Story. History and ethnology. Data. Developments. Fiction Buildings built under Paul 1
Petersburg under Paul I
In 1797, Paul I established a depot of maps, where for the first time the Atlases of St. Petersburg were prepared, which give a vivid picture of St. Petersburg, its geography and buildings of the late 18th century. Pavel was very interested in topographically accurate images of St. Petersburg and its environs. It should be noted the wide development of the art of landscape engraving and watercolor.
According to the memoirs of contemporaries, the first thing that was remembered in St. Petersburg during the time of Paul I. were striped guard boxes and barriers. First of all, they were placed at outposts to control the entry and exit from the city of residents and guests, as well as the import and export of goods. This measure was necessary for the collection of taxes, on the one hand, and on the other, to prevent any smuggling from revolutionary France. The emperor’s orders regarding clothing and fashion were also a fight against the revolutionary infection: a ban on wearing tailcoats and round hats, the desire to dress everyone in a uniform.
Being a pedant and living according to a schedule, Paul I regulated the life of the court and all his subjects: home dinners, performances in theaters, balls had to start at a certain time and end before midnight. The main thing: there should not have been an empty pastime, unjustified idleness and excessive panache. It was difficult to get used to the new ways of life in St. Petersburg, it caused discontent and ridicule. This was a kind of background against which the peculiar and unique cultural life of St. Petersburg developed.
 J.L. Monier. Portrait President of the Academy of Arts Count A.S. Stroganov |
It was in the era of Paul I. that new names of architects emerged. So A. Porto built two very strict buildings: the Mint on the territory of the Peter and Paul Fortress and the Medical and Surgical Academy on the Vyborg side, which are still used for their original purpose. Talented architects F. Demertsov and F. Volkov actively worked in the field of civil architecture, they built buildings of educational institutions, military barracks, hospitals, churches. It is characteristic that it was civil architecture that prevailed in the short reign of Paul I.
As for the solution of serious urban planning problems, it should be emphasized that it was during this period that the construction of the Kazan Cathedral on Nevsky Prospekt was conceived by the Academy of Arts, headed by Count A.S. Stroganov, a competition for the best project was announced. In 1800, the construction of the cathedral was started according to the project of A. Voronikhin.
Under Paul I, three monuments were erected: a statue of Peter the Great, an obelisk "Rumyantsev to Victories" designed by Brenna on the Field of Mars and a monument to A.V. death of the emperor.
The Mikhailovsky Castle is the largest architectural monument that completes the history of St. Petersburg architecture of the 18th century. It was erected on the site of the Summer Palace of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna (architect F.-B. Rastrelli, 1740s), dismantled by order of Emperor Paul I immediately after death of his mother - Catherine II. The general idea of creating the castle and the first sketches of its layout belonged to Pavel Petrovich himself. Work on the project of his future residence began in 1784. During the design process, which lasted almost 12 years, the Grand Duke turned to various architectural samples that he saw during his foreign trip in 1781-1782. Architects were involved in the work on the project at its various stages A.-F.-G. Violier, V. Brenna, V. I. Bazhenov. One of the possible places for the construction of a new palace was called Gatchina.
The son of Catherine II was able to realize the plan of construction only after his accession to the throne in November 1796. On February 28, 1797, the ceremony of laying the foundation stone of the castle took place. Its construction was carried out under the guidance of the architect Brenna, who reworked the original design of the palace and created the artistic decoration of its interiors. On November 8, 1800, on the day of St. Michael the Archangel, the castle was solemnly consecrated, but work on its interior decoration continued until March 1801.
The peculiar appearance of this building, which combines contradictory architectural trends and stylistic devices, sets it apart in the general development of Russian classicism. However, it is the Mikhailovsky Castle that is perceived as the most expressive symbol of the Pavlovian era. The artistic tastes and personality of the owner and main creator, Emperor Paul I, were clearly embodied in its appearance. The majestic bulk of the “Palace of St. Michael,” as the castle was called in documents of the 18th century, towered on an island bounded from the north and east by the waters of the Moika and Fontanka rivers. From the western and southern sides, the island was washed by two specially dug channels - Voskresensky and Church. The system of castle fortifications that surrounded the palace and the Constable Square in front of it included canals, semi-bastions, drawbridges and cannons. In the center of the square, a monument to Peter I was erected, cast in 1745-1747. according to the model of B. K. Rastrelli, made during the life of the great great-grandfather Paul I.
Mikhailovsky Castle was the imperial residence only for forty days. On the night of March 11-12, 1801, Emperor Paul I was killed in his bedroom, becoming the victim of a palace conspiracy. Soon after this event, art treasures were taken out of the castle, and its front rooms were adapted for various departmental institutions and distributed as residential apartments.
In the early 1820s. the building was transferred to the Main Engineering School. In February 1823, it received a new name - the Engineer's Castle. After the death of Emperor Nicholas I, the august patron of the school, the educational institutions located within its walls became known as the Nikolaev Engineering Academy and School. Their teachers and graduates were many outstanding figures of Russian history and culture: writers F.M. Dostoevsky and D.V. Grigorovich, scientists I.M. Sechenov and P.N. Yablochkov, composer Ts.A. Cui, hero of Sevastopol E.I. Totleben and many others.
Over the course of two centuries, when military educational institutions were located here, and then various Soviet institutions, changes were repeatedly made in the planning of the entire ensemble, the restructuring of its buildings and interiors.
In 1991, the Mikhailovsky Castle became part of the architectural complex of the State Russian Museum.
The Mikhailovsky Castle ensemble includes two pavilions located on Inzhenernaya Street.
The Eastern Pavilion (Engineering Street, 10) houses the Russian Center for Museum Pedagogy and Children's Creativity, a department of the Russian Museum.
In the Western pavilion (Inzhenernaya st., 8) is located the Multimedia Center of the Russian Museum, the multimedia exhibition "Our Romantic Emperor" is working, pass. The building also houses the coordination center for the international project "Russian Museum: Virtual Branch".
