Vorontsov Palace in Alupka, Crimea. Medieval castle in Crimea: Vorontsov Palace - everything you need to know before visiting Who built the Vorontsov Palace

According to statistics, most tourists visiting Alupka with excursions come here with a very specific purpose - to look at the famous Vorontsov Palace. Among the tourists walking around the territory of this magnificent palace, there are a variety of people. Someone came here "for show", someone for the wonderful mountain and sea landscapes that open from observation deck palace. But a rather significant percentage of tourists purposefully come here in order to touch the history ...

And this story began back in 1828, when the Novorossiysk and Bessarabian Governor-General, Count Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov, decided to build a summer residence for himself in Alupka, having bought many land plots in Alupka for this purpose.

The venerable English court architect Edward Blore (1787-1879), with whom M.S. Vorontsov was personally acquainted. Among the most famous objects to which Blore had a hand, we will name Buckingham Palace in London and Salisbury Tower in Windsor Castle.

The palace was built in several stages: first, a dining building was erected (1830-1834). Then the central building appeared (1831-1837). In 1841-1842, a billiard room was attached to the dining room, in 1838-1844 the guest building, the eastern wings and towers of the palace, and utility buildings were completed. And finally, last but not least, the library building was erected.

In total, the construction of the palace lasted for a long 20 years and was completed in 1848, costing Vorontsov 9 million silver rubles.

Diabase stone (modern name - dolerite), from which the main part of the palace is made, is one of the strongest natural building materials. The structure of this volcanic mineral is extremely strong, which creates additional difficulties in its processing. Building material for the palace was mined in the mountains, not far from Alupka. As for the workers, their bulk was represented by serfs from the Moscow and Vladimir provinces, moreover, qualified stonemasons who already had experience in building stone cathedrals were specially selected from them.

Interesting fact: Red Square in Moscow is also paved with Crimean diabase

During the construction of the Vorontsov Palace, mainly heavy manual labor was used.

The architectural style in which the palace was built deserves a separate story.

The main architectural motif prevailing in the buildings of the palace is the English style, which is not surprising, given the nationality of the architect and Count Vorontsov's predilection for English culture, which was very close to him. Father M.S. Vorontsov - Semyon Romanovich Vorontsov for many years was the Russian ambassador to London, and Mikhail himself spent all his childhood, youth and youth in England, absorbing the spirit and mentality of Foggy Albion.

According to the architect's idea, the Vorontsov Palace contained the styles of various English eras, which replace each other in chronological order, starting from the western gate.

A very unexpected architectural turn awaits tourists who wish to view the Vorontsov Palace from its southern side. According to the original idea of ​​the architect, the side of the palace facing the sea was made in the neo-Moorish style and resembles the palaces of the eastern rulers. Against the backdrop of the strict English features of the northern side of the palace, the magnificent southern facade looks very contrasting and unexpected. All doubts about the “eastern” origin of the southern facade of the palace are dispelled by the Arabic inscription on the frieze “And there is no God but Allah”, repeated several times.

The entrance and stairs on this side of the palace are guarded white marble lions, which were made in the workshop of the Italian sculptor Giovanni Bonnani.

The interior of the Vorontsov Palace was luxurious, but at the same time, tastefully done. In total, the palace consisted of more than 100 rooms, of which the most famous are the "Blue Living Room", "Chint Room", "Winter Garden", "Chinese Study", "Billiard Room", "Front Dining Room" "Lobby". In the interior of the palace, a large number of things and objects dating back to the times of the very first owner have been preserved to this day.

If you look at the Vorontsov Palace from the sea, you will notice that its features repeat the relief mountain range towering over Alupka from the north. And this is not an accident at all, but an original architectural idea.

In parallel with the construction of the palace, next to it, for the whole 25 years, the magnificent Vorontsovsky Park was created, which, without exaggeration, is one of the most outstanding works of garden and park art in the Crimea. To date, the area of ​​this park is 40 hectares.

The palace in Alupka belonged to the Vorontsov family until the revolution, after which it was nationalized and a museum was opened in it. The palace remains in this status to the present day, annually receiving thousands of tourists.

During the years of the German occupation, the Vorontsov Palace itself was not damaged, which cannot be said about its exhibits, which were stolen and taken out in the amount of several hundred.

After the war, the palace was used for 10 years as a state dacha for party bosses, and since 1956 it began to work as a museum, which operates to this day.

Vorontsov Palace - precious decoration Tauris. Many visit the small southern coastal town of Alupka only to take a walk in the mysterious park surrounding the famous castle. Its walls hold many unsolved mysteries. The palace was designed by the court architect of the English Queen Victoria, members of the Masonic lodge met here under the cover of mystery, the legendary Winston Churchill stopped here, the greats of this world rested, famous films were shot ...

Just some 20 years...

