Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna on the fountain map. Panorama of the Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna

And, of course, the symbol of the Summer Garden and one of the symbols of St. Petersburg is the fence overlooking the Neva embankment, built in 1770-1784 by the architect Yu.M. Felton. But few people know that in this very place once stood Summer Palace of Anna Ioannovna, which surprised contemporaries with its splendor.

Embankment of the Neva at the Summer Garden. It was here that the Summer Palace of Anna Ioannovna once stood.

The history of the construction of the palace of Anna Ioannovna

Initially, during the reign of Empress Catherine I, the “Hall for Glorious Celebrations” was built here, which was a wooden gallery and a hall with 11 windows along the facade. On May 21, 1725, the wedding of Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna (1708-1728) with the Duke of Holstein (Karl Friedrich of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp, 1700-1738) took place there. From this marriage was born Karl Peter Ulrich, the future Russian Emperor Peter III (1728-1762).

In 1731, by order of Empress Anna Ioannovna (1693-1740, reigned 1730-1740), the "Hall" was broken, and in just 6 weeks in 1732 a luxurious wooden palace was erected. Its architect was Francesco Rastrelli, and his father, Bartolomeo Rastrelli, also took part in the work. On June 1, 1732, the Empress solemnly entered the new Summer Palace. For the following years, she lived here from the beginning of May to the end of September.

Empress Anna Ioannovna, from an engraving by I. Sokolov, 1740

The palace was a one-story, elongated room. The central part of the façade was singled out, slopes to the Neva departed from the side wings. Along the roof was a balustrade, decorated with carvings and sculptures. Frequent windows were mirrored - a rarity for that time; through them one could see the interior decoration. The palace had 28 rooms, 10 of which were occupied by Biron. When Anna Ioannovna lived in the Summer Palace, four yachts were moored on the Neva, which gave fireworks during festivities and feasts.

Drawings of the Summer Palace of Anna Ioannovna, made by F.-B. Rastrelli

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The mysterious death of the Empress

The Empress died in the Summer Palace, and the farewell ceremony was also held here. Her death was preceded by strange events. On October 5 (16), 1740, during lunch with Biron, Anna Ioannovna lost consciousness. Doctors declared the disease fatal. M.I. Pylyaev in the book “Old Petersburg”, referring to the lady-in-waiting Bludov, writes the following (grammar and punctuation are preserved):

A few days before the death of Anna Ioannovna, the guard stood in the room, near the throne room, the sentry was at the open doors. The empress had already retired to the inner chambers; it was past midnight, and the officer sat down to take a nap. Suddenly, the sentry calls for guard duty, the soldiers lined up, the officer took out his sword to salute. Everyone sees - the Empress walks up and down the throne room, bowing her head thoughtfully, not paying attention to anyone. The whole platoon stands in anticipation, but, finally, the strangeness of a night walk through the throne room begins to confuse everyone. The officer, seeing that the empress does not want to leave the hall, finally decides to go the other way and ask if anyone knows the intentions of the empress. Here he meets Biron and reports to him. “It can’t be,” Biron says: “I’m from the empress now, she went into the bedroom to go to bed. “Look for yourself, she's in the throne room. Biron goes and sees her too. “It’s something wrong, it’s either a conspiracy or a deceit to act on the soldiers,” he says, runs to the empress and persuades her to come out in order to expose the impostor in the eyes of the guard, who uses some resemblance to her to fool people. The Empress decides to go out, as she was in a puddermantle. Biron goes with her. They see a woman, strikingly similar to the Empress, who is not in the least embarrassed. - Daring! - says Biron, and calls the whole guard; the soldiers and all those present see "two Anna Ioannovnas", of which the real and the ghost could be distinguished only by the outfit and by the fact that she came with Biron. The Empress, after standing for a moment in amazement, comes up to her, saying: “Who are you? Why did you come? Without answering a word, the ghost backs away, without taking his eyes off the empress, to the throne, ascends to it, and on the steps, turning his eyes once again to the empress, disappears. The Empress turns to Biron and says: This is my death, and goes to her room.

