), amaranth and others. Parquets, which are not repeated in any room, amaze with their complex patterns and exquisite colors.
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The Glass Bead Study, the Damask Bedchamber, the Hall of the Muses, the Blue and Pink Living Rooms... These names themselves speak of the exclusivity of the palace premises and their enduring artistic and historical value. A journey through the halls of the palace meets the most demanding expectations: in the design of the interiors, Rinaldi used a rich arsenal of decorative forms inherent in the Rococo style, achieving a harmonious relationship between the decoration of the palace and its architecture.
The center of the symmetrical composition of the Chinese Palace is the Great Hall, from which the front enfilade rooms extend along the northern façade in both directions. Two wings, including small enfilades, adjoin the main volume of the building from the south at right angles; in the western suite there were the personal chambers of Empress Catherine II, in the eastern suite there were the rooms of her son, Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich.
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The Front room originally served as a vestibule; here, in the center of the southern part of the palace, the entrance to the building is still located. After the addition of a covered glass gallery to this room in 1853, it began to be used as a dining room.
In the 18th century, the walls of the Front Hall were decorated with paintings by the Italian decorative painter Stefano Torelli, a student of the famous Neapolitan artist Francesco Solimena. Torelli arrived in Russia in 1758, leaving service at the Saxon royal court. In 1764, the painter worked on the design of the Winter Palace, and in 1765 he began work in Oranienbaum, and after a short time the interiors of the Chinese Palace were decorated with his talented works. In the 1850s, Torelli's wall paintings in the Front were replaced by architectural landscapes by an unknown 19th-century artist, “Diana and Actaeon” and “Landscape with Ruins.” In the Front, a picturesque ceiling by S. Torelli “Apollo and the Arts” has been preserved: the patron of the arts Apollo and images of female figures personifying “the three most noble arts” - painting, sculpture and architecture - a favorite subject in the art of that time. Above one of the doors is a painting by an unknown 18th-century Italian artist, Selene and Endymion. The mythological story about the vain shepherd Endymion, who fell asleep forever at the behest of Zeus, and the goddess of the night Selene, enchanted by his beauty, occurs three times in the Chinese Palace.
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One of the walls of the Front Hall has preserved ornamental paintings of remarkable beauty in design by another Italian master, Serafino Barozzi, who, like Torelli, worked directly in the Chinese Palace. The interior decoration is complemented by stucco decoration of the hoops and ceiling: shells, acanthus leaves and other plants, flower garlands.
The front room is decorated with inlaid parquet from the 18th century, composed of several types of wood - walnut, amaranth, birch, sandalwood, apple, rosewood and mahogany; its drawing, created by Rinaldi, seems to be reflected in the stucco decoration of the ceiling, which adds completeness to the interior design. The fireplace, made of artificial marble, was created in the 18th century by the Italian “plasterer” Alberto Giani, who worked hard on the production of the original marble floors of the Chinese Palace. With its exquisite and elegant decoration, the Antechamber “sets the tone” for the appearance of subsequent chambers and sets the expectation for no less elegant decoration.
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Following the Front is the Dressing Room; from the west it adjoins the Pink Living Room, connecting half of the heir Pavel Petrovich with the main entrance to the palace. Initially, the room was used for its intended purpose, but it is known that during the 18th and 19th centuries it also served as a pantry and library.
In the decoration of the Dressing Room, as well as other interiors of the Chinese Palace, paintings were widely used, embodying scenes from ancient myths. The central part of the ceiling is decorated with a picturesque ceiling “The Judgment of Paris”, executed by S. Barozzi; above the door to the Entrance Hall there is a panel “Venus and Mars”, and above the entrance to the Pink Living Room - “Hercules and Omphale” - desudeportes by unknown artists of the Italian school of the mid-18th century.
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The interior of the Dressing Room was updated several times, and from its original decoration only the artificial marble wall above the fireplace has survived to this day. The exquisite carving with which it is decorated harmoniously combines with the applied molding ornament. The parquet floors of the Dressing Room with a somewhat monotonous geometric pattern were made later than the other parquet floors of the palace, in 1819, and are significantly inferior to them in the richness and complexity of the design.
The small eastern enfilade of the Chinese Palace includes the personal chambers of Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich, among which a spacious room called the Pink Living Room, originally called the Children's Room, is noteworthy. The room had another name, which perfectly defined the nature of its decoration in the 18th century - “Picturesque Antique”. In 1767, S. Barozzi decorated the walls of the Living Room with paintings on the theme of the tragedy of the ancient city of Herculaneum, which died in 79 during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Unfortunately, during the reconstruction of the palace in 1852-1853, the picturesque panels from all four walls were removed. It was not possible to restore them, and the walls were covered with paper wallpaper.
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In 1894, the wallpaper was replaced with canvas painted light pink, after which the Living Room received its current name. At the same time, the walls of the Pink Living Room were framed with gilded stucco decoration, which gave the interior originality and sophistication.
The pink living room retains the original stucco decoration of the arches and ceiling. An elegant trellis mesh - the main motif in the ornament of the ceiling and over-door fragments - is “reflected” in the pattern of the inlaid parquet, which gives the interior a harmonious appearance and completeness.
The “must-have” lampshade of the Living Room “Diana and Aurora” was painted by the Italian artist Gasparo Diziani. The allegory of the change of night to morning is distinguished by a carefully thought-out composition and subtle pictorial elaboration. The desudéportes “Cupids Playing with a Bird” and “Cupids Playing with Soap Bubbles” were created by an unknown artist in the 18th century. They were probably moved to this room later; At the same time, their rectangular shape changed. Another composition above the door of the Dressing Room - “Cupids in the Clouds” - was made already in the 19th century.
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Next to the Pink Living Room, on the axis of the small enfilade, there is the Shtofnaya Bedchamber. This room got its name in the 18th century, when its walls were covered with light green (celadon) damask with a pattern of wavy silver paths intertwined with white and pink flowers. The front bedroom of the heir to the throne, Tsarevich Pavel Petrovich, is divided into two parts, the smaller of which is an alcove. Being a purely intimate part, the alcove is decorated with exquisite carvings with delicate floral and plant motifs, but since the Bedchamber was intended for the heir to the throne, the future commander, military attributes were also included in the decor - trumpets, banners, arrows. In the depths of the alcove there is also a children's portrait of Pavel Petrovich by Alexei Antropov. On both sides of the alcove, crowned with a gilded cartouche in the form of a shell, in niches there are gilded shelves with small vases of Meissen porcelain from the mid-18th century.
In another part of the Shtofnaya bedchamber, a square one, of particular interest is the unusual ceiling in the form of a sail vault, lined with artificial marble. This is a rare example of the use of such material for decorative finishing of ceilings. Pale pink marble is complemented by floral and rocaille patterns in gilded and white molding.
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The pattern of the parquet flooring of the Bedchamber, traditionally for the interiors of the Chinese Palace, is consistent with the decor of the ceiling. In addition, it also reminds of another important feature of the palace parquets - neither the composition of their set, nor the color combinations are repeated anywhere. The parquet of the Bedchamber made of walnut, amaranth, rosewood, boxwood, lemon, birch and ebony was made in 1772 by Russian craftsmen “under the supervision” of the talented master Johann Petersen.
The color palette of the interior is perfectly complemented by a pinkish-green faux marble fireplace. Among the examples of furniture are a ladies' bureau and a music table made by French masters of the mid-18th century.
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Pavel Petrovich's office, adjacent to the Shtofnaya bedchamber from the alcove side, is separate from the rest of the premises. Because of its miniature size (less than six square meters), this room was also called the “Cabinet”. Its walls are decorated with ornamental paintings by S. Barozzi, which include Chinese marble and wooden tablets with carved figures, hieroglyphs and landscapes. The picturesque ceiling “Geometry” was made by G. Diziani: the allegorical female figure depicted on the canvas with a globe and compass in her hands and cupids drawing geometric figures indicate that the room was intended for the educational activities of the young heir. The enfilade of Pavel Petrovich's rooms is completed by the Boudoir. In the 18th century, this room, the walls of which were covered with paintings, was called the “Pictorial Study.” The Boudoir acquired its current appearance in 1853, when the paintings were replaced by walnut panels moved from the Kamerungfer (or Dressing Room) on the half of Empress Catherine II. The wooden panels include three paintings - allegorical paintings “Music”, “Painting” and “Drama”. Their authorship is attributed to Jacopo Guarana, who also performed the Boudoir ceiling “Zephyr and Flora”.