Starting the story about the Vorontsov Palace, it is impossible not to mention the person thanks to whom this palace arose. architectural masterpiece. A descendant of an old Russian noble family, Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov was famous for his intelligence, education and refined taste. According to the traditions of his time, he was enlisted in the regiment from birth, and at the age of four he was “promoted” to ensign! From the age of 19, Vorontsov has been really fighting - with the Turks, Swedes and French. In the famous battle of Borodino, the young count is wounded. In 1815-1818 Vorontsov commanded the Russian occupation corps in France. He also takes part in the Caucasian campaigns, for which in 1845 he was elevated to princely dignity.

The activity of Prince Vorontsov was no less fruitful in peacetime. He left a significant mark on himself in Novorossia, which he ruled as a governor from 1823 to 1844. In those days, the region entrusted to him included a significant part of the Northern Black Sea region, including the Crimea. Vorontsov turned out to be an excellent business executive. During his reign, Odessa, Kherson, Nikolaev, Sevastopol grew economically. The governor orders to build roads, including the magnificent south coast highway in the Crimea. At this time, a shipping company was established along the Black Sea, the foundations of viticulture and fine-fleeced sheep breeding were laid.

“He owned great wealth - his own and his wife, Countess Branitskaya, - and a huge amount of maintenance received as a governor, and spent most of his funds on building a palace and a garden on the southern coast of Crimea,” Leo Tolstoy wrote about Count Tolstoy in “Hadji Murat” .

To build his dream, Vorontsov spares no money, no time, no human resources. The construction of the palace lasted 20 years - the work was carried out from 1828 to 1848! Edward Blore, who is the court architect of the English Queen Victoria, is invited to create the project. He owns the designs of many famous buildings - Walter Scott's Castle in Scotland and Buckingham Palace in London. It is still unknown whether Blore ever visited Alupka, but he miraculously managed to perfectly combine the architecture with the surrounding mountain landscape. Perhaps the projector was inspired, but it is possible that he still came to the Crimea to get acquainted with the local relief.

By the time Blore's project was implemented, the foundations and the first masonry of the portal niche of the central building were already ready. Initially, the palace was built according to the design of architects Francesco Boffo and Thomas Harrison.

Hereditary masons and stone-cutters who had experience in building and embossing white-stone cathedrals come to build the palace. Thus, a luxurious residence was built by quitrent serfs from the Vladimir and Moscow provinces. This beautiful piece of architecture was built by hand using primitive tools.

The canteen building was the first to grow, then the Central building was built. In 1842, a billiard room was added to the dining room. And in the years 1838-1844, the Front Courtyard was formed, the guest building, the eastern wings, all the towers of the palace, the pentagon of the outbuildings were built. The library building was built last.

The architecture of the palace contains elements of various eras of styles, but the architectural eclecticism looks very harmonious. The architects boldly combined the English style with the neo-Moorish style. A vivid example of this: Gothic chimneys, reminiscent of the minarets of a mosque. The southern entrance exhibits oriental splendor. It is very similar to the Spanish Alhambra Palace, which once belonged to the Arab rulers. On its facade, the inscription in Arabic is repeated six times, saying: "There is no winner but Allah."

The western part of the facade is made in neo-Gothic style. From the side of the mountains, the buildings of the palace resemble the harsh outlines of the castles of English aristocrats. The towers of the palace are very diverse. The building is decorated with all sorts of spiers and domes, carved cornices and openwork balustrades, stairs and chimneys... No wonder that in the 20th century Stevenson and Shakespeare were filmed here, the famous Sky Swallows, Crazy Day, or The Marriage of Figaro and many others were filmed. paintings.

The construction of the park terrace in front of the southern facade of the palace was entrusted to the military. From 1840 to 1848, with the help of the soldiers of the sapper battalion, large-scale earthworks were carried out.

In the summer of 1848, the last spectacular touch was made. Sculptural figures of lions were installed on the central staircase leading to the main entrance. Charming animals were born in the workshop of the Italian sculptor Giovanni Bonnani.

Heaven on Earth

No matter how beautiful the palace, without the surrounding luxury park, he would not be so attractive and popular. Founded about 200 years ago, the unique garden has more than 200 species of trees and shrubs from around the world.

The creator of the palace and park splendor was a real magician. German by origin, Karl Kebach skillfully used every meter of space. Erecting fountains in the park, he combined them into cascades, creating lakes and ponds. The fairy-tale surroundings are harmoniously complemented by plant compositions. A talented gardener lovingly planted each exotic bush in a specially brought black soil.

The structure of the garden ensemble is curious. It consists of the Upper and Lower landscape parks. The upper - "Alupka chaos" is an array of natural diabase, granite blocks, randomly scattered, as if by the elements. There are also caves with grottoes, and a crater extinct volcano. Severe landscapes made of stone are softened by views of the cozy alleys of the Lower Park. As if flowing along the slopes, the terraces are bordered by Italian pines.

