Marble Palace: excursions, exhibitions, exact address, telephone. Marble Palace

B is one of the most famous buildings of the 18th century. The palace was built according to the calculations of the architect. A. Rinaldi at the behest of Catherine II for her favorite G.G. Orlova. It is known that the empress personally made a sketch of the future building, and the architect embodied her plan. Count Orlov was so delighted with the architect's work that as soon as he took possession, he ordered a marble relief with a portrait of Rinaldi to be installed.

The count was awarded such a royal gift for helping Catherine take the Russian throne. The favorite appreciated the gift and, for his part, presented Catherine II with a huge diamond, the cost of which was almost equal to the cost of the entire building. Today this diamond is called “Orlov”.

The construction of the palace began in 1769, the construction work was supervised by M. Mordvinov. The Empress often came to the construction site and awarded good craftsmen with special awards. In 1774, they began finishing the facades and interior halls with granite and 32 types of marble, and white marble was imported from Italy. The roof was covered with copper sheets, the connection and soldering of which were carried out with such diligence that the roof stood without repair until 1931.

The construction of the palace took so long that Orlov, without waiting for its completion, died in 1783, on April 13. Work on the construction of Marble was coming to an end when another misfortune happened: A. Rinaldi fell from the scaffolding. The architect, without waiting for the completion of construction, went to his home in Italy, leaving behind this great creation.

All halls, private chambers, boudoir, staircases, picture galleries of the palace are richly decorated with gilding, stucco and statues. On the third floor there was a Library, living quarters, living rooms for card games, a Chinese sofa room, and a ball room. The palace is notable for the fact that there was the Catherine Hall, glorifying Catherine, and the Orlov Hall, glorifying Orlov and his brothers.

On the ground floor there was a boiler room, a kitchen, a church and service rooms, which were equipped with mechanisms that supplied water to the Garden, bathhouse, kitchen and pool.

After the revolution, the building passed to different departments, until the architect N. Lansere, in 1937, rebuilt it as a museum, trying to preserve the interior decoration in its original form.

Today, the Marble Palace hosts exhibitions, meetings of political figures, scientific work is carried out, and the premises are being restored.

You can get to the Marble Palace from the station. metro station - Nevsky Prospekt.

Marble Palace.

IN historical center St. Petersburg on Palace Embankment there is an amazing building - the Marble Palace, a masterpiece architecture XVIII century, where for the first time natural stone - granite and marble - was so widely used in external and internal decoration.

For a quarter of a century now, the building has been part of the building, which in its halls has launched activities to popularize modern fine art, highlighting the role of the creativity of compatriots in world culture.

Historical background

In Peter's times there was a Postal Yard on this site. The wooden two-story building completely burned down during a fire in 1737, and the resulting site was empty for a long time, until Catherine II ordered the construction of a palace here for her favorite Grigory Orlov. Filled with gratitude to the Orlov brothers, with whose help she ascended to the Russian throne, the Empress showed truly royal generosity, sparing no expense to create a beautiful palace, personally monitoring the progress of the work and sketching sketches.

The development of the project was entrusted to the Italian architect Antonio Rinaldi, who also supervised the construction. To realize the unusual design, marble of different shades and varieties was delivered from Italy, Greece, and Russia, after which painstaking and lengthy processing was required. The construction, which dragged on for almost two decades, was completed only in 1785, after Orlov’s death.

Catherine II, having bought the palace from the heirs of His Serene Highness, gave it to her grandson Konstantin, who settled in it 10 years later - only after his marriage. Soon the grandmother evicted her grandson for bad behavior: the 16-year-old owner of the house was shooting rats from a cannon right in the room, scaring his wife.

In 1797, the palace became the refuge of the last king of Poland and his retinue. Stanislav II Augustus, who lost power in his country, spent the last two years of his life here.

Konstantin Pavlovich returned to the palace again, receiving the title of crown prince (heir) in 1799, and after his abdication, the palace went to the treasury.

Until the end of the imperial rule of the Romanovs, the residence belonged to two more grand dukes named Konstantin: the son of Nicholas I, Konstantin Nikolaevich (admiral and one of the authors of the peasant reform), and then his grandson, Konstantin Konstantinovich (president of the Academy of Sciences and poet of the Silver Age). It is not surprising that the palace was officially renamed Konstantinovsky.

