Where is the Vorontsov Palace in the Crimea city. Where did the English palace or the amazing castle of Count Vorontsov come from in Crimea
I have the most wonderful memories connected with the Vorontsov Palace. I was still a schoolgirl when I came to Alupka for the first time with my parents. Mom offered to go on a tour, and at the word "palace" for some reason I imagined something fabulous, like the palace of Tsar Saltan - a snow-white building with blue domes, a temple and a tower at the same time. But what I saw crossed all the boundaries of the most beautiful fantasies: a palace and a fortress, sophistication and austerity, pomp and restraint.
Then I had no idea what the English style was and what the guide was talking about, but the essence of the story became clear thanks to what appeared before my eyes. I realized that a Russian aristocrat who had lived in England for a long time - the same Count Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov - wished to decorate the semi-wild area with an amazing structure. It was supposed to repeat the outlines of Ai-Petri - the mountain near which it is located. Or maybe he didn’t think of it himself, but the architect Edward Blore, but the result was architectural masterpiece. I have a feeling that the palace has existed as long as the Crimean land itself, although this is not so.
What to see on the territory of the palace
The second time I came to Alupka with my husband, when I was expecting a daughter. Vorontsov Palace and the park became something like a lucky talisman for me. But if at the time of my childhood the queues at the ticket office of the palace were huge, then that summer we got inside rather quickly: apparently, at the beginning of the 21st century, interest in beauty in Ukraine diminished. Yes, yes, because then, together with the Crimea, she was a prisoner of joylessness. And yet Crimea remained Crimea: hospitable, flowery, generous. My husband and I arrived in Alupka on a fairly comfortable bus and immediately went to visit Mikhail Semyonovich. But, to tell the truth, he almost never visited his Alupka palace!
The construction of the palace began in 1828.
dining room
The canteen was built first. I don't remember why, but I will allow myself to assume that the intelligent Count's family preferred to eat in decent surroundings. It is now that we fly into eateries and swallow hamburgers to the sounds of pop music, and then families not devoid of culture gathered in canteens, where they leisurely spent time at a pleasant meal, accompanied by overflows classical music. This is how the main dining room of the Vorontsov Palace looks like.
The wooden balcony upstairs is for musicians. Agree, in such an environment it is impossible to raise your voice, start gesticulating, neglect the instruments and just rush somewhere. Dishes were prepared in the palace kitchen: the cooks passed them here to the servants who used the underground gallery. But that was already when the palace was fully built. It took twenty years!
Features of the architecture of the southern facade
Architect Edward Blore has never been to Alupka - unbelievable, but true. He was aware of the terrain, and therefore so accurately and skillfully created the project of the palace. It combines both the classic English (as I said) style and the oriental one, in which the South facade is built. As a friend of the tour guide explained to me, it was a beautiful gesture, Vorontsov's curtsy: he wanted to pay tribute to the culture of the Muslims who founded Alupka and lived in it.
You will hardly ever see the Southern facade like this: these steps are always full of tourists with cameras. Even in November there are many guests here. The lions that adorn the staircase leading to the sea were installed in 1848, twenty years after the construction of the palace began. They were created by the Italian sculptor Giovanni Bonnani. The lion terrace completed the construction of the palace, but in twenty years a lot has been experienced and created!
Take a look at these stones, battlements, turrets - all this was created by the hands of Russian serfs from the Moscow and Vladimir provinces. Hereditary masons built the palace from local diabase stone (frozen magma, as I read). They had only the most primitive tools at their disposal. The names of these masters remained unknown, but the Vorontsov Palace forever preserved the warmth of their hands.
Interior
Serfs were also engaged in more delicate work. For example, parquet. It delights like a work of art.
This room, the blue living room, caused me indescribable delight. She is far from the first room in the palace (in my story I violate the order of the tour), but, of course, the most exquisite. Notice the white flowers on a blue background. I heard that none of them repeats the other! It seems that even art historians are interested in this issue. No repetitions were found: leaves, stems, petals, bends - different! And the same Russian serfs did it.