There are many unknowns in this story. Even as a child, Anna Ioannovna, a certain holy fool predicted that she would die after she saw her reflection without a mirror. In 1721, during a feast on the occasion of the proclamation of Peter I as emperor, the cracker announced that the women of the royal house would face death in a female guise. One could believe in mysticism, but ... The next day after the death of Anna Ioannovna, near the Green Bridge near the Moika River, a woman's corpse was found, strikingly similar to the late Empress. Was she the same ghost?

According to the will of Anna Ioannovna, signed the day after the appearance of the double, the throne passed to the 10-month-old John Antonovich, under whom Biron was regent. However, he did not have long to rule. On the night of November 8, Biron was arrested by Minich and exiled to. The baby emperor was taken from the Summer Palace to the Winter Palace, and from there to Shlisselburg.

The further fate of the palace

In 1748, already in the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna, the Summer Palace was dismantled and moved to Yekaterinhof, serving as building material for two outbuildings that expanded the main palace. And after the revolution, in 1926, after several fires, the Ekateringof Palace was completely dismantled. So the Summer Palace of Anna Ioannovna ceased to exist.

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Founded by Peter I of the royal estate. Here, near the junction of the Moika and the Fontanka, shortly before her death, Empress Anna Ioannovna ordered the architect F. B. Rastrelli to build the palace "with extreme haste." During her lifetime, the architect did not have time to start this work.

In late 1740 - early 1741, Anna Leopoldovna, who took power into her own hands, also decided to build her own house on this site. On her behalf, Governor-General Minich ordered Rastrelli to draw up an appropriate project. The drawings were ready by the end of February 1741. But the architect was in no hurry to provide them to Munnich, but took the documents to the Hof quartermaster's office, which delayed the approval of the project for several weeks. Probably, Rastrelli guessed about the imminent change in power and was in no hurry to carry out the order. The architect was right. On March 3, Petersburg was informed of Minich's resignation. On November 24, a palace coup took place, as a result of which the daughter of Peter I, Elizabeth, came to power. By this time, the Summer Palace had already been laid.

Concerning the date of laying the palace in local lore literature, there are different versions. Historian Yuri Ovsyannikov in the book "Great Architects of St. Petersburg" writes that it took place on July 24, 1741 in the presence of the ruler Anna Leopoldovna, her husband Generalissimo Anton Ulrich, courtiers and guards. Georgy Zuev in the book "The Moika River Flows" calls the month of laying the Summer Palace not July, but June. The same opinion is shared by K. V. Malinovsky in the book "St. Petersburg of the 18th century".

The new house became known as the Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna. Immediately after her accession to the throne, she entrusted Rastrelli with the completion of its interior decoration. The draft building was ready by 1743. The palace became the first own home of Elizabeth Petrovna, in which no one had lived before her. As a reward for this work, the empress raised the architect's salary from 1,200 to 2,500 rubles a year.

The Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna was connected to Nevsky Prospekt by a road running along the Fontanka. The approach to the building was flanked by a one-story kitchen and guardhouse. Between them were gates decorated with gilded double-headed eagles. Behind them is the front yard. The main facade of the palace faced the Summer Garden, to which a covered bridge-gallery led through the Moika since 1745. The first floor of the building was made of stone, on it rested wooden walls of light pink color treated with plaster. Against their background, white window trims and pilasters stood out. The ground floor of the palace was lined with greenish granite.

In the central building there was a two-height Grand Hall with the royal throne against the western wall. The Empress lived in the eastern wing of the palace, on the side of the Fontanka. Courtiers lived in the west wing. Rastrelli wrote about the Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna:

"The building had more than one hundred and sixty apartments, including here the church, hall and galleries. Everything was decorated with mirrors and rich sculpture, as well as a new garden, adorned with beautiful fountains, with the Hermitage built at ground floor level, surrounded by rich trellises, all decorations which were gilded" [Cit. according to 1, p. 264].

In the aforementioned Hermitage, built in 1746, according to Jacob Stehlin, paintings of exclusively religious and biblical content were kept. Some of them are now in the State Hermitage and the Pavlovsk Palace. The halls of the Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna were decorated with Bohemian mirrors, marble sculptures and paintings by famous artists.

Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli was not completely satisfied with this work of his. Ten years after the end of construction, he was still finishing and reworking something. The walls of the building were decorated with figured window frames, atlantes, lion masks and mascarons. In 1752, Rastrelli added "a new large gallery hall" to the northeast corner of the palace. The owner of the palace had little interest in the architectural integrity of the building. The main thing for her was only the luxury of the surrounding space.

