Among the Italian architects who worked in St. Petersburg, without whose works it is impossible to imagine our northern capital, five should first of all be named: Domenico Andrea Trezzini, Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli, Carlo di Giovanni Rossi and Giacomo Antonio Dominico Cravengi.

The first of them, at the invitation of Peter I, arrived in Russia in 1703 Domenico Andrea Trezzini (1670 - 1734) , who laid the foundations of European architecture in our country.

Monument to Trezzini in front of his house in St. Petersburg:

The Trezzini architectural style was named "Petrine Baroque" . His most famous works are Peter and Paul Cathedral , built by him in 1712 - 1733:

The building of the Twelve Colleges (1722 - 1742) ;
the overall design was drawn up by Domenico Trezzini, completed construction
German architect Theodor Schwertfeger):

Trezzini House , built in 1721 - 1723 . according to his project
by his student architect M. G. Zemtsov on Universitetskaya embankment:

Summer Palace of Peter I , built by Trezzini 1710 - 1714 .
in the Summer Garden and preserved in its original form to this day:

The most prominent representative "Elizabethan Baroque" was Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli (1700 - 1771) ,

whose architectural creations represent the real pride of St. Petersburg:

Great Peterhof Palace (1747 - 1756):

Smolny Cathedral (1748 - 1764):

Great Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo (1752 - 1756):

Winter Palace (1754 - 1762):

The work of another Italian architect Carlo di Giovanni (Carl Ivanovich) Rossi (1775 - 1849) already presented classicism And empire style .

The most famous works of Carlo Rossi:

Mikhailovsky Palace (1819 - 1825),
which houses the main exhibition of the Russian Museum:

The General Staff Building on Palace Square (1819 - 1829):

The building of the Senate and Synod on Senate Square (1829 - 1834):

Alexandrinsky Theater (1827 - 1832):

Zodchego Rossi Street (formerly Teatralnaya), (1827 - 1832):

Petersburg. History and modernity. Selected essays Margolis Alexander Davidovich

Peter the Great - the first architect of St. Petersburg

It is traditionally accepted to consider the first architect of St. Petersburg to be the Tessinian Domenico Trezzini, who in Russia, which became his second home, began to be called Andrei Yakimovich. Without at all trying to downplay the enormous contribution of this fortifier and architect to the construction of St. Petersburg in the first third of the 18th century, we recall that the ship on board which Trezzini arrived in Russia dropped anchor in the Arkhangelsk port on July 27, 1703, that is, more than two months after foundations of the St. Petersburg fortress. Trezzini first appeared on the banks of the Neva in February of the following year, 1704, when the construction of a wood-earth fortification on Hare Island was already completely completed. Trezzini's first work in Russia - the construction of Fort Kronshlot - was carried out according to a model delivered from Voronezh.

It is tempting to give the palm of honor to the French general engineer Lambert de Guerin, who executed the original drawing of the Peter and Paul Fortress, for which he was awarded the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called. However, let's not rush.

Academician M.P. Pogodin, characterizing the grandeur and comprehensiveness of the reforms of Peter the Great, wrote: “Place in the system of European states, management, division, legal proceedings, rights of estates, Table of Ranks, army, navy, taxes, audits, recruitment, factories, factories, canals, roads, post offices, agriculture, forestry, cattle breeding, mining, gardening, winemaking, internal and external trade, clothing, appearance, pharmacies, hospitals, medicines, chronology, language, printing, printing houses, military schools, academies - the essence of monuments his tireless activity and his genius." To this impressive list of Peter’s deeds and innovations, one should also add St. Petersburg, the new capital of a transformed Russia.

N. M. Karamzin called the transfer of the capital from Moscow to St. Petersburg “a brilliant mistake of Peter the Great.” However, he then admitted: “A great man proves his greatness by his very mistakes: they are difficult or impossible to erase.” The historian S. M. Solovyov objected to his great predecessor: “Since ancient times, our capitals have been transferred from one place to another, from Novgorod to Kyiv, from Kyiv to Vladimir, from Vladimir to Moscow.” Soloviev considered the next move of the capital “at the beginning of a new Russian history, a predominantly European history,” to be necessary and inevitable. The role of the capital, in his opinion, was given to St. Petersburg “by the course of history in the same way that Vladimir was raised at the expense of Kyiv and Moscow was raised at the expense of Vladimir.” And further: “As for choosing a place for St. Petersburg<…>choice for which Peter is reproached, then one only has to look at the then map of Eastern Europe to understand this choice: the new city was founded where the western sea enters deepest into the great eastern plain and is closest to Russian soil, to the then Russian possessions.”

In my opinion, the truly first architect of St. Petersburg was its sovereign founder, Peter the Great. His role does not fit into the traditional scenario of relationships between customers and architects. Peter's choice of the location of the new capital at the mouth of the Neva is a purely personal act. It was his spatial ideas that were embodied by Trezzini, Leblon, Schluter, Michetti and other pioneer builders of St. Petersburg. Peter I constantly adjusted the projects and plans of his engineers and architects - even the most venerable ones - since he was not only a very qualified customer, but also a true “architect general”. At the same time, he often accompanied his instructions with graphic explanations in the form of sketches of the layout of the building or the layout of the park, drawings of the facade or parquet.

Peter was the author of urban planning units that formed the basis for the development of the city. He was directly involved in the planning of individual parts of the city, determined residential areas and the location of the most significant structures. The construction of the city was carried out practically under his dictation - on the basis of his personal decrees of the Office of City Affairs.

It was traditionally believed that St. Petersburg, unlike ancient Russian cities, was initially built according to a single concept and a single general plan. However, the real history of the development of the city on the Neva is much more complicated. Modern research has proven that “primary Petersburg” developed mainly spontaneously, but from the first months of the city’s construction, individual complexes and buildings were carried out according to specially developed projects. And almost all of these projects went back to the drawings and instructions of Peter himself: the Peter and Paul Fortress, Kronverk, the Admiralty, Kronshlot, Summer Gardens, Peterhof, Strelna...