IN Soviet era the building housed a branch of the Central Lenin Museum, and an armored car similar to the one in which Ilyich spoke upon his arrival in Petrograd was installed in front of the eastern facade. Later, the armored car was transferred to the artillery museum, and the pedestal in 1994 was occupied by an equestrian statue of Alexander III, made by Paolo Trubetskoy at the beginning of the 20th century - this largest and most monumental work of the famous Italian impressionist sculptor ended the ten-year period of his stay in Russia. Having caused conflicting assessments in society (many saw it as a caricature of the Tsar), the monument was nevertheless installed on the square in front of the Moscow Station, and since 1937 it was kept in the storerooms of the Russian Museum. After the Marble Palace became a branch of the Russian Museum in 1992, and a new concept for its use was adopted - “Russian art in the context of the world”, Trubetskoy’s work was considered appropriate to include in the exhibition.

Building architecture

All facades of the building, made in the style of early classicism, are lined in the lower part with dark red granite. In the upper part, against a light gray granite background, quaternary columns of pink marble stand out, which alternate with window openings.

The facade of the Marble Palace from the Neva embankment.

Gray marble window casings contrast with white marble garlands placed between the rows of windows on the second and third floors. Along the entire perimeter of the attic there are vases made of gray dolomite. The design of the building, which has come down to us in its original form, has great artistic value.

The main eastern façade is crowned by a tower with a chime. On both sides there are figures symbolizing Generosity and Loyalty. The statues were made by the outstanding Russian master F.B. Shubin, more than 40 works of the sculptor decorate the interior of the palace.

According to the plan of Antonio Rinaldi, inside the building the idea of ​​stone finishing of the facades is continued by the front marble staircase, made in a restrained range of gray tones, strict and majestic at the same time. Her allegorical sculptural ensemble is unique, as it is the only work of its kind from the 18th century in St. Petersburg that has survived to this day. In the niches between the first and second floors there are four white marble statues - morning, day, evening, night - representing the age categories: childhood, youth, maturity and old age. On the next floor, in rectangular niches, female and male figures symbolize the spring and autumn equinox. The entire ensemble is dedicated to Grigory Orlov and glorifies his exploits.

IN mid-19th century, the palace underwent major repairs and reconstruction under the leadership of the architect A. Bryullov. He created projects for new interiors of formal and residential premises, using different styles and using a variety of materials.

Exhibition and attractions

On the ground floor of the main building of the Marble Palace there is a cloakroom, a ticket office and other auxiliary premises (by the way, note that at the time of writing there was no cafe for visitors to the palace - take this into account if you are planning a long tour).

State rooms

The main halls and a significant part of the permanent exhibition are located on the second floor. The main room of the palace is the Marble Hall, which amazes with the splendor of its decoration using Greek and Italian, Karelian and Ural marble of different colors, as well as Baikal lapis lazuli.

Marble Hall.

Initially one-story, after the reconstruction of A. Bryullov, who increased the space by removing ceilings, the hall became two-tiered. The light penetrating through two rows of windows is reflected from the walls, creating an indescribable effect of the internal glow of the stone. The hall is decorated with numerous bas-reliefs, as well as a lampshade “Cupid and Psyche”.

The Oryol Hall, through which one must pass to get to the aforementioned Marble Hall, enjoys great attention among visitors.

"Orlovsky" hall.

Its luxurious stucco ceilings, rich painting of lampshades, and complex pattern of inlaid parquet flooring evoke constant admiration.

Ceiling in the Oryol Hall of the Marble Palace.

The walls of the “Oryol” hall are also decorated with stucco and high reliefs.

High relief in the Oryol Hall of the Marble Palace.

The state halls of the second floor - Lacquer and Chinese, Greek Gallery, Winter Garden and the Tsar's Living Room were restored in 2002 - 2010.

