Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna

In 1712, on the south coast of the Moika , where the Mikhailovsky Garden pavilion is now located, a small manor house was built for Ekaterina Alekseevna , completed with a turret with a gilded spire, bore the pretentious name "Golden Mansions" . According to it, the Big meadow (the future Field of Mars ) on the opposite bank was named Tsaritsyn meadow : it will be used most often in the XVIII , and at the beginning of the XIX century. ^[1] . The territory near the palace is called the 3rd Summer Garden. Chamber Junker of the Duke of Holstein, Berchholz , July 11, 1721, having examined the estate, wrote:

“The garden has been planted recently and therefore there is nothing in it except for quite large fruit trees. Five ponds located nearby were dug for keeping live fish brought to the royal table. ”

In the greenhouses of the queen, the gardener Ekliben grew rare fruits for the northern latitudes: pineapples, bananas, etc. ^[2] .

Even then, the idea came up to close the alley of the Summer Garden opposite the Karpiev Pond with a palace building. This is evidenced by the project of 1716 - 1717 , preserved in the archives. Possible author is J. B. Leblon . It depicts a small nine-axis palace, the elevated center of which is completed by a tetrahedral dome. Wide one-story galleries encompass a curdoner with a lush curly stall facing the Moika. Behind a garden with numerous bosquets of various shapes. Preserved fruit planting in the territory of the current Mikhailovsky Garden. However, things did not go further than plans ^[3] .

Under Anna Ioannovna , the 3rd Summer Garden turns into a “yagd-garten” - a garden for “chasing and shooting deer, wild boars, hares, as well as a gallery for hunters and stone walls to prevent bullets and shots from flying”. At the same time, the Vegetable Garden was moved to Liteiny Street , where the Mariinsky Hospital will subsequently be built ^[2] .

In the early 1740s. B.F. Rastrelli began the construction of one of the most remarkable buildings of the developed Russian Baroque - the Summer Palace in the 3rd Summer Garden for the ruler Anna Leopoldovna .

"The construction of this palace was begun on June 24, 1741 ... It was ordered to build with extreme haste."

However, while construction was underway, a coup took place, and Elizaveta Petrovna became the mistress of the building. By 1744 , a wooden palace on stone cellars ^[4] was black-finished. The architect in the description of the buildings he created spoke of him like this:

“This building had more than 160 apartments, including a church, a hall and galleries. Everything was decorated with mirrors and rich sculpture, as well as a new garden decorated with beautiful fountains , with the Hermitage built on the ground floor level, surrounded by rich trellis , all of which were gilded ” ^[1] .

Despite the location in the city, the building was decided according to the estate scheme. The plan was created under the explicit influence of Versailles , which is especially noticeable from the side of the courier: gradually narrowing spaces reinforced the effect of the baroque perspective of the courtyard, fenced from the driveway with a lattice of lush drawing with state emblems. One-story office buildings along the perimeter of the courdoner emphasize the traditional baroque isolation of the ensemble. The rather flat decor of the light pink facades (the mezzanine pilasters with Corinthian capitals and the rusting blades of the stone base corresponding to them, the curly window frames) was compensated by the rich play of volumes. Difficult in plan, the highly developed side wings included courtyards with small flower parterres. Lush access porticos led into the stairwells, as always with Rastrelli, offset from the central axis. From the main staircase, a series of living rooms decorated with gilded carvings led into the most representative hall of the palace - the Throne. Its two-volume volume accentuated the center of the building. Outside, curly staircases led to it, from the side of the garden complemented by ramps . Completed the appearance of the palace, giving it baroque splendor, numerous statues and vases on the pediments crowning the building and the balustrade . Rastrelli decorated the space before the Moika with floral stalls with three fountain pools of complex shapes.

As often happened with the creations of the architect, over time, a logical and harmonious initial plan changes to suit immediate requirements. In 1744, for the Empress to go to the 2nd Summer Garden through the Moika, he built a one-story indoor gallery, decorated with paintings hung on the walls. Here, in 1747 , near the north-western risalit, he creates a terrace of a hanging garden at the mezzanine level with the Hermitage pavilion and a fountain in the center of the stalls. Along the contour, it is fenced with a lush gilded trellis grate, multi-march gatherings in the garden are arranged ^[4] . In the future, the palace church is added to the northeastern risalit, expanding it with an additional number of rooms from the Fontanka . On the western facade appear bay windows, flashlights ^[5] .