The park enchants with pleasant-sounding romantic names: Tea Pavilion, Swan Lake, Maria Fountain. The latter, decorated at the base with white roses, is a copy of the Bakhchisaray fountain. Freischutz waterfall is amazing. When falling, its jets split like a transparent bridal veil. Walking in the Upper Park along Solnechnaya, Platanova, Chestnut meadows, you catch yourself thinking that you are in a real paradise, and this fairy tale is real!

Mikhail Vorontsov, by the way, like many famous and influential figures of his time, belonged to the Masonic lodge. Therefore, in his residence and in the park, one can find secret signs and symbols of a mighty brotherhood.

New story

Three generations of the Vorontsov family enjoyed life in the magnificent palace built by their grandfather. Before the October Revolution, the 150 rooms of the castle were luxurious apartments, decorated with antique sculptures, antique furniture and paintings. The canvases decorating the walls belonged to the brushes of great painters. To this day, paintings by Levitsky, Borovikovsky, Aivazovsky, as well as Italian, English and French artists, have miraculously survived. The interiors of the palace were complemented by bronze candelabra, porcelain, crystal, malachite, and antique vases. The front rooms were filled with mahogany, walnut and oak furniture made by the best Russian craftsmen.

Other times came, and the Vorontsov Palace, along with its treasures, was nationalized. In mid-1921, it began to function as a museum. During the Great Patriotic War, the exhibits of the Alupka Museum could not be evacuated. Twice the palace was threatened with destruction, and both times it was saved by the senior researcher of the museum, S. G. Shchekoldin. The Germans took out a significant part of the art treasures, including 537 works of painting and graphics, and only a small part of the paintings were found after the war and returned to the palace. The tragic episodes in the history of the Vorontsov Palace are described in the book "What the Lions Are Silent About", created on the basis of Shchekoldin's memoirs

From February 4 to February 11, 1945, the Vorontsov Palace became the residence of the British delegation headed by Winston Churchill. At this time, the epoch-making Yalta Conference took place.

From 1945 to 1955, the apartments in Alupka were used as a state dacha. In 1956, by decision of the government, the museum again began to function in the palace. And, finally, since 1990, the Alupka Palace and Park Complex has become a museum-reserve. The new status is very important, it allows the institution to protect the park area from non-core use, in particular, from cottage development. This phenomenon today is a headache for Crimea. Let's hope that the paradise called the Vorontsov Palace will remain a protected area for a long time and will delight "everyone who enters it" with beauty and nobility.

The Vorontsov Palace in Alupka is a palace of stunning beauty, surrounded by a charming park, located at the foot of Mount Ai Petri. There are a huge number of attractions on the southern coast of Crimea, but Alupka is always full of tourist groups. There is something special and attractive about this place. The English castle of Count Vorontsov in the Crimea, surrounded by greenery, does not leave anyone indifferent, and makes you return there again and again.

The palace in Alupka is a former dacha, the summer residence of a prominent political figure of the 19th century, the former governor of Novorossia, Mikhail Vorontsov. The love of the Russian politician for everything English was understandable - the father of Count Vorontsov was the ambassador of the Russian Empire in England, so Mikhail spent all his childhood in London. After nationalization, the former residence became a museum.

I went on excursions in the Crimean Vorontsov Palace twice: the first time in April, the second time in August. In every season, the palace and the territory that adjoins it looked amazing. It is best to choose April or September to visit the palace, but during the season it is not overcrowded.

In order to approach the main entrance to the palace, you need to go along the narrow corridor of the palace walls (Shuvalovsky passage). It is quite cool here in summer, as there is almost always shade here. When you come here for the first time, you don't expect to see a real English castle in Crimea. Passing through the narrow, harsh passage, the heart stops in anticipation of something unusual. And very soon curiosity will be rewarded with a vengeance.

After the path through the corridor of powerful walls has been passed, tourists find themselves in a small square in front of the palace. A castle appears in front of your eyes, built in the English style, and by the same architect Edward Blair, who was the author of Buckingham Palace in London.

The first thing you notice is the unusual material of the castle walls and walls. Later, according to the guide, we learned that this is a very hard and rare stone of volcanic origin - diabase. The palace was built by more than 6 thousand serfs of Vorontsov, as well as craftsmen-masons specially brought from the Moscow and Vladimir regions. To create an unusual surface, each stone was processed by hand! The work must be said to be skillful and very painstaking. Vorontsov built this castle with his own money, for himself, in good conscience.

In the yard we waited for the tour group to form and, looking up, we saw the teeth of Ai-Petri brightened by the sun's rays - a kind of pointed rocks located at the very top of the mountain. This is one of the best landscapes Crimea!

You can get on an excursion to the Vorontsov Palace freely, they are held daily. Each group is accompanied by a guide, the tour takes place in Russian. It was very interesting to listen to the guide, from her lips we heard a lot of interesting information about the history of the palace.

