Emperor Paul I. Russian culture in the 18th century. Paul I: biography Architecture and interiors

Petersburg under Paul I

In 1797, Paul I established a map depot, where Atlases of St. Petersburg were first prepared, which give a clear picture of St. Petersburg, its geography and buildings of the late 18th century. Pavel took great interest in topographically accurate images of St. Petersburg and the surrounding area. It is worth noting the widespread development of the art of visual 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 the striped guard booths and barriers. First of all, they were stationed 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 to collect taxes, on the one hand, and on the other, to prevent any smuggling from revolutionary France. The fight against the revolutionary infection also included the emperor’s orders regarding clothing and fashion: a ban on wearing tailcoats and round hats, and 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 be no empty pastime, unjustified idleness and excessive panache. It was difficult to get used to the new order of life in St. Petersburg; it caused discontent and ridicule. This was a kind of background against which the unique and unique cultural life of St. Petersburg developed.

J.L. Monier. Portrait President of the Academy of Arts Count A.S. Stroganova

The main building of this time was the Mikhailovsky Castle. But construction was also booming in other areas of the city. In the Vorontsov Palace, which was given by Paul I as the Supreme Master of the Order of Malta to the chapter of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, the architect Quarenghi built the Maltese Chapel, captivating with the strict sophistication of its architectural decoration. A small masterpiece of a great architect.

It was during 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-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, and churches. It is characteristic that it was civil architecture that prevailed during the short reign of Paul I.

As for solving serious urban planning problems, it should be especially emphasized that it was during this period that the construction of the Kazan Cathedral on Nevsky Prospekt was conceived by the Academy of Arts, which at that time was headed by Count A.S. Stroganov, a competition was announced for the best project. In 1800, construction of the cathedral began according to the design of A. Voronikhin.

Under Paul I, three monuments were erected: a statue of Peter the Great, an obelisk of “Rumyantsev’s victories” designed by Brenna on the Field of Mars, and a monument to A.V. Suvorov in the image of the god of war Mars, which replaced it, ordered by Emperor Paul to the sculptor M. Kozlovsky, but erected after death of the emperor.

In the middle of the 18th century. The predominant architectural style was Baroque. The largest Russian architect of this time was a native of Italy, Bartolomeo Rastrelli. He built the Winter Palace, the Smolny Monastery ensemble, the Stroganov Palace in St. Petersburg, the Great Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo, and the Great Palace in Peterhof.

In the second half of the 18th century. classicism also prevailed in architecture. The magnificent Baroque buildings were replaced by emphatically laconic buildings, strictly symmetrical, devoid of secondary details. Both the capital's palaces and the houses of provincial landowners were built in the style of classicism.

The largest architects of the second half of the 18th century. were V.I. Bazhenov, M.F. Kazakov and I.E. Starov.

Bazhenov’s most famous work is Pashkov House in Moscow (the old building of the Russian State Library). He also developed the project of the Mikhailovsky Castle in St. Petersburg. Bazhenov's largest projects - the Grand Kremlin Palace and the palace in the Tsaritsyno estate - did not come to fruition.

Creative destiny of M.F. Kazakova was happier. According to his designs, the building of Moscow University, the Senate in the Kremlin, the Golitsyn (1st City) Hospital in Moscow, the Noble Assembly, and a number of estates and churches were built.

Second half of the 18th century. - the heyday of Russian painting, especially portraiture. The rise of portrait art was caused by the desire of the nobility to immortalize themselves on the canvases of artists. The largest portrait painters of the 18th century. were F.S. Rokotov, D.G. Levitsky and V.L. Borovikovsky.

Along with the portrait in Russian painting of the 18th century. landscape and genre scenes appeared. Paintings were also painted on historical themes, for example, the election of Mikhail Romanov to the kingdom, Alexander Nevsky on Lake Peipsi, etc.

An outstanding master of sculpture was F.I. Shubin, who created a gallery of sculptural portraits of statesmen and commanders of Russia. But the most famous sculpture in Russia was created by the Frenchman E. Falconet, the author of The Bronze Horseman.

INTERNAL POLITICS OF RUSSIA AT THE TURN OF THE 18th-19th CENTURIES

1. Reign of Paul I

By the end of the 18th century. In the internal politics of Russia, many unresolved problems had accumulated, the main of which were serfdom and the absence of any limitation of the tsarist power by representative bodies or law. The only guarantee against the transformation of the monarchy into despotism was the personality of the enlightened monarch - Catherine II. In the last years of her life, the empress worked hard on new legislation, trying to enshrine in law the civil rights of her subjects and formulate the powers of the monarch, which would already be some limitation of autocratic power. However, under the influence of the French Revolution, Catherine delayed implementing her planned reforms, fearing upheavals in Russia. She did not have time to implement her plans.

In 1796, after the death of Catherine II, the Russian throne was occupied by Paul I. Raised in educational ideals, over the years he became completely disillusioned with them under the influence of a conflict with his mother. Paul romanticized medieval chivalry, considering it a model of honor and nobility. If the Age of Enlightenment put forward the principles of natural rights and the social contract, then Paul considered it the duty of subjects to unquestioningly obey the monarch, who commands them as a father rules his children. Hating his mother, Pavel considered everything she had done to be harmful and worthy of destruction.