There are a great many examples of design by Peter I in a variety of forms - from drawings to Decrees and the highest resolutions. The Tsar personally outlined the layout of the territory in the area of the Postal Court, the laying of the future Millionnaya and Galernaya streets, development along the Fontanka, on the Vyborg side, etc., etc. Peter's decrees clearly formulated how to make ceilings, roofs, stoves and pipes , how to arrange embankments, what shape the descents to the water should be, etc.

No less obvious is Peter’s participation in the first urban planning work. Since 1712, when St. Petersburg became the capital of Russia, Peter I made repeated attempts to streamline the spontaneous development of the city. He tried several times to create his ideal city in areas free from development: remember the project of the capital on Kotlin Island, in the Liteiny Dvor area, on the Vyborg side and, finally, on Vasilyevsky Island.

The first unified master plan, which compositionally united all the territories on which the development of early St. Petersburg was largely spontaneously formed, is the unrealized project of Jean-Baptiste Alexandre Leblond of 1716–1717. As shown in the works of N.V. Kalyazina, M.V. Iogansen, Yu.M. Ovsyannikov and other researchers, the actual author of the actually implemented city plan was Peter I.

It is worth giving a few examples of the work style of the august “architect general”. Here is the famous resolution of Peter I, superimposed on the design of the facade of a “model” house for the development of the embankments of Vasilievsky Island, which was developed by Leblon: “...according to Leblond’s drawings, in all the paneled buildings, and especially in the Piterburgh houses, the windows are extremely large, and the spacing between them is small, Why tell him to make smaller windows in the living rooms, of course, and in the living rooms as he wants, since we don’t have a French climate.” There is a plan of the Summer Gardens with a curious inscription: “The drawing of the Petersburg Sovereign for the Summer Garden... was drawn by the Tsar’s Majesty himself.”

It is symptomatic that the collections of the Peter the Great Library contain many books and albums on architecture and construction. The historian of St. Petersburg M. N. Mikishatyev testifies that most of these publications were clearly in use - in their margins there were notes, inscriptions, translations of foreign texts into Russian. Some sheets are tattered. The lower corners of even very valuable tomes literally “keep traces of Peter’s hands.”

A remarkable evidence of Peter’s value orientations is his letter to Ivan Korobov, who studied architectural science in Antwerp: “You are writing to let you go to France and Italy to practice civil architecture. I myself have been to France, where there is no decoration in architecture and they do not like it; but they just build smoothly and simply and very thickly, and everything is made of stone, not brick. I've heard enough about Italy; In addition, we have three Russian people who studied there and know it deliberately. But in both of these places the structures of the local situation have opposite places, and the Dutch ones are more similar. For this reason, you need to live in Holland, and not in Braband, and learn the manner of Dutch architecture, and especially the foundations that are needed here; for the situation is the same for lowness and water, as well as the thinness of walls. In addition, there are preportions for vegetable gardens, how to size them and decorate them, both with fishing line and with all sorts of figures; there is nothing so good anywhere in the world as in Holland, and I don’t demand anything more than this. You should also learn how to make slugs, which is sorely needed here. For this reason, put everything aside, learn this. Peter. On the 7th day of November 1724..."

Let's remember one of Nartov's anecdotes. Moreover, the reliability of Peter’s saying itself is not so important as what contemporaries remembered from it: “If God prolongs life and health, Petersburg will be a different Amsterdam.” When organizing the new capital, Peter was guided by his personal taste, which largely corresponded to the nature of St. Petersburg nature. There was a lot of water here, and Peter’s passion for shipbuilding and navigation is known. The severity of the climate and the poverty of the soil reminded him of those cities and countries that, even during his first trip to Europe in 1697, made the strongest and most favorable impression on him. He was captivated by Holland with its seaports, river deltas, numerous canals, shipyards, international trade, wealth without luxury, the hard work of the population, religious tolerance, and a simple and clear way of life. It was Holland that was for him the ideal of a prosperous and well-organized state, and the prototype of the “paradise” capital - Amsterdam.

However, to some extent, London, Copenhagen, Riga, and the cities of northern Germany served as sources for the formation of St. Petersburg. It is also impossible to deny the strong influence of the great artistic heritage of Italy and France - from antiquity to the Baroque.

The specific conditions of building a city on an almost empty site created completely unusual opportunities for creating grandiose spatial compositions. In fact, was it really possible at the beginning of the 18th century in any of the old European capitals to create such extensive buildings as the Admiralty or the building of the Twelve Colleges? Or should we leave in the very center of the city such vast undeveloped spaces as Tsaritsyn Meadow (Field of Mars) and the esplanade around the Admiralty Fortress, which determined the scale of future central squares?

Has Peter's dream of a new Amsterdam on the banks of the Neva come true? Only partly...

The concept of “Petrine Petersburg” extends to the entire first third of the 18th century, since Peter’s ideas remained dominant even after his death, until 1737 - the time of the establishment of the Commission on the St. Petersburg building. Since then, a process of more or less sharp departure from the plan of the founder of the Northern capital has begun.

What is characteristic of the Peter the Great period in the development of the city's planning structure?

1. The decisive importance of water spaces in the formation of the initial development of St. Petersburg. Laying a network of artificial canals in addition to natural waterways.

2. The predominance of traditional principles of settlement - settlements, which spontaneously developed along professional or ethnic lines. At the same time, the emergence and growth of planned regular construction with very strict regulation.

3. Focus on the island position of the center of the capital, priority development of Vasilyevsky Island to the detriment of the left bank, mainland part.