A few minutes later we crossed the threshold and felt like we were in an old English castle. The palace has many architectural features: on one side (northern) the building resembles an English castle, and on the southern facade - a Moorish mosque. In addition, the castle is so skillfully inscribed in the mountain landscape that it seems that nature itself created and placed it here.

The castle has more than 150 rooms, but about 9 state rooms are open for tours.

This palace belonged to three generations of the Vorontsovs, so the interior elements changed a little, because each owner wanted to bring something of his own, modern.

We first entered the main dining room. Particular attention was drawn to a small bowl, which somewhat resembled a miniature fountain. As it turned out, this bowl served to cool drinks.

Each room of the Vorontsov Palace has its own unique style and color. It was very pleasant to be in the blue room, I liked it the most. Here the walls are blue, they have stucco flowers and golden furniture.

The dining room, decorated in the English style, is very interesting.

In the office

After visiting several other rooms, we went out into the winter garden, where we saw a variety of tropical plants and elegant figurines.

Winter Garden

From the winter garden leads to a terrace overlooking the sea. When we arrived there, we saw a beautiful sunset, which looked very romantic against the background of the sea horizon.

View of the sea from the terrace of the Alupka Palace

On the way to the sea there is a staircase, on both sides of which there are sculptures of lions made of Carrara marble by an Italian master. There are also features here. At the very top of the terrace, there are awake lions, at the very bottom of the terrace there are figures of sleeping lions.

Lions, terrace of the Palace in Alupka

Sleeping lions, Alupka

The Vorontsov Palace is surrounded by a magnificent park with many unusual plants from the subtropics and beyond. Walking along it in the summer, when everything is blooming and pleasing to the eye, is a pleasure.

Alupka Park is divided into two parts: Upper and Lower. The upper part of the park is more "wild", while the lower part is a well-groomed classic park in the English style.

In the park you can see a copy of the Bakhchisaray fountain.

Copy of the Bakhchisaray fountain

Numerous waterfalls, lakes, quinoa, trees of unusual shape are hiding in the "wild" part of the park.

Alupka Park also has its own attractions, such as "Big" and "Small Chaos". - a huge pile of diabase stones.

Big Chaos

Swan lake in Alupka park.

I recommend after the tour to take a walk in this garden, relax in the shade from the summer heat and, of course, do a lot beautiful photos. This park is also called Alupka Park, where you can see about 200 species of various plants: exotic plants, various shrubs, acclimatized plants from other continents.

view from Vorontsovsky park

Vorontsovsky park

The landscape of the park is presented in the form of an amphitheater, at the bottom of which there is an exhibition park pavilion "Tea House". We did not manage to visit it, because it was closed for restoration.

Prices for visiting the Palace

The cost of an adult ticket is 70 hryvnias (8.75 dollars), for children - 35 hryvnias (4.38 dollars), photography - 10 hryvnias (1.25 dollars).

How to get to the Vorontsov Palace

You can visit the Vorontsov Palace by getting to Alupka at the following address: st. Palace Highway, 10. By car, you can get here along the South Coast Highway, this route runs along the sea through the entire Southern coast of Crimea. If you go along this highway to the Vorontsov Palace from the side of Sevastopol, then there will be a right turn to Alupka, and if from the side of Yalta, then to the left.

You can get from Yalta from the bus station by the following bus routes: 27, 26, 107, 42.

Passing buses go from Sevastopol: "Sevastopol - Miskhor", "Sevastopol - Yalta".

From Simforopol: buses "Simferopol - Simeiz", "Simferopol - Kastropol".

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Hello friends!

All valuable architectural objects have their own difficult history, many secrets and details emerge in our time. The Vorontsov Palace in Crimea is no exception.

Here's an amazing fact number 1 for you - how could the museum "Palace of Count Vorontsov" function even during the German occupation? And how many of you know about the “iron room” and how did it happen that this palace was more expensive than that of the emperor himself?

I will try to catch these questions in the article. Let's start reading!

The mere fact that 20 years and 20 million silver were spent on the construction of the palace speaks of far from being a simple estate, but a real masterpiece of architectural art. And if we add to this names of architects and craftsmen who worked on its creation .

Judge for yourself, the project and construction were led by English and Italian masters - Thomas Harrison and Francesco Boffo, and then by Edward Blore, the famous architect who owns a number of such works as Buckingham Palace, Walter Scott's Scottish castle, reconstruction of London palaces.

Moreover, Blore did not come to Alupka, M. Vorontsov himself visited him in England with drawings of the local landscape, relief and landscapes.

The construction and all related work with the design of the palace was carried out by serfs, among whom were magnificent craftsmen, but by the way, you will be convinced of this when you personally visit the estate.

Vorontsov Palace: description

It is no wonder that the construction lasted so long, because the local volcanic stone diabase served as the material, which first had to be mined (exploded), and then turned into blocks to the desired size. However, it is a very strong material.

The Vorontsov Palace consists of five interconnected buildings, in which there are more than 150 rooms. There is a palace surrounded by a luxurious park, which I will talk about in next article.