Having come to power, Paul tried to destroy the system of power created by Catherine. He restored the collegiums abolished during the provincial reform, abolished class self-government in cities and provinces (city dumas and provincial noble assemblies), and limited the rights of district noble assemblies. Charters granted to the nobility and cities were abolished. Considering the nobility as a knightly class, whose main business is service to the monarch, Paul persistently limited class privileges for non-serving nobles. The nobility even lost their freedom from corporal punishment.

Pavel was characterized by petty interference in the private life of his subjects: he personally determined what cut of dress should be worn, when to dine, what dances to dance, etc. Of course, Paul was far from Peter I in this regard, but over the past decades the nobility had become accustomed to much greater freedom. The fact that at the beginning of the 18th century. was perceived as a difficult but inevitable duty; at the end of the century it looked like an unacceptable violation of rights. Moreover, Paul's policies were contradictory and inconsistent. The tsar was irritable, often subjecting courtiers and officers to arrest, exile, and imprisonment in a fortress without serious guilt. No one around Paul could be sure of the future. All this extremely irritated the nobles.

The nobility was also dissatisfied with Paul I's policy on the peasant issue. For the first time under Paul, serfs took an oath to the new emperor along with freemen. This emphasized that they were, first of all, subjects not of the master, but of the king. It was forbidden to sell peasants at auction. In the spring of 1797, a decree was issued limiting corvee to three days a week. True, the manifesto was mainly of a recommendatory nature and, as a rule, was not implemented.

However, this was still the first attempt by government authorities to limit the exploitation of peasants. All this still does not allow us to talk about Paul’s policy as anti-noble. The king sought to emphasize that the monarch is the patron and protector of all subjects, regardless of class. According to V.O. Klyuchevsky "Paul turned equality of rights into general lack of rights." Along with attempts to somewhat limit the oppression of serfdom, Paul took many steps that strengthened serfdom. He widely distributed state peasants to the landowners, and again allowed non-noble factory owners to buy peasants to work in factories.

Paul's extraordinary love for drill and parade caused ridicule. The Tsar admired the order of Prussia and tried to remake the Russian army according to the Prussian model, and began by introducing the Prussian military uniform and training troops in the Prussian parade step. The army regarded this as a mockery of the combat experience of Catherine’s times, especially since many military generals of the previous reign were dismissed.

Finally, extreme dissatisfaction was caused by the foreign policy turn made by Paul in 1800 - the conclusion of an alliance with Napoleon. The point was not only that the First Consul in Russia was considered a usurper of legitimate royal power. The break with England was disadvantageous for the Russian nobility and merchants, since this country was the main consumer of Russian flax, timber and bread and a supplier of industrial goods to the Russian market.

All this led to a palace coup on March 11-12, 1801. Many high-ranking dignitaries took part in the conspiracy. The heir to the throne, Alexander, also knew about the preparation of the coup. With his tacit consent, the conspirators (Governor General of St. Petersburg Count Palen, General L.L. Bennigsen, Catherine's last favorite Platon Zubov with his brothers, etc.) broke into the emperor's chambers in the Mikhailovsky Castle, where Paul moved from the Winter Palace, considering it not safe enough . The king was killed. The official version was that he died of apoplexy. Alexander I ascended the throne.

“.. and Abel says to His Majesty with humility, “Neither kings nor nations can change the will of God, therefore I see Your premature tomb in the castle, blessed Sovereign. And as you think, it will not be the residence of Your descendants.”

With these words from the hieroschemamonk Abel, who lived during the time of Paul I, the fate of both the emperor of the Russian throne and the Mikhailovsky Castle itself was determined.

V.L. Borovikovsky.. Portrait of Paul I

They say that Paul unconditionally believed this elder, since the latter was accurately predicted death of his mother- Catherine. In response to a question about his own life, the autocrat Paul heard: “The number of Your years is like the counting of the letters of the saying above the gates of Your castle, in which is truly the promise of Your Royal race.”

We were talking about the motto, embossed in copper letters above the portico of the Mikhailovsky Castle: “THE HOLY OF THE LORD BECOMES TO YOUR HOUSE FOR THE LENGTH OF DAYS.” This is a slightly modified text of David's psalm - “Holy holiness befits Thy house, O Lord, for the length of days” (Ps. 92:6).

According to recent research, it turned out that initially this motto was supposed to be at the Resurrection Novodevichy Convent, but these prophetic letters ended up on St. Isaac's Church, and then on St. Michael's Castle itself.

So, the number of these letters is 47, and we know that Paul I died at the age of 47. In general, there is a lot of mysticism associated with the fate of this most mysterious emperor of Russia, for example, you can trace the magic of the number "4".

Paul I by A.F. Mitrokhin

General Paul's reign was 4 years, 4 months and 4 days. This castle, which was supposed to become the main ceremonial residence of the imperial house to replace the Winter Palace, but most importantly, completely protect its owner from enemies, took 4 years to build. And the emperor managed to live in it only mysterious 40 days.

Emperor Paul I. Unknown artist. Late XVIII

It is also interesting that the Mikhailovsky Castle was erected instead of the “dilapidated” Summer Palace of Elizabeth and its northern part overlooks the Summer Garden. Before this, the palace of Peter’s wife stood on this very spot - Catherine, which was demolished to build Elizabeth's palace.