Well, if in order, then one of the first rooms in which the guests-tourists find themselves is the front office. The impression is somewhat spoiled by the fan, but in the summer without it, apparently, in any way.
portraits
The owner of the palace, Count Vorontsov, honored the heroes of the Patriotic War of 1812: many portraits can be seen on the walls. 
But the portrait of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, no less famous contemporary of Count Vorontsov, is not and cannot be in this luxurious house. Do you know why? The poet served under the command of Mikhail Semyonovich in Odessa, and the responsible governor-general could not understand the slovenliness of his young subordinate. Few people considered him the sun of Russian poetry then, but the rake was excellent. There is a version that Alexander Sergeevich had an affair with his boss’s wife, Elizaveta Ksaveryevna, and dedicated the famous epigram “Half-my lord, half-merchant ...” to his cuckold husband. In general, Vorontsov had reason not to love Pushkin, but he looked at these pranks through his fingers, so the poet did not end up in Siberia: only in the so-called "northern exile" in his family estate Mikhailovsky. Did the beautiful hostess of the Vorontsov Palace yearn for him? Who knows, but there is no doubt that Elizaveta Ksaveryevna was a miracle how good she was.
In his palace, Mikhail Semyonovich could not but pay tribute to Catherine II and Grigory Potemkin: without them, even then, the Russian people would never have said that the Crimea is ours. In the rooms-halls there are their portraits, and in the Winter Garden there is a marble bust of Catherine II by Johann Esterreich.
Winter Garden
The winter garden of the Vorontsov Palace (sorry, I'm jumping from one to another again!) is as beautiful as everything else in this magnificent building. Is it possible to feel bad weather if it is always warm and sunny nearby?
In my opinion, the Vorontsov Palace combined all the best that is in the world. And classical England, and light, and the best Russian motives, and Crimea itself. And even if winter is in charge behind the walls,
then summer never ends in this corner of the palace. 
Library
Having bypassed everything that a sightseer is allowed to bypass, and more than once, I did not find a single interior detail in the palace that would disappoint me. Take a look at this chandelier and the ceiling above it, for example. True perfection!
And what a library is here! If you were allowed to live and read, then no Internet would be needed, you would not be bored.
A bit of history
By the way, after the heirs of Count Mikhail Semyonovich lived in this incomparable family estate, there really were guests who were lucky enough to feel at home in these interiors: during the Yalta Conference of 1945, the Vorontsov Palace, nationalized by the Soviet authorities, became a hotel for the British delegation in led by Winston Churchill. This is what the backyard looked like at the time:
The British guests got a winter landscape, and on my third visit, already with my big daughter, I got a sunny autumn one. 
This path leads to the park of the Vorontsov Palace. It is rightly considered a masterpiece. landscape gardening art. But that is another story.
How to get to the Vorontsov Palace
You are unlikely to ask such a question if you came on a tour by bus: you will be taken directly to the courtyard of the palace, and your main task is to follow the guide and not get lost. But if you are a single tourist or came to Alupka with a company on your own, then the map will help you.
As you can see, the walk from the bus station will take you no more than 15 minutes. And you will learn about what to see in the Vorontsov Palace, what excursions are, what time is the most convenient to visit, on the official website of the museum.
Opening hours and cost
The main ticket office of the museum is open from 9.00 to 16.15, on Saturdays from 9.00 to 19.15, seven days a week. The exhibition box office is open from 9.00 to 16.15. You can find out about the cost of entrance tickets, in all their diversity.
The magnificent building, created in the era of romanticism, surprises and amazes modern man with the originality of architectural forms. An interesting stylistic solution, an original layout, the greatest skill with which the walls and all the decoration of the interior chambers are made, have been admiring several generations of connoisseurs of beauty.
In Crimea - the most valuable monument of history and architecture. When it was created, the local landscape was so skillfully used that it seems that the building is a continuation of nature itself.