Initially, the palace was planned to be built in neoclassical style , but after the construction of the foundation and the death of one of the architects, Vorontsov changed his mind . Now we see an amazing medieval castle palace, in the architectural styles of which there are English Tudor style (north side), as well as eastern Indo-Moorish (south side).

The Vorontsov castle made of dark stone, with its turrets, spiers, arches, battlements, openwork passages, domes and fine carved patterns, fits perfectly into the mountain and sea landscapes. And if you look from below, then immersed in park greenery, the palace looks like a scenery for an old English novel.

A bit of history

The count, prince, and then the governor of the Novorossiysk Territory, M. S. Vorontsov, fell in love with the Crimean land and tried to improve every shred as much as possible - he built roads, industrial enterprises, was engaged in shipping, developed agriculture.

So it happened with Alupka, where he decided to build an estate. The construction of the palace took place between 1828 and 1848.

Until the October Revolution, the castle successfully served as the residence of the Vorontsov family. In 1921 it was nationalized and (surprisingly, it did not become another sanatorium) was used as a museum.

Crimea almost lost this amazing building during the Second World War, for the first time just before the arrival of the German invaders, when there was no hope left, an order was received from the commander-in-chief to destroy the palace so that it would not become prey to the Nazis.

And the second - before the retreat of the German troops, this time the occupiers themselves "farewell" planned to lift the entire palace into the air.

We owe the preservation of this unique architectural complex to the senior researcher of the museum Stepan Shchekoldin, who did not give the order to be executed, continued to serve in the museum during the capture by the Nazis, keeping valuable exhibits in a secret "iron room".

Under pain of death, he continued his work until his release. As a result, he received 10 years in the camps for "service" to the Germans.

In 1945, the British delegation, headed by W. Churchill, was located here, which arrived at the Yalta Conference.

Until 1965, the Vorntsov Palace served as a state dacha. Then it was reopened as a museum. Since 1990 has been Alupka Palace and Park Reserve.

What you will see when visiting the palace complex

First of all, the architecture of the palace complex itself will take your attention, because from which side you don’t come in, there is a unique picture everywhere. On the western side, these will be watchtowers, a little to the right of the Shuvalovsky building and the gate passage.

Then a shady utility yard with a giant plane tree and outbuildings.

On the northern side, the palace is crowned with neat turrets and large windows, and in front of the facade there are marble fountains, one of which a copy of the Bakhchisarai "fountain of tears".

And finally, the most amazing and romantic - the southern facade in the Indo-Moorish style with magnificent arches, oriental ornaments, balconies and openwork lattices. By the way, there is an inscription in Arabic above the door leading to the Blue Room. As you learn and see with your own eyes what is written there, write in the comments!

The place for photo shoots and selfies is the Lion's Terrace. A wide staircase with three pairs of marble lions descends to the lower park and the Tea House by the Sea.

marble lions - the work of the Italian sculptor Giovanni Bonanni. Predators are depicted as peacefully sleeping, waking up and militant guards.

Oh yes! You can also look into the winter garden with snow-white angelic sculptures and rare southern plants. Then you will go on a tour of the inner chambers with a guide who will tell you about everything in more detail.

How are the tours

Unfortunately, tours take place only on the first floor and cover only 10 halls, where five main expositions are waiting for you.

I must say that the interior of any of the rooms will lead you to complete delight. This is where you can see the perfect combination of taste and luxury. And this is despite the fact that the Vorontsov Palace was nevertheless subjected to looting and barbarism during the German occupation.

Also, various thematic and seasonal exhibitions are held on the territory of the palace, excursion services are provided in the park, including on electric vehicles.

MS Vorontsov was a connoisseur of art, literature, and strove for science and knowledge. A library was created on the estate, which was collected for more than a dozen years, and now there are more than 27,000 book copies.

The Vorontsovs also boasted a large collection of paintings - family portraits and works by famous foreign masters. You will notice them in every room.

Well, traditionally - the Vorontsov Palace was used many times as a filming site. Hamlet, Stoves and Benches, Assa, Ordinary Miracle and other films were filmed here.

Reviews of tourists

Admiration is present in every visitor review. What did the tourists complain about?

• sometimes you have to wait for your excursion, but you can still take a walk in the park;
• I want to stay longer in each hall, otherwise you won’t really consider anything together with the group;
• far to go from the parking lot;
• one day is not enough to enjoy the tour of the palace and its surroundings, so book accommodation and stay longer in Alupka. She's worth it!
• ticket prices are high.

Visit Information

Where is this miracle located? The Palace of Count Vorontsov is located in the city of Alupka, 17 km from Yalta. The battlements of Ai-Petri rise above the walls of the palace.

The exact address: Alupka, Palace highway street, 18.

Vorontsov Palace accepts visitors seven days a week, from 9.00 to 17.00 winter time, from 9.00 to 18.00 in spring and from 8.00 to 20.00 in summer. Ticket offices close earlier, at 16.15, 17.15 and 19.15 depending on the season!