Summer Palace, third quarter of the 18th century

Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna. Engraving by A. A. Grekov from fig. M. I. Makhaeva. 1753

Summer Palace, view from the south

The castle received its name in honor of Archangel Michael, the heavenly patron of the Romanov dynasty. According to the legend, which Paul himself supported, in order to justify the new construction in the eyes of society, Archangel Michael appeared to the sentry standing guard in the Summer Palace and predicted the construction of a new palace and temple in his honor on this site.

Stepan Semyonovich Shchukin. Paul I

It was in this Rastrelli house and Pavel was born. On the site of the house he demolished, he suffered martyrdom in the castle, which least of all suits the general architecture of St. Petersburg with its romantic mood and is more similar to medieval fortifications. This is his "detachment" from the entire city and empire subsequently began to be perceived as a symbol of his personality, which was possessed by the ideas of the messianism of the Russian state and the divine establishment of the imperial power itself.

Portrait of Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich as a child

Portrait of Pavel Petrovich as a child. Unknown artist. 2nd half of the 18th century. Kostroma

Virgilius Erichsen (1722 – 1782, Danish). Grand Prince Pavel Petrovich In His Study

Antropov Alexey Petrovich. Portrait of Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich, later Emperor Paul I, as a child 1765

Portrait of Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich as a child (F. Rokotov, 1761)

Stefano Torelli. Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich, President of the Admiralty Board, in the uniform of Admiral General of the Russian Fleet

Unknown artist - Portrait of Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich

The image of his own castle, embodied in Pavel’s personal sketches, occupied his imagination since 1784, and the total period of “designing” Mikhailovsky took about 12 years, and by the start of construction this idea had already acquired 13 options.

It is known that this mystical castle of the “Russian Hamlet” began to be built immediately after Paul’s accession to the throne and the work was carried out with extreme care. "haste" around the clock, at night, by the light of torches and lanterns. Up to 6 thousand people were at the construction site at the same time, and in order to save time, construction materials were transferred here from other sites. So, for example, inlaid parquet was given to the Mikhailovsky Castle from the Tauride Palace, sculptures, friezes, columns and decorative facing stones were given from the Academy of Arts and Tsarskoye Selo palaces, and the infamous frieze with a prophecy was given from Isaac.

Actually, this was probably a common practice, since after the bloody events of the death of Paul and the abandonment of the Mikhailovsky Castle by the crowned Romanovs, the silver gates of the church of this castle, by order of Alexander I, were melted down into a luxurious wedding gift service for his sister, and under Nicholas I for the building of the New Hermitage from Mikhailovsky “mined” marble. However, the wealth in the Mikhailovsky Castle was enough for many art collections, which were subsequently distributed to various museums and palaces.

In front of the building in which the Throne of Mary Feodorovna is located there is a monument to Emperor Paul I.

Monument to Emperor Paul I.

In plan, the castle is a square with rounded corners, inside of which is a central octagonal front courtyard. The main entrance to the castle is from the south. Three angled bridges connected the building to the square in front of it. A wooden drawbridge was thrown across the moat surrounding the Square of the Constable with the monument to Peter I in the center, with cannons on both sides. Behind the monument there is a moat and three bridges, with the middle bridge intended only for the imperial family and foreign ambassadors and leading to the main entrance.

General plan, drawing by V. Brenna

The Russian emperor, when conceiving its construction, was based on the scheme of building a rectangular castle with a rectangular courtyard and round corner towers, common in European capitals.

Castle layout

The building is located at the source of the Moika River from the Fontanka. Initially, it was surrounded on all sides by water: from the north and east the Moika and Fontanka rivers, and from the south and west the Tserkovny and Voznesensky canals (now filled in) separated the castle from the rest of the city, turning the castle territory into an artificial island. It was possible to get into it only through bridges guarded by sentries.

View of the Mikhailovsky Castle in 1800-1801. Engraving by A.I. Daugel from a watercolor of 1800, belonging to the collection of engravings, lithographs and drawings of Pyotr Aleksandrovich Efremov

Quarenghi Giacomo (1744-1817) Mikhailovsky Castle in St. Petersburg. 1800

Mikhailovsky Castle from the embankment. Fontanka. Benjamin Patersen.

Mikhailovsky Castle from the side of the Constable Square. Colorized engraving by G.L. Lori-father from the original by B. Paterson. 1804

Mikhailovsky Castle. Beginning of the 19th century.

Fedor Alekseev. View of the Mikhailovsky Castle in St. Petersburg from the Fontanka

Military parade at Mikhailovsky Castle. A. Benois

Swan Canal. A. Bolotov

Unknown artist. Mikhailovsky Castle. Office in the mezzanine

The approach to the building began from Italianskaya Street through triple semi-circular gates, the middle passage of which was intended only for members of the imperial family. Behind them there was a wide straight alley along which the buildings of the stables and arena (exertsirgauz) were built. It ended at the three-story guardhouse pavilions, behind which the pre-castle fortifications began.

The complex of castle buildings included:

Castle

Voskresensky Canal (filled in, part under the Three-Part Bridge restored)

Voskresensky Canal

Three-part bridge

Three-part bridge

Gornwerk, on which the monument to Peter I was erected (modern Peter the Great Square, formerly Constable Square)

Maple Street

Maple Street

Two pavilions of the Guardia of the Mikhailovsky Castle

The architecture of the palace is uncharacteristic for St. Petersburg in the 18th century. With the strict elegance of its style, the castle is more reminiscent of a medieval fortress; it is the only palace building in Russia in the style of romantic classicism.