Architecture and interiors
The planned structure of the palace is based on a square with rounded corners, in which the octagon of the inner front yard is inscribed. Each facade has its own “face”, which gives the building a special picturesqueness and allows you to find many viewpoints when reviewing it. Nevertheless, the palace is perceived as an integral volume, since all the facades are united by a granite plinth, a common interfloor cornice and decorative design elements.
The main facade is distinguished by special solemnity and monumentality. Two marble obelisks decorated with military fittings and gilded monograms of Paul I sound like a powerful chord in its architecture. In the tympanum of the pediment there is a bas-relief “History brings the glory of Russia to its tablets”, executed by the Stagi brothers. On the frieze, under the pediment, there is an inscription - “The Holy Place of the Lord in the length of days is fitting for your house”, which is a modified final line of the 92nd biblical psalm.
The northern façade facing the Summer Garden is completely different. The nature of its sculptural decoration, a wide sloping staircase, a colonnade and a balcony are traditional elements of the garden facade, emphasizing its appeal to nature.
The eastern facade of the castle overlooking the Fontanka has a small semicircular ledge in the center, ending with a dome and a turret with a flagpole, on which the imperial standard fluttered during the stay of Paul I in the castle. Its modest design echoes the facades of "particular" houses located on the opposite bank of the Fontanka.
In the decision of the western (church) facade, Brenna's ability to paint his compositions in a picturesque and magnificent manner, which impresses Pavel, especially affected. The volume of the church is indicated by a strongly developed central ledge, and its sculptural decoration speaks of the cult purpose of this part of the structure.
Contemporaries called the interiors of the Mikhailovsky Castle "a miracle of luxury and taste." The masters of monumental painting P.K. and J. Scotty, A. Vigi, J. Mettenleiter, sculptors K. Albani, I. P. Prokofiev, P. I. Sokolov, painters I. A. Akimov, A. M. Ivanov and others. Like many aristocratic palaces of that era, the castle combined the functions of the grand residence of the imperial family and the museum of art collections of ancient, Western European and Russian art. The suite of front galleries - the Antique Hall, the Raphael Gallery, the Laocoon Gallery, the Arabesque Gallery - was located along the perimeter of the courtyard and was filled with first-class works of art from the collection of Paul I. Many items of palace decoration were made according to the drawings of Vincenzo Brenna and his young student Carlo Rossi.
Owners
Emperor Paul I(09/20/1754 - 03/12/1801), the son of Peter III Fedorovich - the grandson of Peter I (born Karl-Peter-Ulrich of Holstein-Gottorp) and Catherine II Alekseevna (nee Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst). In 1761 he was declared heir to the throne and crown prince, from 1762 - the sovereign duke of Holstein-Gottorp. Having ascended the throne, Catherine II in 1762 appointed Pavel Petrovich colonel of the Cuirassier regiment named after him and general admiral. In 1773, on behalf of her son, under the Treaty of Tsarskoye Selo, she exchanged Schleswig and Holstein for Oldenburg, which belonged to Denmark, in the same year he confirmed the transfer of this property to his relative, a representative of the younger line of the Holstein house, Bishop Friedrich-August of Lübeck (with the title of Duke of Oldenburg), retaining behind him also the title of duke and the right to dispose of the Oldenburg throne upon the suppression of the sovereign family.
09/29/1773 married Grand Duchess Natalya Alekseevna (06/14/1755 - 04/15/1776), born Princess of Hesse-Darmstadt, who died during an unsuccessful birth. 09/26/1776 entered into a second marriage with Maria Feodorovna (10/14/1759 - 10/24/1828), nee Princess of Württemberg.
Pavel received an excellent education, had extensive knowledge in various sciences, including military affairs and public administration, loved music, theater, architecture, but during the life of Catherine II he was practically excluded from participating in public affairs.
He ascended the throne after the death of Catherine II (11/06/1796). Crowned 04/05/1797 Since 1798 Grand Master of the Sovereign Order of St. John of Jerusalem (Maltese). Many of the innovations of Paul I caused discontent in society, and the strengthening of autocratic power was perceived by the nobility as a manifestation of tyranny and an attack on their rights, which became the main reason for the conspiracy against the emperor.
He was killed by conspirators on the night of March 11-12, 1801. in the Mikhailovsky Castle in his bedroom, located in the northwestern part of the mezzanine of the building.
Empress Maria Feodorovna(10/14/1759 - 10/24/1828). The second wife of Pavel Petrovich (since 1776). Born Princess Sophia-Dorotea-Augusta-Louise of Württemberg, daughter of Duke Friedrich-Eugene of Württemberg-Montbeliard and Frederica-Dorotea-Sophia, nee Margraves of Brandenburg-Schwedt. She arrived in Russia in 1776, at the same time she converted to Orthodoxy. Pavel Petrovich gave birth to ten children - four sons (two of them became reigning emperors) and six daughters.
Maria Feodorovna was distinguished by remarkable artistic talents - she drew, carved superbly on stone, bone and amber, was engaged in medal art, played the piano. Botany occupied a special place among her hobbies.
All her life she was engaged in charitable activities, especially in the affairs of orphanages and orphanages. She made a great contribution to the development of women's education in Russia. Demanding to others, she was no less demanding and strict with herself, to the smallest detail she was true to her rules and principles.
Her personal apartments in the Mikhailovsky Castle were located in the northern part of the mezzanine of the building, overlooking the Summer Garden.
Paul's childrenIPetrovich and Maria Feodorovna
Aalexander pavlovich(12/12/1777 - 11/19/1825). Declared heir to the throne on 11/06/1796. From 03/12/1801. - Emperor, crowned 09/15/1801. From 09/28/1793 married with Elizaveta Alekseevna(01/13/1779 - 05/04/1826), born Princess Louise-Maria-August of Baden-Durlach. His personal apartments in the Mikhailovsky Castle occupied the northeast corner of the first floor of the building.
Konstantin Pavlovich(04/27/1779 - 06/15/1831), Grand Duke, Tsarevich. For participation in the Italian and Swiss campaigns of A.V. Suvorov (1799) he was appointed inspector general of the cavalry and received the title of crown prince. During the wars with Napoleonic France in 1805 - 1807 and 1812 - 1814 he commanded the guard. Since 1814 he was the commander-in-chief of the Polish army and the de facto governor of the Kingdom of Poland. In 1822 he renounced his rights to the Russian throne.
