This is one of the most famous palace suburbs of our Northern capital. Thousands of tourists come to Pavlovsk annually. The Museum-Reserve in the city of Pavlovsk attracts not only our compatriots here, but also guests from abroad. And not in vain: there is something to see here.
State Museum-Reserve, Pavlovsk (Russia): history
The very first settlement on these lands appeared in the middle of the XIII century. It was a fortress “Town on Slavyanka”. In the XVIII century, there were Finnish villages of Seppel and Lynn. Empress Catherine the Great, being in the nearby Tsarskoe Selo, came to hunt here. For her chambers, two wooden houses with strange names were erected - Krak and Creek. The first of them burned down during the Second World War, when the city was occupied by the Germans, and the second because of the disrepair was dismantled in 1929.
In December 1777, Catherine II gave these lands (362 tithes) with all the villages and people to her son - Pavel Petrovich and his wife Maria Fedorovna in honor of the birth of their first child - the future Russian Emperor Alexander I.
A year later (in 1778) two rather modest palaces were erected here - Paulust and Marienthal. Much later, the Pavlovsk Palace was built on the site of Pauliust, the place of Mariental was taken by the Bip fortress.
Paul in 1786 began to build the Pavlovsk Palace. The author of the project was Charles Cameron. In the fall of 1796, Paul I assigned the village the status of a city. In 1788, the emperor, who had previously been to Gatchina more often, presented this estate to Maria Fyodorovna, his wife.
In 1801, after the death of the emperor, Maria Fedorovna lived in the palace constantly in the warm season. Both the palace and the park keep many corners associated with her name. For example, Own kindergarten or the magnificent Pink Pavilion. Before the Patriotic War of 1812, the legendary Peter Ivanovich Bagration became the military commandant of the city.
After the death of Maria Fyodorovna (1828), Pavlovsk passed into the possession of Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich, brother of Nicholas I. At that time, Pavlovsk was actively built up and landscaped: the Eleninsky quarter was built, the Alexander educational institution was organized, in which the children of the townspeople and merchants studied, and a children's shelter.
At the end of the XIX century, the city of Pavlovsk became the center of musical culture: the famous music station appeared. In those years, many famous composers and musicians often performed here. Since that time Pavlovsk was chosen by summer residents.
After the revolution of 1917, the city was renamed Slutsk. So it was called until 1944. During World War II, Pavlovsk was occupied by fascist troops. During the retreat, the Germans burned the Palace of Paul, and more than 60 thousand trees were cut down in the park during the occupation. Valuable historical and architectural monuments were destroyed.
The historical name of the city was returned in 1944. After the war, it was decided to restore the complex. It lasted until 1973.
In 1989, Pavlovsk was inscribed on the UNESCO Heritage List. Today 42 objects of the reserve are protected by the state and are cultural and historical monuments. Pavlovsk is a tourism center that is visited annually by more than one and a half million people.
Pavlovsk Palace
Museum-Reserve Pavlovsk (Russia) tourists begin to study from this elegant golden-white palace. It was built on the banks of the Slavyanka River by the famous architect C. Cameron in the 18th century. Pavlovsk Palace is visible from anywhere in the city and the park. The three-story central building is crowned with a flat dome mounted on 64 columns. Colonnades of galleries connected the central building with office buildings. They form a front yard, shaped like a horseshoe.
When Paul I ascended the throne, Pavlovsk was officially declared a suburban imperial residence. At the end of the 18th century, the architect V. Brenna carried out work to expand the palace.
The second floors were built over the service buildings. Two semicircular outbuildings were added to them, which almost closed the front yard. Colonnade galleries have increased by one more floor. Despite these changes, the central building remained central to the composition of the palace. He stood out for grace and size.
Architecture features
C. Cameron chose white columns as the main element of decoration. They decorated the facades of the main building, they create magnificent open galleries, reliably support the dome. As a complement to the main element, a molded thin frieze with acanthus leaves, which surrounds the entire building, as well as three bas-relief medallions with an allegorical image of Sculpture, Architecture and Painting on the main facade, was chosen.
V. Brenna decorated the newly built buildings with stucco molding - crowns and monograms of the owners of the palace. Only at the ends of the outbuildings did he establish portals consisting of black columns. They seem to open the entrance to the parade ground. Such a compositional solution made it possible to combine new and old buildings into a single ensemble.
Palace in the 19th century
Architects J. Quarenghi and A. Voronikhin at the beginning of the 19th century completed the design of the facades of the palace. At this time a marble porch appeared with a balcony and balustrades. In 1807, P. Gonzaga covered one of the walls of the gallery with frescoes. It depicts arcades and stairs of monumental buildings. This gallery went down in the history of Russian architecture under the name Gonzaga Gallery. The famous K. Rossi in 1822 placed a library above it with original arched windows. Busts of philosophers were established between them.
Palace Park
The creation of this unique park began in 1780 in a city called Pavlovsk. The Museum-Reserve today presents a magnificent example of landscape gardening art. An invaluable role in the formation of the Pavlovsky ensemble was played by the architect C. Cameron. He created projects from 1782 to 1807, according to which pavilions, the Apollo’s colonnade, the Grand Cascade, the End of the World column were erected. According to his drawings, the park was decorated with the Centaur, Humpback and Black Bridges.
The park in such a city as Pavlovsk is extremely diverse in its receptions. The museum-reserve (more precisely, part of the park) is now occupied by city buildings, so it is practically connected to the city in the upper reaches of the Slavyanka. Its opposite part continues to the surrounding small forests.
The trees in the park are planted in such a way that the own kindergarten and the outbuildings of the palace are almost invisible. The view from the colonnade to the palace is surrounded by groups of trees.
Own garden
The museum-reserve makes a great impression on all tourists visiting Pavlovsk. One of the most beautiful corners of the Pavlovsky park is considered to be its own kindergarten. It is located at the Pavlovsk Palace, adjacent to the chambers of Empress Maria Fyodorovna. I must say that she was very well versed in flowers, and she managed to collect a very large collection of them.
The private garden is made in the style of small Dutch and French gardens and is a garden in the park. Outsiders were not allowed into this territory; the garden was a resting place for the owners of the palace. In the south side of the kindergarten, on a high terrace, Paul I liked to work
Many rare plants were planted in the garden. They bloomed constantly, replacing each other. The garden also had a second name - "Temple of Flora".
Mausoleum of Paul I
Another attraction that Pavlovsk is proud of. The museum-reserve in the park has an amazing monument - the Mausoleum of Paul I. This is not the tomb of the emperor. Paul I, buried in St. Petersburg, in the Peter and Paul Cathedral.
In one of the letters, the Dowager Empress calls him a “monument”, and in a contract with the architect Carlo Visconti, he is referred to as a “temple”. Its modern name is the Mausoleum of Paul I, or the Mausoleum of the benefactor spouse. This building is a tribute to the emperor from his wife.