M. S. Vorontsov - Russian statesman
Mikhail Semenovich was born in 1782 in Russia, but a year later the boy was taken to England, where his father was sent as an ambassador. The next meeting of the young count with the Motherland took place after a long eighteen years. Vorontsov fell in love with "good old" England - the family was in close contact with English society.
Arriving in Russia, the count tried to resurrect memories of England. The nineteen-year-old youth was actively involved in the public and political life countries - participated in the Turkish and anti-Napoleonic wars. Marked with state awards for bravery, he distinguished himself with courage in the battles near Borodino and Smolensk. At thirty-three, having received the rank of lieutenant general, he led the Parisian Russian occupation corps. In one thousand eight hundred and twenty-three, he received the post of Governor-General of the Novorossiysk Territory, and then the Caucasus. In 1854 he was awarded the high rank of Field Marshal.
Service in the Novorossiysk Territory
When the Crimea was annexed to Russia, the tsarist government began to generously distribute land to famous military officials, officials different levels, noble nobles. But the complete lack of roads, the high cost of maintaining and transporting serfs here slowed down the development of the region. MS Vorontsov was a large landowner. In the south of Crimea, he owned Massandra, Ai-Danil, Alupka, Gurzuf. He decided to turn his main estate in Alupka into a summer residence.
In 1824, he began large-scale construction on his estate and at the same time laying a road from Simferopol to the South Bank. According to historians, 10,000 soldiers worked on the construction. Construction began in 1828 grand palace, which ended ten years later, and finishing work continued until 1846.
To arrange his Crimean possessions, Vorontsov begins to search for foreign architects, gardeners, builders of various specialties.
Architect Eduard Blor
The Vorontsov Palace in Alupka was designed by the then-famous architect Eduard Blor. In his younger years, he devoted himself to the study and restoration of ancient monuments. Later he was invited to the post of court architect to George the Fourth, and then to Queen Victoria. He is the author of some elements of the facade of large estates in Europe and Australia.
Vorontsov Palace in Alupka
On the western side is the main entrance to the palace. The visitor is greeted by a real feudal castle - monumental round watchtowers, completely blank walls. This is how visitors see the courtyard of outbuildings, a narrow and long medieval passage that leads to the central building. Jagged high walls, loophole windows evoke a feeling of impregnability. This impression is softened by the openwork cast-iron bridge, along which serf musicians used to go to the choirs of the dining room.
The Vorontsov Palace in the Crimea becomes bright, filled with air after you enter the front courtyard. Before the eyes of all those entering, a magnificent landscape opens up against the backdrop of the top of Ai-Petri.
Architecture
The Vorontsov Palace in Alupka is designed in the Tudor style. This is the English of the sixteenth century, the time of the transition from the Gothic to the era of luxury - the Renaissance. The mountainous relief, the boundless expanse of the sea - a wonderful landscape that characterizes the Crimea. The Vorontsov Palace, or rather, its northern facade, which faces Ai-Petri, is designed in the Gothic style. Flat roofs, towers, spiers resemble a medieval castle.
The Vorontsov Palace, the photo of which you see in this article, has a more festive and elegant southern facade. Elements of oriental architecture were used in its design. This is a deep niche, which is framed by a double arch in the shape of a horseshoe. It is decorated with stucco reliefs. In order to further enhance the oriental architecture of the portal, its frieze is inscribed in Arabic. The Vorontsov Palace in the Crimea has many elements of oriental architecture, however, with English processing.
Particularly noteworthy is the "Lion Terrace" with a beautiful staircase, which is strictly guarded by six magnificent white lions, made by the Italian sculptor Giovanni Bonnani. They appeared in the palace in 1848. This event marked the end of the construction of the palace. Today, miniature copies of these animals can be purchased in a souvenir shop near the palace.