In the first marriage from 02/15/1796 with Grand Duchess Anna Feodorovna, nee Princess Julia-Henrietta-Ulrika of Saxe-Saalfeld-Coburg (09/11/1781 - 07/31/1860), who left Russia in 1801. Officially divorced on 03/20/1820.
In the second (morganatic) marriage from 05/12/1820 with Joanna (Jeanette) Antonovna Princess Lovich (05/17/1795 - 11/17/1831), nee Countess Grudzinskaya.
In 1806 - 1820. - civil marriage with Josephine, nee Lemercier, by her first marriage Friedrichs, since 1816, after the award of the Russian nobility, called Ulyana Mikhailovna Alexandrova, by her second marriage (1820) - Weiss. She died in 1824. Konstantin's personal apartments in the Mikhailovsky Castle occupied the southeast corner of the mezzanine of the building.
Alexandra Pavlovna(07/29/1783 - 03/04/1801), Grand Duchess, Palatine of Hungary. From October 19, 1799 married to the Archduke of Austria, Palatine of Hungary Joseph-Anton (27.02.1776 - 01.01.1847), Viceroy of the Emperor in Hungary. She died a few days after giving birth.
Elena Pavlovna(12/13/1784–09/12/1803), Grand Duchess, Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. From October 12, 1799 married to Crown Prince Friedrich-Ludwig of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (06/02/1778 - 11/17/1819).
Maria Pavlovna(02/04/1786 - 06/11/1859), Grand Duchess, Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, from 1853 Dowager Grand Duchess, also enjoyed the title of Grand Duchess. From 07/22/1804 married to Duke Karl-Friedrich of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (01/22/1783 - 06/26/1853), Grand Duke since 1828.
Ekaterina Pavlovna(05/10/1788 - 12/29/1818), Grand Duchess. She was granted the title of Grand Duchess. She did not use the title of Duchess of Oldenburg. Since 1816 Queen of Württemberg In the first marriage from 04/18/1809. with Prince Peter-Friedrich-Georg (Georgy Petrovich) of Oldenburg (05/09/1784 - 12/15/1812). She lived with her husband in Russia. In the second marriage from 01/12/1816. with Friedrich Wilhelm, Crown Prince of Württemberg (09/16/1781 - 06/13/1864), who became 10/18/1816. King Friedrich Wilhelm I of Württemberg
Olga Pavlovna(07/11/1792 - 01/15/1795), Grand Duchess.
Anna Pavlovna(01/07/1795 - 02/17/1865), Grand Duchess, from 1840 Queen of the Netherlands, then Queen Dowager. From 09.02.1816 married to William, Prince of Nassau-Oran (12/06/1792 - 03/17/1849), since 1840. Grand Duke of Luxembourg, King of the Netherlands (William II).
Nikolai Pavlovich(06/25/1796 - 02/18/1855), Grand Duke, in 1823. appointed by Alexander I as heir to the throne. On 11/19/1825 he ascended the Russian throne, ruled from 12/14/1825, was crowned on 08/22/1826 in Moscow and on 05/12/1829 in Warsaw.
From 07/01/1817, married to Alexandra Feodorovna, nee Princess Frederick-Louise-Charlotte-Wilhelmine of Prussia (07/01/1798 - 10/20/1860).
Mikhail Pavlovich(01/28/1798 - 08/28/1849), Grand Duke. From birth General Feldzeugmeister; since 1825 inspector general for engineering, commander of the Guards Corps, from 1831. chief commander of the Pages and all land cadet corps, since 1844. Commander-in-Chief of the Guards and Grenadier Corps. He participated in the Russian-Turkish war of 1828 - 1829, in the suppression of the Polish uprising of 1830 - 1831. He died during a campaign in Hungary. From 08.02.1824 married to Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, nee Princess Frederick-Charlotte-Mary of Württemberg (12/28/1806 - 01/09/1873).
Russian Emperor Pavel I Petrovich (October 1, 1754 - March 23, 1801) - Emperor of Russia (1796 - 1801) from the Romanov dynasty, son of Catherine II and Peter III. Board from 1796
Carried out centralization and petty regulation in all parts of the state apparatus; introduced the Prussian order in the army; restricted the privileges of the nobility. He opposed revolutionary France, but in 1800 he made an alliance with Bonaparte. Killed by conspiring nobles.
early years
Pavel Petrovich did not receive any serious education, which was led by Nikita Ivanovich Panin, who had a decisive influence on the formation of the character and views of the future emperor. From childhood, distinguished by poor health and more than poor abilities, he grew up extremely nervous, impressionable and exorbitantly quick-tempered, suspicious of the people around him. Mother, Empress Catherine II, was hated as a child from an unloved husband - Peter III. Removed by her from interfering in the decision of any state affairs, he, in turn, irrevocably condemned her whole way of life and did not accept the policy that she pursued. Pavel believed that this policy was based on love of glory and pretense, dreamed of establishing in Russia, under the auspices of the autocracy, strictly legal administration, limiting the rights of the nobility, and introducing the strictest, Prussian-style, discipline in the army. In the 1780s he became interested in Freemasonry.
Pavel was married twice. In 1773, before reaching the age of 20, he married Princess Wilhelmina of Hesse-Darmstadt (in Orthodoxy - Natalya Alekseevna), but three years later she died from childbirth, and in the same 1776 Paul married again, Princess Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg ( in Orthodoxy - Maria Feodorovna).
All the time, the aggravated relationship between Paul and his mother, whom he suspected of complicity in the murder of his father, Peter III, led to the fact that Catherine II gave her son the Gatchina estate in 1783 (that is, she “removed” him from the capital). Here Pavel introduced customs that were sharply different from those in St. Petersburg. But in the absence of any other concerns, he concentrated all his efforts on creating the "Gatchin army": several battalions placed under his command. Officers in full uniform, wigs, the tightest uniforms, impeccable order, punishment with sticks or gauntlets for the slightest omissions and no civilian habits - such was Pavlov's Gatchina.