Subsequently, there is a gradual loss of the dominant importance of water spaces in the development of the city plan, the transfer of the center of the capital to the left bank of the Neva and its preferential growth in the southern direction - inland, towards Moscow. This “anti-Petrine” tendency reached its apogee already in the Soviet period and was enshrined in the General Plan for the Development of Leningrad in the 1930s. Only at the end of the 20th century did the sea facade of the city begin to gradually take shape in the western part of Vasilyevsky Island.

However, the irreversibility of Peter’s undertakings, Peter’s “revolution from above” was revealed at the turn of the 1720s and 1730s, when the capital was returned to Moscow for some time, and it seemed that the prophecy of Queen Avdotya was coming true - “Petersburg will be empty”, when not It has already become an “iron bridle” that has raised Russia on its hind legs. But no - the city of Peter was revived and continued its development along the path laid by the founding king, as an innovative city, as a window to Europe, a window to the outside world, a window to the Future.

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St. Petersburg Baroque on the examples of Elizabethan, Catherine, Stroganov

The Menshikov Palace in St. Petersburg was built in the St. Petersburg Baroque style. 1710 - 1727. Architects D.I. Fontana, I.G. Shedel, I.F. Braunstein, G.I. Mattarnovi.

At the beginning of the 18th century, Russia won the Northern War and gained access to the northern seas. Under the influence of Peter the Great's reforms, the country began to develop rapidly, ties with the countries of Western Europe strengthened, which led to the founding of a large port, which then became the northern capital of Russia - St. Petersburg. St. Petersburg was actively built up, and it was in this city that the influence of European architecture was most clearly manifested. St. Petersburg Baroque (1697-1730) - a definition of the architectural style that was approved by Peter I for the construction of a new city on the Neva. St. Petersburg baroque was based on the architecture of masters from different European countries. The work of architects in the new capital is eclectic: their projects combine Italian Baroque with early French classicism and Gothic elements. At the end of Peter's reign, the direction acquired the features of French Baroque. St. Petersburg baroque is characterized by flat facades of houses, clarity of vertical facade divisions, decoration with pilasters with a small projection, severity of decor, large dimensions of buildings, symmetry, and the location of the main portal in the center of the composition. Window openings could have an arched or rectangular shape, with flat platbands. The walls were laid out of brick, then plastered and painted in blue, green, reddish-pink tones, while pilasters and other architectural decor were painted white. A feature of this direction was the rejection of Byzantine motifs in architecture, which were present in Russian architecture for about 7 centuries, which distinguished the St. Petersburg baroque from the Naryshkin style. The fact that this style direction was eclectic made it different from the Golitsyn Baroque, which was based on examples of Italian and Austrian architecture of the Baroque era. The founder of St. Petersburg Baroque is considered to be Domenico Trezzini, who used symmetry and clarity of composition in his works. Another master who had a great influence on the architecture of the city on the Neva is Jean Baptiste Leblond, who combined the elegance of European Baroque with Russian traditions; he also proposed mansard roofs with a fracture.

The founder of St. Petersburg Baroque - Trezzini

The architectural style embodied by Trezzini in the buildings was called Peter's Baroque. Domenico Trezzini, or, as he was called in Russian, Andrei Yakimovich Trezin. 1670s - 1734 In 1703, Trezzini entered the service of Peter I; initially, according to the contract, he was supposed to work for one year. The first work of Domenico Trezzini was Fort Kronshlot in the Gulf of Finland near the island of Kotlin (the structure has not survived). From 1706 to 1740, under his leadership, work was carried out on the construction of the stone Peter and Paul Fortress. From 1712 to 1733 Trezzini supervised the construction of the Peter and Paul Cathedral. According to his design, various buildings were built inside the fortress: barracks, cellars, etc. In 1710, the master proposed a design for the royal Winter Palace (now the Hermitage Theater is located here, and the building has not survived to this day).

Winter Palace in St. Petersburg under Peter I. Engraving. Artist A.F. Zubov. 1711

In the same year, Trezzini, together with other architects, began work on the Summer Palace.

Summer Palace of Peter I (address: Kutuzovskaya embankment. Summer Garden. 1710 - 1716) Architects D. Trezzini, A. Schlüter, I.-F. Braunstein, G. I. Mattarnovi, N. Michetti, N. Pino. The facade is decorated with bas-reliefs depicting the Northern War (author - sculptor and architect Andreas Schlüter)

In 1712, the architect created a model of a monastery in honor of Alexander Nevsky. In 1716, the architect proposed a plan for the development of Vasilyevsky Island. Trezzini won the competition for the construction of the Building of the Twelve Colleges in 1718. One of Domenico Trezzini’s students was Mikhail Grigorievich Zemtsov. The first houses he built in St. Petersburg had strict and laconic forms. In a later period, he created structures close to European baroque forms, for example, the bell tower of the Peter and Paul Cathedral, the Peter's Gate. The Petrovsky Gate is crowned by an arch with an attic and a bowed pediment. The pediment is decorated with a carved bas-relief “The Overthrow of Simon the Magus by the Apostle Peter” (sculptor Konrad Osner), symbolizing the victory of Russia in the Northern War (in the allegory, the Apostle Peter personifies Peter I, and Simon the Swedish king Charles XII). Above the arch, master François Vassou installed a Russian double-headed eagle in 1720. After partial damage in 1941, the Petrovsky Gate was restored under the leadership of architects A.A. Kedrinsky and A.L. Rotacha in 1951

Peter's Gate of the Peter and Paul Fortress. 1717 - 1718. Rabbit Island. Architects D. Trezzini, N. Pino.

Trezzini's works also include the Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul on Hare Island.

Cathedral of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul.1712 - 1733. Rabbit Island. Architect D. Trezzini. The special feature of the cathedral is a multi-tiered bell tower, a high gilded spire with a weather vane in the form of an angel. The architecture of the cathedral is influenced by Italian and Northern European Baroque.

Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Holy Trinity Alexander Nevsky Monastery 1717 - 1725 (address: embankment of the Monastyrka River, 1. Petersburg) Architect D. Trezzini.

Jean Baptiste Leblond and other architects of the St. Petersburg Baroque

Jean Baptiste Leblond (Jean-Baptiste Alexandre Le Blond. 1679-1719) - French architect appointed general architect by the Tsar. He arrived in St. Petersburg in 1716 at the invitation of Peter I. In 1716-1717. designed the city plan (later the plan was not fully implemented). Leblon participated in the construction of the Grand Palace, Monplaisir, and was involved in the planning of the park and palace in Strelna. Together with Trezzini he created projects of exemplary urban housing. His works include the Peterhof Palace, which was later rebuilt. No structures that can be unambiguously attributed to Leblon’s work have survived to this day. Among the famous architects who arrived in Russia at the invitation of Peter were Andreas Schlüter (1662 -1714 German sculptor and architect, representative of the early Baroque), J.M. Fontana (Giovanni Maria Fontana; 1670-1712). In the contract drawn up in 1703, Nicola Michetti (1675-1759) is recorded as “master of the chamber and fortification structure.” He was the main court architect of buildings in St. Petersburg and its suburbs in 1719-1723, G. Mattarnovi (? - 1719) and others.

Preserved monuments of the St. Petersburg Baroque

Menshikov Palace. 1710 - 1727 Vasilyevsky Island Universitetskaya embankment, 15. Architects D.I. Fontana, I.G. Shedel, I.F. Braunstein, G.I. Mattarnovi.

Kikiny chambers 1714 - 1720 Stavropolskaya street, 9. Proposed architect A. Schluter.

Kikiny chambers 1714 - 1720 The architect is unknown, presumably the work of Schlüter.

Kunstkamera building. 1718 - 1734 Universitetskaya embankment, 3. Architects G.I. Mattarnovi, N.F. Gerbel, G.K. Chiaveri, M.G. Zemtsov.

Kunstkamera.1718-1734.

The building of the Twelve Colleges. 1722 - 1742 Universitetskaya embankment, 7. Architects D. Trezzini, L.T. Schwertfeger.

The building of the Twelve Colleges. 1722 - 1742

Elizabethan Baroque

Painting Anichkov Palace. Artist Bart Wilhelm. 1810s

Elizabethan Baroque - a period in Russian architecture during the reign of Queen Elizabeth (1741-1761). Elizabethan Baroque is also called Rastrelli's - after the name of the most famous architect who built in the Elizabethan era in Russia. This type of Baroque style in architecture combined Russian temple traditions with elements of European Baroque: five-domed churches, onion domes, cross-domed layouts. During this period, the walls became more prominent due to voluminous, protruding elements of the order - pilasters, columns, etc., stucco moldings, sculptures. The color combinations of the facade coatings were bright and contrasting. It was customary to paint facades in two or three colors, and gilding was used for decoration. The development trend in this direction was intensified by tsarist absolutism and the desire of those in power for luxury and pomp. As a result of the development of the style direction, Rastrelli's buildings appeared - large-scale, majestic, luxuriously decorated, with plastic facades.

Count Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli. Born in France in the family of the architect Bartolomeo Carlo Rastrelli and a Spanish noblewoman. In 1716, together with his father, he arrived in St. Petersburg to serve Peter I. The architect's first work was a palace for Antioch Cantemir. 1721-1727 After the coup and Anna Ioannovna coming to power, he served the new queen and created a project for the “Russian Versailles” in the Summer Garden. After the next coup, the new Empress Elizabeth involved the architect in the construction of the Summer and Anichkov Palaces, the Smolny Monastery in St. Petersburg, the Upper Chambers in Peterhof, the Winter Palace, and the Catherine Grand Palace. Rastrelli built a palace for Chancellor M. Vorontsov, the Stroganov Palace. In 1748, Rastrelli received the title of chief architect. After the death of Elizabeth on December 5, 1761, Peter III awarded the architect the rank of major general and the Order of St. Anne. 23 after Catherine II came to power on October 23, 1763, Rastrelli was dismissed

One of the famous buildings in the Elizabethan Baroque style is the Winter Palace, which was built by Bartolomeo Rastrelli (Rastrelli, Bartolomeo Francesco. 1700-1771) together with F. Argunov, S. I. Chevakinsky, A. V. Kvasov, Trezzini.

Winter Palace. Architect Rastrelli.

Also, Russian masters worked on the creation of buildings in St. Petersburg: D. Ukhtomsky (Dmitry Vasilyevich Ukhtomsky. 1719 - 1774), I. Michurin (Ivan Michurin - architect, follower and student of Rastrelli. 1700-1763), serf architect F. Argunov (Fedor Semenovich Argunov - serf of Count Sheremetyev. 1716-1754), S. Chevakinsky (Savva Ivanovich Chevakinsky. 1709 - 1770s. Architect of noble origin), A. Kvasov (Alexey Vasilyevich Kvasov. 1718-1772. Was head of the architectural department of the Commission for Stone Buildings of St. Petersburg and Moscow). The Anichkov Palace was built in the Elizabethan Baroque style (1741-1753).

Anichkov Palace. (1741-1753) Built by order of Elizabeth. The building design was created by M. Zemtsov. Rastrelli completed construction.

Stroganov Palace (1753-1754), Vorontsov Palace (1749-1757), Smolny Cathedral (1748-1754), Catherine Palace in Tsarskoe Selo (rebuilt in 1752-1758), Great Peterhof Palace (rebuilt in 1745-1754) 1755), St. Nicholas Naval Cathedral (1753-1762), the house of I. I. Shuvalov on Italianskaya Street (1753-1755), buildings of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, etc.

