Virtual tour of the Vorontsov Palace. Vorontsov Palace in Alupka, Crimea Where is the Vorontsov Palace located in Crimea

Vorontsov Palace in Alupka (Crimea) is a unique architectural and historical monument, located at the foot of Mount Ai-Petri. Next to the palace there is another...

Vorontsov Palace in Alupka: history of creation, photo, description, architect

From Masterweb

01.06.2018 20:00

Vorontsov Palace in Alupka (Crimea) is a unique architectural and historical monument, located at the foot of Mount Ai-Petri. Next to the palace there is another object, a monument of park and garden art, which was created over many years. About the history of the creation of the Vorontsov Palace in Alupka, the park next to it and interesting facts related to this place will be discussed in this essay.

History of construction. Start

The Vorontsov Palace in Alupka was built over two decades - from 1828 to 1848. It was intended for the Governor General Count Vorontsov M.S. as a summer residence. The author of the palace project was the famous English architect Edward Blore. E. Blore himself did not come to Alupka and made design calculations at home, but he was well aware of all the nuances concerning the local relief.

In addition, the foundation, as well as the first masonry of the portal niche in the central building, were already ready. This was due to the fact that the palace was initially supposed to be built according to a different project, the authors of which were T. Harrison and F. Boffo.

All work on the construction of the Vorontsov Palace in Alupka was carried out by ordinary serfs from the Moscow and Vladimir provinces. Real craftsmen, hereditary skilled stonecutters and masons, were involved in the construction. They had extensive experience in the field of relief decoration, acquired during the construction of white stone cathedrals. Absolutely all work was carried out manually, using the simplest tools.

Continued construction

After the architect of the Vorontsov Palace in Alupka, E. Blor, completed work on the project, the workers began construction of the building. From 1830 to 1834, the construction of the building in which the dining room was located lasted. From 1831 to 1837, the most important building, the central building, was built. From 1841 to 1842, a billiard room was built, attached to the dining room building. In 1838-1844, the eastern wings, the guest building, as well as all the palace towers and the pentagon of economic buildings were built. The very last building to be erected was the library building (from 1842 to 1846), at the same time the decoration of the front yard was being completed.

The largest volume of earthworks was carried out in the period from 1840 to 1848. Soldiers of a separate sapper battalion created park terraces near the southern palace facade. In the summer of 1848, workers installed lion sculptures on the central staircase that leads to the main entrance. These figures were created by the Italian master D. Bonnani, a famous sculptor of that time. The installation of these figures not only gave the name to the terrace (lion terrace), but also completed the construction, finishing and decoration of the Vorontsov Palace in Alupka.

Palace architecture

The palace of Count Vorontsov was built, in comparison with classicism, according to completely new construction and architectural principles. Important and one of the main architectural features it was that it was located according to the topography of the mountains. Thanks to this innovation, the building blends extremely organically with the surrounding landscape. This amazing combination helped give the entire complex a unique artistic image.

The Vorontsov Palace in Alupka was built in the spirit of the English canons of architecture, while there is eclecticism in both the decoration and the building itself. For example, you can see elements of different eras - from the early periods of architecture to the 16th-17th centuries. The elements originate from the western gate - the closer to extreme point palace, the more the later architectural style will be revealed to your gaze.

The neo-Moorish style goes well with English Gothic. For example, chimneys made in the Gothic style resemble minarets. The southern entrance of the palace is made in oriental style. The horseshoe-shaped arch, two-tier vault, Arabic-style carvings, which are intertwined with a Tudor flower pattern (English rose), are harmoniously combined with Arabic script, made on a gold frieze.

Palace interior

The interiors of the palace have been preserved almost in their original form. It is worth noting that each room has an individual finish, which creates a unique image of the room. A description of the Vorontsov Palace in Alupka and its interiors will take a lot of time, but it is necessary to briefly talk about them.

The lobby immediately takes you back to Russia in the 19th century. Its walls are decorated with large portraits of Catherine II, as well as members of the count's family. The room has a fireplace made in the English style, the floor is covered with parquet made of precious wood, the walls and ceiling are also decorated with wood.

Front office

The count's front office is very spacious, but very restrained in design and decoration. In the room there are many portraits of military generals who were his comrades in the War of 1812. The office is decorated with wood and fabric, and there is also a fireplace. The furniture is very exquisite; it was ordered from the best European craftsmen of that time.

The office successfully combines various styles, such as Renaissance, Gothic and Baroque. From the windows of the office there is a magnificent view of Mount Ai-Petri. Count Vorontsov loved this office very much and spent a lot of time here working with documents.

Calico reception room and Chinese office

Photos inside the Vorontsov Palace in Alupka show all the beauty of the halls, including the chintz reception area. The walls of this cozy room are covered with fabric painted in warm colors with beautiful design. Initially, it was an office in crimson tones by E. K. Vorontsova, but later it was remodeled. The parquet in this room is made of different types of wood that have different colors. There are portraits and landscapes on the walls, and the office itself is furnished with furniture by Italian masters.

The Chinese cabinet is designed in soft orange tones and trimmed with wood and fabric. The furniture and interior elements, however, are not Chinese, but English, so the office can be conditionally called Chinese. This room contains several portraits, a baroque fireplace, and exquisite parquet flooring to match the walls.

Blue living room and boudoir

The blue (artistic) living room amazes with its beauty. However, initially this hall was called Turkish and was designed in oriental colors. The composition of the blue living room is perfectly complemented by the snow-white stucco ornament on the azure ceiling and walls. The hall has a white stone fireplace, made in the Renaissance style. The living room is furnished with magnificent furniture in white, inlaid with gold and upholstered in yellow silk. The furniture is complemented by large, chic blue vases and a snow-white piano, also inlaid with gold leaf.

The boudoir is small in size, but, like the previous room, it has a classic style. The light color of the walls harmonizes with the parquet, and comfortable upholstered furniture immediately speaks of the purpose of the room. On the walls there are portraits of family members and mirrors in beautiful carved frames.

State dining room

Looking at the photo of the Vorontsov Palace in Alupka, we will see a complex of buildings, one of which is the dining room building. This room has 150 m2 of area and eight-meter ceilings. The dining room is in Tudor Gothic style. The carved wooden ceiling successfully conveys the shape of the Gothic ceilings.

The style of carving, pattern and color of the ceiling absolutely accurately replicate the design of the wall panels, doorway finials and window frames. All the pomp and grandeur of the formal dining room is emphasized by the furniture. Four large tables are pushed together, their tops made of mahogany. The table legs are made of oak and carved in the shape of animal paws.

Around the table there are more than 20 chairs made of noble trees, with floral carvings and upholstery in French fabric. The dining room has large fireplaces made in English style. Along the walls there are sideboards and tables for serving guests.

Right there, in the dining room, there is a small fountain recessed into a niche. It is decorated with white and blue tiles, as well as paintings. Above the fountain is a wooden balcony where musicians were stationed to play for guests.