The furniture of the Boudoir consists of an elegant French rosewood bureau and Dutch chairs made in the 19th century. Porcelain predominates among the decorations of this interior: Chinese vases from the mid-18th century and English ones with paintings from the late 18th century.
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The elegant and festive Hall of the Muses, which was intended for concerts, opens the enfilade of state halls of the Chinese Palace on the eastern side. It is symmetrical to the Great Chinese Cabinet, located in the western building of the palace. With its elongated proportions, this interior resembles a gallery, and six large glazed windows and doors located on three sides give it a resemblance to an elegant open park pavilion. Here the words of A. Benoit are perceived in a special way, who compared the Chinese Palace “in its purely musical effect... with the sonatas of Haydn and Mozart.” The Hall of the Muses, which retains its original decoration, is one of the most significant palace interiors of the 18th century.
In the 18th century, the Hall of the Muses was called the “Picturesque Gallery,” which corresponded to the dominant role of painting in its decoration. Tempera paintings by the decorative painter S. Torelli cover the walls and arches, and the lampshade by the same master, “Venus and the Graces” (“Triumph of Venus”), made in oil, crowns the hall. Small compositions on the arches and ceiling, painted in light colors, alternate with light ornamental modeling. All decorative design of the Hall of Muses is subordinated to a single artistic concept, which gives this amazing interior a harmonious appearance.
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Particularly noteworthy among the furniture in the Hall are the carved gilded banquettes, made according to drawings by A. Rinaldi and designed specifically for this interior. Here you can also see a variety of objects from Chinese and Japanese porcelain, as well as the marble sculpture “Boy on a Dolphin” - a masterfully executed mid-19th century copy of a work by the 16th century Italian sculptor Lorenzo Lorenzetto, which in turn refers us to the drawing by Raphael, which was inspired by this job. On the sides of one of the doors are marble busts of Lucretia and Cleopatra from the 18th century Venetian work.
The most famous event that took place in the Hall of the Muses was the magnificent celebration of the arrival of the Prussian King Frederick William III in Russia in 1818, “who came to bless the cradle of his newborn grandson,” the future Emperor Alexander II. On July 2, 1818, in this hall “after fireworks a brilliant ball was given.” Next to the Hall of Muses is the Blue Living Room, which connects the halls of the front suite with the rooms of Pavel Petrovich. Until the mid-1860s, the Living Room was covered in blue silk, which is how it got its name. At the same time, paintings by the Russian artist A. Beideman appeared in the interior: two canvases with images of cupids - with a cornucopia and a brush of grapes, as well as free copies from the Hermitage originals - a fragment of “Madonna with the Partridges” by A. van Dyck and “The Rape of Europa” F. Albani. Beideman’s brush is also attributed to the large original work “Triton and Nereid”, which decorates the space of the wall around the fireplace; however, this composition cannot be considered a creative success of the famous artist, since it lacks expressiveness and dynamics. The Blue Living Room is richly decorated with 18th-century paintings. The ceiling is decorated with a lampshade by the Italian artist Francesco Zuno, “Time Stealing Truth,” which also has a second title, “Time and Knowledge.” Like a number of other plafonds of the palace, Zuño’s work is a typical example of allegorical compositions with an abstract plot, very popular in the 18th century. The artist unfolds before us a dynamic scene of abduction, in the center of which two figures are depicted - a strong, muscular winged old man, personifying Time and its transience, and a woman, representing Truth (or Knowledge). The attribute of the old man is the scythe lying at his feet, and the woman holds a compass in her hands. Among the ten deportations are “Amphitrite” and “Neptune” by J. Guarana and “Italian Landscape” by F. Zucarelli; above the mirror is the painting “Two Cupids” by an unknown artist.
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Objects of decorative and applied art are presented in the Blue Living Room in a variety of ways - Meissen porcelain, French watches of the 18th century, carved gilded furniture from the 1760s by Russian craftsmen. The molding of the arches and the ceiling, the parquet set on a palm background, and the exquisite fireplace bring to us the authentic look of the 18th century living room.
The interior of the Blue Living Room and other rooms of the Chinese Palace at the beginning of the 20th century was captured in a series of watercolors made for the last owner of the Chinese Palace, Grand Duchess Elena Georgievna, who wished to perpetuate its unique appearance. Watercolors with images of the palace halls and details of their decoration were included in the album entitled “Etchings, facades, plans and sections of the Chinese Palace in Oranienbaum, executed by former students of the St. Petersburg Central School of Technical Drawing of Baron Stieglitz,” formed in 1911 and stored in personal meeting of Elena Georgievna; the album is now in the State Hermitage.
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The magnificent Glass Bead Cabinet, which precedes the Great Hall, is rightfully considered a world masterpiece of interior art. This brilliant example of the Rococo style is primarily famous for its glass bead panels. Twelve handmade panels were presumably made according to drawings by S. Barozzi in 1762-1764 by nine embroiderers: Anna Andreeva, Avdotya Loginova, Tatyana and Lukerya Kusova, Praskovya, Matryona and Avdotya Petrov, Cleopatra Danilova, Marya Ivanova under the direction of the Frenchwoman Marie de Chelles , a former actress who organized a workshop “for sewing wallpaper and other decorations for Her I.V.’s rooms.” The glass beads were made at the Ust-Ruditsk mosaic factory, which was founded by M.V. Lomonosov in the vicinity of Oranienbaum. Embroidered panels with exotic landscapes are enclosed in gilded frames of exquisite carving, imitating tree trunks, entwined with leaves, flowers and grapes and topped with figurines of dragons. If we remember that initially the floor in the Office was made of smalt (colored glass tiles), also made at the Ust-Ruditsk factory, then one can easily imagine the created effect of an extraordinary fairy-tale extravaganza, painted with oriental flavor. The original unusual decoration of the floor gave the Cabinet its second name - “Mosaic Peace”. Work on installing mosaic floors, which began in 1763, lasted four years. The head of the work, J. Martini, reported on December 12, 1767 about their completion: “The Maasai floors available in Oranienbaum are ready and laid in place, and the artisans are not at that work.”
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Catherine II, proudly showing the palace to her guests, especially singled out the Glass Cabinet, which had, in the words of that era, an “excellent appearance.” The Empress often received distinguished visitors here: for example, on July 27, 1774, “in a room with glass bead wallpaper, she received the Tsar’s (Austrian – Yu. M.) ambassador, Prince Lobkovich, for an audience.”
By the middle of the 19th century, the mosaic floor became unusable due to dampness, and in 1856 it was replaced with type-setting parquet, however, even in the new material it retained the same pattern.
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The Glass Beads Cabinet houses two genuine masterpieces of decorative and applied art - unique tables made at the Peterhof Lapidary Factory under the direction of master Jacob Martini. Tabletops with wavy edges are decorated with complex compositions made from colored Lomonosov smalts; even the bases and legs of these elegant tables are trimmed with orange smalt. The tabletop of one of them represents a landscape composition framed by geometric patterns: a narrow pyramid, reminiscent of park obelisks, is surrounded by fragments of the ruins of ancient buildings. On another table, geographical maps, notes, books, a compass, and a globe are depicted with amazing accuracy.
The Great Hall, the central room of the palace, is also called the Reception, Round, Oval or simply the Hall in documents of the 18th century. Decorated in the spirit of solemn elation, it was intended for official receptions and meals. Most visits to Catherine II's own dacha ended with dinner in the Great Hall. Entries about this" are often found in the Camerfourier journal: for example, on July 19, 1769, "...at 10 o'clock EIV (Her Imperial Majesty. Yu. M.) deigned to eat the evening meal in the Round Hall, in which they were placed in the four corners. .. at the table, at each there were 8 persons with tickets.” Among the “persons” then were the Austrian, Prussian, Swedish, Danish, Dutch envoys, the English ambassador, the Saxon minister, as well as their spouses and the noble circle close to the empress 27. July 1774, the empress “in the hall favored ... foreign ministers,” and then a gala dinner took place with “four round tables” with the participation of diplomats, given in honor of the conclusion of the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi peace, which secured Russia’s victory in the Russian-Turkish war 1768-1774.
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Unlike other rooms of the palace, the interior of the Great Hall bears the features of a new style - classicism - and anticipates subsequent interiors created by Rinaldi in St. Petersburg, Tsarskoe Selo, and Gatchina. The appearance of this main hall is strict and majestic, its decor is exquisitely noble and laconic. The walls and three-quarter Corinthian columns are decorated with artificial marble of different shades. The large hall is covered with a low dome, cut through by round windows - lucarnes, which serve as a source of natural light. Through large doors, glazed all the way to the floor, a picturesque view of the parterre garden and meadow opening into the park opens up.