In 1794, the empress decided to remove her son from the throne and pass him on to her eldest grandson Alexander Pavlovich, but did not meet with sympathy from the highest state dignitaries. The death of Catherine II on November 6, 1796 paved the way for the throne.
Domestic politics
He began his reign by breaking all the orders of maternal government. He canceled Peter's decree on the appointment by the emperor himself of his successor on the throne. By decree on the "three-day corvee" he forbade the landlords to send corvee on Sundays and more than three days a week. The law was never put into practice, but aroused the indignation of landlord Russia. Not knowing the true state of the Russian estates, Pavel considered that the position of the landlord serfs was better than the fate of state peasants, and distributed 600 thousand souls of state peasants to private ownership, which caused hatred on their part.
Significantly narrowed the rights of the nobility in comparison with those that were granted by Catherine II, and the procedures established in Gatchina were transferred to the entire Russian army. The most severe discipline, unpredictability and arbitrariness of imperial whims led to mass dismissals of nobles from the army, especially the officers of the guard (out of 182 officers of the horse guard regiment in 1786, only two remained by 1801).
During the reign of Paul I, Gatchina natives, sycophants and careerists, Arakcheev, Kutaisov, Obolyaninov, rose to prominence.
Discontent in all sectors of society grew. Without feeling or understanding this, Paul I forbade young people to go abroad to study, the import of books from abroad, including notes, was closed, and private printing houses were closed. It got to the point that the time was set when it was supposed to put out the fires in the houses. The words “citizen”, “fatherland”, etc. were withdrawn from the Russian language.
Suspicion and incredulity of Paul reached its climax, he did not even believe the members of his family and was going to transfer the throne to the nephew of Maria Feodorovna, Prince Eugene of Württemberg, eliminating the heir - his son Alexander.
It should be noted that, in general, the short reign of Paul I, his policy and personality, are assessed by some historians in a completely different way. For example, Nathan Eidelman considers Pavel to be an intelligent, consistent and progressive politician, not understood by his time. Most modern historians do not share this view.
Foreign policy
Distinguished by unsystematic and arbitrariness. Russia changed allies in Europe like gloves. Shortly before his death, Pavel sent the Don army on a campaign against India - 22,507 people without a convoy, supplies, or any strategic plan. The campaign was canceled immediately after the death of Paul
Conspiracy and death
Paul I was strangled in his own bedroom on March 11, 1801 in the Mikhailovsky Castle. The conspiracy was attended by Agramakov, N. P. Panin, Vice-Chancellor, L. L. Beningsen, commander of the Izyuminsky Light Horse Regiment P. A. Zubov (Ekaterina’s Favorite), Palen, Governor-General of St. Petersburg, commanders of the guards regiments: Semenovsky - N I. Depreradovich, Kavalergardsky - F. V. Uvarov, Preobrazhensky - P. A. Talyzin.).
Culture of Russia in the XVIII century.
The origin of higher education is usually associated with the name of Peter the Great, with the establishment of the Navigation School in Moscow in 1701. Petersburg University was founded in 1725, Moscow University in 1755, Petersburg) is the first higher technical educational institution in Russia. Under Catherine II, a harmonious system of public education arose for the first time, based on elementary schools. Priests began to be trained in theological seminaries, and secular civic education was received in gymnasiums. Education was class-based. The Smolny Institute provided education mainly to noble girls. For the bulk of the population, getting an education was very problematic. In 1725 the Academy of Sciences was founded. The first museum was the Kunstkamera. In the field of technology, Russian inventors worked in line with all-European, especially British, efforts. Ivan Polzunov invented the steam engine. Ivan Kulibin came up with a lot of original mechanisms and designs that were used by the royal court. A.K. Nartov was an outstanding inventor of original machines and mechanisms. The printed word has become increasingly important. Under Peter I, the first newspaper appeared - Vedomosti, a magazine, new printing houses. In the second half of the XVIII century. in poetry, G. R. Derzhavin, M. V. Lomonosov, V. K. Trediakovsky left a noticeable mark, in prose - D. I. Fonvizin, M. Novikov, A. N. Radishchev. Catherine II was a publicist and writer. With her, a dictionary of the Russian language was compiled. In the new capital - St. Petersburg - large-scale construction was carried out according to a single architectural concept. Detailed development of the first plan of the Northern capital was carried out by P. M. Eropkin. Even under Peter I, D. Trezzini built the Peter and Paul Fortress, the building of the Twelve Colleges, the Summer Palace. In 1703-1760s. the architecture was dominated by a luxurious, bright, somewhat pretentious baroque style. In this style, the largest master F. B. Rastrelli built the Winter Palace and the Smolny Monastery, the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo and the Grand Palace in Peterhof. From the 60s. 18th century until the 40s. 19th century classicism prevailed. V. I. Bazhenov built the Pashkov House in Moscow, the Engineering Castle in St. Petersburg. M. F. Kazakov in this style built the old building of Moscow University and the Assembly of the Nobility with the Hall of Columns in Moscow. D. Quarenghi was a classicist in St. Petersburg. In the XVIII century. the fruits of culture, superficial Westernization enjoyed a smaller part of society.
Intoxicated with wine and malice,
The killers are coming in secret,
Insolence on the faces, fear in the heart ...
The unfaithful sentry is silent,
The drawbridge was lowered silently,
The gates are open in the darkness of the night
The hand of treachery hired...
A.S. Pushkin
M
Ikhailovsky or Engineering Castle of St. Petersburg.
It is not only a historical and architectural monument. This is the mystical castle-palace of Emperor Paul I, which became a predictor of his death. Around it, legends and traditions of past centuries are twisted, and even now there is still a lot of mystical and inexplicable in the castle.
Some historical sources claim that the name is associated with the appearance of the Archangel Michael or his envoy to the guard soldier at the place where the castle was subsequently erected (perhaps in memory of this there is a small soldier in a niche near the bridge). This is how the decision of the sovereign was explained earlier, immediately after the start of construction, to call the castle "Mikhailovsky".
The palace was being built in an emergency... Pavel was in a hurry, taking building and finishing materials from other objects. And here's your first legend. Not only coins were laid in the foundation (as it should be for good luck). Pavel personally also laid commemorative jasper bricks.