Palace Park

The Vorontsov Palace and the park in Alupka were built simultaneously, but it took large number time. A talented gardener and botanist from Germany, K. A. Kebach, worked on the creation of this masterpiece of park and garden art from the end of 1824 to mid-1851. The palace park is part of the museum exhibition part, the total area of ​​which is 361,913 m2. It is a monument of national importance, striking in its beauty.

The creator of the park managed to collect plants from all over the world and ensure that they coexist peacefully. The park itself is divided into lower and upper parts. On the upper part there are sunny, chestnut and contrasting meadows. Each of them grows different types of plants and trees (oriental plane tree, Italian pine, berry yew, Chilean araucaria, Himalayan cedar, etc.). In addition, there is Swan Lake with these beautiful birds, as well as a waterfall and two lakes – Mirror and Verkhneye. At the bottom of the park there is a small tea house surrounded by beautiful trees and plants.

History of the Vorontsov Palace in Alupka

The palace belonged to three generations of the Vorontsov family, but after the October Revolution it was nationalized. In 1921, the palace and park were opened as a museum. In 1941, after the start of the Great Patriotic War, the exhibits in the museum did not have time to be evacuated, just like from other Crimean museums.

The museum could have been destroyed twice, but miraculously this did not happen, but the Nazis managed to take away a large number of valuable exhibits. After the war, the curator of the museum, S. G. Shchekoldin, presented an inventory, from which it followed that the damage caused amounted to about five million rubles (at that time a colossal amount).

The Vorontsov Palace became the residence of British Prime Minister W. Churchill during the Yalta Conference, which took place in early February 1945.

After the war, for 10 years the palace was used as a state dacha, and since 1956 it was returned to the status of a museum and opened to visitors. In 1990, the complex was given the status of a palace and park museum-reserve.

Sculptures of the Vorontsov Palace in Alupka

A winter garden was created in one of the halls of the palace. It contains a huge number of exotic tropical plants brought from South America and from the islands of Oceania. A neat white marble fountain was created in the center of this garden, and sculptures were placed throughout the hall.

The composition is created from famous copies of sculptures from ancient times and the Renaissance. Among them are statues: bathing Aphrodite, Apollo Belvedere, sculptures “Girl”, “First Steps” and the muse of astronomy - Urania. The stone is processed so perfectly that the statues seem very realistic.

On the other side of the winter garden there is a composition of busts of famous people of that time and family members. For example, Catherine II, Count Vorontsov himself, his wife and father. All sculptures are harmoniously combined with both the interior of the hall and the beautiful plants.

Wealth of exhibits

In the photo, the Vorontsov Palace in Alupka amazes with its monumentality, elegance and architectural aesthetics. In addition to its beauty, this palace will surprise the visitor with its exhibits, which are exhibited in the guest building, in the halls of the main building and in the tea house. Here you will be able to see paintings by famous painters and furnishings of that time.

The museum's exposition includes about 27,000 exhibits in the main collection alone, as well as the rich library of Count Vorontsov, numbering more than 10,000 volumes. In addition, here you can see a rich variety of plants, as well as enjoy views of the park itself and Mount Ai-Petri.

Once in Crimea, you should definitely go to Alupka and visit the Vorontsov Palace. The impressions from the trip will amaze you, leaving pleasant memories of this excursion for life.

Kievyan Street, 16 0016 Armenia, Yerevan +374 11 233 255

Architecture Crimean peninsula fascinating: there are many famous people here historical monuments, attracting the attention of tourists from all over the world. The Vorontsov Palace, as can be seen in many photos, is one of the most majestic buildings in Crimea.

It was built by Count Mikhail Vorontsov in the small Tatar village of Alupka at the foot of Mount Ai-Petri. The mansion gained fame architectural masterpiece era of romanticism.

Vorontsov Palace is located in the town of Alupka in the southern part of the picturesque Crimean Peninsula. The city is part of the Yalta urban district and stretches along the coast for 4 km. Not far from Alupka are the resorts Simeiz and Katsiveli.

Geographic coordinates on the map of Crimea GPS N 44.4197, E 34.0430

How and by whom the construction was carried out

Count Vorontsov first visited Crimea in 1822 and was delighted with the beauty and wealth of the southern region. Under him, the rapid development of winemaking began, fish factories were created, salt production was established, roads and a port were built. The Vorontsov Palace in Crimea, photos of which are presented in the article, was built as summer residence Count Mikhail Vorontsov.

The Governor-General of Novorossiya was a very rich and educated man. He took the project planning seriously and personally last day supervised the construction. Initially building complex planned in the style of strict classicism by famous architects Thomas Harrison and Francesco Boffo.

The Earl approved the project, but after visiting England, where he met the talented royal architect Edward Blore, the creator of Buckingham Palace and a great connoisseur of medieval architecture, he changed the drawings. The famous architect never came to Crimea, but thoroughly studied the area around the construction site using drawings and sketches.

He designed a magnificent castle that fit perfectly into the surrounding landscape.

The palace, with a total area of ​​40 hectares, was built over 20 years from 1928 to 1948. The material was local durable diabase stone of volcanic origin. It was delivered in blocks to the construction site, where it was cut by hand.

The palace complex consists of five buildings connected by open and closed passages, which were built alternately in the style of a certain era. Inside the palace there are 150 rooms equipped with running water and sewerage. A huge amount of money was invested in the construction of the palace, but the richest man in Russia could afford such luxury.

History of the palace

The Vorontsov noble family is one of the most ancient. Mikhail grew up in the family of a famous politician and diplomat, and spent his childhood in England. A brilliantly educated young man, upon returning home at the age of 19, entered military service. Mikhail made a successful career and, very young, received the rank of general.

In 1823, the count and his family arrived in Odessa, where he was appointed governor-general. Knowing about the wealth of the southern region, Mikhail was interested in obtaining this position. During his reign, the city flourished, and the count decided to invest his personal income in the construction of a magnificent estate. After completion of construction, the palace belonged to the Vorontsov family for a long time, and then to its descendants.

But by the end of the 19th century the estate was abandoned:

1. In 1904, a distant relative of the Vorontsovs began to build dachas on the territory and rent out the land for sanatoriums.
2. At the beginning of the 20th century, with the advent of Soviet power, the mansion became national museum.
3. During World War II, the palace was practically not damaged, only some valuable exhibits were taken away. Hitler promised the mansion to Field Marshal Mannstein and he took care of preserving his property.
4. During the Yalta Conference, the British delegation lived in the palace.
5. In the post-war years there was a summer house for high-ranking officials, and then in 1956 the mansion again acquired the status of a museum.

Since 1990, the palace complex has been called the Alupka Palace and Park Museum-Reserve.

Architecture. Palace interiors

The main feature of the palace is the original fusion of different styles. The famous architect managed to organically combine the themes of the West and the East. The Vorontsov Palace in Crimea, the photo of which conveys a knightly interior and elements of stylized Gothic, corresponded to the character and lifestyle of the count and reflected his masculine interests.

The Vorontsov Palace in Crimea looks great not only in person, but also in the photo.

Both European craftsmen and stone-cutters, cabinet-makers, molders, embroiderers from all the provinces of Russia, and the serfs of the count himself had a hand in creating the magnificent interior. Up to three hundred names of skilled craftsmen have been preserved in the archives.