"Ludwig Museum in the Russian Museum"

The historical interiors have been restored only in a few halls of the palace; restoration work in other halls is still ongoing. Most of the rooms are a white cube, which is quite consistent with the paintings of Roy Lichtenstein, Ilya Kabakov or Igor Makarevich placed in it.

Work by Igor Makarevich.

Modern sculpture, represented by the works of Claes Oldernburg, Grisha Bruskin, Vladimir Yankilevsky and other authors, also looks advantageous in a simple frame.

Vladimir Yankilevsky. "Triptych No. 14".

The museum owes the appearance of such works to the collectors Irene and Peter Ludwig. In 1994, they donated part of their luxurious collection to the Russian Museum. A large sign at the entrance to the exhibition contains a complete list of artists and sculptors whose works are on display: Warhol, Picasso, Burroughs, Beuys, Rauschenberg, Lüpertz, Wesselmann and many other no less famous names.

Tom Wesselman. "Drawing of steel."

Here, American pop art coexists with Russian impressionism; all conceivable and inconceivable genres of contemporary art are presented in several exhibition halls.

This is the only permanent exhibition in Russia of works from the second half of the 20th century, which makes it possible to trace the development trends of Russian contemporary art and the place it occupies in the context of the world.

Exhibition at the Ludwig Museum.

In addition, numerous other temporary exhibitions are dedicated to informal art, which are regularly held in the museum’s halls. Let us remind you that the exhibition “Ludwig Museum in the Russian Museum” is also located on the second floor.

Collection of the Rzhevsky brothers

Another permanent exhibition on the second floor of the Marble Palace is the collection of the St. Petersburg collectors the Rzhevsky brothers, also donated to the Russian Museum. Most of the collection consists of paintings by venerable artists of the 18th – 20th centuries, among them: I.K. Aivazovsky, I.I. Mashkov, B.M. Kustodiev. In addition, there are graphics, sculpture, furniture and interior bronze, and wonderful porcelain. Of particular interest are the rare clocks included in the collection—floor clocks, mantel clocks, and travel clocks. They were made by masters of the late XVIII - early XIX centuries, are distinguished by sophisticated decor, have unique mechanisms, and play various melodies.

As for the main building of the Marble Palace, all permanent exhibitions are listed above. Please note that temporary exhibitions are regularly held on the third floor.

Exhibition “Konstantin Romanov- poet of the Silver Age"

The memorial exhibition “Konstantin Romanov - Poet of the Silver Age”, located on the first floor of the left wing of the palace in the former chambers of the Grand Duke, deserves special mention. People can only get here as part of a thematic excursion conducted by palace staff.

One of the most prominent representatives of the era at the turn of the 19th – 20th centuries, K.K. Romanov, a public figure and statesman, considered music and poetry to be his main loves. Multi-talented, he wrote poems, plays, and critical articles. His lyrics inspired the best composers, and Romanov himself wrote romances based on poems by Russian classics. His translation of Shakespeare's Hamlet is considered one of the most successful, published in 1899, and has been reprinted several times.

The authentic interiors of personal apartments are perfectly preserved and immerse visitors in the atmosphere of the owner’s aesthetic preferences. The study and music room are made of mahogany in the Gothic style, where every carved detail is unique. There are secret doors. Here reigns a mysterious and enigmatic atmosphere of solitude, which the author of the lyrical lines valued so much, hiding behind the laconic signature - “K. R."...

Where is it and how to get there

The museum is located on the same line with the Winter Palace (Hermitage) in front of the Champs de Mars, in the area of ​​the Trinity Bridge, at 5/1 Millionnaya Street, onto which the southern façade of the building faces.

The nearest metro station is Nevsky Prospekt, but from there you need to walk about ten minutes along the embankment of the Griboedov Canal and then along the Champ de Mars towards the Neva.

The Marble Palace is located in the very center of St. Petersburg. Even by standards Northern capital, which has no shortage of beautiful buildings, this monumental structure stands out for its beauty and grandeur.

The Marble Palace is absolutely unique. This building became the only building in St. Petersburg, the facade of which is completely covered with natural marble. Marble was brought to the construction site from many countries around the world: a total of 32 varieties were used.

The palace was built at the behest of Empress Catherine II, who decided to make a generous gift to Count Grigory Orlov, who played a key role in enthroning the queen.

