The Alupka Palace, a masterpiece of Romanticism architecture, was built over almost 20 years, from 1828 to 1848, by order of the powerful Governor-General of the Novorossiysk Territory, aristocrat and Anglomaniac Count Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov. The count himself chose the place for his Crimean residence on the picturesque stone cape at the foot of Mount Ai-Petri in the little-known Tatar village of Alupka. The Englishman Edward Blore, the author of Walter Scott's castle in Scotland and the court architect of the British crown, managed to organically fit the palace building into the surrounding landscape. In architecture Vorontsov Palace Blore combined different styles - English, neo-Moorish and Gothic, paying tribute to the secular fashion of the time for the novels of Walter Scott and oriental tales.

History of creation

Initially, the famous Italian architect Francesco Boffo, who had already built a palace for the count in Odessa, was appointed to build the residence. The Englishman Thomas Harrison, an engineer and adherent of neoclassicism, was supposed to help him. Work began, and by 1828 the foundation, which was filled with lead for earthquake resistance, as well as the first masonry of the portal niche of the central building were ready. But Harrison died in 1829, and two years later the count decided to suspend construction of the palace, apparently abandoning the idea of ​​​​building a residence in the neoclassical style.

Vorontsov turns to the Englishman Edward Blore, a brilliant architectural historian, graphic artist and fashionable architect in his homeland. Most likely, Count Pembroke recommended him to Vorontsov. We had to wait almost a year for new drawings. But Mikhail Semenovich liked the result, and in December 1832 the construction of the buildings began. Blore brilliantly solved the problem from a historical perspective: the architecture of the palace demonstrates the development of medieval European and Moorish architecture, ranging from the forms of the early Middle Ages to the 16th century. The palace building is deployed in such a way that it repeats the outlines of the visible mountains. It is surprising that the architect himself, who so accurately integrated the building into the surrounding nature, never visited Crimea, but used only numerous landscape sketches and relief drawings that were sent to him in England.

The resulting castle could well serve as an illustration for historical novels: five buildings, fortified defensive towers, different in shape and height, are interconnected by many open and closed passages, stairs and courtyards.

The construction was carried out from local greenish-gray stone - diabase, which is not inferior in strength to basalt, which was taken from natural placers in Alupka. Processing it required considerable effort, since complex designs on the exterior of the house could be ruined by one wrong blow with a chisel. Therefore, Russian stone cutters who built white stone churches in Central Russia were invited to carry out the most complex stone cutting work.

The main decorative decoration of the Vorontsov Palace - the motif of a gently sloping pointed keeled arch - is repeated several times in the cast-iron balustrade of the balconies, and in the carved stone lattice enclosing the roof, and in the decorative decoration of the portal of the southern entrance, made in the Moorish style of the Alhambra Palace.

In the design of the seaward southern entrance, a Tudor flower design and a lotus motif are intertwined, which ends with the Arabic inscription repeated six times across the frieze: “And there is no winner but Allah,” just as it is written in the Alhambra of Granada.

In front of the façade is the Lion's Terrace and a monumental staircase in white Carrara marble by the Italian sculptor Giovanni Bonanni. On both sides of the steps there are three pairs of lions: the bottom left is sleeping, the bottom right is awakening, above is a pair of awake ones, and the third pair is roaring.

The rear façade of the palace and its western part, a variation on the theme of Tudor England of the 16th - early 17th centuries, are reminiscent of the harsh castles of English aristocrats.

By the way, this palace was one of the first in Russia to be equipped with hot water and sewerage.

Construction costs palace complex amounted to about 9 million rubles in silver - an astronomical amount for those times. But Count Vorontsov could afford it, since after his marriage in 1819 to Elizaveta Ksaverievna Branitskaya, he doubled his fortune and became the richest landowner Russian Empire. Elizaveta Ksaverevna, the same one with whom, according to one version, Alexander Pushkin fell in love in exile in Odessa, personally supervised the creation of the building’s interiors, took care of the decoration of the park and often paid for the work.

Inhabitants of the palace

Mikhail Semenovich did not manage to live in the Alupka Palace for a long time. Another assignment followed - this time to the Caucasus. But in Alupka at the end of the 1840s, his daughter, Countess Sofya Mikhailovna, settled with her children. Then, after the death of Prince Vorontsov (he received the princely title in 1845), the palace, by right of primacy, passed to his only son, Semyon Mikhailovich. In 1882, his widow, Maria Vasilievna Vorontsova, went abroad and took many valuables from the palace. She had no children, the palace was abandoned, and to end of the 19th century centuries, the building, park and farm fell into complete disrepair.

In 1904, the castle received new owners - relatives along the Vorontsov-Dashkov line. The wife of the Tsar's deputy in the Caucasus, Countess Elizaveta Andreevna Vorontsova-Dashkova, née Countess Shuvalova, energetically got down to business. She rented out land for sanatoriums and boarding houses and built more than 120 dachas on the estate.