The unique appearance of this building, combining contradictory architectural trends and stylistic techniques, sets it apart in the general mainstream of the development of Russian classicism. However, it is the Mikhailovsky Castle that is perceived as the most expressive symbol of the Pavlovian era. Its appearance clearly embodied the artistic tastes and originality of the personality of the owner and main creator - Emperor Paul I

Southern (main) facade

The central part of the southern façade is contrastingly highlighted by a portico raised to a high ground floor of four double Ionic columns of red marble with a richly decorated sculpted pediment and attic above it.

It was decorated with the bas-relief “History records the glory of Russia on its tablets,” made by the sculptor P. Stadzhi. Also on this facade there was a modified biblical quote (originally referred to God, and not to the monarch) - To your house shall the holiness of the Lord befit the length of days.

The main southern façade is emphatically monumental and representative. The solemn formation of its columns and giant obelisks are reminiscent of the Louvre colonnade and the Saint-Denis gate in Paris.

The northern facade opposite the main one, facing the Summer Garden, was designed as a park.

At its center is a wide, sculptured staircase leading to an entrance loggia with a pair of Tuscan marble colonnade supporting a terrace. The facade is completed with a richly decorated attic.

The open terrace of this facade is supported by a marble colonnade, and a wide staircase decorated with statues of Hercules and Flora is also used.

The western and eastern facades, according to Bazhenov’s project, were treated in the same way as subordinate ones.

Western façade

East façade

The facade of the palace church, which is crowned with a typical St. Petersburg spire, protrudes towards Sadovaya Street.

Known for his demands for ostentatious effect in palace life and parades, Pavel literally “stuffed” Mikhailovsky with luxury and wealth. They exude both from the interiors themselves (malachite, various types of marble, lapis lazuli, jasper), combining monumental painting and wood carvings, amazing modeling and velvet upholstery with silver embroidery, and from the works of art present in these walls.

On November 8, 1800, on the day of St. Michael the Archangel, the solemn consecration of the castle and its church took place, and in February 1801, Pavel and his family moved from the Winter Palace to the Mikhailovsky Castle.

Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich and Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna with their sons Alexander and Konstantin; presumably K. Heuer, 1781

Gerard von Kügelgen. Portrait of Paul I with his family. 1800

Johann Baptist Lampi the Younger Equestrian portrait of Emperor Paul I with his sons Alexander and Constantine, as well as Palatine Joseph of Hungary. 1802

Maria Feodorovna; before converting to Orthodoxy - Sophia Marie Dorothea Augusta Luisa von Württemberg (German: Sophia Marie Dorothea Augusta Luisa von Württemberg; October 14, 1759, Stettin - October 24, 1828, Pavlovsk) - princess of the House of Württemberg, second wife of the Russian Emperor Paul I. Mother of Emperors Alexander I and Nicholas I.

Alexander Roslin. Portrait of Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna

Maria Feodorovna shortly after the wedding. Portrait of Alexander Roslin

M.F.Kvadal. Coronation of Paul I and Maria Feodorovna

Maria Fedorovna by Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun (1755–1842)

Vladimir Borovikovsky (1757–1825) Portrait of Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna (1759-1828)

Veil of Jean Louis - Portrait of Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna

Dow George (1781-1829) Portrait of Empress Maria Feodorovna

For just over a month the castle was the royal residence. “Here I was born, here I would like to die” - these words of Emperor Paul I were destined to become prophetic. On March 11, 1801, Emperor Paul I was killed in his bedroom in the Mikhailovsky Castle, becoming a victim of a palace conspiracy. The next morning, the august family returned to the Winter Palace.

The Assassination of Emperor Paul I, engraving from a French historical book, 1880s

Maria Feodorovna in a widow's outfit

Tombstone of Paul I and Maria Feodorovna in the Peter and Paul Cathedral

Mikhailovsky Castle is full of legends and mysteries. Rumor has it that after the murder he walked in it ghost of the murdered emperor, to whom the monk Abel also prophesied about the fate of the entire Romanov family and the Russian state. The envelope with this prophecy was to be opened according to Paul's will on the centenary of his death, and it was kept in another castle - in Gatchina, the suburban residence of the emperor.

For two decades, Mikhailovsky Castle was used for private residence; government apartments for departmental officials and various institutions were located here.

Paul I in a portrait by S. Shchukin

In 1822, by decree of Alexander I, the building was transferred to the Main Engineering School, which gave the castle a new name - “Engineering”. Over the course of a century, the school rebuilt the former imperial residence for its needs. In the middle of the 19th century. By order of Alexander II, on the site of Paul's former bedroom, the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul was built, partially preserved to this day.

Portrait of Emperor Paul I - Nikolai Argunov

F.M. was educated within the walls of the Military Engineering School. Dostoevsky, D.V. Grigorovich, I.M. Sechenov, T.A. Cui and many others.

V.L. Borovikovsky. Portrait of Paul I

In 1991, the building of the Mikhailovsky Castle was transferred to the State Russian Museum. Since that time, a comprehensive restoration of the one-of-a-kind architectural monument has been carried out.

Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky

One of the legends of the Mikhailovsky Castle is associated with the color of its walls: according to one version, it was chosen in honor of the glove of the emperor's favorite Anna Gagarina (Lopukhina). According to another, it was the traditional color of the Order of Malta. Following the tsar's choice, the color came into fashion, and for some time the facades of some St. Petersburg palaces were repainted in the same color.

Anna Lopukhina (Gagarin) - the emperor's favorite

When the Russian Museum began restoring the palace, the walls of the castle were brick-red, to which the townspeople had long been accustomed, considering it the original color, especially since it coincided with the colors of the Order of Malta. But restorers discovered remnants of the original paint under the plaster of the palace facade, and this difficult-to-define color (pinkish-orange-yellow) was very different from the usual colors, confirming the story about the glove.

Paul I wearing the crown, dalmatic and insignia of the Order of Malta. Artist V. L. Borovikovsky

In 2001–2002 A uniquely complex reconstruction of part of the fortifications that previously surrounded the castle was carried out - fragments of the Voskresensky Canal and the Three-Span Bridge, preserved underground, were discovered. Scientific research and archaeological work made it possible to reconstruct the engineering and technical complex of the 18th century. - one of the central architectural ensembles of St. Petersburg during the time of Paul I.

S. Tonchi Portrait of Paul I in the robes of the Grand Master of the Order of Malta

The restored halls now house permanent exhibitions and temporary exhibitions.

Pavel I - Vladimir Borovikovsky

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, architecture occupied one of the first places among his hobbies.

The buildings erected according to the orders of this monarch reveal the features of his plans, passions and fate at least to no less extent than the memories 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 enjoying the reception of the Prince of Condé at his castle of Chantilly, having listened to the prohibited by French censorship, but which was in great fashion, “The Marriage of Figaro”, which Beaumarchais himself read aloud to them, the heir to the Russian throne and his wife visited the mansion of the general tax farmer Lorena Grimaud de La Reniere, 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 present them to the august travelers. The famous architectural draftsman Charles Louis Clerisseau, a friend of Giovanni Battista Piranesi and Robert Adam, whom Catherine II admired (when they were not quarreling over the exorbitant monetary claims of the French master, in the Empress's opinion), was also invited to this reception. “I visited you several times...,” he suddenly turned to the Grand Duke, “and never found you.” “I find this very regrettable,” answered Pavel Petrovich. “You didn’t accept me because you didn’t want to accept me, and this is very bad on your part, I will write... to the empress, your parent.” “I beg your pardon,” the Grand Duke objected calmly, “but, however, also write to the Empress, my parent, that you prevented me from going further.” From the point of view of the history of Russian architecture, the conversation was not accidental. It not only testified to Paul I’s rejection of his mother’s artistic tastes and his active reluctance to deal with the architects she liked. It was about his denial of Enlightenment classicism, one of the main representatives of which in Europe was Clerissot. The heir to the throne, and then the emperor, was irritated by the cold severity of the most accurate reproduction of ancient models and the insufficient, in the opinion of people of his generation, 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. He was already tired by the 1780s of the frank clarity of architectural allegories created at the orders 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, it seems, deliberately belittled him, inflicting severe insults that were quite capable of driving crazy a person with such an unstable psyche, which was distinguished by Pavel Petrovich. At least everything that could be done for these purposes with the help of architecture has been done. When the Grand Duke became emperor, he, in turn, made great efforts to make his buildings “speak” in a completely different language than the one used by Catherine’s architects.

Pavel Petrovich's first home was Gatchina, and the appearance of this ensemble largely educated 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 his first child, the future Alexander I, he and his wife were given lands on which Pavlovsk was subsequently built.

However, according to tradition, the estate was intended for the baby's mother, 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, and pavilions were originally created there not for the heir to the throne, but for the empress’s favorite, Count Grigory Grigorievich 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 of his violent death and the role of the Orlov brothers in it. The Gatchina Palace began to be built in the mid-1760s by Antonio Rinaldi. This could partly 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 Rococo of the Prussian model, 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 as similar to the Blenham estate, presented to the famous commander John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, by the English Queen Anne I. Images of this palace were in the first volume of the famous homage Vitruvius Britannicus, which the Empress owned, which was brought to her from England by the favorite’s younger brother Vladimir Orlov. In any case, the building plan with a central building connected by short semicircular galleries with extensive squares of two service buildings located on the sides is undoubtedly of British origin. It is reminiscent of the buildings of the outstanding masters of the English Baroque, Sir John Vanbrugh and Niklas Hawksmoor. They combined attempts to use classical architectural laws with baroque theatricality 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, trained 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 - a huge building on the outside was entirely decorated with natural stone - is by no means uncommon in Italy. In addition, the orders decorating the Gatchina facades are placed one above the other: at the bottom is Tuscan, then Ionic, according to the ancient system revived by Leon Battista Alberti. Subtly and clearly executed in stone, they give the palace neo-Renaissance features. As a result, an image unusual for the time of classicism arose in Gatchina, including an organic interweaving of Baroque and Renaissance, antique and “Gothic” shades. This happened under Grigory Orlov, long before Pavel Petrovich took possession of Gatchina. Nevertheless, it was precisely this property, with which he became accustomed over the many years spent on the estate, that would 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 Rinaldi's works, and then managed to transform the stylistic uncertainty of early classicism into the ambiguity of the emerging architecture of romanticism. The image of a 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 his trip to Europe, which included Austria, Italy, France, Germany, the most vivid for him was that which was captured when visiting the Chantilly castle near Paris, with its picturesqueness characteristic of the French Renaissance and park designs that combined the regularity of gardens in the spirit of Andre Le Nôtre with the latest English ideas of natural imitation.