The Vorontsov Palace in Crimea was built from the Crimean volcanic rock - diabase, which is very close in composition to basalt. It was erected by hereditary stone cutters and masons manually, using a primitive tool. If you come to the Crimea, Yalta must be in your excursion schedule. The Vorontsov Palace is a real monument of history and architecture that everyone should see.
Interior design
A particularly festive and bright room of the Vorontsov Palace, no doubt, is the "Blue Drawing Room". In the past, it housed a home theater. A magnificent white stucco pattern of shoots and flowers, completely covering the blue walls and ceiling, gives the room an unusual charm and sophistication. A massive oak door served as a kind of curtain. In 1863, the outstanding Russian artist M. S. Shchepkin performed there.
The most spacious hall of the Vorontsov Palace is the Main Dining Room. It is decorated with carved wood, has a complex and thin door frame, massive panel frames. The huge dining table is designed for 32 people. The chairs are made by Russian craftsmen from mahogany according to English patterns. A sideboard with a bath for cooling wines made of mahogany also looks elegant. It was made in England. The main decoration of the front living room is a decorative fountain. It is skillfully laid out with majolica tiles and framed with diorite. Above the fountain there is a small balcony, where serf musicians played. Ural craftsmen made malachite candelabra for this living room.
Odessa: Vorontsov Palace
In the history of this southern hospitable city, Prince M. S. Vorontsov occupies an honorable place. The time of his service as the governor-general of the Novorossiysk Territory is called the "golden age" of the city.
A harmonious combination of wealth and exquisite taste is the Vorontsov Palace. Odessa is very proud of this wonderful monument of history and architecture. In that luxury building everything is thought out to the smallest detail. Italian style is felt in everything - in ornament and decoration, in the design of the palace with unique paintings. Once on the site where the palace was built, there was a Turkish fortress. The construction was completed in 1827, the author of the project is the architect F.K. Boffo. The palace was built in the Empire style, which is characterized by massiveness, pathos and a certain theatricality. During the reign of Vorontsov, this architectural direction conquered Odessa. Buildings with colonnades began to appear more and more often in the city, perfectly combined with the local landscape.
The Vorontsov Palace is the main building, with one side “looking” at the boulevard, a large outbuilding, which is attached to the palace, a spacious courtyard separating the residential part of the house from the stables, and the stables themselves.
In March 1917, the Odessa Council of Workers' Deputies and the headquarters of the Red Guard were located in the palace. In 1936, the Palace of Pioneers was opened in a luxurious building. In the post-war years, he was named after Yasha Gordienko, whose name he still bears.
The Alupka Palace and Park Museum-Reserve, also known as the Vorontsov Palace, was built in the period 1828-1848. designed by English architect Edward Blore Crimean residence Count Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov. When it was created, the local landscape was used, and the main feature of the palace is a mixture of several diametrically opposed architectural styles.
The entrance to the territory of the palace is more like a castle of the European Middle Ages.
The palace was built of especially hard dolerite stone, the natural resources of which were located on the site of the future building. This is a solidified magma, which was previously called diabase. Dolerite is characterized by a high hardness of 6-7 units on the Mohs scale. This means that this material is so hard that it is used for paving roads, and can only be processed with diamond.
It sounds even more surprising when you find out that quitrent serfs from the Vladimir and Moscow provinces built the palace, working manually with the most primitive tools.
This narrow corridor between two fortress walls is called Shuvalovsky passage. The Shuvalovs were relatives of the Vorontsovs. And somewhere here were the apartments of Sophia, the daughter of Mikhail Semenovich.
Through the passage we get into the courtyard. Here, textured processing of the walls with “torn” stone is applied. We did not examine museum expositions, limiting ourselves to external inspection.
North facade of the palace. Here the features are already visible medieval fortress, but a country English palace of the 16th century, for which large window openings and tall chimneys are typical.
The western part of the palace is made in neo-gothic style.
At the Vorontsov Palace there is a park founded about 200 years ago, which has more than 200 species of trees and shrubs from around the world. The well-known German gardener-architect Karl Kebach was specially invited to create it.