On April 30, the Empress moved to the Summer Palace from the Winter Palace with her entire court. Return - 30 September. Here Elizabeth took a break from her public service. In the Summer Palace, she preferred only to relax.

Here, in 1754, Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich, the future Emperor Paul I, was born and spent the first years of his life. The Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna in 1762 became the site of celebrations on the occasion of the conclusion of peace with Prussia after the end of the Seven Years' War.

For Catherine II, the Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna became the place where she received official congratulations from the diplomatic corps on her accession to the throne. Within its walls, she heard the news of the death of Peter III.

In the very first month of the reign of Paul I, on November 28, 1796, a decree was issued: " for the permanent residence of the sovereign to build with haste a new impregnable palace-castle. He should stand on the site of the dilapidated Summer House". The emperor did not want to live in winter palace. He preferred to live in the place where he was born. Thus, allegedly, a decision was made to build a new palace, which replaced the Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna.

The reign of Elizabeth I was marked by a new stage in the development of architecture in the state, the emergence of the Elizabethan (Russian) Baroque. Built under the guidance of the chief architect Empress R.F. Bartolomeo's architectural monuments had a clear European influence, however, they were characterized by Russian scope and monumentality. One of these masterpieces was the Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna in St. Petersburg, which was compared with the French in style, lightness of architectural forms and richness of decoration. royal palace at Versailles.

Geographical location and architectural features of the Summer Palace of Elizabeth

We can get an idea of ​​what the Summer Palace of Elizabeth looked like from paintings and engravings, as well as the memoirs of contemporaries. The imperial residence was located on the site between the street. Italian, Ekaterininsky canal, Moika and Fontanka rivers. The palace was built in the 3rd Summer Garden, where the Mikhailovsky (also known as Engineering) Castle is located today.

According to the project, the palace provided for the presence of two facades overlooking the Moika (main) and in the direction of Nevsky Prospekt. In front of the main entrance to the building, a regularly operating park was laid out with trees and figured flower beds, benches and fountains. Visitors entered the courtyard through a wrought-iron gate.

The Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli had a second name - the Wooden Palace. Only the basement and walls of the first floor were made of stone, the second floor was completely made of wood. The pink and gray exterior walls looked elegant and light. Inside the room was decorated with rich stucco with gilding, sculptures and a large number of mirrors. The luxurious and elegant palace included more than 160 rooms, including a hall for ceremonial receptions and galleries.

Favorite residence of Elizabeth Petrovna

The entire court of Elizabeth I moved to the Summer Palace from the Winter Palace as soon as it got warmer: in April - May. The move was arranged solemnly, with a cannon salute and an orchestra, accompanied by a guards regiment. The return to the winter residence at the end of September was no less pompous.

Elizabeth loved her Summer Palace. It regularly hosted official receptions and balls. The future Emperor Paul I was born here.

Summer Palace of Elizabeth: the history of construction

The idea of ​​erecting a summer imperial residence appeared during the reign of Anna Leopoldovna, regent under the young Ivan VI, to whom the throne passed after Anna Ioannovna. The architect began to develop drawings at the end of 1740, and in July 1741 construction work began. In the same year, a coup took place and Elizaveta Petrovna, the youngest daughter of Peter the Great, came to power. The new empress approved the continuation of the construction of the palace and the work was carried out from 1741 to 1744. Historically, the construction was carried out not exactly according to the project. So, at the direction of Elizabeth through the river. Moika, a covered gallery was built for the transition from the palace to the 2nd Summer Garden.

After the death of Elizabeth I, the palace remained an imperial residence, festive events were held here at the end of the seven-year war with Prussia, and Catherine II accepted official congratulations on her coronation from foreign ambassadors, although she spent most of her time in Tsarskoye Selo. By decree of Paul I, the Summer Palace was destroyed in 1797 (officially - due to dilapidation), and in its place the modern Mikhailovsky Castle, known to us, was built, which became the residence of the emperor.

With the coming to power in Russia of Emperor Peter I, a grandiose era of transformations began in the state, which became the impetus for changes in urban planning and architecture.