Visit cost:

• visit to the Main Exhibition "Ceremonial Halls of the Main Building of the Vorontsov Palace" - 400 rubles;
• a single ticket for all expositions and exhibitions - 1050 rubles;
• a single ticket "Interiors of the Vorontsov Palace" - 600 rubles;
• a single ticket "Ceremonial Halls" and temporary exhibitions - 650 rubles;
• individual expositions - from 50 to 350 rubles;
• excursion in the park - 100 rubles;
• on an electric car - 800 rubles;
• children from 7 to 16 years old, students under 18 years old - separate service, discounts, benefits.

Official site: www.worontsovpalace.org

How to get to the Vorontsov Palace

From Simferopol, Yalta, Sevastopol and many others settlements There is a direct bus service to Alupka. I wrote how to get out of Simferopol airport.

From the Alupka bus station to the palace on foot for about 20 minutes, there are information boards and signs.

Some minibuses will take you from Yalta to the Vorontsov Palace, for example, No. 32 leaves from the center, and No. 102 from the bus station.

You can also go from Yalta to Alupka by sea on a boat. Read more about boat trips in this.

Another option is to buy sightseeing tour. In groups and with a guide, you don't have to worry about how to find your destination and how to get back.

Good to know

If you are planning a walk in the park, you will have to walk a lot, but the terrain is still mountainous. Therefore, girls, wear comfortable shoes without heels - many complain later!

If you want to know where to stay in Alupka, where to eat, which beach to go to with your family - read here .

And one more thing

You can become a member "Club of Friends of the Vorontsov Palace" . What it is?

Numerous exhibits of the palace are unique and priceless evidence of history. Unfortunately, they do not last forever and require expensive restoration work over time, otherwise the palace collections can become significantly thinner.

In addition, the maintenance of the palace and park, the organization of exhibitions, scientific and research work, the educational program and the service of visitors - all this requires huge costs.

The Vorontsovsky Park Friends Club is a project of financial support from organizations and individuals, in other words, patronage. Membership conditions and detailed information are available on the official website of the museum:

www.worontsovpalace.org/?page_id=7766

And finally I will ask

ps You know, I consider this palace not only the most magnificent and worthy of a visit (from the category of “balls on the forehead”), but also the most mysterious. If you look closely at the interior decoration, then there is some kind of uncomfortable feeling. Of course, the guides will carry you through the rooms at the speed of the flow of water in the Wuchang-su waterfall, but you still try to look around and answer my question. What the hell is around!!?? Or is it just me that seems out of place among such beauty?

Looking forward to your answers...

Alupka- a resort town as part of Big Yalta, located at the foot of Mount Ai-Petri, 17 km southwest of the city Yalta in the Crimea.

Vorontsov Palace and its park complex - "highlight" Alupka landscape and

the main attraction of the seaside town.

Rest on the Black Sea in Alupka attracts tourists with a mild climate without sharp seasonal fluctuations, healing sea and pine air, in which one can breathe easily and freely, as well as a picturesque view of the surroundings of a Russian seaside town on the southern coast of Crimea.

A particularly bewitching view of Alupka opens from the sea: in the center of the panorama on a hill flaunts the magnificent Alupka Palace (Vorontsovsky); buildings of coastal sanatoriums stretched in a chain along the sea and are buried in the greenery of parks, and battlements dominate over them majestic mountain Ai-Petri.

Ai-Petrinsky mountain range - one of the highest in the Crimea. Like a shield, it closes Alupka from the northern cold winds, and the largest number of sunny days per year (compared to the Black Sea resorts of the Caucasus) make this town on the Black Sea coast a wonderful resort - the second after Yalta on the southern coast of Crimea.

Vorontsov Palace in Alupka.

Vorontsov Palace(Alupka) is the former summer Crimean residence Governor-General of the Novorossiysk Territory Count Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov.

Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov

Portrait of Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov by Lawrence, 1823.

Count, from 1845 - prince Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov(May 18 or 19, 1782 - November 6 or 7, 1856) - Russian statesman from the Vorontsov family, Field Marshal General (1856), Adjutant General (1815), hero of the war of 1812. In 1815-1818 he was the commander of the Russian occupation corps in France. In 1823-1854 - Novorossiysk and Bessarabian Governor-General; in this position, he contributed a lot to the economic development of the region, the construction of Odessa and other cities.

Customer and first owner of the Alupka Palace. In 1844-1854 he was governor in the Caucasus.

HISTORY OF THE VORONTSOV PALACE

The estate was conceived as the summer residence of the Governor-General Mikhail Vorontsov, who had many estates in different regions of the country and was considered the richest landowner in Russia. In 1824, the possessions of the Revelioti family, who owned most of the southern coast of Taurida, were acquired. Vorontsov invites the German botanist Karl Kebach, who took up the first plantings, from which Vorontsov Park appeared.