In the territory adjacent to the palace, a decorative park was set up with a huge complex green labyrinth, bosquets, trellis arbors and two trapezoidal ponds with semicircular protrusions (preserved until now, they acquired a free outline during the reconstruction of the park into a grand princely residence ^[6] ). About his work in the park in 1745, Rastrelli reports:

“On the banks of the Moika River in the new garden, I built a large bathhouse with a round cabin and a fountain in several streams, with ceremonial relaxation rooms.”

In the center of the park were swings, slides, carousels. The arrangement of the latter is unusual: revolving benches were placed around a large tree, and a gazebo was hidden in the crown, into which they climbed a spiral staircase ^[2] .

Another building located in the immediate vicinity of the northeast corner of the palace is connected with the name of the architect: the water supply system for the fountains of the Summer Garden, completed in the 1720s. no longer gave sufficient pressure, and did not correspond to the splendor and grandeur of the imperial residence. In the mid 1740s Rastrelli builds water towers with an aqueduct through the Fontanka. Complex in technical terms, a purely utilitarian wooden structure was decorated with palace luxury: the wall painting imitated a magnificent baroque molding ^[4] .

Despite the fact that the palace was the main imperial residence, there was no direct connection with the Neva prospect : the road that walked among the unrepresentable random buildings ( glaciers , greenhouses, workshops and the Elephant yard were on the banks of the Fontanka) turned onto Italian Street, and only bypassing the I Palace I. Shuvalova , built by Savva Chevakinsky , the crews through Malaya Sadovaya got to the central transport artery of the city ^{[5] [7]} . Direct communication will appear only in the next century thanks to the work of C. Rossi ^[6] .

Elizaveta Petrovna was very fond of the Summer Palace. In late April - early May (weather permitting), the Empress's ceremonial move from the winter residence was formalized by a magnificent ceremony with the participation of the courtyard, orchestra, guard regiments under the gun salute at the Winter Palace and guns of the Peter and Paul Fortress and the Admiralty . In parallel, the imperial yachts, standing on the roadstead opposite the Apraksin house , sailed to the Summer Garden. The queen set off on the return journey in the last days of September with the same ceremonies ^[8] .

On September 20, 1754 , the future Emperor Paul I was born within the walls of the palace. After the death of the queen, the palace is still used: peace is celebrated here with Prussia . In the throne room, Catherine II accepts congratulations from foreign ambassadors on the occasion of accession to the throne . However, over time, the owner begins to give preference to other summer residences, especially Tsarskoye Selo , and the building is dilapidated ^[1] . First, he was assigned G. Orlov , then G. Potemkin ^[6] . The catastrophic flood in September 1777 destroyed the fountain system of the Summer Garden ^[2] . The fashion for regular parks passed, and the water cannons were not restored, the unnecessary Rastrelli aqueduct was dismantled. There are two legends of the foundation of Mikhailovsky Castle: one by one, Paul I said: “I want to die where I was born”, according to the other soldier standing on the clock in the Summer Palace, when he dozed off, the archangel Michael appeared and commanded the king to build a church on this place . Be that as it may, in 1797, “behind the dilapidation”, the Elizabethan dwelling was broken and the construction of a new imperial stronghold began ^[2] . At the same time, the decoration, which had a certain interest, was transferred to other palaces. So, a huge amount of furniture was delivered to the Gatchina Palace (it is possible that the chairs now standing in the Avanzal are the same decoration of the Summer Palace). Today, only the voluminous construction of the facade of the castle facing the Summer Garden (possibly at the request of the monarch), and the magnificent drawings by M.I. Makhaev with the image of the facades, recall the disappeared building.

There are no detailed descriptions of the Summer Palace, all the more interesting is the brief remark made by the meticulous French traveler Marcel Forsy de Piles in 1791, i.e. shortly before the disappearance of the structure: "A large wooden structure, formerly the abode of the courtyard; with many chambers, among which there are very few worthy notes. The gallery is almost a hundred feet long by sixty widths, richly decorated with mirrors and a clad wood; in relation to proportionality, the ceiling is very low A throne place, completely gilded and in red velvet, is set at one of its ends, and another mirror gallery, almost one hundred and thirty feet, communicates with the chapel, which is usual for Russia, such as when it was before the sanctuary present a barrier of gilded wood with a heap of bad paintings and ugly jewelry has all the dresses are outdated, and among these or had not even magnificent Empress (referring to Catherine II) sometimes priezzhivala in this palace for dinner;.. its location is extremely nice.

A wooden bridge connects it with a walk in the city more than others, which has the appearance that it has a palace garden. There is another rather remarkable length. A wooden bath with copper bathtubs, many marble statues in front of the entrance, others are scattered along various alleys ... A small building called the Hermitage, completely decorated with paintings, but there are no wonders among them; its location is pleasant " ^[9] .