On especially interesting and rare specimens there are plates with the name, homeland and approximate age. For example, this is an eastern plane tree from the western Mediterranean, 190 years old.
The park ensemble consists of the upper and lower parks. The Upper Park is an array of natural diabase, it is also called "Alupka chaos". Paths are harmoniously laid through all these stones and plants.
Through the park we approach the eastern facade.
On the southern terrace, a wide staircase made of the same diorite leads to the facade, on the sides of which there are sculptures of lions, made in the workshop of the Italian sculptor Bonanni. The southern facade itself is made in the Arabic style and with oriental splendor. Exactly this beautiful place palace.
A horseshoe-shaped arch, a two-tier vault, a plaster carving in a niche where a Tudor flower pattern and a lotus motif are intertwined. On the fresco of the niche, there is a six-fold repeated inscription with a saying from the Koran: "And there is no god but Allah."
The palace is located right at the foot of Mount Ai-Petri, we will also climb it, but a little later.
And what is the view of the sea from the southern facade...
The area in the Alupka region is rich in water, which made it possible to create more than a dozen different fountains in Vorontsovsky Park. Most of them were designed by V. Gunt.
The lower park is also diverse and begins with a gentle relief. It borders the Vorontsov Palace and is decorated in a classic park style.
To the right is a large rose garden.
The Vorontsov Palace was nationalized after the revolution, the remaining property was supplemented with collections from other southern coast palaces, and in 1921 a historical and household museum was opened here.
During the Patriotic War Crimea was occupied by German fascists. During the retreat, the Germans wanted to blow up the palace, but the explosion failed, museum workers prevented this.
In February 1945, during the Crimean Conference, the Alupka Palace was given to the British delegation headed by W. Churchill, who even wanted to buy it.
From 1945 to 1955 there was a state dacha here, referred to in the documents as “special facility No. 3”.
As a museum, the palace was reopened to visitors already in 1956.
The Vorontsov Palace in Alupka is a palace of stunning beauty, surrounded by a charming park, located at the foot of Mount Ai Petri. There are a huge number of attractions on the southern coast of Crimea, but Alupka is always full of tourist groups. There is something special and attractive about this place. The English castle of Count Vorontsov in the Crimea, surrounded by greenery, does not leave anyone indifferent, and makes you return there again and again.
The palace in Alupka is a former dacha, the summer residence of a prominent political figure of the 19th century, the former governor of Novorossia, Mikhail Vorontsov. The love of the Russian politician for everything English was understandable - the father of Count Vorontsov was an ambassador Russian Empire in England, so Michael's entire childhood was spent in London. After nationalization, the former residence became a museum.
I went on excursions in the Crimean Vorontsov Palace twice: the first time in April, the second time in August. In every season, the palace and the territory that adjoins it looked amazing. It is best to choose April or September to visit the palace, but during the season it is not overcrowded.
In order to approach the main entrance to the palace, you need to go along the narrow corridor of the palace walls (Shuvalovsky passage). It is quite cool here in summer, as there is almost always shade here. When you come here for the first time, you don't expect to see a real English castle in Crimea. Passing through the narrow, harsh passage, the heart stops in anticipation of something unusual. And very soon curiosity will be rewarded with a vengeance.
After the path through the corridor of powerful walls has been passed, tourists find themselves in a small square in front of the palace. A castle appears in front of your eyes, built in the English style, and by the same architect Edward Blair, who was the author Buckingham Palace in London.
The first thing you notice is the unusual material of the castle walls and walls. Later, according to the guide, we learned that this is a very hard and rare stone of volcanic origin - diabase. The palace was built by more than 6 thousand serfs of Vorontsov, as well as craftsmen-masons specially brought from Moscow and Vladimir regions. To create an unusual surface, each stone was processed by hand! The work must be said to be skillful and very painstaking. Vorontsov built this castle with his own money, for himself, in good conscience.