Western facade of the Vorontsov Palace

Western facade or Shuvalovsky passage with its high watchtowers, with narrow loopholes and thick fortress walls made of gray diabase blocks, it resembles a medieval European castle. The main entrance to the palace ensemble runs from this side.

Architecture of the utility buildings of the Vorontsov Palace

The utility buildings are located in an elongated closed polygon, to which two separate gates lead. The architecture of these buildings corresponds to English medieval castles. The facades are decorated with clear geometric lines of door and window openings, the walls are processed using the “torn” stone method.

Various household services were located on the ground floor, and servants lived in the upper rooms.

Northern facade of the Vorontsov Palace

The north side of the mansion resembles a 16th century country house in England. Tall chimneys give a special flavor to the northern façade.

The northern side is illuminated by the sun only in the morning and evening; the rest of the day it seems to merge with the gray rocks. Mount Ai-Petri, rising behind the palace, harmoniously complements the architectural ensemble.

Front office of the Vorontsov Palace

The office is decorated in traditional English style:

• bay windows;
• oak panels and doors;
• inlaid furniture from London;
• fireplace.

On the walls with painted wallpaper are memorable portraits of military comrades in the Patriotic War of 1812 and a portrait of the owner himself in military uniform.

The office is decorated with a finely crafted ebony bookcase, English chairs and armchairs with Gothic carvings, bronze sculptures, candelabra, and a gilded clock depicting folk heroes Minin and Pozharsky. Here the Governor-General held meetings and friendly meetings.

Calico living room of the Vorontsov Palace

A small chintz room served as a reception room, where they waited for an audience with the count. The walls are upholstered in expensive English fabric with elegant patterns, the furniture is inlaid with bronze, there is a blue crystal chandelier on the ceiling, and mosaic parquet flooring.

The walls are decorated with landscapes by Russian artists.

Chinese cabinet of the Vorontsov Palace

This is the countess's boudoir. Its design reveals a subtle feminine taste and passion for the Far Eastern exoticism that was fashionable at that time. The walls are decorated with thin rice straws, silk embroideries, and carved decor.

On the wall are portraits of famous people, a portrait of the Countess herself by an unknown artist and family coats of arms.

Entrance hall of the Vorontsov Palace

The front lobby is decorated in English style and was intended to welcome guests. There are two fireplaces made of polished diabase.

On the walls are portraits of the count's relatives, Empress Catherine II, who was the godmother of Mikhail Vorontsov. The interior is complemented by rare Persian carpets.

Living room of the Vorontsov Palace

The bright festive room was used as a home theater. The blue walls are decorated with alabaster flowers. The artistic modeling was carried out by serfs of Count Vorontsov. The living room has a white marble fireplace with floral designs, huge porcelain vases, Bohemian glass chandeliers and a beautiful white grand piano.

Hospitable hosts willingly welcomed poets and musicians into their apartments. Zhukovsky, Alexey Tolstoy, Shchepkin, Rachmaninov performed here. The Countess herself played the piano and sang beautifully.

Winter Garden of the Vorontsov Palace

The winter garden connects the interior chambers and the formal dining room. The Vorontsov couple loved to relax here. Rare ornamental plants from Africa, Australia, and Japan were grown in the garden. The garden was traditionally decorated with white antique sculptures, busts of family members, and a white marble fountain. The sculpture of a laughing girl is considered one of the most skillful in the world.

State dining room of the Vorontsov Palace

The most solemn and spacious room of the palace is reminiscent of the knights' halls of the Middle Ages. The ceiling height reaches 8 meters, and the total area is about 150 square meters. m. The decoration of this room was personally done by Edward Blore. Bay windows, oak ceiling in the shape of Gothic vaults, carved wood, family coats of arms, strict colors of wood and stone.

The architect risked complementing the cold interior with picturesque panels in carved frames by the French artist Robert.

Between two fireplaces there is an indoor fountain, and above it a balcony for musicians. Sparkling dining tables, a sideboard with lion legs, openwork sideboards, crystal vases, dozens of chandeliers and candelabra decorated with Ural malachite.

Billiard room of the Vorontsov Palace

In the billiard room, hosts and guests played and had fun. There is a walnut set and a mahogany table. The room is decorated in English style. The Vorontsov Palace in Crimea (the photos below represent paintings by European artists) is famous for its large collection of works by famous masters from different eras. The billiard room houses a large number of paintings.

Southern facade of the Vorontsov Palace

The southern façade faces the sea and is constantly illuminated by the sun. Its design contains characteristic elements of Muslim architecture. These are huge windows, deep niches, verandas with openwork grilles, horseshoe arches, ornate carvings with flowers, Arabic inscriptions on the cornice.

The monumental staircase leading down to the sea is guarded by six lions carved from white marble. The Lion Terrace has become a favorite place for photo shoots and selfies.

Library of the Vorontsov Palace

It was not without reason that Count Vorontsov’s library was considered one of the largest in Russia. The storage shelving, four meters high, housed thousands of books in various languages. The owner was interested in science, as evidenced by rare manuscripts, ancient maps and globes. The count's father and aunt began collecting a unique library.

Alupka Park

The Vorontsov Palace in Crimea (every tourist today wants to take a photo with a view of the park in order to preserve the memory of its beauty) began to be built after the foundation of the luxurious park. The German gardener Karl Kebach created a real miracle in 1/4 century. At the personal request of the countess, the territory of the estate was literally buried in greenery and flowers.

Once upon a time, over 2 thousand rose bushes bloomed here.

The lower park, with its flower beds on the terraces, fountains, benches, and marble vases, is reminiscent of medieval gardens. The proximity of mountain springs made it possible to create artificial cool ponds with cascades and small waterfalls, swimming swans. The water constantly gurgles here, harmony and order reign.

By order of the count, the bottom of Swan Lake was strewn with semi-precious stones to create sunlight. The upper park was designed to imitate wild nature. It’s hard to believe that the stone chaos in the form of gorges, cliffs, grottoes was made by human hands. Nearby there are wide clearings, specially cleared of piles of stones. Each lawn has its own romantic name.

The park contains a rich collection of ancient trees and shrubs of rare species imported from other countries. Tourists can admire the cozy Tea House, the amazing Freischutz waterfall, the Maria Fountain - a copy of the fountain of “tears” in Bakhchisarai.

The Vorontsov Palace and its magnificent park were immortalized in their paintings by Levitan, Surikov, and Lentulov. While in Crimea, Aivazovsky painted his seascapes here. The rock on which he worked bears the artist's name. Thousands of tourists take beautiful photos as souvenirs of the wonderful nature of Crimea and its amazing attractions.

Museum expositions

The interior of the palace has changed slightly over the past 100 years. The museum has several permanent exhibitions. Tourists can explore 10 state rooms on the ground floor.

The following exhibitions are also available to visitors:

• Shuvalov's house;
• kitchen;
• butler's apartment;
• sculptures in the park.