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The eastern part of the palace's front enfilade is opened by the Plaster Room (also called the Lilac Living Room), which has retained its original stucco design, which is reflected in the name of the interior. The character of this cozy room, its size and decorative decoration differ significantly from the solemn Great Hall, since it was intended for relaxation and intimate conversations, which was fully consistent with its artistic decoration.
The design of the Plaster Chamber is richly picturesque: the six canvases that decorate its walls and ceiling depict gallant scenes with the participation of mythological and literary heroes. All paintings are dedicated to the theme of love and reflect the sublime feelings of the characters. Among them is the work of S. Torelli “Selena and Endymion”, which is considered one of the best works of the Italian master. The author of the painting “Aphrodite and Adonis”, presented in the Plaster Room, was the 18th century Italian painter Pietro Rotari. Even before his arrival in Russia, the artist enjoyed European fame thanks to the many intimate portraits he executed, similar to those that make up the picturesque decoration of the Portrait Room of the palace. “Aphrodite and Adonis” is a rare example in Rotary’s work of a large canvas with a complex composition on a mythological subject.
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The desudéportes of the Plaster Repose - “Venus” and “Yearing Mars” - also belong to the brush of Torelli. Placed opposite each other, these paintings are plot-related: according to myth, Mars, having forgotten about military exploits, is in love-sickness, dreaming of Venus. It is known that the model who posed for the artist was his niece, a beautiful young native of Bologna. The myth of Venus also echoes the picturesque plafond of F. Zuno “Orpheus Meeting the Sun,” which was also interpreted as a “Hymn to Venus”: the young man Orpheus, playing the harp, glorifies the beauty of the goddess of love.
The furniture of the Plaster Room consists of carved gilded banquettes and stools made in Russia in the 1760s, as well as a French bureau of typesetting wood from the same time. The living room is decorated with Meissen porcelain groups made in the 1770s based on models by M.V. Asier. The set of parquet flooring, made according to a drawing by A. Rinaldi, uses red and pink wood, rosewood, palm, birch, and apple.
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The “Chinese” style, which was widespread in the art of palace interiors of the 18th century, was vividly embodied in the Great and Small Chinese Cabinets of the palace. A peculiar understanding of distant exotic culture by Russian and European masters was expressed in the architecture and design of the Small Chinese Cabinet, the penultimate one in the enfilade of ceremonial chambers. Its interior is in a certain contrast with the previous premises of the palace, which leave an impression of elegance, smoothness, and calm sophistication due to light colors and rounded shapes. Clear rectangular architectural planes, contrasting, sonorous colors and strict geometric patterns, combined with intricate floral patterns and finely drawn scenes from Chinese life, create the unique look of this interior.
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The walls of the Cabinet are covered with green silk recreated from the surviving original samples, painted with images of exotic birds, butterflies and flowers. Lacquer furniture from China and Japan of the 18th century corresponds to the character of the decoration of the Small Chinese Cabinet: a Japanese cabinet-secretary in red lacquer with gold painting and a cabinet-chest in black lacquer with applied chased decorations, made in China.
In the mid-18th century, Russian craftsmen made a black furniture set, decorated with oriental ornaments, in the “Chinese” style. Oriental porcelain perfectly complements the decorative ensemble of the Cabinet: on the fireplace are figurines and a vase of the “green family” from the late 17th century; the console is decorated with an 18th century vase.
The floor of the Small Chinese Cabinet, made by master Jacob Lang based on a drawing by Rinaldi, is one of the best examples of inlaid parquet both in the richness of the pattern and in the brilliant mastery of the use of color shades of various types of wood - red, pink, black, brown wood, sandalwood, ebony, striped walnut, lemon, boxwood, amaranth, rosewood, birch, apple. The parquet flooring includes shaped inserts with Chinese characters and a skillful image of a low vase with a branch of a blossoming fruit tree. On the wall there is a picturesque portrait “Catherine II in front of the mirror”, an original copy of the Swedish artist Vigilius Eriksen. The office is crowned with a lampshade by G. Diziani - an allegorical image of “Fortification”.
The Small Chinese Cabinet in the 18th century also had a second name - the Bedchamber, since it precedes the bedroom of Catherine II - the Chinese Bedchamber, which opened up the small (western) enfilade of her chambers. The Chinese bedchamber also belongs to the brilliant examples of the Chinoiserie (Chinese) style. The walls of the room, covered with white satin, were painted in the “Chinese taste” in the late 1760s and early 1770s by masters Fyodor Vlasov, Fyodor Danilov (who became an academician of painting twenty years later) and Yakim Gerasimov; the paintings subtly harmonize with the design of the ceiling decorating the Bedchamber. “A graceful decorative fantasy of the 18th century” was called by A. Benois the ceiling “Chinese Sacrifice”, performed by J. Guarana - a unique theatrical composition, which is distinguished by the beauty of the design and the richness of color.
The Great Chinese Cabinet, or “Chinese Gallery,” an interior symmetrical to the Hall of the Muses, closes the front enfilade of the palace from the west. The unusually impressive and original appearance of this hall is determined by the fact that elements of the Rococo style are intertwined here in the most bizarre way with oriental motifs.
The ceiling of the Great Chinese Cabinet is decorated with a picturesque lampshade representing the allegorical image of the “Union of Europe and Asia”, which is also interpreted as the “Chinese Wedding”; its author is considered to be S. Barozzi. On the sides of the ceiling there are images of Chinese rulers, Bogdykhan and Bogdykhanshi, made using the technique of painting on a plaster base. Carved oriental ornaments, stucco images of birds and dragons on the canopies enrich the decorative palette of this unique hall, the author of the artistic design of which is S. Barozzi.
The walls of the Great Chinese Cabinet are decorated with stacked wooden panels made using the marquetry technique. A mosaic made of thin plates of different types of wood depicts gallant scenes from the life of the Chinese against the backdrop of waters and mountains, pagodas and pavilions, flowering trees, hanging shoots and flying birds. These compositions are designed not spatially, but planarly, in accordance with the canons of Chinese painting; their plots should be read from top to bottom. The panels are made of several types of wood - Karelian birch, amaranth, rosewood, Persian walnut, boxwood, maple, pear, apple, plane tree; people's faces and tree leaves are made of walrus ivory. These unique compositions were created by a group of masters led by G. Stahlmeer. Equally exotic is the inlaid parquet flooring of the Cabinet, made of more than ten types of wood, made in 1773 by I. Petersen. It is known that for the manufacture of parquet in this and other rooms of the Chinese Palace in 1771, twenty types of overseas wood were supplied from “...the store of the Office of the Building.”
As is known, in the second half of the 18th century there continued to be an intensive influx of objects of Far Eastern art into Russia, which filled special halls and cabinets of country palaces. By order of Catherine II, a special caravan was sent to China in 1762 and 1775, from where furniture was brought - tables, cabinets, screens, as well as porcelain, trays, wallpaper - to decorate the Chinese Palace, mainly the Great Chinese Cabinet. The varied furnishings of the Cabinet include Chinese black lacquer chairs with gilded ornaments, Japanese black lacquer cabinets with painting and chasing, red and black lacquer boxes and boxes, wooden sculptures - images of the god Shou Xin and the goddess Xi-Wanmu, bronze and enamel incense burners - traditional Chinese objects export, an almost obligatory element of “oriental” interiors. The mantels display exquisite Chinese and Japanese porcelain vases.
The large Chinese cabinet was used by Catherine II for card games, of which she was a big fan. In the Chamber-Fourier journal there are often entries similar to the one made on July 28, 1774: “...playing cards in the Chinese Corner on 6 tables.” The card games were attended by ambassadors of Spain, Prussia, Sweden, Saxony, France, England, Denmark and Tsesarsky (Austria), heir Pavel Petrovich and his wife, princes A. M. Golitsyn, A. A. Vyazemsky, counts G. G. Orlov, N. I. Panin, Z. G. Chernyshev, A. K. Razumovsky.
The small enfilade of Empress Catherine II, in addition to the Chinese bedchamber, consists of the Camerjungfer and Portrait. The Camerjungfer is decorated with magnificent images of the court ladies of the “Small” (Grand Duke) court, presented in fancy dress and personifying the seasons, parts of the world and the elements. These eleven portraits do not pretend to have psychological depth but are full of liveliness, their heroines are pretty and flirtatious. The author of these works is the French artist Jean de Sampsois (Sansois), who came to Russia in 1755. The images are made using a complex pastel technique - as they said in the 18th century, “dry paints”. The cool range of silver, blue, and pale pink tones allows us to convey the sophistication of the young ladies who made up the court of the heir to the throne Peter Fedorovich and his wife Ekaterina Alekseevna (the future Empress Catherine II). The fact that the portraits were ordered by Sampsua was reported in a letter from Ekaterina Alekseevna to the English ambassador Charles Williams dated September 17, 1756.
