The catherine palace

CENTRAL STAIRCASE. The Central Staircase takes all the width of the- palace and looks over two sides. Three tiers of windows provide an abundance of light. The staircase was decorated to a design by Ipolito Monighetti (1861) in two colours - red and white. The steps are made of white marble. The walls and the ceiling are decorated with stucco mouldings and sculptural figures imitating the Baroque style of the mid-18^th century.

The ceiling is decorated with Italian paintings of the 17^th and 18^th centuries, taken from the Hermitage collections to replace the original ones which perished in the fire of 1944: "The Judgement of Paris" (in the centre), "Jupiter and Calisto" and "Aeneas and Venus".

The decorative dishes and vases of Chinese and Japanese porcelain (18^th century) are original. The clock and the barometer had to be made anew to imitate the originals which were gone during the war.

A nice view of the Catherine Park opens through the window. The park consists of two parts, each designed in its own style. For many centuries parks have been classified according to their various styles. Thus the French park, which is basically architectural, is noted for the geometrical precision of its layout with broad, straight paths down which its pavilions and statues can be seen from the distance, with trees clipped in various geometrical shapes. The English park, which is basically landscaped, is an attempt at imitating nature. It has little or no architecture or geometrically planned paths, and trees and shrubs are allowed to grow in a natural state. Finally, the Italian park is laid out in imitation of the undulating Italian gardens. All these types of park can be seen in the Catherine Park.

Exhibition room - history of the palace construction.

This area was part of the lands restored to Russia by Peter I in the course of the Northern War. At that time the future "town" was just a tiny farmstead consisting

of a wooden house, a few barns, and a garden. This farmstead was given by Peter I to one of his favourites, Prince Alexander Menshikov, but being later displeased by some action of the Prince, Peter took back his gift and gave it instead to his wife, the future Empress Catherine I.

In 1718 Catherine I commissioned the architect Braunstein to build a two-storey stone palace on the site of the old farmstead. In August 1724 the palace was completed, and hundreds of guests were invited to celebrate the occasion. From that time on the estate began to be called Tsarskoe Selo (Tsar's Village).

But fate was not kind to the Catherine Palace, for each new monarch thought it necessary to make alterations to the original building. In the diary which the future empress Catherine II kept (while she was still the wife of the heir to the throne) there is an entry which reads: 'Today they knock down what they built yesterday. This building has been completely demolished and rebuilt six times."

When Peter I's daughter Elizabeth came to the throne, she did not like the мпаії size of the palace, and in 1743 invited the Russian architect Kvasov to enlarge the building. Kvasov added two side wings linked with the main block by galleries with columns. The wooden model of the palace was made by Kvasov In 1744; so the Empress could see exactly what the new palace would look like, rind make alterations in the design.

In 1746 the architect Chevakinskv built two more side wings - the chapel and the "hall" as it was called. Galleries were also added to these. In this way the building had been extended in various ways without following any integral planning.

The result did not satisfy Elizabeth and in 1752-1756 the palace was ie< (instructed by Rastrelli. A water-colour in the display case represents Kastrelli's design of the palace. The three-storey palace now ran in an almost unbroken line for over 300 metres. 80 huge French windows were set in a row decorated with balconies and separated by giants supporting the columns. The building was painted in blue and white with mouldings and giants in gold. The facade was decorated with 217 different types of stucco moulding. Along the і outline ran a gilded ballustrade crowned by statuary. 100 kiloes of gold was used In decorate the palace. Even Catherine II who reigned after Elizabeth found it impossible to maintain such splendour, and the gilt was eventually replaced by a sober bronze wash. But in Elizabeth's time the effect must have been stunning, і lie building was completed on the western side by a white double staircase, so the visitors, in order to get into the palace, had to walk along the whole of its facade before entering it. A chapel was built into the other end of the palace, decorated with onion-shaped domes in gold. In front of the palace a typical French formal garden was laid out.

Other water-colours represent the park pavilions "The Hermitage" and "Mon HIJou" placed by Rastrelli at the two ends of the central park avenue.

After the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 the palace was converted into a museum. The museum was opened in June 1918 and was visited by a million people every year.

During WWII the town was invaded by the Nazi. On the night of the first day of the war the museum staff started preparing art treasures for evacuation.

Trains loaded with the treasures were sent to distant parts of the country. Thus many unique paintings, statues, objects of applied art, and documents were saved.

The Nazi occupied Pushkin in September 1941 (about two months after the WWII broke out for this country). The Catherine Palace was turned into the Army headquarters; part of it was used as soldiers' barracks, and the chapel - as a garage for cars and motorcycles. A special committee was appointed by Hitler to take care of the art treasures on the occupied territories and export them to Germany. Thus they put an end to the spontaneous pillage which went on a large scale. From that moment on, the export of treasures was carried on in an organized fashion. Chinese silk, chandeliers, parquet floors, furniture, gold and silver objet d'art were dispatched to Germany. Only 20 per cent of the interior decoration has survived.