There are valuable collections of paintings, porcelain, sculptures, and elegant antique furniture that have great historical value. The guides talk very interestingly and in detail about the buildings and life of the family members.

Palace opening hours

The main exhibitions of the museum are open seven days a week from 9:00 to 18:00. Other exhibitions are closed on Mondays and Wednesdays. Tickets are sold at several ticket offices, which open at 9 o'clock.

Information for tourists. Visiting rules

Tourists are informed in advance about the rules for visiting the museum.

Here are the main ones:

How do excursions work?

Each excursion begins with a tour of stands where the history of construction is presented. Then visitors explore the remaining halls of the first floor. Excursionists are not allowed into the upper sleeping quarters. They clearly look more modest, and the furnishings have not been preserved.

Thematic exhibitions are often organized in the park, and excursions around the park in electric cars are offered. Individual excursions are carried out on a contractual basis.

Cost of visits

Entrance to Alupka Park is free, except for some places popular with tourists.

Prices for visiting the museum are reasonable:

Services	Ticket price for adults (RUB)	Cost of discounted ticket (RUB)
Main exhibitions	300	200
Exhibitions	110-150	55-80
Tour of the park	50-100	25
Walk through the park in an electric car	800	800
Single ticket	650	Z25
Event with photo accompaniment for one academic hour	2500

Commercial video shootings are paid in advance.

How to get to Vorontsov Palace

From any settlement It is easy to get to Alupka on the South Coast, both by sea and by land.

From Yalta

From Yalta to Alupka 17 km. You can get here by regular boat, which departs from the sea station. From the central bus station there are buses with special routes - No. 132 (from the center) and No. 102 (from the bus station).

From the Vorontsov Palace stop you can get to the castle through the park. Minibuses No. 107 and No. 115 take tourists to the bus station, and from there you have to walk. By car from Yalta you need to go through Vinogradnoye, Livadia, Gornoye.

From Alushta

It is easier to get from Alushta to Alupka via Yalta, where departures are made every half hour route trolleybuses. At the Yalta bus station, change to buses to Alupka. On the passing intercity buses "Simferopol-Simeiz" you can directly get to Alupka (highway) in two hours. This option is suitable for active tourists, not burdened with luggage.

From Simferopol

First you need to get to the Yalta bus station on the Simferopol-Yalta bus, and from there by shuttle bus to the bus stop and another 10-15 minutes on foot.

From Sevastopol

Take the “Sevastopol-Yalta” bus to the “Pitomnik” stop, cross to the other side of the road and take route No. 1A and go to the “Avtostanciya” stop. There is also a direct flight “Sevastopol-Alupka”. A good option there will be an acquisition excursion tour, which will eliminate problems with transport.

The majestic palace has its secrets and mysteries.

Some of them remain unsolved to this day:

Vorontsov Palace is the most striking landmark of the peninsula. You can’t visit Crimea without visiting the famous palace ensemble and its magnificent park. Here you can admire beautiful views, get unforgettable vivid impressions. Tourists who come to Alupka love to take photos against the backdrop of the palace and the battlements of Mount Ai-Petri.

Article format: Lozinsky Oleg

Video about the Vorontsov Palace in Crimea

Vorontsov Palace. Alupka. Sights of Crimea:

A lot is connected with the Vorontsov Palace romantic stories, which could well become the basis for a dozen romance novels. I will say more - Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin was involved in the love affair. But first things first.

The palace in Alupka is so harmoniously integrated into the surrounding landscape, repeating with its Moorish turrets and Gothic battlements of facades the outlines of the Ai-Petri mountain range located in the immediate vicinity, that it seems as if this entire architectural and natural ensemble has always been here.

The Governor-General of Novorossiya, Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov, began construction of a representative residence in Crimea in 1824. In addition to Alupka in the south of Crimea, Vorontsov owned Massandra (I showed the Massandra Palace here), Ai-Danil and Gurzuf. But it was the Alupka estate that the count decided to turn into a summer residence.

Simultaneously with the construction of the palace, construction of a road from Simferopol to the southern coast of Crimea began.

In the world, Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov was known as an Anglomaniac, so it is not surprising that he entrusted the creation of the palace project to the court architect of the Queen of England, Edward Blore. It was he who designed Buckingham Palace in London. It is noteworthy that during the twenty years of construction, Blore never came to look at his brainchild. The work was supervised by his assistant and student William Gunt, thanks to whom some amendments were made to the drawings in accordance with the characteristics of the area.

They didn’t go far to get stones for construction - they took the Crimean volcanic rock dolerite (diabase) right from under their feet: the central, dining, guest, library and utility buildings of the palace complex were made of dolerite. By the way, Red Square in Moscow is paved with Crimean dolerite.

The Vorontsov Palace was designed in the style of late English Gothic (Tudor style), but with elements of oriental architecture, which is why from different angles it looks either like a medieval castle or like the residence of a Mohammedan ruler.

The reason for such an unexpected combination of styles in the appearance of the palace lies in the personalities of the architect and the customer. Edward Blore was well acquainted with the architecture of the British colony - with the architecture of India. Therefore, it was not difficult for him to combine the Tudor style with variations on the theme of Indian architecture of the Mughal period in one project. Probably, in his mind, such a mixture should correspond to Crimea, given that the peninsula was Muslim for a long time. In addition, romantic trends prevailed in architectural fashion, which was also to the taste of Count Vorontsov.

Portrait of Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov by Lawrence, 1823

On the western side is the main entrance to the palace complex. This part of the Vorontsov Palace resembles a medieval castle with round watchtowers, narrow loopholes and blank fortress walls.

Here we see the Shuvalovsky building and the Shuvalovsky gate passage. The daughter of Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov, having married, became Countess Shuvalova, and her apartments were located in the right building.

Shuvalovsky passage between two fortress-like walls of rough masonry made of gray diabase blocks, with round crenellated towers and narrow lancet windows makes us believe that we are in a medieval castle.

Shuvalovsky proezd

A separate gate leads to the utility yard. In the center of the courtyard grows a plane tree, planted during the construction of the palace. There is also a museum ticket office where you will be given a metal token instead of a paper ticket.

Passing the outbuildings, we find ourselves in the front yard in front of the northern facade of the palace, facing Ai-Petri and the upper park.

Northern façade of the palace

According to experts, the architecture of the northern façade, with its vertical projections, miniature decorative turrets and large bay windows, harmoniously combines elements of sixteenth-century Gothic and Renaissance architecture.

In front of the palace there are two parterres with marble fountains in the center of each. The “Selsibil” fountain, a copy of the “Fountain of Tears” from the Khan’s Palace in Bakhchisarai, glorified by Pushkin, took refuge in a shady pergola of blooming wisteria.

Nearby, at the left wing of the palace, is the white marble fountain “Source of the Amur”.

Let's go around the palace on the eastern side to look at the southern facade facing the sea, made based on Indian architecture.

The blue and white escadre with two tiers of arched windows is decorated with a double jagged horseshoe arch and covered with stucco alabaster ornaments made in the Eastern tradition. At the level of the second floor, along its decorative frieze, there are three balconies with openwork grilles and a relief Arabic inscription - a praise to the prophet repeated six times: “And there is no winner but Allah.” In the depths of the exedra there is a wide lancet door leading to the Blue Living Room of the palace, where we will go a little later.