Initially, the pastel portraits were located in the Great (Menshikov) Palace of Oranienbaum. In 1820, they were restored (“corrected”) in the Imperial Hermitage, and black and gilded frames were also made. Only in 1853 did the paintings take their current place: the architect L. Bonstedt introduced them into the decoration of the Kamerungferskaya, transferring the walnut panels that had previously decorated its walls to the Boudoir on the half of Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich.
In Kameryungferskaya, parquet flooring made by masters J. Lang and I. Petersen in the 1770s has been preserved; its set is composed of palm, birch, walnut, plane tree, rosewood, maple, amaranth, mahogany and rosewood.
The main decoration of the room, called the Portrait Room, or the Rotary Cabinet, are twenty-two female portraits by the Italian artist Pietro Rotari. This master of salon painting created hundreds of intimate portraits, many of which were purchased by Catherine II for her country palaces. Small paintings are mounted on the wall of the Portrait Room and connected with decorative stucco patterns. Shallow in content, but elegant and pleasing to the eye, fashionable pictures depict female half-figures and “heads”.
The small enfilade of Catherine II’s private chambers ends with her Study. A desk made in France in the mid-18th century, as well as part of a set of mid-19th century furniture made in the form of Rinaldi furniture, make up the decoration of this room. A small personal library of Northern Semiramis, as French philosophers called the Russian Empress, was kept here for a long time. In 1792, the books were transported to St. Petersburg, to the Winter Palace.
The Chinese Palace is located in the southwestern part of the Upper Park. In front of the palace there is a clearing with flower beds, and centuries-old oak trees serve as the side scenes and background. In the 18th century, the park was designed in a regular French style, and a swimming pool of regular geometric shape was “inscribed” into its composition. By the middle of the 19th century, the character of the parklands had changed: the layout became free, and the Upper Park acquired a romantic appearance. The reservoir turned into a pond, and its banks took on softer contours.
The Chinese Palace opened as a museum in 1922. During the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, Soviet troops defended the “Oranienbaum patch”, which did not allow the German army to occupy Oranienbaum. The damage caused by the war did not distort the appearance of his monuments, and the skillful skill of the restorers only emphasized their highest artistic merits. In the summer of 1946, the Chinese Palace was the first among other historical and artistic objects of Oranienbaum to receive visitors. In 1983, the State Museum-Reserve was created, which included three ensembles - the Big (Menshikov) Palace with the Lower Garden, Peterstadt and the Own Dacha. In 1990, due to their uniqueness, these artistic objects were included by UNESCO in the list of World Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Today in Oranienbaum, in addition to the Chinese Palace, the Grand Palace, the Palace of Peter III, the Rolling Hill Pavilion, the “Stone Hall”, and Chinese cuisine are available to the public. Getting to know these monuments provides a unique opportunity to feel the atmosphere of bygone times and become familiar with the priceless artistic heritage, world and Russian. Significant restoration work is planned for the coming years, which will allow Oranienbaum to worthily celebrate its three hundredth anniversary.
Cupid and Psyche
XVIII century
Copy from an ancient original of the 2nd century BC.
Marble
Three Graces
Unknown sculptor. France
First half of the 19th century
Copy of a marble group by J. Pilon, made for the tombstone of King Henry II, XVI century
Bronze
And she
Unknown sculptor. Italy
XVIII century
Copy from the work of L. Lotto (Lorenzetto). 16th century
Marble
Years
In 1852-1853 the southern facade was rebuilt (a second floor appeared) according to the designs of A. Stackenschneider and L. Bonstedt. The palace was opened as a museum in 1922.
History of creation
The composition of the eastern part indicated a departure from the type of regular parks characteristic of the 17th-18th centuries. In such parks there was always one or several central alleys that approached the central part of the main palace. The triple linden alley, the main axis of the Own Dacha, extending from the Stone Hall, faces the Chinese Palace not to its center, but to the eastern part. Thus, the perspective of the palace from the central alley is not visible. In the western part there was a labyrinth of shaped ponds with sixteen small islands connected by drawbridges. There were five small gazebos on the islands.
In 1766, sculptures made by Italian masters D. Marchiori, I. Morleitr and Giuseppe Toretti were received from Venice for the Own Dacha (the works of these sculptors can also be found in the Great Gatchina Palace (high reliefs) and in the Gatchina Palace Park (sculptures))
Thus, if in the regular part there were features that made it similar to the landscape park, then in the landscape part it is easy to find features of the regular style. This is due to the fact that in the middle of the 18th century there was a gradual transition in architecture from Baroque to Classicism. This was reflected not only in the appearance of Oranienbaum’s palaces, but also in the layout of his park.
- Differences in interior treatment
The shape and decoration of each room are different depending on its purpose. Moreover, furniture and other objects of decorative and applied art are part of the decor of this particular interior. It is not for nothing that in the Chinese Palace the furniture was most often made specifically for a particular room according to the sketches of Rinaldi (an architect and at the same time a room decorator).
These three features to some extent explain the amazing harmony of the interiors of the Chinese Palace, its connection both with the external appearance and with the nearby pond and park.
Architecture of the Chinese Palace
The Chinese palace stands on a low protruding stylobate, which forms a kind of terrace. It is lined with Pudost stone and granite. From the west and east, parterre gardens adjoin the residential premises located in the projections. They are fenced with openwork metal bars.
The palace stretches along the west-east axis and is shaped like the letter P in plan. Its facades have different architectural designs. To this day, only the northern façade has remained unchanged (a second floor was built on the southern façade in the 19th century).
The northern facade looks more solemn and elegant. Its center is highlighted in the form of an oval risalit with four pilasters. The projection is completed by a pediment and a figured attic of the Baroque type. Three white decorative sculptures are installed on it (in the 18th century, the roof of the palace was bordered by a balustrade with vases and statues). Along the axes of the three sculptures there are windows and doors with semi-circular endings. The same doorways are located in the side projections of the palace. They are completed with sandriks with a relief ornament - a shell and garlands.
During the war, the Chinese Palace was mothballed, museum valuables were evacuated (some to Novosibirsk and Sarapul, some to Leningrad, which was already in the besieged ring along the so-called “little road of life” (Oranienbaum - Bronka - Kronstadt - Lisiy Nos), where the exhibits were stored in St. Isaac's Cathedral. In particular, glass bead panels were stored in the basements of St. Isaac's Cathedral. Later, due to their poor condition, they were moved to the Hermitage for storage.
The Chinese Palace itself did not receive any serious damage from shelling during the war, with the exception of a shell that hit the second floor of the palace. The exhibition premises and interiors were not damaged by this shell. However, according to eyewitnesses, the condition of the palace was quite deplorable:
| The glass of the windows was broken... Through the cracks of the shutters and broken glass, the remains of snow drifted into the halls of the palace. Now it was melting on the floor, and the parquet, saturated with moisture, rose in many places in mounds... Magnificent publications on art in the form of books and tables. engravings lay on the floor among many porcelain vases, furniture, and marble sculptures. Everything was collected in bulk in the Great Hall - the museum workers were preparing the property for evacuation, but did not have time to take it out. |
In 1946, after minor restoration work, the palace reopened as a museum. This was of great importance for the post-war suburbs of Leningrad - while other palaces lay in ruins, the Chinese Palace received visitors and instilled faith in the restoration of other suburbs.
Restoration work in the palace
From the very first time of its existence, the Chinese Palace constantly suffered from dampness. Antonio Rinaldi probably failed to accurately assess the harsh northern climate and high humidity, or did not count on the long existence of the palace and built it more as a park pavilion than a living space. Already from the 1770s. Numerous restoration works are being carried out in the palace. The artificial marble floors were the first to suffer from dampness. They were replaced with parquet ones that currently exist. A decade later, restoration of the paintings located in the palace was carried out.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the floors were restored again (but now parquet) under the leadership of the architect L. Ruska. In the middle of the 19th century, when rebuilding the southern façade, renovation work was also carried out. The floors in all rooms, as well as the furniture, are being renovated again. In the glass bead office, the mosaic floor is being replaced with parquet while preserving the original pattern. The walnut decoration from the Walnut Chamber on half of Catherine II is transferred to the Boudoir, and in the Walnut Chamber the walls are refinished and 11 portraits of Catherine’s court ladies by the artist J. de Sampsois are placed on them.