Shuvalov Palace on Italianskaya Street. 1753-55 Architect S. Chevakinsky

Elizabethan Baroque remained the capital's style; practically no buildings were built in this style outside the capital (with the exception of several buildings by A.V. Kvasov and A. Rinaldi in Ukraine).

Catherine Baroque - a period in Russian architecture during the time of Catherine II

Catherine II ascended the throne in 1762. After her arrival, Rastrelli and Chevakinsky, who built during the reign of Elizabeth, were dismissed. In the 1760s, a follower of classicism, which was becoming fashionable in Europe, began work in St. Petersburg - J.B. Valen-Delamot, Y. Felten, I. Starov, V. Bazhenov, N. Legrand began to create in the style of early classicism. However, despite the active advance of classicism in Russia, Catherine's baroque managed to find a temporary niche for itself until Russia was completely conquered by classicism. The most significant works of Catherine's reign belonged to A. Rinaldi, in whose work there was a mixture of Rococo and early French classicism based on the Baroque style. The creator of Catherine's Baroque, A. Rinaldi (Antonio Rinaldi. ca. 1709-1794) is an Italian architect, one of the first representatives of foreign architects invited to Russia. According to the contract, he had to work in Russia for seven years, build, train Russian architects. In 1752, he began to engage in construction for the hetman of Ukraine in Baturyn. At the same time, the architect was building the Razumovsky Palace in Glukhov. In 1754, the architect began working for Peter III, who was to become the next emperor after Elizabeth. He takes part in the construction of Oranienbaum and in 1761 becomes the chief architect of the main contender for the throne, and he was also favored by the wife of Peter III, the future Empress Catherine II. As a result, after Catherine ascended the throne, Rinaldi became the chief architect of St. Petersburg. Some art historians speak of Rinaldi's works as rococo architecture, but the buildings he built, despite the presence of some elements of this style, for example, rocaille, still have a pronounced baroque character. Rinaldi's works in the Catherine Baroque style. Rinaldi's works include St. Catherine's Cathedral on Nikolaev Square in Kingisepp. The work was completed in 1782. The five-domed cathedral in plan is a cross, the ends of which are rounded. It has a multi-tiered bell tower.

Catherine's Cathedral on Nikolaev Square. Kingisepp. 1782 Architect Rinaldi.

The facades of buildings in this style had greater smoothness than in the buildings of Elizabethan times, and more complex plans. In addition to Rinaldi, local architects continued to build in this style. The Catherine Baroque style includes: Vladimir Church (1761-1769), architect unknown; St. Andrew's Cathedral (1761-1775), architect A. Vist; Vladimir Church of the Dylitsy estate (1762-1766), the architect Chevakinsky created it at the end of his career; Catherine's Church in Pärnu (1764-1768), architect P. Egorov. The Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary was built in this style (1764 -1765. Estate of E. Golovina Tarychevo).

Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary (1764 -1765) in Tarychevo - the estate of E. Golovina. In its baroque facades one can already feel the motifs of classicism.

Moscow bell towers were created in the Catherine Baroque style: at the Trinity Church (1764-1768 Serebryaniki. Commissioned by A. Goncharovo); on the Church of John the Baptist (1770s Bor), tiers of the bell tower of the Novospassky Monastery (1782-1785), Church of the Transfiguration in Spas-Kositsy. 1761

Church of the Transfiguration in Spas-Kositsy in the Catherine Baroque style. Spas-Kositsy. 1761

Lucarnes are a dormer window on a roof or dome, decorated with platbands. An octagon on a quadrangle is an architectural type of church. An octagon is the upper octagonal part of a building, standing on a square or rectangular base (quadrangle).

The attention of the architects of Catherine's Baroque was drawn to Moscow, which the Empress often visited. At this time, after the Decree “On the Liberty of the Nobility,” which freed nobles from compulsory public service, families of nobles began to settle in Moscow and its environs, and they became the customers of buildings in the new style. The Church of St. Nicholas in Zvonary (1762-1781. Estate of Count I.I. Vorontsov) has a complex baroque decor of the upper part, lucarnes, an egg-shaped dome, a type of architectural composition: an octagon on a quadrangle - a vivid example of Catherine’s baroque outside St. Petersburg.

Church of St. Nicholas in Zvonary. 1762-1781 Designed by architect K.I.Blank. Eight on four.

The wide quad and narrow eight became popular in the 1760s. This combination is found in various buildings: the Church of Boris and Gleb on Arbat (1764-1768, commissioned by A. Bestuzhev-Ryumin. Has not survived to this day), in estate churches built for Count I. Vorontsov: Spassky and Kiev-Spassky ( 1769), Uspensky, Boris and Gleb (1779 Svitino), for Count V. Orlov: in St. Nicholas Church (1778 - 1780 Otrada Estate).

Spassky Church. Built at the expense of Count Vorontsov. Lobnya. Kiovo. 1769

Curvature is a slight curvature of straight elements in a building.

In some churches of that time, the influence of classicism is already felt, but at the same time their compositions and facade decorations remain baroque. The buildings, commissioned by Catherine herself, were built according to the principle of emphasizing the composition; they contain curvatures, bends, and breaks in the continuity of the façade surface. This principle can be traced in the Church of Catherine on Vspolye (1766-775 Ordynka).

Catherine's Church on Vspolye. 1766-775. Ordynka. Moscow. Architect K. Blank. 1766-1775

"Radio excursions"

Palace of Peter III in Oranienbaum

In May 2018, after a two-year restoration, the palace of Peter III in Oranienbaum was reopened to visitors. This is one of two surviving buildings of the once existing Peterstadt fortress (the second building is the Entrance Gate of Honor).