Previously, on the site of the palace there was a Postal Yard with a hotel where Peter I stayed several times. In 1769, the Italian architect A. Rinaldi demolished the Postal Yard building and began construction of the Marble Palace. The building project was developed with the participation of the empress.

300 people worked on the construction site every day. Ekaterina regularly appeared at construction sites, recognizing and encouraging the most skilled builders.

Architecturally, the Marble Palace is an example of early classicism, one of the most striking in Russia. Colored marble, in large quantities used when facing the palace, emphasizes its monumentality and luxury.

The years have no power over the building - it has been preserved exactly in the same form as it first appeared before the eyes of St. Petersburg residents after the scaffolding was removed. Rinaldi ordered the upper floors to be faced with grayish marble, the lower floors with pink.

The empress took an active part in the development of the interior interiors of the palace. Due to the fact that the palace was built for Count Grigory Orlov, the queen ordered the architect to make the interior decoration austere and masculine. The chambers of the palace are distinguished by restraint and grandeur.

In the Oryol Hall there are busts, statues and bas-reliefs of representatives of the count dynasty. In the Assembly Hall, the walls are covered with velvet and gold stucco. There are huge chandeliers on the ceiling. In the center of the main wall of the hall is a huge portrait of Catherine II.

Today the Marble Palace houses a branch of the Russian Museum. There are few permanent exhibitions in the palace, since it itself is a kind of museum attraction. In addition to the collection of weapons, tourists will be interested in the extensive Art Gallery, which includes over 200 paintings by famous artists from Western Europe. The Marble Palace regularly hosts exhibitions of classic paintings and contemporary artists, press conferences and master classes.

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Other names: Konstantinovsky Palace, V. I. Lenin Museum.

The Marble Palace is one of the most interesting palaces in St. Petersburg; during its construction, natural stone was used for the first time in Russia: more than thirty varieties of marble and granite. The Marble Palace became for many years the residence of one of the branches of the Romanov family - the Konstantinovichs, although it was originally intended for a completely different owner.

The history of the creation of the Marble Palace

The palace project was created by order of Catherine the Second by the Italian Antonio Rinaldi, who served as an architect at the Russian court for more than thirty years. By order of the Empress, a bas-relief with his image was installed in the Marble Palace (the only portrait of the architect that has survived to this day, made in 1782 by Fedot Shubin).

The palace was built for Count Grigory Orlov, who had many services to Russia and was also the lover (and according to some modern sources, the morganatic spouse) of Catherine the Second. Above the entrance to the Marble Palace, at the behest of the Empress, the inscription “Building of Gratitude” was made.

Construction of the building began in 1768 and lasted 17 years - the construction of palaces in Russia in the 18th century was not a quick task... Grigory Orlov did not live to see the completion of the work - he died in 1783, after which Catherine bought the palace from his brothers for 200 thousand rubles and In 1796, on the occasion of her wedding, she gave it to her second grandson, Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich. When he was the owner of the palace, it was rebuilt many times, including remodeling the interiors of the palace by A. Voronikhin, who was the court architect of the Grand Duke in 1803-1810. After the death of Konstantin Pavlovich in 1831, the palace was bought from his heir - the illegitimate son of Pavel - to the treasury and in 1832 it was presented by Emperor Nicholas I to his second son Konstantin Nikolaevich, who was only five years old at that time. The high-born owner of the palace continued to live with his family, and the courtiers continued to live in the palace. The situation changed in 1849, after the wedding, Konstantin Nikolaevich and his wife moved to live in the Marble Palace, newly decorated for them by the architect Alexander Bryullov.

Architecture of the Marble Palace

The Marble Palace occupies an entire block between the Neva River and Millionnaya Street; its plan has a complex shape; on the Millionnaya Street side, the courtyard is closed by a wrought-iron fence. Main entrance The palace is located in the courtyard, the eastern facade of the building is crowned with an elegant clock tower, lavishly decorated with columns, pilasters, bas-reliefs with military fittings and allegorical figures. Since the palace is an example of early classicism, Baroque features are still noticeable here: the elegant and elaborate shape of the clock tower, the bizarre contour of the roof created by vases, the complex shape of the main staircase...