In the 1870-1890s. restoration work continues under the supervision of the architect G. G. Preuss. During this period, the original 18th-century decoration was partially lost in the Dressing Room and the Blue Drawing Room. At the same time, the drainage system, stone flooring around the palace and the roof balustrade are being repaired. At the beginning of the 20th century, the parquet was restored again.
The next stage of restoration is associated with the existence of the palace as a museum (since 1922). In 1924, Hermitage restorers began working with paintings that were in poor condition. The restoration included plafonds, desudéportes and canvases by G. Groot, portraits by P. Rotary and Jean-François Samsois. The work also affects the painting of the western wall of the Hall of the Muses, the complete restoration of which ends in 1940.
In the period 1947-1949. Work is underway in the Front Room, Dressing Room, Pink Living Room, Damask Bedroom, and Boudoir. These interiors opened to visitors in 1949. A year later, the facades of the palace were painted, and the forged gratings of the parterre gardens were restored. In the early 60s. The Great Hall and the Hall of Muses are being restored in the 20th century. Work is being done on parquet floors again.
In 1980, in the Great Hall, instead of the plafond by D. B. Tiepolo “Rest of Mars”, which was lost during the war, the plafond “Day Dispelling Night” by S. Torelli appeared on the ceiling (it was received from the Marble Palace).
Since 2007, restoration work has been carried out in the palace, which resulted in the opening of four halls (Great Anti-Chamber, Blue Living Room, Glass Bead Cabinet, Hall of Muses) of the palace in September 2011 (300th anniversary of Oranienbaum). In addition to cosmetic restoration, large-scale engineering and drainage work is being carried out to prevent groundwater from leaking into the palace basements.
From December 8, 2010 to March 20, 2011, restored glass bead panels from the glass bead cabinet of the palace are exhibited at an exhibition in the State Hermitage, whose specialists worked on the unique panels for a year and a half. According to the General Director of the Peterhof Museum E. Ya. Kalnitskaya, the Glass Bead Cabinet is on a par with the Amber Room of the Grand Palace in Tsarskoye Selo, with the difference that the glass bead panels are original from the mid-18th century.
Interiors
General characteristics of interior decoration
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1 - Front 2 - Dressing room Half of Paul: Front suite: Half of Catherine II: |
The interior decoration of state buildings of the 18th century is characterized by an enfilade system of arrangement of rooms. There is also an enfilade in the Chinese Palace, but it occupies only the middle part of the building - it is formed by the Hall of Muses, the Blue Living Room, the Glass Bead Study, the Great Hall, the Plaster Room, the Small Chinese Study and the Great Chinese Study. The risalits of the southern façade of the palace contain the living rooms of Catherine II (Chinese Bedchamber, Kamerungferskaya, Portrait Room, Catherine II's Study Room) and Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich (Pink Living Room, Damask Bedchamber, Paul's Study Room, Boudoir). Two more rooms - the Front Room and the Dressing Room - connect the interiors of Paul's (eastern) half with the Great Hall. In total there are 17 rooms in the palace.
Each interior in all its details is completely independent, thanks to this there is no feeling of infinity in the front gallery in the Chinese Palace. All rooms are characterized by a synthesis of painting, decorative sculpture and all types of applied art - monumental and decorative painting, modeling, cladding, type-setting parquet flooring, gilding, carvings, and decorative fabrics are harmoniously combined.
The ornamental modeling of the palace is white, low relief. The use of gilding in comparison with the interiors of Baroque palaces by Rastrelli (in Peterhof, Tsarskoe Selo) is very insignificant. It only accompanies the main modeling pattern, emphasizing the main details. The basis of stucco compositions everywhere is a floral ornament: they are composed of stylized garlands, flowers and leaves.
The furniture in the palace fully corresponds to the character of the decoration of the premises. Most often these are custom-made headsets for a specific interior. Also in the furniture collection there are unique pieces made in Japan and China in the 17th-18th centuries.
Stacked parquet floors
Of particular value are the inlaid parquet floors of the palace, created in the 60-70s of the 18th century. They were made according to Rinaldi’s drawings by Russian carpenters under the guidance of European foreign masters. Initially, in most of the rooms the floors were made of artificial marble, but a decade after the construction of the palace was completed, the marble was replaced with parquet, preserving the original pattern. Patterned dies of colored wood 5-8 mm thick were glued onto shields assembled from pine boards using fish glue. A variety of wood species were used - maple, linden, birch, pear, walnut, apple, pine, alder, oak, as well as expensive “overseas” varieties of wood: lemon, tobacco, black ebony, amaranth, pink and red sandalwood, boxwood , rosewood, yew, thuja, etc.
The techniques of marquetry and intarsia were used in the technique of parquet sets. Carving and burning were also used, as well as tinting and smoking (burying in hot sand until the wood browned). The color scheme of parquet floors is dominated by warm ocher and reddish-brown shades. The basis of the compositions, just like in modeling, is floral ornament.
V. G. Klementyev conventionally divides the parquet floors of the palace into three categories. The first is the dark background of the parquet and the predominance of dark exotic types of wood of different shades. A typical example of parquet of the first group is the Great Hall, where only the central part of the floor is made in light colors, and towards the walls the color of the wood intensifies. The second category is a light background and a predominance of light wood tones. The majority of such interiors (Hall of Muses, Pink Living Room, Damask Bedchamber, etc.). He includes parquet floors in small rooms in the third category - the Cabinets of Catherine II and Paul, the Chinese bedchamber. These parquet floors are very similar in character, but their compositional solutions are different. The main feature of these floor patterns is the absence of a rigid framework for a strictly thought-out composition (and the main reason for this is the small size of the rooms).
Many researchers have noted the uniqueness of the floors of the Chinese Palace: 18th-century parquet floors of such a high artistic level have been preserved in Russia only in this palace. These are the only floors of their kind that have no analogues in either European or Russian palaces.
Front
The antechamber is located in the center of the southern facade of the palace and in the 18th century it was a kind of vestibule - the first room at the entrance to the palace. In the 19th century, after the addition of a covered glass gallery, it began to be used as a dining room. The room's plan is a square, its walls are covered with oil-painted canvases. This is a painting by an unknown artist of the 19th century, replacing the lost paintings of S. Torelli. On the northern wall to the right and left of the doorway are ornamental paintings with bunches of greenery and flowers, made by S. Barozzi.
The parquet of the mid-19th century completely repeats the pattern of the parquet of the 18th century. Some details of the floor pattern echo the stucco decoration of the ceiling, which adds completeness to the interior. The authentic decoration of the 18th century - stucco decoration of the arches and ceiling - was made using floral patterns characteristic of the Rococo style, with the introduction of rocaille motifs and acanthus leaves. The painting of the ceiling lamp “Apollo and the Arts” was done by S. Torelli.
The interior is complemented by two carved gilded tables made in Russia from the mid-18th century.
Wardrobe
The dressing room follows the Front Hall and adjoins the Pink Living Room from the west, connecting Pavel Petrovich’s half with the main entrance to the palace. In the 18th century, the room was used according to its name, but it is known that later it also served as a library and pantry.
The central part of the ceiling is decorated with the lampshade “The Judgment of Paris” by S. Barozzi. The plot of ancient myths is also used in two desudeports - “Venus and Mars” and “Hercules and Omphale”. Both panels are by an unknown Italian artist of the 18th century. The original decoration that has been preserved is the decoration of the wall above the fireplace. Exquisite carvings with gilded plaster molding are used here.
The parquet, compared to the other rooms of the Chinese Palace, has a more simplified and uniform pattern, in which geometric shapes predominate. This is due to the fact that the floor was replaced in 1819, but the original design was not preserved. V. G. Klementyev notes that the parquet, like the decoration of the pads using the grisaille technique, was made in the second half of the 19th century.
Half Paul
Pink living room
The pink living room is located on Paul's half, so in the 18th century it was called the Children's Room, as well as the Picturesque Antique. This name stems from the fact that in 1767 Serafino Barozzi painted the walls with oils on the theme of the ruins of the Roman city of Herculaneum. The paintings were replaced with paper wallpaper in the mid-19th century, and in 1894 the walls were covered with pink canvases. The interior was called the Pink Living Room.
Of the original decoration, the molding of the arches and the ceiling and the lampshade “Diana and Aurora” by the artist G. Dizziani have been preserved. On the walls hang portraits of Catherine II (painted by P. Rotary, as well as a copy of a painting by V. Eriksen) and physician I. G. Lestocq.