To the left and right of the exedra stretch two symmetrical wings of the open terrace of the second floor, resting on cast iron columns with capitals in the form of lotus buds. To the west of the squadron there is the Winter Garden, behind it the dining room, and then the southern facade of the Shuvalovsky building.

A wide staircase with three pairs of lions descends from the esqueda to the sea - the Lion's Terrace. At the entrance to the palace, the lions are awake, standing guard, on the middle landing of the stairs they wake up or fall asleep, and those closer to the sea sleep peacefully, with their muzzles resting on their paws. The Lion's Terrace ends with a platform with exits to the lower park, to Aivazovsky's Rock and the Tea House on the seashore.

Fountain "Bowl" in the lower park

The south terrace is a favorite place for taking pictures in beautiful poses and beautiful outfits.

From here the paths diverge to Nizhny Vorontsovsky Park.

After examining the palace facade, it is interesting to look at the count's chambers. We immediately found out that the second floor and mezzanines were closed for inspection: there was a time when tourists went up to the rooms on the second floor, but the ceilings of the first floor suffered from this. In the end, the museum decided to leave only nine halls on the first floor accessible to tourists.

Like many other Crimean palaces, after the 1917 revolution Vorontsov Castle was nationalized, but was not turned into a health resort, but became a museum of noble life. Perhaps this happy circumstance played an important role in the preservation of the palace interiors. During the Great Patriotic War, the palace was looted, but not destroyed. From 1945 to 1955, a state dacha was located here. And finally, in 1956, the museum was reopened here.

Entering the palace from the north side, you find yourself in a corridor where the dressing room used to be. Now in cabinets made of bog oak, completely covering one of the walls from floor to ceiling, books from the Alupka library of Count Vorontsov, who was a famous bibliophile, are stored.

Another wall is decorated with ancient engravings depicting the construction of the palace and Alupka landscapes.

Landscape by Carlo Bossoli "Palace of Prince Vorontsov in Alupka"

Through the corridor we enter the State Office of the owner of the palace.

The central place on the western wall of the office is occupied by a portrait of Count Vorontsov by Louise Dessemé. Mikhail Semyonovich was one of the most famous heroes of the Patriotic War of 1812. Nearby are portraits of Borodino heroes Lev Aleksandrovich Naryshkin and Fyodor Semyonovich Uvarov, painted by the famous portrait painter George Dow.

The walls of the office are covered with painted wallpaper, which was specially ordered in England. Massive wooden doors are complemented by oak panels on the walls and a stucco wood-like ceiling.

Against the wall is an antique ebony bookcase in the Boulle style, bought by the owner of the palace himself. The cabinet is decorated with tortoise shell and intricate carved bronze inlay.

Next to the bookcase there is a round table, English chairs and armchairs with Gothic carvings. This arrangement of furniture gives the office an atmosphere conducive not only to business conversations, but also to friendly meetings.

Another reminder of the Anglomania of Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov is a window in the form of a bay window. This element, often found in English architecture, visually increases the space of the office and gives more light. A table covered with green cloth and two chairs were placed in the bay window. Sitting in a chair, you can admire the upper park, and in clear weather, the peaks of Ai-Petri.

From the office we find ourselves in the Calico Room. It is called chintz because the walls of the room are actually covered with chintz.

There is original fabric on the walls, the only flaw of which is the faded color. Initially, the chintz was a crimson shade with small splashes of blue, which was combined with a fireplace made of pink Ural marble and a basket-shaped chandelier. The pinkish-blue reflections of the pendants on the chandelier echoed the color of the chintz on the walls.

Through the Calico Room we pass into the Chinese study of the mistress of the house, Elizaveta Ksaverievna Vorontsova, whose portrait by George Dow can be seen on the right wall from the entrance.

The room is decorated in the then fashionable oriental style, but without any specific links to China, India or the countries of the East in general. Oak panels, high lancet windows and doors leading to the southern terrace, to the sea, unexpectedly but successfully combine with silk and beaded rice mats on the walls and wooden carved details in the interior.

The ceiling in the room is not wooden, as it might seem, but stucco. Russian peasant Roman Furtunov skillfully made a ceiling from plaster, imitating wood carving.

There is a round table made of Karelian birch by the window. Nearby, behind the curtain, is a small corner cabinet, given to Vorontsov by Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, wife of Nicholas I, as a token of gratitude for the hospitality shown to them.

And a few lyrical digressions. Many people know from school that Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin was infatuated with the wife of the Novorossiysk governor-general. It is believed that it was to Elizaveta Vorontsova that Pushkin dedicated the poems “The Burnt Letter”, “The Rainy Day Has Extinguished...”, “The Desire for Glory”, “The Talisman”, “Keep Me, My Talisman...”. In addition, in terms of the number of portrait drawings of Vorontsova executed by Pushkin, her image surpasses all others - a total of 17 portraits were counted.

There were rumors that Pushkin was the father of one of Elizaveta Ksaveryevna’s daughters. However, researchers of the poet’s biography also have reason to assume that Pushkin was only a cover for Elizaveta Ksaveryevna’s affair with her relative and friend of Pushkin, Alexander Raevsky. In any case, we can say thanks to Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov, who “contributed” to the change of the poet’s southern exile to exile in Mikhailovskoye. Because it was there that Alexander Sergeevich wrote not only the novel “Eugene Onegin,” but also his other poetic works, which became the pride of Russian literature. And by the way, the same researchers claim that Vorontsov himself had an illegitimate daughter with his wife’s best friend Olga Stanislavovna Naryshkina. Portraits of Olga Stanislavovna and her daughter were always kept among Vorontsov’s personal belongings and even stood on the desktop of the front office.

But let's not linger in the Chinese office, but let's go further - to the Main Entrance Hall.

The main entrance hall is located in the center of the palace. Two small vestibules symmetrically adjoin it from the south and north, and offices and lounges are located from the west and east. The northern vestibule, like the northern facade of the palace, is made in the English style. In contrast to the Englishness, the southern vestibule is decorated with carpets depicting the Persian Shah Fath-Ali.

Following the traditions of the English style, the architect connected the lobby with the rooms on the second floor with stairs, but hid them behind the wall, which is why at first glance you cannot understand how the owners got from the first floor to their bedrooms.

Portraits of eminent ancestors of the owners of the residence are hung on the walls of the lobby, so that from the threshold of entering the palace he would have an idea of ​​the nobility of the family and the origin of the owners of the house. The parents of Elizaveta Ksaveryevna Vorontsova are looking at us from the walls - Countess Alexandra Vasilievna Branitskaya and her husband, Crown Hetman of Poland Ksavery Branitsky. The largest canvas is a ceremonial portrait of Empress Catherine II by Rokotov.

From the lobby we proceed to the eastern palace wing, which begins with the Blue Drawing Room. It is impossible not to notice the contrast between the adjacent grand entrance hall and this sun-filled room. The soft blue walls and ceiling are covered with a stucco pattern of leaves and flowers. Like the ceiling in the Chinese office, the skillful stucco molding of the living room was made by Roman Furtunov and his assistants.