Pavel Petrovich 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 Gackett and John Bush; later, numerous regular parts were included in it - the Dutch and Botanical Gardens, Sylvia, and 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 have disappeared: various bastions, small fortresses, drawbridges, guardhouses with barriers, which served as indispensable attributes of the appearance of Gatchina in Pavlov’s time. The Bip fortress in Pavlovsk that has come down to us can give some idea of ​​these structures. One of the German travelers reported in her notes: “The Grand Duke, who is, however, very smart and can be pleasant to deal with... is distinguished by incomprehensible oddities, among other things, by his tomfoolery of arranging everything around him in the old Prussian way. In his possessions one immediately encounters 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... are dressed in the uniforms of the time of King Frederick William I, disfigured by this antediluvian uniform...". Count Fyodor Vasilyevich Rastopchin, 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 shuddering and pity... On Wednesdays he has maneuvers in Gatchina... the slightest contradiction takes 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. He expected every day that he would be treated the same as his father. When Nikolai Zubov, the brother of the last favorite of the Empress Platon Zubov, unexpectedly arrived in Gatchina on November 5, 1796, the Grand Duke rushed to his wife with the words: “We are dead!” However, the count came not to capture 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 built Catherine's residence, Pella, on the Neva, was destroyed, since its symbolism was addressed to the future reign of the grandson, and not the son of the deceased empress. In addition, Ivan Yegorovich Starov created in Pella the quintessence of the classicism of the Enlightenment, with its structure and rationalism taken to the limit, in the spirit of the projects of the French megalomaniacs presented at the Rome Prize of the Paris Academy. In Tsarskoe 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 the “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. Soon after this, Pavel Petrovich invited Vincenzo Brenna into his service, with whom almost all of his major further architectural endeavors are associated. Over the course of fifteen years, in several steps, the Italian master completely changed the appearance of Pavlovsk. From a Palladian villa merged with a landscape park, he created a lush and rather heavy palace, and introduced the regular structures of Italian Baroque ensembles and numerous sculptures into the garden.

The attitude towards antiquity became fundamentally different. The lightness and poetry of Cameron's generalized Greco-Roman images has disappeared. Powerful, rich, with a distinct sense of strength, the monumental image of Rome from the heyday of the empire began to dominate both in the organization of space and in the decor, extremely rich, drawn to what Heinrich Wölfflin called “Baroque antiquity.”

Even the Pavlovsk Hall, called the Greek Hall, 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 conquering its lands from the Turks. The interiors of Gatchina underwent similar changes 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. Belonging in age to the generation of Cameron and Quarenghi (he was born in 1747), he came to Rome somewhat earlier than them and, studying with the great expert on perspective drawings Stefano Pozzi, found the last reflections of Baroque influences, which were soon destroyed in Rome by the international circle of creators of the architecture of European neoclassicism . On the one hand, he continued the study of ancient baths following Cameron, but saw in the grotesques and other remains of the decor of these buildings a different, more theatrical antiquity than the British master. He did not become a fanatic of the strict ancient ideal, like Cameron. This was natural for a person connected by birth with the Italian tradition, where the change in attitude towards antiquity occurred in a more gradual and less abrupt way than in northwestern Europe. In addition, work in Poland before arriving in Russia strengthened the 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 hobbies. It is difficult to call him an architect of the Enlightenment. Rather, in his work in Russia, in a surprising way, due to the influence of the 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 to the moment of its replacement by the Empire style, to classicism, conveying the ideas of the emerging romanticism. If Paul was the first emperor of the Romantic era, then Brenna was the forerunner of Romantic classicism. This explains their long intimacy, strange given the monarch’s hot-tempered and changeable character.