The Peterstadt fortress - named after the owner, heir to the Russian throne Peter Fedorovich - was founded in 1755 as an amusing fortress. It is known that the Grand Duke was very fond of amusing military battles, he was especially fascinated by fortification, in which he succeeded a lot. Therefore, Pyotr Fedorovich built his training fortress according to all the rules of military science, and it was a rather complex fortification structure. Holstein officers from the heir’s homeland were also sent here, the Commandant’s House, casemates, arsenal buildings and everything that was required in a real fortress were built.

The owner's palace was also built at the same time as the fortress. Peter Fedorovich ordered it from the architect Antonio Rinaldi, later the favorite architect of the grand ducal couple.

After the well-known events of the palace coup of 1762, the palace found itself in disrepair and gradually fell into disrepair. Oranienbaum successively passed to the heirs of Peter III - his son and grandsons Alexander, Konstantin and Mikhail.

Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich himself was not particularly interested in this estate of his, but its division was at the complete disposal of his wife, Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna. And from now on, Oranienbaum enters the time of its second heyday. And we owe the preservation of this entire palace ensemble and, in particular, the palace of Peter III, to Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna and her heirs - the Dukes of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. But first things first.

The custodian of the palace of Peter III, Gleb Pavlovich Sedov, says:

“The Palace of Peter III is a pavilion from the Rococo era of the mid-18th century, built by the architect Antonio Rinaldi according to the type of Italian pavilions. He used the cut corner technique, which in Italy was often used by architects to create a square effect.

In the palace you can see six restored interiors, which appear in their historical appearance. In a short period of time, in two years, the walls and ceilings of the palace were returned to their historical color, based on the clearing that was carried out during the restoration process. The parquets were also carefully restored. In the central hall of the palace and in the office, historical painting returned to its place. A number of discoveries were also made during the restoration process.

The Palace of Peter III was never a residential palace. Summer Pavilion, a pavilion on the territory of the fortress, intended for the recreation of Peter Fedorovich, the Grand Duke, who is building his amusing fortress of Peterstadt here. Built by his order by the Italian architect Antonio Rinaldi in 1759, this palace has retained its architectural forms completely to this day. This is one of the few monuments of the 18th century that was not lost or destroyed during the Great Patriotic War, which has retained its architectural forms.

The interiors have undergone several changes, and elements of 19th-century decoration have appeared. Because the palace was forgotten for a long time, and in the 19th century it was in very poor condition. Thanks to the care and will of Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, the mistress of Oranienbaum, this palace was restored. This restoration was continued by the architect Price, and in the 1880s the palace reopened its doors in an updated form. This is one of the first examples of the restoration approach in Russia at the end of the 19th century, because the main idea, the concept of the work of the 1880s was precisely restoration - the preservation of Antonio Rinaldi’s parquet floors, the preservation of stucco decoration. The color scheme has undergone several changes, which today has been preserved from the 19th century.

You are greeted by a portrait of the owner of the palace - Pyotr Fedorovich - and in front of him are presented porcelain soldiers from the Maysen manufactory, which were in large quantities in Pyotr Fedorovich's collection. He had one of the largest collections of porcelain in Russia at that time. Walking further you can pay attention to fragments of the Chinese collection of Pyotr Fedorovich in a small room.

The central hall of the palace - the so-called Picture Hall - got its name from the trellis hanging, which was arranged here by order of Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich in the middle of the 18th century. This trellis hanging was lost. After the death of the Emperor, Catherine took all the paintings and many items from Peter’s collection to St. Petersburg. And they disappear into the Hermitage, the Academy of Arts, and private collections. We have lost traces of many of them today.

In Soviet times, after the war, the first curator of the Elzinger Palace, together with the architect Plotnikov, did a huge amount of work and recreated the trellis hanging in its historical appearance. These are not memorial works; they were not in these places under Pyotr Fedorovich. This is a very precise historical selection of paintings according to the list of Academician Shtelin, which Elzinger found in the archive. These are works of the XVII-XVIII Flemish, Italian, German schools. These are originals. They were very precise in their selection. Those. Based on Shtelin's list, researchers in the post-war era selected the corresponding eras and schools of painting. Therefore, the painting presented today is quite interesting. These are Rotary, Pietro Liberi, students of Rubens, Guido Reni, Salvator Rosa...

Trellis hanging is a method, a method of placing paintings in the interior, when the painting is placed solidly, without frames, and completely covers the walls like wallpaper. Many of the works in this collection of paintings are from the Oranienbaum collection, many of them came from the Central Repository during distribution after the war. This includes Gatchina and some museums in St. Petersburg. Those. with the world one by one, as they say. We restored the trellis hanging in the same form as it looked after the war in Soviet times in the same quantity and in the same proportions.

In the Picture Hall, semicircular corners were made, and paintings were also hung on them. They are on a single stretcher, this is a canvas stretched on one large stretcher. These corners were carefully dismantled and restored in this form, and then returned to their place. There is also a picturesque ceiling in the Picture Hall, which we miraculously discovered during the restoration. We knew that there had once been a picturesque ceiling here, but during the inspection we came across a blank canvas. As it turned out later, he was simply drawn into it. It is a 19th-century scenic plafond and was carried out in conjunction with architect Price's restoration work in the 1880s.

And the panels that fill the space of the walls, door slopes and windows in three rooms of the palace deserve special attention. Initially, for a long time it was believed that these were panels by Fyodor Vlasov. Indeed, it was he who completed this complex of unique lacquer panels for Pyotr Fedorovich. But they were not preserved. Using residual samples, masters Sadikov and Volkovysksky restored this complex in the 80s of the 19th century, repeating many scenes, and we can now see this example of chinoiserie of the late 19th century, created by masters using complex techniques - tempera painting, glue painting, varnishes, etc. . Very difficult. They were not dismantled, they were restored right here on site.