I have a separate post about the construction of the castle-palace and its history in Pavlovian times and after it...
On November 8 (21), 1800, on the day of St. Michael the Archangel, the castle was solemnly consecrated, but work on its interior decoration still continued until March 1801. The assassination of the emperor took place 40 days after the housewarming...
In a niche near the bridge, steadfast tin soldiers stand guard day and night. Even the shadow of the emperor is visible.
Some believe that this is Lieutenant Kizhe, a kind of Lieutenant Rzhevsky from the time of Paul I. He will bring good luck if you hit his head with a coin. Then he swears...
Listen carefully, the place where he will send you is the promised land for you... (just kidding).
The lieutenant is not the only mystical guardian of the Mikhailovsky Castle.
They say the ghost of the murdered Emperor Paul still walks at night through the dark corridors.
This is no longer a joke. His silhouette was seen immediately after his death, then during the years of revolutionary change. Even at the time of Soviet anti-religious terry atheism, the ghost regularly made you chatter your teeth in fear.
The spirit of the murdered emperor frightens both religious people and atheists. He usually arrives at exactly midnight. Pavel knocks, looks out the window, pulls the curtains, creaks the parquet... even winks, moving into his own portrait. Some see light from the glow of a candle that Paul's spirit carries before him.
Doors slam loudly here at night (even if all windows are closed). And the especially lucky and impressionable even hear the muffled sound of playing the flageolet - an ancient musical instrument, which the emperor loved to listen to during his lifetime ...
There is a belief that every year on the day of his death, Paul stands at his bedroom window and looks down. He counts passers-by... and takes the soul of the 48th with him... however, you shouldn't panic, it's just a legend. And he can take the soul only if the moon is bright in the sky.
Attention! In order not to incur the wrath of a ghost, you need to lower your head when you meet and say: “Good night, Your Imperial Majesty!”. The emperor will immediately disappear... otherwise, there may be trouble.
Shalit and a portrait of the emperor... for those who are interested, watch the video in the post under the link below.
In addition, according to legend, a casket with great Christian relics of the Order of Malta, including the Grail, is hidden in the dungeons of the Mikhailovsky Castle. This legend is not based on an empty place! I have already written about it in detail, so I will not repeat myself.
During the Great Patriotic War, the military received information from the deceased monk about a secret room under the cellars of the castle where there is a silver chest with Christian relics and a certain mystical object that allowed you to travel in time and look into the future.
After the war, a commission on anomalous phenomena worked in the palace. Whether the reason was the desire to find the casket or frequent complaints about ghosts, it is no longer possible to find out. But the commission, which consisted of Soviet atheist scientists, counted more than 17 inexplicable facts and inexplicable night glows (ghosts) in the castle. The materials were classified - no one was going to frighten the religious population and amuse the communists.
In 2003, a monument to Paul I by the sculptor V. E. Gorevoy, architect V. I. Nalivaiko was erected in the courtyard of the castle.
Surprisingly, during the repair, an old plafond (a huge painting on the ceiling) from the main hall of the Catherine Palace was found in it. Previously, the ceiling was considered lost. Now it is in its historical place. The plafond was rolled up into a huge roll, which lay quietly near the corner, littered with various old rubbish. But there were inventories throughout the Soviet period! I wrote a detailed post on Mail about this, I will move it over time.
From secular legends - supposedly the color of the walls was chosen in honor of the glove of the Emperor's favorite Anna Gagarina (Lopukhina).
But it's time to move on to the main legend and the tragedy of the castle - assassination of Paul I
The brutal murder of Emperor Paul I in the Mikhailovsky Castle gave rise to many legends. According to testimonies, a few days before the murder, the spirit of Peter I appeared to Paul, who warned his grandson about the danger that threatened him. It was also said that on the day of the murder itself, Pavel saw in one of the mirrors a reflection of himself with a broken neck.
On the day of his death, Paul was cheerful. But at breakfast he suddenly became sad, then abruptly stood up and said, "What will be, that cannot be avoided!"
Some researchers believe that Paul knew about the imminent death and tried to avoid it in the palace. There is a legend that Hieroschemamonk Abel told Paul the approximate date of his death. Paul believed the soothsayers and this particular elder, because he accurately predicted the date of the death of his mother, Catherine the Great. Allegedly, Paul asked him about his death and heard in response - "The number of your years is like the count of the letters of the saying above the gates of your castle, in which the promise is truly about your royal family."
This inscription was a modified text of the Psalm of David (Ps. 92:6):
“YOUR HOUSE IS SUITABLE FOR THE HOLY HOUSE OF THE LORD IN THE LONGITY OF DAYS ”
This inscription with copper letters, by order of Paul, the builders brought from St. Isaac's Church, and for Isaac he was "stolen" from the Voskresensky Novodevichy Convent.
Perhaps by the holiness of the test, Paul wanted to remove the "curse" of prediction from himself. Or maybe he just gave himself into the hands of God.
There are 47 letters in the inscription, and Paul I was killed precisely at the age of 47.
When the conspirators came to kill Paul, he could use the secret passage that was in his bedroom. There was enough time for that. But for some reason, Pavel did not want to ... that he was hiding from the conspirators in the fireplace, it is quite possible that the assassins invented it.
An underground passage was dug from the Mikhailovsky Castle to the Vorontsov Palace. 3.5 km! It was at that time the longest underground passage in Russia, and possibly in the world. Some historians believe that it was on him that the conspirators entered the palace.
Here is the floor plan of the castle. I won’t write how the murder was committed, Google will tell about it no worse than me.
The conspirators failed to get him to abdicate the throne and ...
As you know, the emperor died from an apocalyptic blow ... with a snuffbox on the head (black humor of those times).
Not everyone knows that Pavel (for the first time for Russia), instead of the image of his profile, ordered the inscription to be minted on a silver ruble:
"NOT TO US, NOT TO US, BUT TO YOUR NAME."
The emperor took religion seriously.
Researchers generally consider the number 4 magical for Paul. The total term of Paul's reign is 4 years, 4 months and 4 days. Mikhailovsky Castle (his main and favorite brainchild) was under construction for 4 years. And only 40 days the emperor managed to live in it.