All of the above-mentioned properties of these two people’s attitude towards architecture were fully manifested during the construction of the Mikhailovsky Castle in St. Petersburg. The first sketches of the project are attributed to Pavel Petrovich himself and date back to 1784. Following them and based on 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 François Gabriel Violier, brought by Pavel Petrovich from France, Vasily Ivanovich Bazhenov and, when creating the realized version, Vincenzo Brenna with the participation of Carlo Rossi. The earliest versions, possibly by Violier, with a square plan, resembled the Chateau de Chantilly, already discussed. Then a whole series of projects appeared by an unknown, probably Italian author, with a pentagonal plan, almost copying the fortified villa of Cardinal Alexander Farnese in Caprarola, built by Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola. Gradually, from an exact imitation of this structure, they moved on to a design that was stylistically reminiscent of the design of Bazhenov’s Kremlin Palace. All this was done for St. Petersburg. Suddenly, 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 such an option were developed with the participation of Brenn, at least the main body was already 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 drawing up 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 disgrace of the former empress. Nevertheless, Brenna was commissioned to finalize his Gatchina version at the beginning of 1797. Already on February 26, the ceremonial foundation stone of the Mikhailovsky Castle took place on the site of the Summer Palace of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. Paul I himself laid the first bricks made of jasper with a silver spatula. By January 8, 1800, the day of St. Michael the Archangel, the work was largely completed. The owner of the castle had fourteen months and three days to reign. From the outside, the castle primarily gives the impression of a dark monolithic mass, perceived from afar. The approach to it was supposed to be along a straight avenue between long, low, symmetrically located buildings of stables and two large octagonal pavilions, behind which a square with an equestrian monument of Peter the Great, created long ago by Bartolomeo Rastrelli Sr., opened up. The symbolic inscription on the monument read: “To great-grandfather, great-grandson.” A clear contrast to the Bronze Horseman with his equally significant: “Catherine the Second to Peter the Great.” 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. Its 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; near the arch it is covered with large diamond rustication. The second and third floors are connected by an Ionic porphyry colonnade. The edges recede deeper and are rounded. Behind them are visible towers standing in the center of the side facades. The side of the castle facing the Summer Garden is lighter, more welcoming, with a huge balcony on the second floor. It was from him that, when the conspirators killed Paul I, on an early March morning in 1801, his son addressed the guard battalions, saying that the emperor had died of an “apoplectic stroke,” and with him “everything would be like with his grandmother.” So, despite the hopes of many, it did not work out, including in the field of architecture. Paul I managed to destroy the influence of Enlightenment ideology in her and abandoned the beginnings of romantic images. The further the story went, the stronger the impression of the romance of the castle and its owner.

teacher of history, social studies,

history and culture of St. Petersburg,

GBOU school No. 123 of St. Petersburg

Lesson objectives:

To help students develop an idea of ​​St. Petersburg at the end of the 19th century.

Lesson objectives:

Build skill

Work with the text of the textbook and additional sources,

Analyze and highlight the main thing,

Independent work skills

Form a personal attitude towards the content of the material,

Student communication skills

During the classes:

1. Slide 1-2

In 1754, Paul I was born in the luxurious wooden Summer Palace, built by Rastrelli for Elizabeth Petrovna on the left bank of the Moika. Here he spent his early years. From here began his painfully long, forty-year journey to the throne.

What do you know about Paul I from your history course? - conversation

The activities of Paul I on the throne were controversial. To this day, some call him a villain and a tyrant, while others call him a reformer.

How many years did Paul I reign?

Is four years a lot or a little? What can be done in 4 years? - conversation

Our task in the lesson is not to evaluate the activities of Paul I, but to see what changed in the city during those four and a half years of his reign.

The first thing Paul I did was to rebury the body of his father (What was his name? What happened to him? - Peter III, killed during a conspiracy). Peter III was buried in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra - and Paul reburied him, as befits Russian emperors, in the Peter and Paul Cathedral.

Having finally become emperor and being wary of living in the Winter Palace, where he constantly imagined conspiracies, Paul, who was prone to mysticism, according to legend, once declared: “I want to die where I was born.” In 1797, on his orders, the wooden Summer Palace was dismantled and in its place the construction of a castle began, named Mikhailovsky in honor of the Archangel Michael.

5. Watch a video clip about Mikhailovsky Castle from the series “Small Details of the Big City.”

Completing the task “Text with gaps”.

http://LearningApps.org/941752

According to some, the appearance of the palace evokes romantic memories of the Middle Ages; according to others, traces of ancient sculpture are preserved in it. Look at the illustrations and give your opinion.

Construction was also carried out in other areas of the city. In the era of Paul I, new names of architects emerged. One of them, Antonio Porto, built two very austere buildings: the Mint on the territory of the Peter and Paul Fortress and ...

Medical and Surgical Academy on the Vyborg side, which are still used for their original purpose.

In 1798, by decree of Emperor Paul I, the medical school at the hospital was transformed into the Medical-Surgical Academy. A building was built specifically on the Vyborg side. Classes began in 1800; doctors, veterinarians and pharmacists were trained here.

Take a close look at the building. What architectural style was it built in? Explain your opinion.

It was during this period that the construction of the Kazan Cathedral on Nevsky Prospect was conceived. A competition was announced for the best project. In 1800, construction of the cathedral began according to the design of Andrei Nikiforovich Voronikhin.

Paul I attached great importance to spiritual education; in 1797, the Holy Trinity Alexander Nevsky Monastery was transformed into the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, and the seminary attached to it was transformed into the Alexander Nevsky Academy.

10. Slide 10

In 1798, Paul I, as emperor, took the title of Grand Master of the Knights of Malta. And he donated this palace, built during the time of Elizabeth Petrovna, according to the design of F.-B. Rastrelli for Count Vorontsov, to the Russian branch of the Order of Malta.

The palace began to be called "the castle of the Knights of Malta."

In 1798-1800 At the behest of Paul I, two churches were built on the territory of the palace estate: the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Chapel of the Order of the Knights of Malta - the Maltese Chapel.

The building of the Maltese Chapel was erected according to the design of architect. J. Quarenghi. Determine what style this building was built in?

11. Slide 11

Under Paul I, 3 monuments were erected in the city, one of which is the monument to Peter I. There is an inscription on the monument: “To great-grandfather - great-grandson (1800).” Why?