The living room is divided into southern and northern parts by retractable wooden curtains, which are almost invisible when folded. In the southern part there was an “auditorium”, which housed a set of furniture transported to Alupka at the end of the 19th century from the Odessa Palace. The interior is complemented by a carved fireplace made of white Carrara marble and huge vases - craters, painted in blue tones.

For musical evenings and theatrical performances, there is a grand piano in the northern part of the Blue Drawing Room. In 1863, one of the founders of the Russian realistic theater, Mikhail Semenovich Shchepkin, performed here. In 1898, Fyodor Chaliapin sang in the Vorontsov Palace to the accompaniment of Sergei Rachmaninov.

From the Blue Living Room, the Vorontsovs' guests went out into the Winter Garden. In the 19th century, almost every European palace had its own winter garden, which was used for reading and relaxation.

The winter garden serves as a transition from the central building to the dining room. Originally it was a loggia, which was later glazed with a large lantern built on top for better illumination. The walls of the winter garden are covered with ficus repens. The fountain and marble sculptures stand surrounded by araucarias, cycads, date palms and monstera.

Near the glass wall, consisting of huge French windows, there is a row of marble busts, among which are sculptural portraits of representatives of the Vorontsov family - Semyon Romanovich Vorontsov, Mikhail Semenovich himself and his wife Elizaveta Ksaryevna. Next to them is a marble bust of Catherine II by Johann Oesterreich. They say that for the excessive realism of her image in stone, the aging empress not only did not pay for the work, but also sent the sculptor out of Russia within 24 hours.

Passing the Winter Garden, not forgetting to admire the view of the South Terrace and the sea from the windows, we find ourselves in the next room - the State Dining Room. This is the largest and most pompous part of the palace.

The area of ​​the dining room is about 150 sq.m., the ceiling height is 8 m. Under the Vorontsovs, it was illuminated by dozens of candelabra and chandeliers. A huge table, consisting of four offset parts with polished mahogany tops, rises on pedestals with animal paws and occupies a significant part of the room. By the window there is a massive sideboard on the same lion's paws as the tables, and under the sideboard there is an Egyptian-style bathtub for cooling wine, which was filled with crushed ice.

In the center of the northern wall of the formal dining room, between the fireplaces, there is a fountain, the niche of which is decorated with a majolica panel depicting fantastic birds and dragons. Above the fountain is a carved wooden balcony for musicians.

The Billiard Room adjoins the Dining Room from the east. The proximity of this room to the Dining Room is reminiscent of two large still lifes located opposite each other by the Flemish artist Peter Sneyers, “Vegetable Pantry” and “Fish Pantry”.

The Vorontsovs, like many other aristocrats, collected paintings. Especially at that time, paintings by painters from Holland, Flanders, and Italy of the 16th-18th centuries were valued.

This is the last room of the Vorontsovs’ chambers available for inspection. Now we can take a walk around the Upper Park.

The work on creating the park, which began even somewhat earlier than the construction of the palace, in 1820, was entrusted to the chief gardener of the Southern Coast of Crimea, Karl Antonovich Kebakh. When laying out the park, the abundance of mountain springs was taken into account, which were used to create artificial lakes, numerous cascades and small waterfalls. In this part of the park you can constantly hear the murmur of water.

Most of the paths in the Upper Park lead to lakes and the Big Chaos - a huge stone blockage of natural origin.

The largest lake in the park is Swan Lake. The gardener deliberately gave it an irregular shape to create the illusion of its natural rather than artificial origin. Under the Vorontsovs, the bottom of the lake was strewn with semi-precious “Koktebel stones” - jasper, carnelians, chalcedony, which were found in abundance in Koktebel.

Near Swan Lake is the Trout Pond and even further away is the Mirror Pond. On the Mirror Pond, the water seems motionless, which is why the trees and sky are reflected on its surface as if in a mirror.

To the east of the lakes in the landscape part of the park there are four picturesque meadows - Platanovaya, Solnechnaya, Contrastnaya, where Himalayan cedar and yew berry rise in the middle of the lawn, and Kashtanovaya.

Above the ponds, along the path through the Hall of Grottoes, between skillfully placed rock fragments, the path goes to the Greater and Lesser Chaos. Millions of years ago, frozen magma turned into a scattering of huge debris as a result of earthquakes and landslides. The creators of the park left the stone blocks untouched, they only removed small fragments and planted the top with pine trees. This is how the famous “Alupka chaos” turned out.

At this point, we’ll pause our walk through Vorontsovsky Park so that we have a reason to come back here again.

Palace M.S. Vorontsov in Alupka is one of the most famous attractions of the Crimean peninsula. It is at the foot of mountain range Ai-Petri. The beautiful park surrounding it, like the palace itself, has been a museum since 1956.

Photo of Vorontsov Palace:

Palace architecture

The style in which the building was built is a combination of English and neo-Moorish styles; they not only combine perfectly with each other, but also perfectly take into account the surrounding terrain. The author of the project, the English architect Edward Blore, managed to organically combine elements of the English style from the ancient period to the 16th century, which is observed in its western part. Oriental elements are presented at the South Entrance, where the horseshoe arch and two-tiered vault are richly decorated with carvings. There is even an Arabic text that says: “and there is no winner but Allah.” The chimneys in this part resemble the towers of minarets.

Historical background

The Vorontsov Palace took 20 years to build, in 1828 - 48. for Count M.S. Vorontsov, who was at that time the governor of the Novorossiysk region. Architects F. Boro and T. Harrison began construction. The English architect E. Blore replaced them after the sudden death of Harrison. He never came, he only studied the area well, on the basis of which he created his masterpiece. The construction was supervised by U. Gunt, his student.

Interesting:
The palace was built by serfs from the Moscow and Vladimir provinces. When performing the most complex relief finishing, only manual labor and primitive tools were used.

The first was in 1830 - 34. a dining building was erected, construction was completed in 1840 - 46. library building. At the same time, in 1840 - 48 Large-scale work was carried out to build the park. Even sapper soldiers were involved in the construction of terraces at the southern facade.

The park was created by the German K.A. from 1824 to 1851. Kebakh, who was the main gardener of the entire South Coast. The park area is 40 hectares. More than 200 plant species are represented here.

Interesting:
20 bags of semi-precious stones were poured into the bottom of Swan Lake, which adorns the park, to create an extraordinary play of light in sunny weather.

The final point in the creation of a magnificent garden and park ensemble was the installation of marble lions created by Italian masters on the central staircase at the main entrance.

A little about the customer and the first owner

Count Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov is best known to us from a not very flattering side. And this, thanks to the caustic epigrams of A.S. Pushkin, who was under his supervision during his southern exile. And really, how can you treat someone whose wife you are in love with without reciprocity? So our great poet took it out on Elizaveta Ksaveryevna’s husband with all his fervor. Every schoolchild is familiar with Pushkin’s characterization of the general:

Half my lord, half merchant,
Half-sage, half-ignorant,
Semi-scoundrel, but there is hope
Which will be complete at last.