Engraving by Utwait after a drawing by Philippoto.
Pavel tried to make the castle impregnable. Perhaps he foresaw future upheavals (according to some reports, the future of all the Romanovs was predicted to him) and Paul wanted to protect his descendants, build a protected house-fortress for them. Which would be guarded by soldiers and cannons and the Lord God himself.
The palace was surrounded by water from all sides - from the north and east by the Moika and Fontanka rivers, and from the south and west by the Church and Voznesensky canals. The palace could only be entered via three drawbridges, which were very heavily guarded. In addition to bayonets, Paul was protected by guns and secret passages and numerous secret rooms of the castle.
But all this did not help Paul. The elder's prophecy came true... and his castle, instead of a defender of the autocracy in Russia, turned into a mystical "dirty" place - no one else dared to trust the castle with their lives, because he could not even protect his creator, Emperor Paul.
It so happened that Paul I died in the same place where he was born. He erected the building of the Mikhailovsky Castle on the site of the wooden Summer Palace, where on October 1 (September 20), 1754, Grand Duchess Ekaterina Alekseevna gave birth to him...
The image of a ghost was actively used by senior cadets of the Nikolaev Engineering School, which settled in the Mikhailovsky Castle, to intimidate the younger ones.
The fame of the ghost of Pavel was brought by the story of N.S. Leskov "Ghost in the Engineering Castle".
In Soviet times, there were complaints about slamming doors, footsteps involuntarily opening the windows in the castle at night (which led to the alarm). In the 1980s, members of the Commission on Anomalous Phenomena at the Russian Geographical Society of the Russian Academy of Sciences conducted a limited and informal study of alleged anomalous activity in the building (which is simply amazing for that time).
The study consisted of a detailed interview of employees, shooting the premises with a film camera, measuring the magnetic field, and even examining the premises with a “frame” or “dowsing” place. The findings of the study are being kept secret.
They met a long time ago - great-grandfather with great-grandson ... I'm sure they had something to tell each other about. If Pavel were alive, the history of Russia would definitely have turned out differently. And not the fact that it would be less great, Paul was preparing to take India in alliance with Napoleon. At the very least, the war with Napoleon would certainly have been avoided, but it would obviously have been necessary, together with Napoleon, to fight with England and seize India. I don't even know which is better.
Some photos and info (C) Wikipedia and other Internet
To the 205th anniversary of the assassination of Emperor Paul I
The architectural fate of Paul I
Paul I once said: "I would like to die in the same place where I was born." His wish came true. He was born on September 20, 1754 in the huge Summer Palace built by Bartolomeo Rastrelli, where the court of his great-aunt, Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, was then located.
On the site of this building, which had fallen into disrepair, Paul I ordered the construction of the Mikhailovsky Castle for himself, in which he was killed on the night of March 12, 1801. For forty-six years of his life, among his hobbies, architecture occupied one of the first places.
The buildings erected according to the orders of this monarch reveal the features of his plans, passions and fate, at least no less than the memoirs of his contemporaries. On May 7, 1782, Tsarevich Pavel Petrovich and his wife Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna, hiding under the names of Count and Countess of the North, arrived incognito in Paris. Having taken part in the royal ball at Versailles and especially enjoyed the reception of Prince Conde in his castle of Chantilly, having listened to the "Marriage of Figaro", forbidden by French censorship, but being in great fashion, which Beaumarchais himself read aloud to them, the heir to the Russian throne and his wife visited the mansion of the general farmer Lorena Grimaud de La Renière, considered the "last cry" of Parisian chic. The owner was so kind that he gathered the best artists and decorators for their arrival in order to introduce them to the most august travelers. The famous architectural draftsman Charles Louis Clerisseau, a friend of Giovanni Battista Piranesi and Robert Adam, whom Catherine II admired (when they did not quarrel over the exorbitant, according to the empress, financial claims of the French master), was also invited to this reception. “I have been to you several times...,” he suddenly turned to the Grand Duke, “and never found you.” "It is very regrettable to me," replied Pavel Petrovich. "You did not accept me, because you did not want to accept me, and this is very bad of you, I will write ... to the empress, your parent." “I beg your pardon,” the Grand Duke calmly objected, “but, by the way, also write to the empress, my parent, and that you prevented me from going further.” From the point of view of the history of Russian architecture, the conversation was not accidental. He not only testified to the rejection by Paul I of the artistic tastes of his mother and his active unwillingness to deal with architects that she liked. It was about his denial of enlightenment classicism, one of the main representatives of which in Europe was Clerisso. The heir to the throne, and then the emperor, was annoyed by the cold severity of the most accurate reproduction of antique samples and, in the opinion of people of his generation, the insufficient emotionality of architecture, where the edifying ideas of the Enlightenment were expressed. Living under the obsessive and dangerous surveillance of his mother's courtiers, the Grand Duke wanted freedom, including in his buildings. By the 1780s, he was tired of the frank clarity of architectural allegories created at the behest of Catherine II, glorifying the deeds of the Empress, which her son did not like at all. Alas, the august mother not only did not spare the feelings of the nervous and impressionable heir, but, as it seems, deliberately belittled him, inflicting heavy insults, quite capable of driving a person with such an unstable psyche, which Pavel Petrovich was distinguished by, crazy. At least everything that could be done for this purpose with the help of architecture was done. When the Grand Duke became emperor, he, in turn, made great efforts to make his buildings "speak" in a completely different language than that used by Catherine's architects.
Gatchina became Pavel Petrovich's first own dwelling, and the appearance of this ensemble in many respects brought up his tastes. He received the estate from the Empress in 1783, when he was 29 years old. True, five years earlier, in connection with the birth of the first-born, the future Alexander I, he and his wife were presented with lands, on which Pavlovsk was subsequently built.