After the revolution and the establishment of Soviet power in Crimea, the lands of the Vorontsov-Dashkovs were nationalized. And on February 22, 1921, Lenin’s telegram arrived in Crimea: “Take decisive measures to truly protect artistic values, paintings, porcelain, bronze, marble, etc., located in Yalta palaces and private buildings, now allocated for sanatoriums of the People's Commissariat of Health...”

At the beginning of the 20s South Coast Crimea, museums were created in a number of the largest noble estates, among them the Alupka Museum. The museum's collection was seriously damaged during the Great Patriotic War: much was taken away by the occupiers, including 537 works of painting and graphics. Only a small part of the paintings were found after the war and returned to the palace.

In February 1945, during the Crimean (Yalta) Conference, the Alupka Palace became the residence of the British delegation. Meetings of the heads of the Allied powers - Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt - took place in the State Dining Room of the palace.

Later the palace became the state dacha of the NKVD. In 1952, a sanatorium was located there, and only in 1956, by decision of the Soviet government, the Crimean state museum visual arts. Since 1990, the palace has been part of the Alupka Palace and Park Museum-Reserve. Its collection today includes works of painting, sculpture and applied art, as well as documents, ancient drawings and lithographs that introduce the history of the construction of the palace.

English park

The English park of the palace is the work of the German gardener-botanist Karl Kebach, whom Vorontsov invited to Crimea in 1824, when there was no design for the palace itself. He eagerly set about creating a park, taking into account the relief, climate and local flora, combining, however, everything with the latest achievements of gardening art. About 200 species of trees and bushes were brought here from all over the world. Parcels with seeds and seedlings came from America, Italy, the Caucasus, Karelia, China and Japan. They said that more than two thousand varieties of roses bloomed here at the same time. The German gardener became so famous in Crimea that landowners began to invite him to create or improve their parks and gardens along the entire coast.

Karl Kebach clearly planned the park on the principle of an amphitheater, maintaining connections in its structure with the main palace and other architectural objects. The coastal highway (Yalta - Simeiz) divides the park into Upper and Lower.

The lower park is designed in the style of Italian Renaissance gardens with fountains, marble sculptures, Byzantine columns, vases and stone benches. The upper one was created according to the principle of English landscape parks of the Romanticism era - more natural and natural: in it, rocky debris, shady ponds and preserved areas of the Crimean forest alternate with picturesque meadows, a unique system of lakes, waterfalls, cascades and grottoes. Kebakh created the Upper Park as a place of contemplation of the sea and Mount Ai-Petri, towering above the park and palace, like the ruins of a giants’ castle.

A carefully thought-out drainage system and individual plant care did their job - many, even very rare and whimsical plants, took root well. In total, 250 species of trees and shrubs grew in the park by the end of the 19th century. The plants of Vorontsovsky Park were so popular that seedlings were even sold externally to other gardens and estates.

The glory of Vorontsov Park as a masterpiece of landscape architecture was strengthened by the artists who worked here on sketches: Isaac Levitan, Vasily Surikov, Aristarkh Lentulov... And the parks, gardens and vineyards that belonged to Count Mikhail Vorontsov and his relatives - the Naryshkins and Pototskys, completely changed the appearance of the coast from Alushta to Foros.

Wonderful Maltese Chapel Vorontsov Palace. It has been closed to the public for the second year.

Under Paul I, the Order of Malta was granted a palace, after which the Russian Emperor naturally became the Grand Master of the Order of Malta. The Maltese Chapel is a Catholic church of the Order of the Knights of Malta, built by order of Emperor Paul I in 1800 by the architect Giacomo Quarenghi. The chapel is part of the Vorontsov Palace. Extension with east side The building of the palace of the Catholic chapel for the chapter of the Order of Malta dates back to 1798-1800.
The chapel was built by his worthy brother and involuntary rival Francesco Rastrelli, one of the exponents of new architectural ideas - Giacomo Quarenghi.
The interior decoration of the chapel is a Corinthian order colonnade, the walls are lined with artificial marble.
The interior of the Maltese Chapel was restored for the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg.

By creating this small building next to Rastrelli's palace, Quarenghi slightly violated his usual classical rigor. He attempted to soften the line of the facade by introducing rounded profiles at the junction of the new building with the old structure. Without deliberate emphasis, only with these seemingly insignificant details, he sought to connect the artistic appearance of the chapel with the architecture of Rastrelli’s building.
The interior decoration of the chapel is still well preserved - a colonnade of the Corinthian order, paintings, stucco decoration of the walls, lined with artificial marble. A thorough restoration of the chapel was carried out in 1927 by the architect N.P. Nikitin.

Hall of the Maltese Chapel, as well as church hall in the palace acquired special value as the interiors of Quarenghi, for almost all the others of this palace complex on Sadovaya subsequently underwent significant alterations or were completely destroyed.
In the Chapel, the “Walker” organ was restored for the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg. Unfortunately, there was no way to get to it - the organist had the key to the door, who naturally was missing, since the chapel no longer accepts people since 2012 - that is, it is completely closed.