In reality, M.S. Vorontsov is an intelligent, respectable person and a true hero. It is no coincidence that his figure is presented on the monument to the 1000th anniversary of Russia. He was born into a famous family, Catherine II became his godmother. The young man received his (brilliant) education in London, where his father served as an envoy.

Having begun military service at the age of 21, he participated in many battles. Here are just a few of them:

• - 1804 - storming of the Ganja fortress in the Caucasus;
• - 1809 - storming of the Bazardzhik fortress in the Balkans;
• - 1812 - Borodino (bayonet wound in hand-to-hand combat);
• - 1813 - battle near Leipzig;
• - 1814 - capture of Paris.

M.S. Vorontsov led the occupation forces in Paris, and when they left France, he collected information about the debts of officers and soldiers to the local population and compensated everything from his personal funds (almost 1,500,000 of those rubles), selling one of his estates for this.

He did a lot for the economic development of Bessarabia, Odessa, Crimea, the Novorossiysk region, and all of Southern Russia.

Military service M.S. Vorontsov continued in the Caucasus in 1844. For his successes he received the title of prince, then, his Serene Highness, the rank of field marshal general, the position of the Caucasian governor.

Personal qualities of M.S. Vorontsova.

He was a bibliophile and a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He had a unique library, which his father and his own aunt E.R. began to collect. Dashkova.

His awards for military and public services make up a huge list, among them

• St. George Cross of three degrees (for personal courage);
• - 2 golden swords (for bravery),
• — Order of St. Vladimir;
• — Alexander Nevsky;
• — Andrew the First-Called and many more Russian and foreign orders and awards.

He was loved by the soldiers, for whom he abolished physical punishment, was easy to handle and approachable with them, and was loved and respected by the officers. After his death, a sad saying was born among the military: “God is high, the Tsar is far away, but Vorontsov died.”

There are several monuments to the general, created with money collected by people grateful to him. He died in 1856 and was buried in Odessa. In 2005, with military honors, his ashes and the ashes of his wife were transferred to the Transfiguration Cathedral.
In general, the great poet was wrong.

Governor General's Palace

Today the Southern Coast of Crimea is luxurious and popular resort place, and in the first years of the 19th century. he was just gaining fame. Russian landowners developed fertile places, and M.S. was no exception. Vorontsov is one of richest people of its time. His choice fell on the small Tatar village of Alupka.

What attracted the Novorossiysk Governor-General? Of course, the same thing that modern tourists highly value:

• - healing climate;
• — luxurious landscapes;
• - warm sea;
• - surrounding springs.

The architects paid tribute to the love of M.S. Vorontsov to everything English, but at the same time they emphasized the recent Turkish influence that remained in Crimea. All this is taken into account in the harmonious mixture of English and oriental styles, and the participation in the formation of the image of the palace of the Ai-Petri mountain range is not forgotten.

Interesting:
To increase seismic resistance, lead is poured into the foundation slabs.

Continuation of the story

After the death of the owner, the palace passed to his nephews, Pavel Andreevich Shuvalov, then Mikhail Andreevich. The last owner was the granddaughter of M.S. Vorontsova Elizaveta Andreevna Vorontsova-Dashkova.

During the Soviet period, the estate was nationalized. At first there was a NKVD dacha here, and in 1921 a museum began operating in the palace.

During the Great Patriotic War, the exhibits did not have time to be evacuated; 4,980,000 rubles worth of rarities were exported to Germany (in 1945 terms)

Interesting:
The museum was twice saved from destruction by S.G. Shchekoldin, a museum employee appointed by the Germans as its director. He prevented an explosion from dynamite planted by the NKVD. He managed to save the building from air bombs. He also provided a list of stolen items. BUT! He was sentenced “for collaboration with the occupiers” to 10 years. Rehabilitated only in 1991.

In February 1945, during the Yalta Conference, a British delegation led by W. Churchill lived in the palace. Until 1955 there was a state dacha here.

Since 1956 it has been a museum, and since 1990 a museum-reserve, including a park and a palace.

Palace interiors

The building has 150 rooms located in 5 buildings. It also combines elements of English style and oriental motifs.

The rooms are symmetrical, their doors are opposite each other. Each room has a fireplace, and there are portraits of famous people and landscapes on the walls. The sculptures in the greenhouse are depictions of family members of the first owner.

In 1914, electricity appeared in the palace.

Currently, 10 rooms on the ground floor are available to visitors. They practically preserved the original interior. These are the ceremonial rooms where the owners received guests, and the greenhouse. Some of the furniture is original. The rest are selected with such skill that they do not disturb the overall picture.

Interesting:
The parquet flooring of the palace is authentic - it is almost 200 years old.

Video review of the palace:

Tourist Information

In addition to the main exhibition, visitors are offered the following exhibitions:

• - butler's apartment;
• — Vorontsov’s kitchen;
• - Shuvalov's house;
• - park sculpture
• and a number of others.

Important:
You can buy tickets for each exhibition separately, but it is more profitable to buy a single ticket for 650 rubles. Children under 16 years old visit the palace for free. Students, pensioners and citizens 16-18 years old for 325 rubles.

You can ride around the park in an electric car. The cost of such an excursion is 800 rubles for the entire group (from 4 to 20 people.) Excursion services are also provided in the museum.

The main exhibition is open seven days a week from 8:00 to 20:00. The remaining exhibitions are closed on Monday and Wednesday.

Detailed and up-to-date information on the palace website: http://worontsovpalace.org (official website)

How to get to Vorontsov Palace

Buses go here from Yalta from the central bus station. Go to the Alupka Palace stop. Continue on foot through the park. You can take a minibus to the local bus station and, following the signs, walk 850 m. You can take a boat on the sea - this is an additional pleasure and experience. Then from the beach uphill. Address: Alupka, Dvortsovoye Highway, 18.

Vorontsov Palace on the map of Crimea

GPS Coordinates: N 44.419861, E 34.055972 Latitude/Longitude

The Alupka Palace, a masterpiece of Romanticism architecture, was built over almost 20 years, from 1828 to 1848, by order of the powerful Governor-General of the Novorossiysk Territory, aristocrat and Anglomaniac Count Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov. The count personally chose the place for his Crimean residence on a picturesque stone cape at the foot of Mount Ai-Petri in the little-known Tatar village of Alupka. The Englishman Edward Blore, the author of Walter Scott's castle in Scotland and the court architect, managed to organically fit the palace building into the surrounding landscape british crown. In the architecture of the Vorontsov Palace, Blore combined different styles - English, neo-Moorish and Gothic, paying tribute to the secular fashion of that time for the novels of Walter Scott and oriental fairy tales.

History of creation

Initially, the famous Italian architect Francesco Boffo, who had already built a palace for the count in Odessa, was appointed to build the residence. The Englishman Thomas Harrison, an engineer and adherent of neoclassicism, was supposed to help him. Work began, and by 1828 the foundation, which was filled with lead for earthquake resistance, as well as the first masonry of the portal niche of the central building were ready. But Harrison died in 1829, and two years later the count decided to suspend construction of the palace, apparently abandoning the idea of ​​​​building a residence in the neoclassical style.