Damask bedchamber
This State Bedroom follows immediately after the Pink Living Room. It got its name when, in the 18th century, the bedroom walls were covered with pale green damask. Now the interior uses fabric that was placed here in the mid-19th century. The damask pattern is a silvery winding path intertwined with white and pink flowers on a pale green background. The furniture included in the interior decoration, as well as the fireplace screen, are covered with fabric with the same pattern.
The bedchamber is divided into two parts, the smaller of which is an alcove. It is decorated with exquisite carvings with floral and plant motifs. This part of the bedroom is also decorated using military paraphernalia - battle flags, trumpets, arrows - which corresponded to the name of the room for the heir to the throne, Paul. In the center of the alcove on the wall hangs his childhood portrait by the artist A.P. Antropov.
The ceiling is decorated with a plafond by D. Maggiotto “Urania Teaching a Young Man”, while the parquet flooring, which in many ways echoes the sculpting of the ceiling and the carved decoration of the alcove, is considered one of the best in the palace. It is made of walnut, rosewood, boxwood, lemon, birch and ebony.
The northern wall is decorated with unique examples of chenille embroidery and glass beads on straw. The seven compositions presented by Russian craftswomen demonstrate a rare type of decorative and applied art that appeared in France during the Rococo era. Scenes of hunting, rural life in the lap of nature and pastoral scenes are presented against a background of golden rice straw. Small size compositions; they are enclosed in gilded wooden frames.
Boudoir
In the 18th century, the boudoir was called the Painting Cabinet - the walls were covered with canvases with paintings. In the 50s of the 19th century, walnut carved panels were transferred here from Kamerungfer (from the half of Catherine II). They still decorate the walls of the room.
The walnut panels, authentic 18th-century decoration, are decorated in the center with paintings by C. Barozzi. The wooden panels include three paintings - allegorical paintings “Music”, “Painting” and “Drama”, made by the same artist as the lampshade on the Boudoir ceiling - Jacopo Guarana. Despite this, it is believed that the vertical lines and dark tones of the walnut panels conflict with the light and free decoration of the ceiling. Thus, moving the panels from one room to another only distorted Rinaldi's original plan.
Pavel's office
Next to the Shtofnaya bedchamber (from the alcove side) there is an office. This is a very small room with windows in the south and west walls. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, the room was used as a bathroom. The isolation of Paul's office from the rest of the premises of the Chinese Palace is the result of alterations in 1853, when the door leading to the Boudoir was sealed (a doorway tightly sealed with brick was discovered in 1964).
The walls are decorated with canvases with paintings performed by S. Barozzi. The painting included small overlay compositions on marble and wooden tablets with soapstone carvings, landscapes and hieroglyphs (China, 18th-19th centuries). The ceiling has the shape of a hemisphere, in its center there is a lampshade by G. Dizziani “Mathematics”. The complex pattern of the parquet partly echoes the sculpting on the ceiling.
Front suite
Hall of Muses
The Hall of the Muses, in terms of its architectural design and preservation, is one of the best palace interiors of the 18th century. It opens the front suite of halls of the Chinese Palace. In layout, the Hall of the Muses is symmetrical to the Great Chinese Cabinet in the western part of the palace. The decoration of the Hall is subordinated to one theme - the community of arts.
This is an oval-shaped room with large glazed windows and doors. The somewhat elongated proportions make it look like a gallery - it is no coincidence that in the 18th century the hall was called the Picturesque Gallery. The decoration is dominated by smooth lines - these are rounded corners and gently sloping ceiling vaults, semi-circular completions of windows and doors.
The later name of the hall, which has survived to this day, is due to the fact that nine muses are depicted on the walls - Terpsichore, Calliope, Urania (eastern wall), Euterpe, Clio (south wall), Thalia, Melpomene (western wall), Polyhymnia and Erato (northern wall). The wall paintings were done by S. Torelli using tempera paints. The muses are depicted in the spaces between the windows on a pink-purple or light blue background; Each pictorial composition is framed with gilded and white stucco ornaments. The elegant decoration of the walls is coordinated with the stucco and picturesque decoration of the ceiling, with a lampshade (also by S. Torelli). The ceiling depicts Venus seated on a cloud and surrounded by Cupids and the Three Graces. This ceiling, along with the wall paintings, was extremely highly appreciated by the sculptor Falcone in his letter to Catherine II.
The parquet flooring of the Hall of the Muses is considered by researchers to be one of the most successful in design in the entire palace. Its central medallion stands out against the background of a birch tree. In contrast, its edges are made of mahogany with a golden tint and decorated with long leaves of cattail reeds. The color weakens from the middle to the edge of the composition. The soft transition to the central plane of the medallion is made of walnut. The composition along the perimeter ends with a frieze made of red-brown rosewood, and on it along the edges are presented musical instruments - attributes of the muses. In the rounded corners there are complex elegant compositions made of golden-pink wood. Maple was also used, tinted with copper sulfate to give it a greenish tint. The parquet pattern is distinguished by its refined colors and high craftsmanship. The ornamental motifs correspond to the theme of the hall. The light tones of the parquet correspond to the overall pinkish-bluish coloring of this elegant room, full of light and air, designed in typical Rococo forms. The floors in the Hall of the Muses were made in 1772 by a group of Russian carpenters under the direction of I. Petersen.
It was in the Hall of Muses that balls and receptions of the 18th and 19th centuries took place, held in Oranienbaum. Its decoration was admired by the Swedish king Gustav III, Emperor Joseph II, and the Prussian king Frederick William III.
In the interior of the hall there are three sculptures - these are marble busts of Cleopatra and Lucretia from the Venetian work of the 18th century and the group “Boy on a Dolphin” (a copy of the work of the sculptor L. Lorenzetti).
The last restoration of the Hall was completed in 2011.
Blue living room
The name of the living room comes from the decoration of the interior with blue silk material, which was used to decorate the walls until the 1860s. At this time, the dilapidated fabric was replaced with paintings on canvas by the artist A. Beideman. These are “Triton and Nereid”, as well as copies of the famous Hermitage works “Madonna with Partridges” by A. van Dyck and “The Rape of Europa” by F. Albani. All that remains of the original decoration are the ducédeportes, the moldings on the ceiling, the lampshade “Time Stealing Truth” and the parquet floor, the design of which is one of the most elegant in the palace.
Glass bead cabinet
The most famous chamber of the Chinese Palace is the Glass Bead Cabinet, which has preserved the original decoration of the 1760s. The walls of the room are decorated with twelve glass bead panels. These are canvases on which embroidery was made with glass beads, made at a mosaic factory founded in the vicinity of Oranienbaum (in Ust-Ruditsa) by the Russian scientist M.V. Lomonosov. Against a background of bugles, complex compositions with images of fantastic birds, plants, and fluttering butterflies are embroidered in chenille (fleecy silk) in an equally fantastic landscape. For a long time it was believed that the panels were made in France according to the sketches of the French ornamentalist Jean Pilman, but it has now been established that they were embroidered by nine Russian gold seamstresses (A. Andreeva, A. Loginova, T. and L. Kusov, P. and M. Petrov , A. Petrova, K. Danilova, M. Ivanov) under the leadership of the former French actress at the Russian court Maria de Chelles (de Chene). At the same time, the author of the drawings for the panel is S. Barozzi, who also painted in the Rolling Hill pavilion. The fireplace screen of the office was made using the same technique (chenille embroidery on a glass bead background). On one side there is a basket with flowers and fruits, and on the other there is a bird against the background of two Chinese pagodas.
The panels are enclosed in frames with gilded carvings imitating tree trunks entwined with leaves, flowers and bunches of grapes. Gilding is done in various techniques (matte and shiny), which gives the effect of additional volume.
The parquet pattern of the mid-19th century repeats the pattern of the mosaic floor (which was originally in the Glass Beads Cabinet), which was made from smalt from the Ust-Ruditsk factory of M.V. Lomonosov. At the same time, the middle part of the parquet is designed in the shape of a square, while the ceiling lamp is oval. D. A. Kucharians, a researcher of the work of A. Rinaldi in Russia, notes that such a discrepancy in the decoration of the floor and ceiling is unusual for Rinaldi, and considers the root cause to be that the mosaic floor was made at least 10 years later than the work on interior decoration in the Glass Beads office itself.
The glass bead cabinet is a unique example of an 18th century interior. After restoration carried out by the Hermitage staff, the glass bead panels regained their original appearance - they were cleaned of layers of dust and dirt, later layers of color were removed from the chenille embroidery, and the glass bead tubes were fixed (since over time they began to crumble).
Big hall
The Great Hall serves as the compositional center of the palace. It was intended for formal receptions, so its decoration was done in a more formal style than the other rooms. The hall is an oval in plan, which gave rise to another name for it - Round.