The copper window frames of the second floor and the balustrades of the balconies retain the gilding of the late 18th century.

Interiors of the Marble Palace

More than any other room, the spirit of the times of Catherine the Great was preserved by the main staircase and the State Halls of the palace. The main staircase is lined with marble, the monolithic columns and pilasters are amazingly picturesque, the “Judgment of Paris” ceiling, crowning the ceiling of the staircase, was painted in 1784 to decorate one of the halls of the palace, and in the 19th century, during the reconstruction of the building, it was moved to its current location. Let us remind you that it is on the stairs that you can see the only portrait image of the architect Antonio Rinaldi. All the sculptures decorating the staircase were created from Italian marble by F. Shubin specifically for the Marble Palace and now occupy their historical places.

The Marble Hall of the palace is absolutely unique, having preserved its decoration from the end of the 18th century. Decorating the hall, Rinaldi used combinations of multi-colored Russian and Italian marbles; against the background of this multi-colored splendor, the bas-reliefs by the famous Russian sculptor M. Kozlovsky on the themes of the Punic Wars, glorifying duty, loyalty to the fatherland, self-sacrifice and generosity of ancient commanders, stand out with their exceptional whiteness. The decoration of the hall of amazing beauty is complemented by colored inlaid parquet from the 18th century and a picturesque ceiling by master Torelli “The Wedding of Cupid and Psyche”, painted specifically for the Marble Hall of the Marble Palace. In the mid-19th century, the ceiling of the hall was raised one floor and beautiful bronze chandeliers and marble fireplaces with mirrors in carved gilded frames appeared in it.

Marble Palace

The Marble Palace is the oldest building on the Champ de Mars, one of the most beautiful palaces in St. Petersburg, built in 1768–1772 on the site of Peter the Great's postal mud hut courtyard according to the design of Antonio Rinaldi for the favorite of Catherine II, Count Grigory Orlov. It was named “Marble” because different types of marble were used in its interior and exterior decoration. For a long time, the palace housed the V.I. Lenin Museum (now a branch of the Russian Museum).

It would seem - a famous building with known history. When I suggested this topic to Viktor Mikhailovich, he doubted. But we still decided to take the risk. And this is what happened.

Antonio Rinadi, builder of the Marble Palace, was born in 1709 near Naples. He studied with Luigi Vanvitelli, one of the greatest architects of the late Italian Baroque.

In 1752 Rinaldi came to Russia. Or rather, to Little Russia - that’s what Ukraine was called then. He was invited by Kirill Razumovsky, the then all-powerful hetman of Little Russia. He became a hetman at the age of 22, and at the age of 18 he was appointed president of the Academy of Sciences. Everyone knew that such a high appointment was connected with the fact that his brother Alexei Razumovsky was the favorite of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna and, according to rumors, her morganatic husband. The Razumovskys came from Ukraine and grazed oxen as children. Alexei had a marvelous voice, they noticed him, took him to the capital as a singer - and there the empress paid attention to him. At one time, Alexei Razumovsky - the “night emperor of Russia”, as he was called - was omnipotent. But he left a good memory of himself: he did not get involved in politics, did no harm to anyone, did not suffer from the love of money, and, they say, until his death he kept in the closet in his office the shepherd’s scroll in which he once appeared in St. Petersburg. And I didn’t forget my relatives. Kirill received a decent education and, having become hetman, decided to make the city of Baturin the capital of Little Russia. And what a palace: a palace, stone houses, a university... And Antonio Rinaldi is building a hetman’s palace in the Baroque style in Baturyn. When Catherine II abolished the hetmanship in 1764, Baturin remained in the possession of the Razumovskys. Later, Charles Cameron rebuilt the palace, taking into account Rinaldi's plans.

Antonio Rinaldi

The first building of Antonio Rinaldi in the St. Petersburg province was the Cathedral of St. Catherine in Yamburg (Kingissepp). The graceful, light building looks a bit like a whipped cream cake and is still a symbol of this small town.