There are some gaps in the trellis hanging. We have restored the picturesque volume that was in Soviet times, but perhaps we will select according to the size and the school, but this is also not so simple.

Pyotr Fedorovich's office. It is now a mixed decoration of the 18th and 19th centuries. Parquet floors and ceiling moldings are combined with paintings that appeared here in the 19th century, which were returned to their historical places as part of restoration work. This is a painting by the German artist Hans Schmidt, which was painted in the city of Weimar. He received an order; while there, he did not come to the palace of Peter III. This painting is in the office on hunting themes, pastoral scenes in the bedroom. He writes them there and sends them here, they are installed here as picturesque wallpaper. In Soviet times, they were dismantled with the wording “inappropriate to the aesthetic level of the monument” and were stored in our storerooms in a ruined state. Separately, I would like to note the feat of the restorers who managed to restore this painting, which was practically invisible. And we returned them today to their historical places.

During the restoration process, another discovery was made here. One of the painted panels was in its place under three layers of late fabric. Apparently, due to its poor state of preservation, numerous ruptures, and losses, it was decided to leave it in its place. And we are grateful to Soviet restorers, because this panel was originally preserved in its place. We left it in almost the same condition, only slightly strengthening it, in which it was found.

In Soviet times until 1953, when the palace as a museum again opened its doors, a large number of different organizations were located here starting from the 17th year. There was also a forestry cooperative, for some time a zoo and various other institutions. During the Great Patriotic War, people even lived here for some time and lit stoves. Therefore, from 17 to 53, the palace was not used as a museum. And unfortunately, the level of care he received was inadequate. After the war, a decision was made, and the museum appearance of the palace was returned.

The bedroom of Peter III did not retain the historical decoration from the time of Peter Fedorovich. In the corner stood a bed with a crimson canopy. But in place of the bed there is a memorial object that was made by order of Peter. This is a cabinet made in the chinoiserie style by master Francis Condor, who imitates porcelain products. The cabinet is made in such a way that it seems to the viewer that it is a porcelain piece. This is an authentic 18th century memorial item from the palace. A shell hit this bedroom during the Great Patriotic War, but miraculously did not explode. He destroyed the fireplace that was located here. The fireplace was not recreated during the restoration work. We plan to do this in the future. For now we are demonstrating an imitation of this fireplace, which is made from a pre-war photograph. It was a stucco fireplace with lots of shelves. And on the historical painting, which returned to its place, traces from the view and at the top small traces from the carved shelves were preserved. Those. the painting returned to its place. Some of the works were not preserved, so we covered the empty walls with ordinary canvas, tinting it in the color of the author’s primer. In one work, the decision was made not to restore the frame, since it is fundamentally different from all other frames, we did not want to invent it.

In general, it should be noted that in the palace of Peter III, and in Oranienbaum in general, but also in the palace in particular, we were especially careful about reconstruction, and we did not recreate practically anything that was completely lost. Those. We left clearings of color everywhere on the planes of the walls and ceiling; we did not recreate what was completely lost. This is precisely the conservation approach that we at the Peterhof Museum, and at Oranienbaum in particular, adhere to. Not restoration, but conservation first and foremost.

Regarding the stories. In the office there are hunting themes - this is Jean-Baptiste Oudry, who wrote these hunting subjects for the castle of Fontainebleau, for Louis XV and inspired Schmidt with this, because there were a large number of engravings on this theme ( uvrazh - a visual publication, a set of individual sheets of illustrations (in a folder or bound) with a minimal caption text or with extensive explanatory text in the form of a printed and bound independent book block - approx. ed.). And in the bedroom is Antoine Watteau, who also inspired Schmidt for these scenes. Gallant painting, pastorals, what was fashionable in the Rococo era. And we already see the second Rococo, which was fashionable in the 19th century.

The last room is the boudoir of the palace, where the main part of the ceiling molding from the 18th century has been preserved. This is a molding of the XVIII century, which was made according to the idea of the architect Antonio Rinaldi for Pyotr Fedorovich. All military attributes are present here, in the center there is the monogram “PF”, the initials of the Grand Duke, and four compositions on a military theme, which tell about the amusing battles that took place here in Oranienbaum. The pond next to the palace was called the Great Pleasure Sea, which can be seen from the window of the boudoir with a balcony. And on this pond, Pyotr Fedorovich had two galleys and a frigate, built 1/4 of the real size, and the largest military exercises and games took place here. The garrison of the fortress numbered up to two thousand people in the summer. Those. Peter's hobbies were not at all of a toy nature, but of a very serious military nature. This room had woven wall decoration. In the 19th century, Price allowed himself to make some changes, and walnut wood trim appeared in the late 19th century.

And in the wardrobe closet, which has been preserved, we present the original uniform, cocked hat and sword of Peter Fedorovich, which returned to this palace after restoration.

Another door leads to a secret staircase, which, of course, as in any castle or fortress, should always be in such rooms for discreet leaving.

The version that Peter signed his renunciation here is unproven. It is known that on the night of the coup he came here, spent the night in Oranienbaum - or in the Great Menshikov Palace, or here, and was taken to Ropsha.

The uniqueness of this project is that nowhere in Russia - at least I don’t know of examples - when in two years the artistic decoration of the premises, all furnishings, networks, the palace itself, its facades are comprehensively restored in such a short time and with such quality - this is a big deal. It’s a victory that we were able to return the palace to the cultural space of St. Petersburg.

— In the 19th century, the restoration of the palace was carried out by order of Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna and continued by her daughter Ekaterina Mikhailovna. What is the reason for such interest in the personality of the emperor among this branch of the Romanovs?