Catherine's "Golden Mansions"

In 1703 the Emperor founded new town- St. Petersburg, and already 9 years later, the construction of a small house for Empress Ekaterina Alekseevna, the wife of the monarch, begins. It was located on south coast Moika and was a small house with a turret, which ended with a gilded spire. The building was named "Golden Mansions". Subsequently, this area was called Tsaritsyn Lug and became part of the Summer Garden - a large royal estate. Exotic fruits were grown on its territory for the Empress: pineapples and bananas.

A few years after the construction, it was decided to build a grandiose palace that would crown the tetrahedral dome, but the plan was not realized.

Failed construction

In 1730-1740. in power was Empress Anna Ioannovna, who a few years before her death instructed the architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli to build a palace on Tsaritsyn Meadow, and this should have been done as soon as possible. However, the death of the empress did not allow the architect to proceed with the execution of her order. Her successor, Anna Leopoldovna, also wanted to build her own palace on this site, the construction was entrusted to the same Rastrelli. In February 1741, the architect prepared the necessary drawings, but it was not possible to present them to the empress: in March, a coup d'état was carried out, and Empress Elizaveta Petrovna came to power.

Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli

Created the Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli - the greatest architect of the 18th century. He came from an Italian aristocratic family and held the title of count. His father was the sculptor Carlo Rastrelli, who worked for a long time at the court of the French Sun King Louis, and after the death of the latter he was invited by the Russian emperor to Russia.

Bartolomeo with early years was attracted by his father to work on various projects, went to study in Europe. The first documented work of Rastrelli in Russia was the three-story palace of Dmitry Kantemir, built in the style of Petrine baroque.

In the 1730s, Rastrelli was engaged in the construction of the Rundale Palace and the palace in Mitava, which he was building on the orders of the Duke of Courland. It was on the recommendation of Biron of Courland that Rastrelli became the court architect.

Architectural style of Rastrelli

Bartolomeo created a unique style in architecture. So, he began to use semi-circular window endings on the facades, and he usually assembled semi-columns in pairs and bundles. External columns usually did not play a constructive role, but were intended only for decoration. His palaces were characterized by huge ceremonial halls, covering the entire depth of the floor, and when designing interiors, he tried to avoid curved lines. All his buildings are characterized by screaming power, grandeur and solemnity, even pomposity. Rastrelli abandoned the strip foundations traditional for that time, preferring platforms made of brick and stone based on piles, which, in turn, made it possible to partially redistribute the loads, and this was very important for the weak soils of St. Petersburg.

Creations of the great architect

The great architect, in addition to the Rundale and Mitava palaces, built such buildings that became attractions:

1. Great Peterhof Palace.
2. Andrew's Church in Kyiv.
3. Smolny Cathedral in St. Petersburg.
4. Vorontsov Palace.
5. Hermitage.
6. Winter Palace.
7. Royal Palace in Kyiv, etc.

Lost buildings of the architect

Some of his buildings on this moment lost:

• Kantemir Palace.
• Throne room on the Yauza.
• Winter Palace of Anna Ioannovna.
• Winter Kremlin Palace.
• Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna.
• Travel Srednerogatsky Palace.

The history of the construction of the Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna

The exact date of laying the foundation of the palace has not been preserved. According to one version, during the laying of the foundation in July 1941, Anna Leopoldovna was present with her husband, Prince Anton Ulrich, according to another, the laying took place a month earlier. However, the spouses were not destined to live in the new palace.

Rastrelli received an order to complete the begun palace from Tsesarevna Elizaveta Petrovna, who became Empress. The construction was completed in 1743 - it was the first palace of the empress, built personally for her, and the empress liked it so much that she doubled the salary of the architect - up to 2500 rubles a year.

The Empress used the summer residence from May to September every year, she devoted this time to her rest, almost not doing important state affairs. In 1754, it was here that Grand Duke Pavel, the son of Ekaterina Alekseevna, was born, and here Elizaveta Petrovna staged celebrations on the occasion of the end of the seven-year war and the conclusion of peace with Prussia. Then the empress began to visit the palace less and less, spending more time in Tsarskoye Selo, and the palace gradually began to deteriorate.

Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna: description

The architecture of the Summer Palace is such that it is simply impossible not to notice that the author of the project was impressed by the French Versailles. The building is characterized by the closedness of the ensemble of the front yard in front of the palace, traditional for the Baroque. Detailed Description the brainchild of Rastrelli did not remain, but some memories of the imperial estate were found.

So, the summer residence of Elizabeth Petrovna consisted of 160 apartments, there were both the personal chambers of the queen, and numerous halls, galleries and even a church. In order to get to the territory of the palace, it was necessary to go through wide openwork gates made of lattices, crowned with gilded eagles. According to the architect, “everything was decorated with mirrors and rich sculpture, as well as the new garden, decorated with beautiful fountains, with the Hermitage built at the ground floor level, surrounded by rich trellises, all the decorations of which were gilded.”

The building had two facades. The main one was facing the Moika, flower beds and neat trees were placed in front of it, which turned this territory into a park. The second facade was turned towards Nevsky Prospekt, where, on the orders of Bartolomeo, a wide road was laid, along which there were numerous greenhouses with flowers and trees.

The first floor of the Summer Palace of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna was made of stone, but the second was completely wooden. The building is designed in pink tones, and the basement rooms are in gray. The ground floor was faced with green granite. Inside the palace, all rooms were decorated with Bohemian mirrors, marble sculptures and paintings by famous artists. The Hermitage was built at the level of the first floor, where paintings of religious and biblical content were kept, some of which have survived to this day.

In the main building there was the Great ceremonial hall, at the western wall of which the royal throne was located. In order to get into the Throne Room, it was necessary to pass a series of living rooms and a huge front staircase, decorated with gilded carvings. The throne room struck with its grandeur, which was further emphasized by the cunning arrangement of candelabra and chandeliers, which created the impression of a two-light volume. Several curly staircases also led to the Throne Hall from the side of the garden, each of which was supplemented by ramps. The imperial chambers were located in the eastern wing of the palace, and the courtiers lived in the western wing. Each of the rooms of the palace was lavishly decorated with various statues and vases. The facade of the building was crowned with numerous balustrades.

palace park

The entire territory of the palace complex was surrounded by a decorative park. The garden also included magnificent fountains, and the park itself was a complex maze of green spaces. On the territory of the complex, Rastrelli created three unusual fountain pools of complex outlines. Small gazebos and benches were equipped throughout the park, and carousels, swings and slides were located in the center. Also, according to the architect's idea, two artificial trapezoid semicircular ponds were created, which, by the way, have survived to this day.

Subsequent changes

Francesco Rastrelli continued to work on the summer residence of the Empress for many years. So, he was engaged in decorating the walls with figured architraves, atlantes and lion masks, 9 years after the completion of construction, he added a new gallery hall from the northeast side of the palace. Such constant changes only pleased the Empress, while the owner the architectural integrity of the building was of little interest. The main thing is that new buildings are as luxurious as possible.

In 1745, by order of the Empress, a covered gallery was built for the transition from the palace to the Summer Garden, its walls were generously decorated with artistic canvases. In 1747, the architect created a terrace with a fountain in the center, located on the same level as the Hermitage pavilion. Around the perimeter, it was fenced with a gilded lattice.

A little later, a church appears on the territory of the summer palace, which expands the palace complex from the Fontanka side, and bay windows appear on the facade from the western side.

On the territory of the palace, Rastrelli also built water towers with aqueducts, which were also generously decorated with paintings.

Catherine period

The Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna in St. Petersburg became the site of the triumph of Catherine II. It was here that she arranged an official reception for foreign diplomats after her accession to the throne, and here she learned about the death of Peter III. Not living in the residence, Catherine bestowed it first on Grigory Orlov, then Grigory Potemkin.

In 1777, a flood occurred, which greatly damaged the already dilapidated palace. No one began to restore the damaged water cannon, and the aqueduct was dismantled.

The Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna was demolished in 1797 by order of Emperor Paul I. A few weeks after his accession to the throne, he ordered the construction of a new impregnable castle-fortress on the site of the already dilapidated building, since the emperor did not want to live in the Winter Palace at all. There is a legend according to which the archangel Michael appeared to one of the guard soldiers, who ordered that the tsar be told about the need to build a church on the site of the palace, which became part of the Mikhailovsky Castle complex. That is how the Mikhailovsky Castle grew up on the site of the Elizabethan summer residence in 1800. The decoration of the summer residence of Elizabeth was neatly folded and taken to other royal estates.