In the yard we waited for the tour group to form and, looking up, we saw the teeth of Ai-Petri brightened by the sun's rays - a kind of pointed rocks located at the very top of the mountain. This is one of the best landscapes of Crimea!
You can get on an excursion to the Vorontsov Palace freely, they are held daily. Each group is accompanied by a guide, the tour takes place in Russian. It was very interesting to listen to the guide, from her lips we heard a lot of interesting information about the history of the palace.
A few minutes later we crossed the threshold and felt like we were in an old English castle. The palace has many architectural features: on one side (northern) the building resembles an English castle, and on the southern facade - a Moorish mosque. In addition, the castle is so skillfully inscribed in the mountain landscape that it seems that nature itself created and placed it here.
The castle has more than 150 rooms, but about 9 state rooms are open for tours.
This palace belonged to three generations of the Vorontsovs, so the interior elements changed a little, because each owner wanted to bring something of his own, modern.
We first entered the main dining room. Special attention I was attracted by a small bowl, which somewhat resembled a miniature fountain. As it turned out, this bowl served to cool drinks.
Each room of the Vorontsov Palace has its own unique style and color. It was very pleasant to be in the blue room, I liked it the most. Here the walls are blue, they have stucco flowers and golden furniture.
The dining room, decorated in the English style, is very interesting.
In the office
After visiting several other rooms, we went out into the winter garden, where we saw a variety of tropical plants and elegant figurines.
Winter Garden
From the winter garden leads to a terrace overlooking the sea. When we arrived there, we saw a beautiful sunset, which looked very romantic against the background of the sea horizon.
View of the sea from the terrace of the Alupka Palace
On the way to the sea there is a staircase, on both sides of which there are sculptures of lions made of Carrara marble by an Italian master. There are also features here. At the very top of the terrace, there are awake lions, at the very bottom of the terrace there are figures of sleeping lions.
Lions, terrace of the Palace in Alupka
Sleeping lions, Alupka
The Vorontsov Palace is surrounded by a magnificent park with many unusual plants from the subtropics and beyond. Walking along it in the summer, when everything is blooming and pleasing to the eye, is a pleasure.
Alupka Park is divided into two parts: Upper and Lower. The upper part of the park is more "wild", while the lower part is a well-groomed classic park in the English style.
In the park you can see a copy of the Bakhchisaray fountain.
Copy of the Bakhchisaray fountain
Numerous waterfalls, lakes, quinoa, trees of unusual shape are hiding in the "wild" part of the park.
Alupka Park also has its own attractions, such as "Big" and "Small Chaos". - a huge pile of diabase stones.
Big Chaos
Swan lake in Alupka park.
I recommend after the tour to take a walk in this garden, relax in the shade from the summer heat and, of course, do a lot beautiful photos. This park is also called Alupka Park, where you can see about 200 species of various plants: exotic plants, various shrubs, acclimatized plants from other continents.
View from Vorontsovsky Park
Vorontsovsky park
The landscape of the park is presented in the form of an amphitheater, at the bottom of which there is an exhibition park pavilion "Tea House". We did not manage to visit it, because it was closed for restoration.
Prices for visiting the Palace
The cost of an adult ticket is 70 hryvnias (8.75 dollars), for children - 35 hryvnias (4.38 dollars), photography - 10 hryvnias (1.25 dollars).
How to get to the Vorontsov Palace
You can visit the Vorontsov Palace by getting to Alupka at the following address: st. Palace Highway, 10. By car, you can get here along the South Coast Highway, this route runs along the sea through the entire South coast Crimea. If you go along this highway to the Vorontsov Palace from the side of Sevastopol, then there will be a right turn to Alupka, and if from the side of Yalta, then to the left.
From Yalta from the bus station can be reached by the following bus routes: 27, 26, 107, 42.
Passing buses go from Sevastopol: "Sevastopol - Miskhor", "Sevastopol - Yalta".
From Simforopol: buses "Simferopol - Simeiz", "Simferopol - Kastropol".
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