Sightseeing

PAVLOVSK A superb Palace and Park ensemble of the late 18 - early 19 centuries, which was erected to the designs of celebrated architects of the time, is one of the most beautiful and lyrical places of great artistic value. Located 27 kilometres from St. Petersburg, this country residence, named after its first owner Paul I was built in the royal hunting grounds on the banks of the river Slavianka, three kilometers from Tsarskoye Selo (known also as Pushkin). According to the inscription on the obelisk which commemorates the foundation of Pavlovsk, its history starts in 1777 when Catherine II presented these lands to her son, the future Emperor Paul I, so that he could build his summer residence here, and commissioned her favourite architect Charles Cameron to supervise this construction. The architect surpassed himself and Pavlovsk ensemble strikes its visitors with the solemn grandeur and the heartfelt simplicity complemented by the beauty of picturesque surroundings. Cameron had a unique opportunity to start the construction from scratch, and being an admirer of ancient Greek and Roman art, he accomplished the whole building in classical style: low rounded galleries link a three-storey central building under a flattened done with two houshold wings. The works were completed in 1820s, but when Paul I ascended the throne after Catherine II’s death, he ordered an italian architect Vincenzo Brenna to redesign the palace into a more parade residence and to enlarge it with the second storey and two more wings. The former simplicity could no longer satisfy Paul I - Pavlovsk was meant to obtain a gala status. After the fire of 1803, the palace was reconstructed under the supervision of Andrei Voronikhin, and with the latest touch made by the architect Stakenschneider in 1843-1844 the Pavlovsk Palace achieved the imposing classical appearance it retained these days. Occupied by the Nazi during WWII, the palace was bitterly damaged, but after the reconstruction which started in 1951, many details of moulding and architectural décor was restored and the palace, transferred into a museum, was opened to the public. Decorated through the combined efforts of the numerous celebrated architects (Voronikhin, Cameron, Brenna, Quarenghi and Carlo Rossi, the sculptors Ivan Martos, Ivan Prokofiev, Mikhail Kozlovsky, Vasily Demuth-Malinovsky, the painters Pietro Gonzago and Giovanni Battista Scotti) the state rooms of the palace became a home for a diverse art collection that began to take shape under Paul I and Empress Maria Fedorovna, who visited workshops of well-known artists, purchasing paintings, furniture, bronze articles, silk fabrics, china sets. Nowadays this collection, complemented by excellent portraits by Russian artists and a number of Pavlovsk landscape paintings and drawings is on display. The palace is surrounded by one of the biggest and scenic landscape parks in Europe, covering the area of 600 hectares, that was landscaped by Pietro Gonzaga, who worked on it for twenty-five years, from 1803 to 1828. Part of the grounds - the Private orchard, adjacent to the palace west facade, is laid as a regular Holland park, while the "Private Garden" and the Great Circles have retained features of a regular garden, decorated with sculptures and elements of landscape architecture. The alleys of the park, having romantic names - the Young Fiancé, the Green Dame, the White Birch, are adorned with elegant sculptures, figures of lions, smart vases and quaint pavilions. Some of them - Apollo Colonnade, the Temple of Friendship pavilions, the impressive sixteen-column Three Graces Pavilion, and the Summer Bird-Cage – were designed by Cameron. One of the most ceremonial parts of the park is the Great Circles and the Big stone staircase, the Spire Tower pavilion and the Amphitheatre built to the project of architect V.Brenna, also author of two vast park compositions – Old and New Silvia. One can also see Pauls’ superb mausoleum by Thomas de Thomon, and the Rose Pavilion (by Voronikhin and Rossi) and the Iron Gate -- the main entrance to the park, and many drawings of railings, benches and pavilions, Viscontes Bridge and Centaur Bridge near the Cold Bath pavilion that are also situated within the grounds.

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