How to get to the Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna? Unfortunately, it didn't survive. On the site of the Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna (address: St. Petersburg, Sadovaya Street, 2), the Mikhailovsky, or Engineering Castle, is currently located. In order to get to the castle, it is enough to use the metro, you need to get off at the Nevsky Prospekt or Gostiny Dvor station.

The Catherine Palace, named after Catherine I, was the favorite residence of three empresses - Catherine, Elizabeth Petrovna and Catherine II. Each of them added something different to the architecture of the ensemble: Catherine II, for example, refused the luxurious gilding, which Elizabeth valued so much, and was generally skeptical about this “whipped cream”.

From hut to palace

Back in the 17th century, on the territory of the future Tsarskoe Selo, the estate of the Swedish magnate, Sarskaya Manor, was located. Some time later, locally they began to call Sarsky village, later - Tsarskoye. In 1718, the first "stone chambers" were laid here, which formed the basis of the luxurious Catherine's Palace. The palace received its name known to us only in 1910. Prior to this, the residence of the empresses was called the Grand Palace, and later, after the construction of the Alexander Palace, they began to be called the Old.

The work was entrusted to the architect Braunstein, known for his designs of buildings in Peterhof. In the decoration of the "chambers" wood was used, and not the most durable species. In the future, this will play a cruel joke: the wooden coverings will rot so much that the floor will almost begin to fail. In 1724, the first celebration was held in Tsarskoye Selo on the occasion of the emperor's arrival - "thirteen cannons were fired three times."

Half the kingdom for the palace!

The future Empress Elizabeth inherited the manor from her mother. The Tsesarevna loved her dacha, with which she had childhood memories. Having ascended the throne, Elizaveta Petrovna began to spend a lot of money on the arrangement of her residence in order to compete with Versailles itself.

First of all, the empress decided to rebuild the outdated mansions. Under the leadership of Zemtsov and Kvasov, a detailed project was developed, about which Benois wrote later: ""... if the Kvasov project is inferior in luxury and brilliance to the building of Rastrelli, which we now admire, then in terms of grace, balance and rhythm of lines, it deserves preference" .

In 1744, the reins of government were handed over to Rastrelli, but the architect took up the direct work on the reconstruction of the palace a little later. It was thanks to Rastrelli that a building appeared in the Russian Baroque style, decorated with stucco and columns, painted in azure color. Elizaveta Petrovna did not skimp - more than 100 kilograms of gold was spent on finishing the facade and countless statues.

After the death of Elizabeth, Catherine II ordered the sculptures in the park to be gilded, as the late empress had bequeathed. But when Catherine found out how much such a luxury would cost the treasury, she refused to work.

Old-fashioned "whipped cream"

Catherine II did not immediately fall in love with Tsarskoye Selo. In 1766, she complained in a letter: “For seven days now, I have been living in a dacha, in the house that the late Empress Elizabeth took it into her head to gild inside and out; there is not a single comfortable chair in it ... There is not even the opportunity to lean on the table. The newly-made empress considered this baroque "whipped cream" old-fashioned, and ordered the stucco decorations to be removed and the gilding to be replaced with simple painting.

The Scotsman Charles Cameron worked on the interiors of the palace under Catherine. He had to work hard: the empress, a great lover of ancient art, ordered to combine old-fashioned baroque halls with classic lines. It was under the leadership of Cameron that the ceremonial halls - Arabesque, Lyon and Chinese were decorated, he also created the Mirror, Blue and Silver cabinets, the Raphael room and the famous Blue drawing room. True, the interiors of the northern half of the palace burned down during the Great Patriotic War.

Mystery of the Amber Room

The world-famous Amber Room was originally decorated with canvases painted to look like amber. The amber panels themselves were presented to Peter I by the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm I.

Peter wrote to his wife Ekaterina: “The king gave me a fair present with a yacht, which is splendidly decorated in Potsdam, and an Amber office, which had long been desired.” For some time, the mosaics were located in the Human Chambers in summer garden. Only in 1770 Catherine Palace the same Amber Room appeared, which is now known from photographs and in a reconstructed form.