Very good question. Elena Pavlovna devoted her life to philanthropy, as well as to the study of Oranienbaum. She commissioned a voluminous study on the history of Oranienbaum. She greatly respected all of his previous owners - both Menshikov and Peter - so the idea of \u200b\u200bthe restoration of Peter III echoed her idea of respect for her predecessors. And Ekaterina Mikhailovna continued this work, because the order for the restoration of the palace was issued under Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna. It’s just that the work that was carried out in the 80s of the 19th century, including the commission of paintings by Hans Schmidt - her daughter already participated in this.”

It must be said that Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna did almost more for Russian science, culture, and history than all other members of the Imperial family. And we will definitely tell you about it in detail in our radio excursions. As well as about the first owner of the palace - Emperor Peter III. A tragic, ambiguous, mysterious figure, frankly speaking, largely slandered, but despite his short reign, he also managed to do a lot for Russian culture, especially music. Listen to programs about this in the “Radio Excursions” section with the music editor of the Grad Petrov radio, Olga Surovegina - “The History of Oranienbaum in Musical Pictures.”

During the reign of Peter I, great changes took place in the field of education, culture, and science. They were caused by profound changes in the socio-economic life of the country and expanded ties with European countries. The developing industry, the reforming army, and the new government system required specialists in various fields: sailors, engineers, architects, cartographers, and simply literate people.

Schools were opened: Navigatskaya, which since 1715 became a preparatory class for the established Maritime Academy in St. Petersburg, Artillery, Engineering, Medical School, a school for training translators at the Ambassadorial Prikaz. Many young people went to study abroad. For the children of provincial nobles and officials, 42 “digital” schools were created, where 2 thousand minors learned literacy and arithmetic. According to the sovereign decree of 1714, those nobles who did not graduate from at least a “digital” school were prohibited from marrying. The children of craftsmen studied in the mountain schools, and the children of soldiers studied in the garrison schools. Among the subjects in first place were mathematics, astronomy, engineering, and fortification. Theology was taught only in diocesan schools, where children of the clergy were educated.

New textbooks appeared, the most famous being Magnitsky’s “Arithmetic” (1703), which was used to study almost the entire 18th century.

Page from "Arithmetic"

Instead of Church Slavonic, a civil script, similar to the modern one, and Arabic numerals were introduced (1708).

In 1702, the first printed newspaper Vedomosti began to be published in Russia, reporting on the progress of military operations, events abroad, and the construction of factories. In 1700, Peter ordered that the beginning of the year be considered not September 1, but January 1, and at the same time introduced the counting of years from the Nativity of Christ, and not from the Creation of the world.

Under Peter I, the creation of Russia's first museum, the Kunstkamera, began, which marked the beginning of the collection of historical and natural science collections. The Tsar ordered that “ancient and unusual things” be delivered there: skeletons of extinct animals, ancient manuscripts, ancient cannons, monsters preserved in alcohol, anatomical collections. There was also a rich library, the book collection of which included 11 thousand volumes. In 1719, the Kunstkamera was opened to the public.

Of great importance for the development of science was the creation of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, opened in 1725. Its most important feature was that it was created by the state and from the very foundation was supported by it, in contrast to the countries of Western Europe, where the academies themselves sought funds for their maintenance. A number of works on history are being created: “History of the Suean War,” co-authored by Peter I, “The Core of Russian History” by Mankiev.

Peter I dreamed of building a trade route from India to Europe through Russian territory. Numerous scientific expeditions have compiled maps of the western coast of the Caspian Sea. Aral, Azov seas, Don basin. The Russians visited Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands. The “Atlas of the All-Russian Empire” by I.K. Kirilov appeared, and geological surveys were carried out. S. U. Remezov compiled the “Drawing Book of Siberia.” Shortly before his death, Peter signed an instruction to Commander V.I. Bering, who was supposed to establish whether there was a strait between Asia and America.

Under Peter the Great, stone began to be widely used in civil construction. During these years, Admiralty buildings were built in St. Petersburg,

Gostiny Dvor, Kunstkamera and other buildings. The development of the city was carried out according to a plan developed by architects. The streets intersected at right angles, typical buildings stood close to each other, the palaces of the nobility were built on 2-3 floors, facing the street, each of them had its own appearance.

Peter I invited the famous Italian architect Domenico Trezzini, who built the Tsar's Summer Palace, the building of the Twelve Colleges

and Peter and Paul Cathedral. It was an elongated rectangular building, the so-called hall type, with a bell tower and a spire. The height of the spire is 112 m, higher than the bell tower of Ivan the Great.

A special architectural style has developed in St. Petersburg, which is called Russian Baroque. The organic combination of Western and Russian artistic traditions into a single style has made St. Petersburg one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Beginning in the 1720s, Russian architects began to play a dominant role in urban planning. I.K. Korobov built Gostiny Dvor in Moscow, architect I.P. Zarudny - the Menshikov Tower church. Under the leadership of the Russian architect P. M. Eropkin, a master plan for St. Petersburg was drawn up.

At the beginning of the 18th century. Icon painting is being replaced by secular painting. Portrait artists sought to convey the individuality of characters and the inner world of heroes. These are the portraits of Ivan Nikitin, whom Peter himself helped to become an artist, sending him to study in Italy, and then made him a court artist. The artist painted many portraits of his contemporaries: Chancellor Golovkin, merchant G. Stroganov, he painted the Tsar.

The artist Andrei Matveev, by order of the Tsar, studied in Holland. He created a religious composition in the Peter and Paul Cathedral. The artist’s most famous painting is “Self-portrait with his wife.”

Before Peter I, there was no public theater in Russia. True, under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich the court theater did not operate for long. By order of Peter I, a “comedy temple” was built in Moscow on Red Square, where German actors staged plays. In the theater at the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy, amateur performances on biblical or ancient themes were staged.

The reading circle has changed, especially among city residents, a new hero has appeared in literature - a brave, educated traveler. This is, for example, the hero of “The History of the Russian sailor Vasily Kariotsky.”