In 1824 they begin to build and Vorontsov Palace. The architects were Thomas Harrison (Vorontsov spent all his childhood and youth in England, so he decided to trust an experienced British architect) and Francesco Boffo (he created the Vorontsov Palace in Odessa). The palace was conceived in the neoclassical style. Four years later, the groundbreaking was completed, but Harrison died suddenly in 1829.

Mikhail Vorontsov himself in 1831 decides to suspend construction and decides to change the style of the palace. He goes to England to Edward Blore, and he only created his own project based on English Gothic based on the presented drawings of the area. Blor himself did not appear in Alupka - Vorontsov Palace in Crimea erected by his student William Gunt, who was recommended by the architect himself.

Gunt made a number of changes to the project. Thus, the Vorontsov Palace in Alupka is designed in the Tudor style, which was so popular in England in the 16th century. But given that Turkish influence was still felt in the Crimea, the southern gate, as opposed to the northern one, was made in the eastern Indo-Moorish style. Complementing the composition are marble lions by sculptor Giovanni Bonnani. The palace was built until 1848. The park was completed 3 years later. The palace has 150 rooms divided between 5 buildings.

The peculiarity of the architecture of the palace is clearly visible from the sea - it is in harmony with the Ai-Petri massif. This is not surprising, since the walls were supposed to be an extension of the mountains hanging over it.

For the manufacture of the palace, a local stone was used - diabase (a greenish-gray stone of volcanic origin), which was located in abundance in the district. It was blown up with dynamite and turned into blocks. Even today you can see many fragments of diabase rocks in the park.

The work was attended by foreign masters who were engaged in the garden, and the serfs of Count Vorontsov. The sculptor Roman Furtunov was especially successful, who was the only one of the serfs who received an equal salary with foreign masters.

After the death of Count Mikhail, the Vorontsov Palace of Crimea was inherited by children. First in the male line, then in the female line. During the years of Soviet power, it was nationalized. It housed a dacha of the NKVD, and since 1952 a sanatorium. At this time, part of the furniture of the palace was lost, in particular, a billiard table was lost, which, after the collapse of the USSR, was replaced by another found in warehouses in Yalta.

The Alupka Palace and Park Museum-Reserve fits perfectly into the amazing landscape with a mountain range, evergreen vegetation and several narrow streets of the town rising uphill from the sea coast.

It's built from diabase- material, which in its strength exceeds 2 times granite and is mined on the Crimean peninsula. The gray-green color of the stone creates a single architectural composition of the Vorontsov Palace with nature.

The palace was designed by an English architect Edward Blore. Construction was carried out from 1828 to 1848. Finishing lasted until 1852. The architecture of the palace is unique. It consists in a combination of different styles:

• The North Façade is Late English Gothic;
• The Western Facade is a European medieval castle, a fortress of the 8th-12th centuries;
• Southern - elements of India and the East. The huge dome of the southern facade with Arabic inscriptions, open towards the Black Sea, has a romantic look. The "Lion's Terrace" with the gradually alert "kings" of the animals adorns the magnificent staircase leading to the entrance to the castle from the side of the park. Three pairs of Carrara white marble lions were made in the workshop of the Florentine sculptor Bonnani, but the most famous (bottom) is the “Sleeping Lion”

Shuvalovsky passage.

The palace ensemble consists of 5 buildings, open and closed courtyards, terraces. The Vorontsov Palace looks both stern and elegant, stable and romantic.

The western part of the palace (the so-called Shuvalovsky passage) appears to tourists in the form of a stone-paved street medieval city with old fortress walls with powerful towers and narrow loophole windows. The daughter of Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov, having married, became Countess Shuvalova, and her apartments were located in the right building.

North facade

In front of the palace there are two stalls with marble fountains in the center of each. Hidden in a shady pergola of flowering wisteria

Fountain "Selsibil" - a copy of the "Fountain of Tears" from the Khan's Palace in Bakhchisarai, sung by Pushkin.

Nearby, at the left wing of the palace - white marble Fountain "Source of Cupid".

South facade of the palace.

The southern facade is famous for its high portal with a deep niche, on the frieze of which the saying is inscribed in Arabic script

"There is no winner but Allah."

Marble lion on the south terrace.

PALACE INTERIORS

The main exposition includes 10 rooms. The rooms of the upper floor are closed so as not to overload the weakened ceilings. The tour begins through the side entrance, leading to the corridor that led to the count's office. Initially, the rooms on the ground floor served as a bedroom for the Vorontsovs. The main rooms opened in the exposition "ceremonial halls of the main building":

1. Front office;

2. Dining room with a balcony for musicians;

3. Greenhouse, including a collection of rare plants from distant countries;

4. Billiard room;

5. Chintz room;

6. Chinese cabinet;

7. Lobby;

8. Blue living room, the walls of which are decorated with stucco roses. Also exhibited here is a grand piano, which is not original in Vorontsov's interior.