However, according to tradition, the estate was intended for the mother of the baby, Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna, and she determined the character of the palace and park. In the history of art, Pavlovsk was primarily associated with her name, like Gatchina with the memory of Pavel Petrovich. No matter how beautiful Gatchina was, one cannot help but see the cruelty of this gift from Catherine II. The palace, gardens, pavilions were originally created there not at all for the heir to the throne, but for the favorite of the Empress Count Grigory Grigoryevich Orlov, who was passionately hated by him, and were permeated with memories of this man, whom Pavel Petrovich rightly considered the murderer of his father Peter III. The Empress forced her son to live among thoughts about his violent death and the role of the Orlov brothers in it. Construction of the Gatchina Palace began in the mid-1760s by Antonio Rinaldi. This partly could reconcile Pavel Petrovich with this building. The great Italian was the favorite of Peter III. In Oranienbaum, the architect had to work in the spirit of Prussian Rococo, fashionable at the court of the warlike King Frederick the Great, whom both Peter III and Paul I sought to imitate. In Gatchina, Rinaldi was invited by Catherine II to use examples of castles in Great Britain. Most likely, the Empress saw Gatchina similar to the Blenham estate, presented to the famous commander John Churchill, the Duke of Marlborough, by the English Queen Anne I. Images of this palace were in the first volume of the famous Vitruvius Britannicus, which was brought to her from England by the younger brother of the favorite Vladimir Orlov. In any case, the plan of the building with the central building, connected by short semicircular galleries with extensive squares of two service buildings located on the sides, is undoubtedly of British origin. It resembles the buildings of the outstanding masters of the English Baroque Sir John Vanbrugh and Niklas Hawksmore. They combined attempts to use classical architectural laws with baroque theatricalization in the spirit of the emerging early romanticism and passion for the Middle Ages. This is especially felt in the faceted Gatchina towers, similar to similar elements of the English "Baroque Gothic". True, Antonio Rinaldi, brought up by the master of magnificent Neapolitan classicism Luigi Vanvitelli, could not tolerate too accurate imitation of the "English barbarians" and gave the facades of the palace Italian elegance. An exceptional case in the vicinity of St. Petersburg - the huge building outside was completely finished with natural stone - by no means a rarity in Italy. In addition, the orders decorating the Gatchina facades are placed one above the other: at the bottom, Tuscan, then Ionic, according to the ancient system, revived by Leon Batttista Alberti. Subtly and distinctly executed in stone, they give the palace neo-Renaissance features. As a result, an image unusual for the time of classicism arose in Gatchina, which includes an organic interweaving of baroque and renaissance, antique and "gothic" shades. This happened even under Grigory Orlov, long before Pavel Petrovich came into possession of Gatchina. Nevertheless, it is precisely this property, with which he has become accustomed to over the long years spent on the estate, that will become one of the main features of the "Pavlovian style". The sensitivity of the Grand Duke played a good service for him. He succumbed to the charm of the works of Rinaldi, and then managed to turn the stylistic uncertainty of early classicism into the ambiguity of the emerging architecture of romanticism. The image of the castle, somewhat gloomy, standing among earthen fortifications and gardens with a picturesque composition, will become the main theme of his architectural hobbies. It is no coincidence that of all the impressions of a trip to Europe, which included Austria, Italy, France, Germany, the most striking for him was what was captured when visiting the Chantilly castle near Paris, with its picturesqueness characteristic of the French Renaissance and park ideas that combined the regularity of gardens in the spirit of Andre Le Nôtra with the latest English ideas of imitation of nature.
Pavel Petrovich also preferred a mixture of styles in garden art. This is quite noticeable in Gatchina. Under Orlov, a landscape-style park was laid out there with the participation of British masters James Gacket and John Bush, later numerous regular parts were included in it - the Dutch and Botanical Gardens, Sylvia, huge hunting grounds cut by straight clearings were preserved.
All this remains to this day. Alas, numerous unusual structures associated with the military hobbies of the Grand Duke disappeared: various bastions, small fortresses, drawbridges, guardhouses with barriers, which served as indispensable attributes of the appearance of Gatchina in Pavlovian times. Some idea of these structures can be given by the Bip fortress in Pavlovsk that has come down to us. One of the German travelers conveyed in her notes: "The Grand Duke, who, however, is very smart and can be pleasant to get around ... is distinguished by incomprehensible oddities, among other things, tomfoolery arrange everything around him in the old Prussian way. In his possessions there are immediately barriers painted in black, red and white, as is the case in Prussia, there are sentries at the barriers... The worst thing is that the Russian soldiers... dressed up in the uniforms of the time of King Friedrich Wilhelm I, disfigured by this antediluvian form...". Count Fyodor Vasilievich Rostopchin, who later became famous for his participation in the burning of Moscow in 1812, wrote: “It is impossible to see everything that the Grand Duke does without shudder and pity ... On Wednesdays he has maneuvers in Gatchina ... the slightest contradiction brings him out of myself...". Such an atmosphere was intensified in Gatchina, and by the time of the death of Catherine II, it reached its climax. Pavel Petrovich's nervousness increased. Every day he expected to be treated the same as his father. When on November 5, 1796, Nikolai Zubov, the brother of the last favorite of the Empress Platon Zubov, unexpectedly arrived in Gatchina, the Grand Duke rushed to his wife with the words: "We are dead!" However, the count did not come to seize the heir to the throne, but to inform him that the empress was on her deathbed. Pavel rushed to St. Petersburg and soon the Gatchina order spread throughout Russia. In architecture, the new reign began with destruction. The largest, recently rebuilt Catherine's residence, Pella on the Neva, was destroyed, since its symbolism was directed to the future reign of the grandson, and not the son of the deceased empress. In addition, Ivan Egorovich Starov created in Pella the quintessence of classicism of the Enlightenment, with its structure and rationalism taken to the limit, in the spirit of the projects of French megalomaniacs submitted for the Rome Prizes of the Paris Academy. In Tsarskoye Selo, the main element of the ensemble dedicated to the victories of Catherine II was destroyed - the Temple of Memory built by Charles Cameron, where all "glorious ... deeds were presented on medallions." Gatchina and Pavlovsk also changed, but, naturally, in the opposite way, so as to correspond to the character of the residences of the reigning emperor. However, they began to take on similar features earlier, in response to the infringement of the architectural expression of Paul's status as heir to the throne, undertaken by his mother during the destruction of the equivalent imperial palace of the Grand Duke in Tsaritsyn near Moscow in 1785. Shortly after that, Pavel Petrovich invited Vincenzo Brenna to his service, with whom almost all of his main further architectural undertakings are connected. For fifteen years, in several stages, the Italian master completely changed the appearance of Pavlovsk. From a Palladian villa merged with a landscape park, he created a magnificent and rather heavy palace, and he introduced regular structures of Italian baroque ensembles and numerous sculptures into the garden.