The town was liberated in 1944. More than half of the palace was destroyed by the fire though the architectural design was preserved. Only bare shells remained of what had once been a place of fantastic magnificence. Moreover, in order to blow up the palace, the Nazi left 11 air bombs of slow action and 300 mines there when they were retreating.

In summer 1944 after the liberation of the town works were started in the ruins, fragments collected and sorted out. Now the restorers use them together with the pieces of decoration saved in evacuation.

The restoration works started in 1958 under the direction of the senior architect restorer Kedrinsky. Fortunately, some 20,000 items of the original art collection had been saved in evacuation. But the southern wing of the palace had been nearly gone. It was a little better with the northern part of the palace which had not been affected by the fire, so it was restored in the first place, But the restoration is still under way, since it is extremely expensive and time-consuming.

GREAT HALL. The room occupies the whole width of the palace and is the largest (about 100,000 sq. ft.). It used to be called the Light Gallery for its elongated form and numerous windows and glass doors. Between the windows there are mirrors in gilded frames, which make the room look "transparent".

The room was decorated to a design by Rastrelli in the Russian Baroque style. It is part of a suite of rooms decorated by Rastrelli in Baroque. The doors of each room were covered with gilded woodcarving and, when opened, formed a "golden" corridor (woodcarving with gold leaf is a typical feature of the Russian Baroque style). Hence the name of the suite - the Golden Suite of Rooms.

The furniture, woodcarving (originally executed by 130 Russian craftsmen according to Rastrelli's sketches), and parquet floor have been restored as well as the ceiling painting by the 18^th century Italian artist G. Valeriani, "Triumph of Russia". The painting glorifies Russia's military victories and the flourishing of Russia's science and art. The centre of the composition consisting of three parts is a female figure which personifies Russia.

In this hall solemn dinners, big masquerades as well as receptions always took place. During the receptions 696 candles were burned in the carved sconces in front of the mirrors. No crowned head ever visited the palace without being invited to a solemn dinner in this hall.

CAVALIERS' DINING ROOM. This room suffered badly during the Nazi occupation and had to be completely restored after the war. It is one of the rooms

of the Golden, or Main Suite decorated by Rastrelli. In the mid-18^th century these looms were mainly intended for official ceremonies.

The dining room was used to receive holders of the highest state orders.

The carved table shaped as the letter "E" for the Empress Elizabeth is laid out In the fashion of the time. The tableware are different pieces from the four Older Services" commissioned by Catherine II from the Gardner Porcelain Factory in the 1770s. Each of these four dinner services was decorated with the colours of a high Russian order: St Andrew, St George, St Alexander or St Vladimir.

The walls are coloured in white and ornamented with gilt carving typical of Hastrelli's style. The gilded chairs are also by Rastrelli. The chairs are placed along the walls copying the fashion of the 18^th century. The walls are decorated with mirrors in gilded frames. In the corner there is a stove elegantly ornamented wllh recesses and columns, which is characteristic of Rastrelli's interiors. The stove used to be faced with tiles executed at the Imperial porcelain factory in St.Petersburg. It was damaged during the war and had to be made anew and I Minted imitating tiles.

The ceiling is decorated with stucco moulding. In the centre there is a I Minting by an unknown 18^th century Italian artist painted to the subject from Greek mythology. It represents the God of the Sun Helios, the Goddess of Dawn Eos, and figures personifying the seasons of the year. The painting was taken from the Hermitage collection.

On the other side of the Central Staircase there is the State Dining Room.

The rooms between the staircase and the Picture Hall included two suites: the state apartments (overlooking the square) and the private chambers of the Empress Maria Fyodorovna, parallel to the state apartments and overlooking the park.

It appears, though, that the private rooms of Maria Fyodorovna were never used by her as she always lived in Paviovsk or (once or twice) occupied the private rooms of Elizaveta Alexeyevna, wife of Alexander I.

STATE DINING ROOM. The walls are covered with white brocade with gilt: Baroque carving and modeling. In the corner there is a big tiled stove.

The dinner service on the table was made by the Meissen porcelain factory (second half of the 18^th century). The pattern of oriental flowers decorating its dishes makes the table look like an exotic flower bed.

The paintings on the walls are part of the collection of Johannes Groot's works (his main subject was hunting).

The painted ceiling. "The Triumph of Apollo", is a 19^th century copy of a painting by the well-known 18^th century artist Guido Reni.

The "snowball vases" of Meissen porcelain were meant for aromatic

herbs.

CRIMSON ROOM WITH PILLARS. The room is decorated with narrow panels of crimson tinsel under glass, the so-called "pillars". At the end of the 18^th century high society lovers of card games used to play here,