The model of the monument was made by the sculptor K. Rastrelli during the life of Peter I. However, its casting was completed only in 1745-1747. But even then it was not established, but only in 1800.

12. Slide 12-13

"Rumyantsev's victories." Remember: “Amusing Field” or “Bolshoi”, and later “Tsaritsyn Meadow”. Military parades took place in the meadow. Later, the name of the square was established - Champ de Mars. Now this monument is located in a completely different place, but under Paul I it was located here.

13. Slide 14

And the monument that replaced it to A.V. Suvorov in the image of the god of war Mars, ordered by Emperor Paul to the sculptor M. Kozlovsky, but erected after the death of the emperor.

14. Slide 15

Consider the image of St. Petersburg, the time of Paul I.

What do you see in the picture? Who is pictured here? How are you dressed? Where? Why do you think so?

Read the text of the textbook, paragraph 2, and the handouts. Work in groups.

Write it down in your notebook: What changed in the lives of the townspeople under Paul?

Discussion of the results of the work.

15. Conclusion.

Paul I reigned for four and a half years. Some believe that when he came to power, he completely changed the life of the city. (Textbook. Test yourself, question 6, p. 191.) What do you think? Discussion.

Group work assignments

1. “Great changes took place in the life of the city with the accession of Emperor Paul I. Work in institutions began at 5-6 in the morning, but after 8 o’clock in the evening not a single resident could appear on the streets without special permission. In contrast to his mother, Emperor Paul did not like luxury. In the city during his reign there were only 7 French shops. Wanting to stop excessive luxury, which was especially evident during balls, he, among other rules, issued the following: turn off the lights in all private houses after 8 o'clock in the evening, do not travel in fours or sixes (the number of horses harnessed together), someone was not entitled to by rank, even regulated the number of dishes at dinner in accordance with rank... 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 be empty pastime, unjustified idleness and excessive panache. The former free, sometimes dissolute life in St. Petersburg has become stricter, more everyday. It was difficult to get used to the new order of life in St. Petersburg; this caused discontent and ridicule of the courtiers."

2. “So that the voice of the weak, the oppressed could be heard,” the emperor arranged a box in one of the windows of the Winter Palace, where everyone from dignitaries to commoners could throw letters with petitions for immediate royal protection or mercy. Only the Tsar had the key to the room where the box was located, and he personally took out and read the petitions, without leaving a single matter unresolved."

3. “In 1797, Paul I established a map depot, where Atlases of St. Petersburg were first prepared, which give a vivid picture of St. Petersburg, its geography and development of the late 18th century. Paul was very interested in topographically accurate images of St. Petersburg and the surrounding area.”

4. Guard boxes and barriers

“According to the recollections of contemporaries, the first thing that was remembered in St. Petersburg during the time of Paul I was the 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 the measure was necessary to collect taxes, on the one hand, and on the other, to prevent any smuggling from revolutionary France. The fight against the revolutionary infection also included the emperor’s orders regarding clothing and fashion: a ban on wearing tailcoats and round hats, the desire to dress everyone into uniform.... Striped booths and barriers appeared in the capital thanks to Paul the First's passion for the “Prussian order". The black and white striped guardhouses that stood throughout Prussia and Austria made a great impression on the Tsarevich during his trip to Europe. Toys striped huts even stood in the children's rooms of the royal family.Under Paul the First, striped huts were installed at every crossroads of the city. The booths were equipped with a round viewing hole."

5. “On September 25, 1800, a decree was issued on the theatrical theme: “His Imperial Majesty deigned to see with extreme indignation during the last ... performance that some of the former spectators, contrary to previously given orders on this subject, took the liberty of splashing their hands when His Majesty was not pleased to express his approval, and on the contrary, they refrained from splashing when His Majesty, by his example, showed a desire to approve the actors' play." At the same time, a scolding was arranged for the court ladies who "do not maintain the appearance of modesty and decorum in their clothes, befitting their rank and condition." (A. M. Peskov. Pavel I)

6. “Under Paul I, the luxurious Tauride Palace, a gift from Catherine to Grigory Potemkin, was actually plundered and turned into a barracks, a stable and a grandiose soldiers’ toilet. Valuables were removed from the building. Thus, inlaid parquet flooring was used in the construction of the Mikhailovsky Castle. In 1799 . a decree was announced on the transfer of the palace to the Life Guards Cavalry Regiment “for barracks, and from now on to call the palace the Castle and establish the position of commandant of the Castle." One of Paul’s contemporaries recalled, “in the Catherine Hall and near it there was “sand poured more than an inch high, in "In the stables, as well as in other rooms where the horses were kept, there was a lot of manure and uncleanliness. In many rooms, in the right places, there was great uncleanness."

Literature:

History and culture of St. Petersburg, part 1 (From ancient times to the end of the 18th century), L. K. Ermolaeva, I. Z. Zakhvatkina, I. M. Lebedeva, N. G. Sheiko, Yu. A. Korablina, ST. - St. Petersburg, SMIO Press, 2011

Internet resources used:

1. History of St. Petersburg, the best articles about the history of St. Petersburg.

Petersburg at the end of the 18th century

http://www.gopiter.ru/piter/helpinfo/history/piter_18/

2. Petersburg under Paul I

http://history-gatchina.ru/paul/manege/spb.htm

3. St. Petersburg