The attitude towards antiquity became fundamentally different. Gone was the lightness and poetry of Cameron's generalized Greco-Roman images. Powerful, juicy, with a distinct sense of strength, the monumental image of Rome in the heyday of the empire began to dominate both in the organization of space and in the decor, extremely saturated, facing what Heinrich Wölfflin called "baroque antiquity".
Even the hall of Pavlovsk, called Greek, was made by Brenna in the spirit of the throne rooms of the Palatine Palace. His name now spoke not of interest in the art of ancient Greece, but of the hope of winning back its lands from the Turks. The interiors of Gatchina underwent changes similar in meaning and style through the efforts of the same Vincenzo Brenna. The classicism of this leading master Paul I is an unusual, not yet fully explained phenomenon. By age, belonging to the generation of Cameron and Quarenghi (he was born in 1747), he came to Rome a little earlier than them and, studying with the great connoisseur of perspective drawings, Stefano Pozzi, caught the last reflections of baroque influences, soon destroyed in Rome by an international circle of creators of European neoclassical architecture . On the one hand, he continued to study the ancient terms after Cameron, but saw in the grotesques and other remnants of the decoration of these structures a different, more theatrical antiquity than the British master. He did not become a fanatic of a strict antique ideal, like Cameron. This was natural for a person connected by birth with the Italian tradition, where the change in attitude towards antiquity took place in a more gradual and less abrupt way than in the north-west of Europe. In addition, work in Poland before coming to Russia strengthened baroque reminiscences in his work. The main thing, perhaps, was that Brenna was able to combine the image of imperially solemn antiquity with the heightened emotionality of pre-romantic passions. It is difficult to call him an architect of the Enlightenment. Rather, in his work in Russia, in an amazing way, due to the influence of the most august customer, who did not want to reckon with the duration of Catherine's reign, time seemed to be sublimated. He moved from the emerging Enlightenment classicism painted in baroque tones right at the time of its change to the Empire style, to classicism, conveying the ideas of emerging romanticism. If Paul was the first emperor of the romantic era, then Brenna was the forerunner of romantic classicism. This explains their long closeness, strange with such a quick-tempered and changeable character of the monarch.
All these properties of the relationship to the architecture of these two people were fully manifested during the construction of the Mikhailovsky Castle in St. Petersburg. The first drafts of the project are attributed to Pavel Petrovich himself and date back to 1784. Following them, and on the basis of the customer's plan, many variants of this structure were created over the course of fifteen years.
Information has been preserved about thirteen of them, executed with the participation of the decorator Henri Francois Gabriel Viollet, brought by Pavel Petrovich from France, Vasily Ivanovich Bazhenov and, when creating the implemented version, Vincenzo Brenna with the participation of Carlo Rossi. The earliest versions, possibly made by Viollet, with a plan in the form of a square, resembled the castle of Chantilly, which has already been mentioned. Then came a whole series of projects by an unknown, probably Italian author, with a pentagonal plan, almost copying the fortified villa of Cardinal Alexander Farnese in Caprarola, erected by Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola. Gradually, from an exact imitation of this structure, they moved on to a plan that, in style, resembles the project of the Bazhenov Kremlin Palace. All this was done for St. Petersburg. Unexpectedly, Pavel Petrovich began to think about building this castle in Gatchina on the site of the Rinaldi Palace. It seems likely that the drawings for this option were developed with the participation of Brenn, at least the main building has already become close to being built. However, the huge stables reproduced similar services at Chantilly, erected there with exceptional luxury. The Gatchina version was revised by Bazhenov around 1792, and Starov participated in the preparation of the construction estimate. All this happened before the death of Catherine II. The next option again moved the castle to St. Petersburg, apparently immediately after the accession of Paul I. Bazhenov was then immediately summoned to St. Petersburg and made vice-president of the Academy of Arts as a person who had suffered from the long disfavor of the former empress. Nevertheless, in early 1797, Brenne was commissioned to refine his Gatchina version. Already on February 26, the solemn laying of the Mikhailovsky Castle took place on the site of the Summer Palace of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. With a silver spatula, Paul I himself laid the first bricks made of jasper. By January 8, 1800, the day of the Holy Archangel Michael, the work was basically completed. The owner of the castle had fourteen months and three days to reign. From the outside, the castle first of all gives the impression of a dark monolithic mass, perceived from afar. The entrance to it was supposed to be along a straight avenue between long, low, symmetrically located buildings of the stables and two large octagonal pavilions, behind which opened the square with the equestrian monument of Peter the Great, created long ago by Bartolomeo Rastrelli Sr. The symbolic inscription on the monument read: "Great-grandfather - great-grandson." Explicit opposition to the Bronze Horseman with his equally significant: "Peter the Great Catherine the Second." Paul I emphasized his, unlike his mother, blood connection with the founder of St. Petersburg and the empire. Finally, the facade of the castle opens before the viewer. His composition is directed towards the middle, where between the solemn obelisks, under a heavy pediment, tightly pressed against the stepped attic, is the only entrance to the courtyard. The first floor appears to be a powerful, monumental plinth, at the arch it is covered with large diamond rustication. The second and third floors are united by an Ionic porphyry colonnade. The edges recede deep into, are rounded off. Behind them are the towers standing in the center of the side facades. The side of the castle that faces the Summer Garden is lighter, more welcoming, with a huge balcony at the level of the second floor. It was from him, when the conspirators killed Paul I, that in the early March morning of 1801 his son turned to the guards battalions, saying that the emperor died "of apoplexy", and with him "everything will be like with his grandmother." So, nevertheless, despite the hopes of many, it did not work out, including in the field of architecture. Paul I managed to destroy the influence of the ideology of the Enlightenment in it and to abandon the beginnings of romantic images. The further the story went, the stronger the impression of the romance of the castle and its owner.