A significant part of the walls of the hall is free of any decor, and this is no coincidence. The walls are treated with artificial marble of various colors - this material in itself has a sufficient decorative effect, without creating excessive saturation in color and decoration. Windows, doors and columns also add rigor and solemnity to the room. The presence of columns makes the interior somewhat classic. On the eastern and western walls above the doors to the Plaster Room and the Glass Beads Room there are desudéportes, in the center of which are marble bas-relief images of Peter I and Elizabeth Petrovna. They were performed by M.-A. Collo, student of E. Falcone, by special order of Catherine II. The bas-reliefs are included in oval-shaped medallions made of red and blue smalts.
Today St. Petersburg is known throughout the world for its magnificent historical, cultural and architectural monuments. Many of them were not built within the city limits several centuries ago. The chic surroundings of the Northern capital are of great interest to tourists. Today you will learn about the Chinese Palace in Lomonosov. The ensemble's opening hours, its address, historical information and other useful information - all this will be presented in the article.
The city of Lomonosov, or, as it was called before, Oranienbaum, is located 40 kilometers from St. Petersburg. It is in this place that there is a wonderful museum-reserve where architectural masterpieces belonging to the 18th century are stored. Go on an excursion to Oranienbaum and the Chinese Palace with us.
Historical information
Peter the Great's closest assistant, Alexander Danilovich Menshikov, once visited the shores of the Gulf of Finland. It was in this place that he wanted to build his country residence, since the picturesque lands and the Gulf of Finland made a huge impression on him. After some time, the Grand Palace appeared on this territory. With its luxury it eclipsed even the palace of Peter the Great, which was being built in Peterhof at that time. Next to the Great Menshikov Palace there was a beautiful Lower Garden. But it so happened that in 1727 Mr. Menshikov was sent into exile by the emperor.
Thus, all his property, as well as the palace and park ensemble in Oranienbaum, were transferred to the state.
Many years later, namely in 1743, Peter's daughter, Empress Elizabeth, gave this palace to her nephew, who a little later became famous throughout the world as Emperor Peter III.
The new owner ordered the construction of an ensemble called "Peterstadt". It included a palace and a fortress.
With the coming to power of Catherine the Great, the next stage of construction began in the suburb. The Empress gave the order to build a summer residence in this place. Then a beautiful palace called “Own Dacha” appeared in these lands.
Palace of Prince Menshikov
As was written above, the first owner of the palace and park ensemble in Oranienbaum was Prince Menshikov. Contemporaries wrote that there was no palace of equal size and luxury in the Russian Empire. But it’s not for nothing that Prince Menshikov’s palace is called the Great Palace. The thing is that the palace looks monumental due to its location on a hill. It seems as if the Chinese Palace is floating above the earth. There are terraces going down from the façade. Single-story wings on the left and right sides are adjacent to the main building. These extensions are completed by the Eastern and Church pavilions. A kitchen and maid of honor wings are attached to them.
Peter III had a hand in the palace interior. Thus, the Eastern Pavilion has accumulated two hundred pieces of Japanese and Chinese porcelain in its interior. Therefore, this residence began to be called the Chinese Palace in Oranienbaum.
A few words about the palace itself
Let's start with the fact that this beautiful residence took 6 years to build. It was erected in 1768 according to the design of the famous 18th century architect Antonio Rinaldi. The middle of this century is the most important period in the construction of the Chinese Palace of Catherine the Great. Rinaldi (Italian by birth) was invited to Russia by Prince K. Razumovsky. The architect lived here for many years. In his memoirs, he wrote that on Russian soil he found a second homeland.
Looking at the Chinese Palace in Oranienbaum, tourists recognize it as a masterpiece of Russian architecture. This palace is unique. Therefore it deserves special study.
The name Chinese Palace is arbitrary. The architecture of the building has nothing to do with China. However, some rooms have decorative Chinese elements that can be freely interpreted. During the 18th century, a large collection of Chinese porcelain was collected in the palace; some of the items in the collection have survived to this day.
Architectural elements of the palace
The Chinese Palace (St. Petersburg) is medium in size and has a slightly elongated building. Outwardly it resembles a summer pavilion in a park. Today it is surrounded by low panels of stone slabs and a beautiful decorative cast iron grille.
In front of the building's façade there are small parterre gardens. They fit appropriately into the overall composition of the building and, according to the plan of the architect Rinaldi, became an integral element of the palace. This role is also played by the huge ancient oak trees that were planted during the construction of the building.
Thus, it seems that the oak trees connect the Chinese palace with the large park. The central part of the palace is overstated. Its front side is decorated with pilasters, and the doors and windows are framed by stucco.
Perestroika of the 19th century
According to the plan of Prince Menshikov and Catherine the Great, the Chinese Palace was one-story. The central part on the second floor had one or two rooms that had no decoration. But in the middle of the 19th century, the appearance of the building changed. The second floor appears. Perestroika is taking place under the leadership of A. Stackenschneider. After some time, he added an extension in the form of one room to the eastern part of the building. This is the Large Anti-Chamber adjacent to the Hall of Muses.
A few more years would pass and in 1853 L. Bonstedt would add another room to the western wing of the building, and also reconstruct the central part of the southern facade. This will create a glass gallery.
Interior architecture of the palace
The Chinese Palace in Oranienbaum (St. Petersburg) was built in such a way that the volumes, appearance, as well as the proportions of individual parts of the building determined the placement of the interior. Each room had its own purpose.
It should be noted that all the palaces of that period were built precisely according to this principle. The palace is characterized by symmetry and compositional balance. The interiors, that is, the rooms, are located along one axis. This construction principle is called the enfilade system. It is inherent in the Catherine Palace, Peterhof and other imperial residences.
According to the architect's idea, the center of symmetry is the Great Hall, the height of which reaches 8.5 meters. These state rooms have another name - Italian. They perform the organizing function of the residence layout. To the left and right of the Great Hall are the Blue and Lilac living rooms, and there are also two cabinets - Bugle Bead and Small Chinese. On one side the enfilade is limited by the Hall of the Muses, and on the other by the Great Chinese Cabinet.
Features of the architectural elements of the palace
The Chinese Palace in Lomonosov was erected at a time when domestic architecture was at the stage of transition from one style to another. Those decorative techniques that were used in the middle of the 18th century ceased to be in demand, and the emerging classicism had not yet taken shape in the art of architecture.
Thus, the front side of the palace facade became a striking example of this period. Initially it was planned to make it decorative and pompous. However, these qualities gave way to conciseness and simplicity of artistic decoration. After all, classicism is characterized by rigor and simplicity. The Chinese palace was erected by skilled craftsmen of those times: modelers and gilders, mosaicists and parquet artists, marble makers, as well as woodcarvers and other talented artisans.
After the revolution (in 1917), the Chinese Palace turned into a museum. It was open to everyone. During these years, the opportunity arose to carry out a scientifically sound restoration, as well as to begin the proper storage of the artistic treasures of the palace. In the period from 1925 to 1933. artists carried out large-scale work to restore decorative painting.
Unique parquet
Pictures of the Chinese palace are often found in glossy magazines in Russia. But its luxurious decoration excites researchers of Russian art even abroad. That is why we will tell you what makes the parquet floor of the museum unique.
The thing is that 772 square meters of the palace area were laid out with parquet, which was assembled from both domestic and overseas wood species. These include pink, lemon, ebony, mahogany, as well as boxwood, amaranth, rosewood, Persian walnut and many other types. In some rooms, researchers count more than 15 species.
The parquet flooring of the Chinese Palace is highly valued, since in terms of its design and manner of execution it has no equal in our country. It turns out that wooden planks were glued onto separate panels in the form of various patterns. Then small details for the ornament were burned or cut out. Each room had its own interior, so the parquet pattern was tied to the general concept of the room.
Lower garden of the palace
And we are leaving the luxurious offices of the Chinese Palace and heading to the park of Catherine the Great’s summer residence. The Lower Garden is a standard of landscape gardening art. It became part of the park complex of the Grand Palace. In the center there are parterres with a large number of rare flowers. It is surrounded by rows of slender maples, spruces and lindens. The gardeners planted various fruit trees, including cherries, apple trees, pears, and so on. According to tradition, the garden is decorated with miniature fountains and sculptures made of white marble.
Coordinates and operating hours of the Chinese Palace in Oranienbaum
Address: Lomonosov city, Verkhniy Park 7.
Cash desks are open from 10:30 to 17:00.
Visiting hours of the complex: 10:30 - 18:00.