Each of the 150 rooms included in palace ensemble, is peculiar: "Chints Room", "Blue Living Room", "Front Dining Room", "Winter Garden", "Chinese Study", "Billiard Room", "Lobby". Everywhere you can see the luxury and love of the owners for their home.

A special pride of the Alupka Palace - luxury fireplaces in the Gothic style, made of marble-like limestone and polished diabase stone.

"Front lobby

The front vestibule is located in the center of the palace. From the south and north, two small vestibules adjoin symmetrically to it, and from the west and east there are offices and lounges. 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.

"front office"

The study looks quite restrained, in English, but the abundance of wood in the room gives warmth and comfort to the interior. The wallpaper was specially ordered in England.

The central place on the western wall of the study is occupied by a portrait of Count Vorontsov by Louise Desseme.

Massive wooden doors are complemented by oak paneling on the walls and a wood-effect stucco ceiling. Against the wall is an antique ebony bookcase in the Boule style, bought by the owner of the palace himself. The cabinet is decorated with tortoise shell and complex carved bronze inlay.

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

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

"The Chintz Room"

From the office we get into the Chintz room. It is called chintz because the walls of the room are really 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.

We pass through the Chintz Room to Chinese study of the mistress of the house Elizaveta Ksaveryevna Vorontsova, whose portrait by George Doe can be seen on the right wall from the entrance.

Portrait of Elizabeth Ksaveryevna Vorontsova, by George Doe.

"Chinese Cabinet"

The room is decorated in the then fashionable oriental style, but without any specific references 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 rice mats embroidered with silk and beads on the walls and wooden carved details in the interior.

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

In the corner between the windows there is a valuable piece of furniture, a small corner cabinet.

It is made in the shape of a tortoise shell in the Bull style, decorated with bronze, but what is especially valuable about it is that it is a gift from Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, wife of Nicholas I, as a token of gratitude for the hospitality he showed to the owners of the house in Alupka.

And a few lyrical digressions. From the school bench, many people know that Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin was carried away by the wife of the Novorossiysk Governor-General. It is believed that it was Elizabeth Vorontsova who Pushkin dedicated the poems "The Burnt Letter", "The Stormy Day Has Extinct...", "The Desire for Glory", "The Talisman", "Keep Me, My Talisman...".

There were rumors that it was Pushkin who was the father of one of the daughters of Elizabeth Ksaveryevna. However, researchers of the poet's biography have reason to assume that Pushkin was only a cover for the novel by Elizaveta Ksaveryevna with her relative and Pushkin's friend Alexander Raevsky. In any case, one can say thanks to Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov, who "contributed" to the change of the poet's southern exile to an 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.

"Front Dining Room"

The Grand Dining Room is the most majestic hall of the Vorontsov Palace.

The area of ​​the dining room is about 150 sq.m., the height of the ceiling is 8 m. Under the Vorontsovs, it was illuminated by dozens of candelabra and chandeliers. An enormous table, composed of four offset pieces with polished mahogany tops, rises on pedestals with animal paws and occupies a large 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 tub for cooling wine, which was filled with crushed ice.

In the center of the northern wall of the main 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.

"Kitchen"

"Blue Living Room"

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 furniture set, 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 crater vases painted in blue tones.

For musical evenings and theatrical performances, a grand piano is installed in the northern part of the Blue Living 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 Rachmaninoff.

"Billiard room"

There is a lot of wood here: panels, ceiling, parquet floor.

Sofas and chairs are upholstered in expensive olive satin satin. There are many paintings on the walls. The canvases of the painters of Holland, Flanders, Italy of the 16-18 centuries were especially valued at that time.

From the Blue Drawing Room, the guests of the Vorontsovs 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 relaxing.

"Winter Garden"

Near the glazed 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 Ksarievna. Next to them is a marble bust of Catherine II by Johann Esterreich. 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 from Russia within a day.

The winter garden serves as a transition from the central building to the dining room. Initially, it was a loggia, which was subsequently glazed, having constructed a large lantern on top for better illumination. The walls of the winter garden are entwined with ficus-repens. The fountain and marble sculptures are surrounded by araucaria, cycads, date palms and monstera.

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"Vorontsovsky Park"

The work on the creation of the park, which began even a little earlier than the construction of the palace, in 1820, was entrusted to the chief gardener South Shore Crimea Karl Antonovich Kebakh. When laying 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, the murmur of water is constantly heard.

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

The largest of the park's lakes 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 pebbles" - jasper, carnelian, chalcedony, which were found in abundance in Koktebel.

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

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

Above the ponds, along the path through the Hall of Grottoes, between skillfully placed rock fragments, the path leads to the Great and Lesser Chaos. Millions of years ago, as a result of earthquakes and landslides, frozen magma turned into a placer of huge debris. The creators of the park left the boulders untouched, only removed small fragments and planted the top with pines. This is how the famous "Alupka chaos" turned out.