Vorontsov turns to the Englishman Edward Blore, a brilliant architectural historian, graphic artist and fashionable architect in his homeland. Most likely, Count Pembroke recommended him to Vorontsov. We had to wait almost a year for new drawings. But Mikhail Semenovich liked the result, and in December 1832 the construction of the buildings began. Blore brilliantly solved the problem from a historical perspective: the architecture of the palace demonstrates the development of medieval European and Moorish architecture, from the forms of the early Middle Ages to the 16th century. The palace building is deployed in such a way that it repeats the outlines of the visible mountains. It is surprising that the architect himself, who so accurately integrated the building into the surrounding nature, never visited Crimea, but used only numerous landscape sketches and relief drawings that were sent to him in England.

The resulting castle could well serve as an illustration for historical novels: five buildings, fortified with defensive towers, different in shape and height, interconnected by many open and closed passages, stairs and courtyards.

The construction was carried out from local greenish-gray stone - diabase, which is not inferior in strength to basalt, which was taken from natural placers in Alupka. Processing it required considerable effort, since complex designs on the exterior of the house could be ruined by one wrong blow with a chisel. Therefore, Russian stone cutters who built white stone churches in Central Russia were invited to carry out the most complex stone cutting work.

The main decorative decoration of the Vorontsov Palace - the motif of a gently sloping pointed keeled arch - is repeated several times in the cast-iron balustrade of the balconies, and in the carved stone lattice enclosing the roof, and in the decorative decoration of the portal of the southern entrance, made in the Moorish style of the Alhambra Palace.

The design of the southern entrance facing the sea intertwines a Tudor flower design and a lotus motif, which ends with the Arabic inscription repeated six times across the frieze: “And there is no winner but Allah,” just as it is written in the Alhambra of Granada.

In front of the facade is the Lion's Terrace and a monumental staircase in white Carrara marble by the Italian sculptor Giovanni Bonanni. On both sides of the steps there are three pairs of lions: the bottom left is sleeping, the bottom right is awakening, above is a pair of awake ones, and the third pair is roaring.

The rear façade of the palace and its western part, a variation on the theme of Tudor England of the 16th - early 17th centuries, resembles the harsh castles of English aristocrats.

By the way, this palace was one of the first in Russia to be equipped with hot water and sewerage.

The cost of building the palace complex amounted to about 9 million silver rubles - an astronomical amount for those times. But Count Vorontsov could afford it, since after his marriage in 1819 to Elizaveta Ksaverevna Branitskaya, he doubled his fortune and became the richest landowner in the Russian Empire. Elizaveta Ksaverevna, the same one with whom, according to one version, Alexander Pushkin fell in love in exile in Odessa, personally supervised the creation of the building’s interiors, took care of the decoration of the park and often paid for the work.

Inhabitants of the palace

Mikhail Semenovich did not manage to live in the Alupka Palace for a long time. Another assignment followed - this time to the Caucasus. But in Alupka at the end of the 1840s, his daughter, Countess Sofya Mikhailovna, settled with her children. Then, after the death of Prince Vorontsov (he received the princely title in 1845), the palace, by right of primacy, passed to his only son, Semyon Mikhailovich. In 1882, his widow, Maria Vasilievna Vorontsova, went abroad and took many valuables from the palace. She had no children, the palace was abandoned, and by the end of the 19th century the building, park and farm fell into complete disrepair.

In 1904, new owners appeared at the castle - relatives along the Vorontsov-Dashkov line. The wife of the Tsar's deputy in the Caucasus, Countess Elizaveta Andreevna Vorontsova-Dashkova, née Countess Shuvalova, energetically got down to business. She rented out land for sanatoriums and boarding houses and built more than 120 dachas on the estate.

After the revolution and the establishment of Soviet power in Crimea, the lands of the Vorontsov-Dashkovs were nationalized. And on February 22, 1921, Lenin’s telegram arrived in Crimea: “Take decisive measures to truly protect artistic values, paintings, porcelain, bronze, marble, etc., located in Yalta palaces and private buildings, now allocated for sanatoriums of the People's Commissariat of Health...”

At the beginning of the 20s South Coast Crimea, in some of the largest noble estates museums were created, among them the Alupka Museum. The museum's collection was seriously damaged during the Great Patriotic War: much was taken away by the occupiers, including 537 works of painting and graphics. Only a small part of the paintings were found after the war and returned to the palace.

In February 1945, during the Crimean (Yalta) Conference, the Alupka Palace became the residence of the British delegation. Meetings of the heads of the Allied powers - Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt - took place in the State Dining Room of the palace.

Later the palace became the state dacha of the NKVD. In 1952, a sanatorium was located there, and only in 1956, by decision of the Soviet government, the Crimean State Museum of Fine Arts opened here. Since 1990, the palace has been part of the Alupka Palace and Park Museum-Reserve. Its collection today includes works of painting, sculpture and applied art, as well as documents, ancient drawings and lithographs that introduce the history of the construction of the palace.

English park

The English park of the palace is the work of the German gardener-botanist Karl Kebach, whom Vorontsov invited to Crimea in 1824, when there was no design for the palace itself. He eagerly set about creating a park, taking into account the relief, climate and local flora, combining, however, everything with the latest achievements of landscape art. About 200 species of trees and bushes were brought here from all over the world. Parcels with seeds and seedlings came from America, Italy, the Caucasus, Karelia, China and Japan. They said that more than two thousand varieties of roses bloomed here at the same time. The German gardener became so famous in Crimea that landowners began to invite him to create or improve their parks and gardens along the entire coast.

Karl Kebach clearly planned the park on the principle of an amphitheater, maintaining connections in its structure with the main palace and other architectural objects. The coastal highway (Yalta - Simeiz) divides the park into Upper and Lower.

The lower park is designed in the style of Italian Renaissance gardens with fountains, marble sculptures, Byzantine columns, vases and stone benches. The upper one was created according to the principle of English landscape parks of the Romanticism era - more natural and natural: in it, rocky debris, shady ponds and preserved areas of the Crimean forest alternate with picturesque meadows, a unique system of lakes, waterfalls, cascades and grottoes. Kebakh created the Upper Park as a place of contemplation of the sea and Mount Ai-Petri, towering above the park and palace, like the ruins of a giants’ castle.

A carefully thought-out drainage system and individual plant care did their job - many, even very rare and whimsical plants, took root well. In total, 250 species of trees and shrubs grew in the park by the end of the 19th century. The plants of Vorontsovsky Park were so popular that seedlings were even sold externally to other gardens and estates.

The glory of Vorontsov Park as a masterpiece of landscape architecture was strengthened by the artists who worked here on sketches: Isaac Levitan, Vasily Surikov, Aristarkh Lentulov... And the parks, gardens and vineyards that belonged to Count Mikhail Vorontsov and his relatives - the Naryshkins and Pototskys, completely changed the appearance of the coast from Alushta to Foros.