Ticket price for adults is 500 rubles.
The ticket price for schoolchildren and students is 300 rubles.
Free entry for veterans of the Great Patriotic War and other categories of persons.
Remember that the doors of the palace are open to visitors only on dry and sunny days.
Finally
We got acquainted with one of the most beautiful residences, which was built during the reign of Peter the Great, that is, more than three hundred years ago. The sights of Oranienbaum amaze one and all. They surprise visitors not only with their beauty and scale, but also with the fact that they preserve within their walls the spirit of past eras.
The Chinese Palace, the pearl of the Oranienbaum palace and park ensemble, part of the Peterhof State Museum-Reserve, is the only surviving monument of architecture in the Rococo style in Russia. He is celebrating his 250th birthday, and the gift to the hero of the day was a multi-year restoration. This year, three halls were opened after restoration: the damask bedchamber, the boudoir and Pavel’s office.
The Chinese palace was erected in 1768 by order of Empress Catherine II and was a building for short-term recreation. The gardener Lamberti was invited to plan the park, and the Italian architect Antonio Rinaldi, the founder of the Rococo style and early classicism in Russia, who had recently arrived in St. Petersburg, was invited to design the palace.
Interest in China first arose in Rus' at the end of the 15th century, when merchants began to bring Far Eastern fabrics to Moscow. And by the middle of the 18th century, all more or less wealthy St. Petersburg houses were furnished with Chinese things. The royal court set the tone for this fashion for “chinoiserie”, the Chinese style. The Chinese Palace got its name from the decoration of some of the rooms. There was a large collection of Chinese decorative arts and Japanese porcelain.
Fragment of the southern facade. The sculpture “Cupid and Psyche” is a copy of an ancient original from the Capitoline Museum in Rome.
The facades of the palace are decorated with pilasters and semi-columns with Ionic capitals and garlands. On the southern façade there are two lovely gardens with marble sculptures and flowering flower beds. The palace is laid out in the shape of a “P” and has three enfilades: the Front Enfilade, sixty-five meters long, and two short residential ones, located perpendicular to it.
Over two centuries, due to changes in owners, the palace underwent a number of reconstructions, and a second floor was added. Until the 1917 revolution, Oranienbaum was the property of the Dukes of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
The halls are decorated with picturesque panels, inlaid parquet floors, gilded carvings, embroideries and furniture inlaid with natural colored stones. The interiors with unique decorative decoration of the 18th century have been preserved. It is known that from 1765 to 1768, French merchants François Rembert and Billiot supplied the palace with furniture and bronze “in the latest taste” to furnish it. Famous artists Stefano Torelli, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, brothers Serafino and Giuseppe Barozzi, sculptor Marie-Anne Collo, mosaic artist Giacomo Martigny and Russian craftsmen from the Peterhof Lapidary Factory were involved in decorating the interiors.
Glass bead cabinet. Mirror in a carved gilded frame
The main attractions of the palace are the glass cabinet and unique parquet floors. The walls of the office are decorated with 12 panels - these are canvases on which embroidery is made with glass beads and multi-colored fleecy silk - chenille. The unique parquet floors of the palace are made of mahogany and ebony, amaranth, boxwood, Persian walnut, and maple. “A true miracle, full of wonders of the eighteenth century,” wrote Igor Grabar about the Chinese Palace.
Glass bead cabinet
In the 18th century, the glass bead cabinet was called the Mosaic Chamber. It had a floor made of smalt glass, made according to the recipe of M.V. Lomonosov at the neighboring Ust-Ruditsk factory. Due to dampness, it was not preserved and in the middle of the 19th century it was replaced with inlaid wooden parquet, repeating the pattern of the mosaic floor. The walls of the cabinet are divided by carved gilded frames in the form of trunks with leaves and flowers into separate panels with glass beads. There are twelve of them - ten on the walls and two desudeports. Depending on the lighting, the panels shimmer in lilac, pink, blue and silver shades. On top of the glass bead background, fantastic scenes with landscapes and birds are embroidered with special silk threads - chenille - a unique work of Russian goldsmiths under the direction of the Frenchwoman Marie de Chelles.
Hall of Muses
The picturesque decoration is by Stefano Torelli. Venus and the Graces are depicted on the ceiling, and Apollo with cupids and nine muses, personifying the arts, are depicted on the walls and arch.
Damask bedchamber
“We managed to return many original objects to the palace and reveal for viewing the paintings that were hidden under layers of paint,” Tatyana Syasina, curator of the Chinese Palace, shows the Shtofnaya bedchamber. “Although we purchased many items anew.” Inventories from the 18th century have not survived; they appeared only in the 20th century. But there are descriptions of things that were bought by the last owners of Oranienbaum - the Mecklenburg-Strelitzskys.
The damask of the 19th century has been preserved - the upholstery of the bedchamber has been recreated based on its model. The mirror, the fireplace screen, and other original things were returned here. Friends of the museum donated porcelain vases produced by the Meissen manufactory - similar ones stood here 250 years ago. A lampshade by Maggiotto has been installed in its original place. On the wall panels under the windows, authentic paintings from the 18th century are revealed.
Wardrobe
To mark the 250th anniversary of the Chinese Palace, after restoration, the halls of Pavel Petrovich’s half are open to the public: the Damask Bedchamber, the Boudoir and the Study.
Date of construction:late 1750s - 1768
Architect: Antonio Rinaldi (1709-1794)
The Chinese Palace, located in the depths of the Upper Park and surrounded on all sides by greenery, is part of the grandiose palace and park complex “Own Dacha” of Empress Catherine II. The definition of “own” in court terminology meant that this or that building, pavilion or garden, was intended for imperial persons, and only selected persons were invited here. This was the case with the Chinese Palace and its surroundings - the personal residence of Catherine II.
Erected in 1762–1768 according to the design of the Italian architect A. Rinaldi, the palace was one-story and only acquired new features in the middle of the 19th century. According to the design of architects L. L. Bonstedt and A. I. Stackenschneider, a second floor was built, a gallery was glazed, connected under the balcony that appeared at the same time and connecting two projections on the south side, and small anti-chamber rooms were added to the east and west.
For a long time, the palace, like Monplaisir, was called the “Dutch House”. It was only in 1774 that the name “Chinese Palace” appeared in the Chamber Fourier magazine, which arose because a number of the palace’s interiors were decorated in the spirit of Chinese aesthetics or using original works of Chinese art.
Despite the external restraint and some severity, the interior decoration of the palace is elegant and surprisingly elegant. In the middle part there is a suite of ceremonial chambers: Glass Bead Study, Damask Bedchamber, Hall of Muses, Blue and Pink Living Rooms, Large and Small Chinese Cabinets. These names themselves speak of the exclusivity and originality of the palace premises. The large enfilade is complemented by small enfilades: in the western one are the living quarters of Catherine II, in the eastern are the rooms of Grand Duke Paul. In the palace there are no repeating frames of doorways, panels, doors; each interior is completely independent.
The main highlight of the Chinese Palace is the Glass Cabinet, which has preserved the original decoration of the 1760s. The walls of the room are decorated with twelve glass bead panels. These are canvases on which embroidery is made with bugles (milk glass tubes) and multi-colored fleecy silk - chenille. Complex compositions depicting fantastic birds, plants, and fluttering butterflies are presented against a sparkling background. The panels are enclosed in frames with gilded carvings imitating tree trunks entwined with leaves, flowers and bunches of grapes.
First-class works of fine and applied art were purchased to decorate the interiors of the palace. The most significant part of the painting collection consists of lampshades painted specifically for the Chinese Palace. None of the surviving Russian palaces has such a collection of lampshades. Most were executed by special order in Venice by leading masters of the Academy of Painting and Sculpture. Two major Italian painters Stefano Torelli and Serafino Barozzi worked on painting such extensive interiors as the Hall of the Muses, the Great Chinese Cabinet, the offices of Catherine II and Paul, the Boudoir, etc.
The parquet floors of the palace with a total area of 722 square meters are unique in their artistic significance. meters. They are made from domestic and “overseas” wood species - mahogany and ebony, amaranth, boxwood, Persian walnut, maple, birch, oak. Individual sets contain up to 15 different types of wood. The parquet floors of the Chinese Palace have no equal in the world in terms of the richness and variety of wood species, the complexity of the pattern of the set and the craftsmanship.
The Chinese palace embodied the fashionable influences and aesthetic preferences of the 18th century. The decoration of the palace was made by European and Russian artists with exceptional skill and has no analogues. “A true miracle, full of wonders of the eighteenth century,” said art critic I. E. Grabar about the Chinese Palace.