Upon his arrival in St. Petersburg, Antonio Rinaldi called himself “the architect of the Grand Duchess.” This is significant. After all, officially his customer was Peter III. Apparently, Rinaldi was a supporter of the future Empress Catherine II. Therefore, it is not surprising that when she ascended the throne, and Peter III died “from an attack of hemorrhoidal colic” in Ropsha, it was Rinaldi who became the leading architect of St. Petersburg. Oranienbaum - Rolling hill, Chinese Palace. Gatchina – Grand Palace. Tsarskoe Selo - monuments of military glory. Prince Vladimir Cathedral on Petrogradskaya... The name Rinaldi is associated with the Myatlev mansion on St. Isaac's Square and - what is most interesting - with house No. 12 on the Moika River embankment. This is Pushkin's last address. Rinaldi himself, of course, did not build this house. But at the beginning of the 19th century, the old house from Peter’s time was rebuilt by an unknown architect. And he took the Marble Palace as a prototype, although, of course, house No. 12 on the Moika embankment did not turn out to be so luxurious. Some experts believe: “judging by the general character of the outline of the building, there is a certain similarity with the general architectonic structure of the Marble Palace.”

Marble Palace from the Palace Embankment. 2014

It is also known about Rinaldi that he was a romantic, a dreamer, an enthusiast of his work - for example, he personally searched for some special marbles for decoration in Italian quarries.

Alas, in 1784 an accident occurred: the architect fell from the scaffolding while inspecting the Bolshoi Theater (in the place where the Conservatory is now). He went to Rome, but until his death in 1794 he received a pension of 1000 rubles. per year assigned to him by Empress Catherine II.

But let's return to the Marble Palace. It was called the “House of Gratitude” - after all, Catherine II’s favorite Grigory Orlov was an active participant in the 1762 coup that brought her to the throne. At one time there were even rumors that Catherine was going to marry him. But they apparently told her that it was unlikely that “Mrs. Orlova” would be able to remain Empress of All Russia.

Marble Palace from the Neva

The Rinaldi facades of the Marble Palace have reached us almost unchanged. The main façade is the eastern one, the one that now faces the garden. He is noticeably more elegant than the others. The garden originally extended to the Red Canal, which in the 18th century connected the Moika River with the Bolshaya Neva. (It ran along the western border of the Campus Martius and was filled in in the 1770s). The Manege building (A. Bryullov, 1840s) on the opposite side of the modern kindergarten did not exist then. The northern facade is perceived through the Neva, so it is more restrained, without small details. The main feature here is the combination of marble and Neva water. The sculptural decoration of the palace was made by the wonderful master Fedot Shubin.

The arena, built by A. Bryullov, is a service, rather modest building. But on the side of the garden it is decorated with a long bas-relief “The Acceptance of a Horse into the Service of Man.” It depicts 33 horses - the largest herd in the city! The author of the bas-relief is the incomparable Peter Klodt.

The service building of the Marble Palace and a fragment of a bas-relief by P. Klodt. 2013

I have already mentioned that Grigory Orlov did not have time to live in the palace. After his death, the palace was taken into the treasury. At one time, an exile lived in it - the King of Poland Stanislav-August Poniatowski, once Catherine’s favorite (he was even considered the father of Paul the First). King Stanislav died in the Marble Palace. He was buried in the Church of St. Catherine on Nevsky (a joint creation of Antonio Rinaldi and Jean-Baptiste Valen-Delamot), then in 1938 the king’s ashes were transported to Poland and buried in the former family estate Poniatowski 35 km from Brest. Later, these lands were annexed to Belarus, and the king’s grave was plundered. Only in 1988, in the wake of perestroika, at the request of the Polish government, a Soviet archaeological expedition began searching for the remains of the burial place of King Stanislaus. Alas, little survived, and what survived was transported to Poland and finally rested in the Church of St. John in Warsaw. And about the Marble Palace they have long said: “It was built for one favorite, another died here.”

Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich

The next owner of the palace, the second son of Paul I, Grand Duke Constantine, left a bad memory of himself. He was a rude, hot-tempered man, a real martinet. His wife Anna Fedorovna, Duchess of Saxe-Coburg, was hiding in a huge vase when Konstantin Pavlovich amused himself by firing blank charges from a cannon along the corridors of the palace. In the end, the poor Grand Duchess fled to her parents. The Grand Duke also stained himself with outright criminality - he and his drinking companions kidnapped and dishonored a certain Mrs. Araujo, the mother of two children. “This was the most vile story that darkened the beginning of Alexander’s reign.” The unfortunate woman died, unable to withstand the bullying and shame. Since Mrs. Araujo was a foreign subject, and not a powerless Russian, Emperor Alexander I ordered 20 thousand rubles to be paid to her relatives. and sent brother Constantine away from Russia - as governor to Poland.

The Polish beauty Zhanetta Grudzinskaya, who became his morganatic wife, managed to calm the Grand Duke somewhat. Emperor Alexander granted her the title of Princess Łowicz. Konstantin had no legitimate children, and the Marble Palace passed to Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich.

Konstantin Nikolaevich, the second son of Nicholas I, according to family tradition, was preparing for naval service. He commanded the frigate "Pallada" (later he made a trip around the world Goncharov). He founded the Russian Geographical Society, “Sea Collection” - a magazine in which Goncharov, Stanyukovich and other famous writers were published. Konstantin Nikolaevich was seriously involved in the affairs of the Naval Department, and the Russian fleet owes a lot to the Grand Duke. In his family life, at first he was very happy, he married the beautiful Duchess of Saxe-Altenburg, who took the name Alexandra Iosifovna at baptism. But then he fell in love with the ballerina Anna Vasilyevna Kuznetsova, the illegitimate daughter of the great tragedian Vasily Andreevich Karatygin.

Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich

Many people knew about the second family of the Grand Duke. Emperor Alexander III had a sharply negative attitude towards his uncle’s behavior, but, despite his dislike for Konstantin Nikolaevich, in 1883 he granted all his illegitimate children the patronymic “Konstantinovichi”, the surname “Princely” and personal nobility, and in 1892 - hereditary nobility. Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich ended his life as a paralyzed, helpless old man who had lost his speech. His unloved wife looked after him devotedly.

The Marble Palace was inherited by the eldest son of Konstantin Nikolaevich, also Konstantin. Konstantin Konstantinovich entered the history of Russian literature as a poet of the Kyrgyz Republic.

In those carefree years

We didn’t know everyday prose,

how good then

how fresh the roses were.

Marble Palace,

Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich

Due to his character, inclination towards mysticism and melancholy, Konstantin Konstantinovich, of course, would prefer a different life, far from drilling and shooting. But the Romanovs had to serve the Tsar and the Fatherland primarily in the military field. This was not discussed. Therefore, from birth, the poet of the Kyrgyz Republic had to become the chief of the 15th Tiflis Grenadier Regiment, as a young man - to begin serving in the Naval Department, which was headed by his father, Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich, and later - to command the Preobrazhensky Regiment, to be a chief, then - inspector general military educational institutions. Of all the Romanovs, only Konstantin Konstantinovich’s son Oleg entered the higher civil service before military service. educational institution– Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, and successfully graduated from it. By the way, it was Oleg Konstantinovich who published Pushkin’s manuscripts at his own expense, he himself wrote poetry (albeit rather weak ones) - in a word, he tried to deviate from the mandatory canons of behavior of the Romanov family. At the beginning of the First World War, Oleg Konstantinovich died at the front.

Konstantin Konstantinovich died in 1915. Didn't see the building collapse Russian Empire how the imperial family died. Konstantin Konstantinovich never had a chance to find out that his sons John, Igor and Konstantin, along with Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna, Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich and Prince Vladimir Paley, were thrown alive into a mine near Alapaevsk. Of all the male “Konstantinovichs,” only Gabriel was able to escape (he was literally rescued from the clutches of the security officers by the ballerina Nesterovskaya, whom Prince Gabriel later married in emigration), and fifteen-year-old Georgy.

And one more poetic page from the history of the Marble Palace:

A wind full of Baltic salt

Blizzard Ball on the Champ de Mars,

And the invisible sound of hooves...

And there is immeasurable anxiety,

Who has a little time left to live,

Who only asked God for death,

And who will be forgotten forever.

Anna Akhmatova.

"Poem Without a Hero"

After the 1917 revolution, Assyrologist Vladimir Kazimirovich Shileiko lived in Manege. In 1918, he married the poetess Anna Akhmatova, with whom he had long been in love. By the way, Shileiko himself wrote some good poetry:

In the bitterness of the hour

The last sound of height,

A short swan song,

You are the only star left.

The marriage quickly fell apart. Shileiko, as Akhmatova put it, was a person “unsuited for living together,” but echoes of his short life on the Field of Mars remained in “Poem without a Hero.”

“Corner of the Champ de Mars. House built at the beginning of the 19th century by the Adamini brothers. It would take a direct hit from an aerial bomb in 1942. A high fire is burning. You can hear the bell ringing from the Savior on Spilled Blood. On the Field behind a snowstorm is the ghost of a palace ball. In the interval between these sounds, Silence itself speaks.”

For a long time, the Marble Palace housed the V.I. Lenin Museum. They say that this actually saved the palace from looting. And they probably didn’t spare money for the repair and restoration of such a museum. Now it is a branch of the Russian Museum. And in the garden in front of the palace for a long time there was an armored car “Enemy of Capital”, from which Lenin allegedly spoke. Meticulous historians question the very fact of the performance (few), the type of armored car (somewhat more) and whether it is the same armored car or just a similar one (many). Now the armored car has moved to the museum according to its profile - to the Military Historical Museum of Artillery, Engineering Troops and Signal Corps. And its place “temporarily” (there is nothing more permanent than temporary) was taken by the monument to Alexander III by the sculptor Paolo Trubetskoy. In 1899–1909, when Trubetskoy was working on the monument, a special workshop-pavilion made of glass and iron was built for this purpose on Staro-Nevsky Prospect, not far from the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. According to Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, Trubetskoy created a caricature of his brother. However, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna liked the sculpture, and her opinion was decisive.

...on a heavy-footed horse,

Wedged into the ground, the emphasis of the hooves,

Half asleep, inaccessible to excitement,

Standing motionless, squeezing the bridle.

This is how V. Ya. Bryusov expressed his impressions of the monument in the poem “Three Idols”.

Monument to Alexander III at the Marble Palace. 2013

The monument is far from simple - it can personify the strength of foundations, the inviolability of laws, the firmness of views - and stupidity, stubbornness, slow-wittedness - depending on how you treat the personality of Emperor Alexander III.

It gave birth to a monument and numerous epigrams:

On the square there is a chest of drawers,

There's a hippopotamus on the dresser,

There's a freak on the hippopotamus,

On the back is a hat.

(On the back there is a cap,

How stupid is this daddy?)

There is another epigram

Third wild toy

for the Russian serf:

There was the Tsar Bell, the Tsar Cannon,

and now the Tsar...

(substitute the rhyme yourself).

During the revolution, Znamenskaya Square was a place of rallies. The monument, apparently, greatly irritated the protesters - either they would attach a red bow to the Tsar, or they would hang a poster with poems by Demyan Bedny:

Later, these “immortal lines” were engraved on the pedestal of the monument.

In 1937, in connection with the reconstruction of Vosstaniya Square and the laying of tram tracks along Nevsky Prospect, the monument was removed and transferred to the Russian Museum. It was kept in the courtyard of the museum and almost died during the Great Patriotic War. At the beginning of the war, museum staff dug a deep hole, but were unable to lower the heavy bronze sculpture into it. I had to carry sand in buckets and bags from barges stationed on the Moika. As a result, the statue was nevertheless covered with sand, covered with boards and covered with logs on top. However, the monument to Alexander III turned out to be the only sculpture in Leningrad that received a direct hit from an artillery shell. However, the shelter still held up.

Now Alexander III has “registered” in the courtyard of the Marble Palace. The high pedestal created by Fyodor Shekhtel, unfortunately, has been lost. There is a proposal: to return the monument to the square, and the stele located there (“ Scary dream paratrooper”, “Bayonet in the throat of Nevsky Prospekt”) will be moved to Muzhestva Square.

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