Vorontsov Palace is one of the main attractions of St. Petersburg. The palace is located on the territory of an estate owned by Count Mikhail Illarionovich Vorontsov. The palace coup of 1741 (in which Vorontsov took an active part) elevated Empress Elizabeth to the Russian throne. Elizaveta Petrovna did not fail to thank Mikhail Illarionovich for his services by awarding him the rank of general.

The design and construction of the palace was carried out by F.B. Rastrelli was a Russian architect, Italian by birth. The estate is located between Fontanka and Sadovaya streets in southwest direction and occupies a significant territory. The facade of the palace is separated from the street by a fence, which is an example of artistic casting. Behind the fence lies a vast palace with a main building and symmetrical two-story wings placed forward. In the depths of the courtyard there is a three-story main building, away from the city noise. To decorate the main facade, Rastrelli uses double rusticated columns, above which there is a balcony. The arched windows on the ground floor are framed with decorative frames. Main Hall is located on the second floor.

The impression of solemnity and splendor of the palace, inherent in the Baroque style, is created in the first moment, as soon as one enters the estate. According to contemporaries, the interior of the fifty state rooms located along the main facade was distinguished by dazzling luxury. Unfortunately, the interior of the buildings has not survived to this day. The garden, which was located behind the main building, was decorated with numerous fountains, well-groomed alleys, swimming pools and other “whims”. In the garden, which extended to the Fontanka, one could see fireworks, which certainly accompanied the festivities in the Anichkov Garden.

In 1817, according to the design of Karl Rossi, the garden was shortened. The open terrace, located above the one-story building, offered a beautiful view of the river. In the central part of the palace there was a large double-height hall. M.I.’s library was located in one of the halls. Vorontsova, rightfully considered the best in St. Petersburg. The construction of the palace required no small investment. And the holding of regular balls and receptions led to the fact that the financial situation of M.I. Vorontsov could no longer afford to spend money on his maintenance.

In 1763, the palace was transferred to the treasury for debts. During the reign of Paul I, the palace was renamed the castle of the Knights of Malta and was transferred to the Order of Malta. This is due to the fact that Emperor Paul in 1798 was elected Master of the Order of Malta, and the former Vorontsov Palace became his residence. The order's coat of arms - a white Maltese cross - was installed above the gate. According to the project of D. Quarenghi, in 1798 the construction of the Catholic chapel of the order began, in which meetings of the Order of the Knights of Malta were held. An Orthodox church was built in the left wing.

Under Alexander I, the estate with all its property became the property of the state and soon the Corps of Pages was located there. The Page Corps trained guard officers; the cadets' dormitories were located on the second floor.

The October Revolution led to the closure of the Corps of Pages. In the early 1920s, military educational institutions were located on the territory of the Vorontsov Palace. In 1928, some of the items were given to Leningrad museums. Since 1958, the building has been given to the Suvorov School.

In 2003, in honor of the anniversary of St. Petersburg, the interior of the Maltese Chapel was restored. Today, excursions and organ music evenings are held in the chapel, and a museum on the history of cadetships is open.

St. Petersburg owes its connection with the Order of Malta to Emperor Paul I, who in 1798 accepted the title of Master, the highest religious rank of this knightly union. Thanks to him, the Maltese cross temporarily appeared on the Russian coat of arms, the Order of St. John of Jerusalem appeared among state awards, and the emperor planned to make Malta a Russian province. But these plans were not destined to come true due to the tragic death of Paul I.

Meanwhile, ties with the Order of Malta were not completely severed: Alexander Suvorov, Alexander II, Alexander III and Nicholas II were members of it. The fascination of warriors and monarchs with this religious movement was reflected in urban planning, and today in St. Petersburg you can find places associated with Maltese symbols.

The most striking of them, of course, remains the Maltese Chapel, inaugurated on April 29, 1800. SPB.AIF.RU talks about it and four other “Maltese” attractions of the Northern capital.

Maltese Chapel

Sadovaya street, 26

The Maltese Chapel was built according to the design of the architect Giacomo Quarenghi and was originally conceived by Paul I as a Catholic church of the Order of the Knights of Malta. It is part of the Vorontsov Palace, which today houses the Suvorov School. The palace, which Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli created in the 18th century for Count Vorontsov, changed many owners, and as a result, Paul I, with the adoption of the title of protector, and then the Grand Master of the Order, gave the Vorontsov Palace to the Knights of Malta.

The Maltese Chapel as designed by Giacomo Quarenghi. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

Continuing the ensemble created by Rastrelli, Quarenghi built the chapel in the spirit of the Renaissance. The temple has the shape of a rectangle with a barrel vault. Two rows of artificial marble columns divide the interior of the chapel into three naves. Behind the marble altar is an altarpiece by artist A.I. Charlemagne “John the Baptist” (the holy prophet and forerunner of Jesus Christ John the Baptist is the heavenly intercessor and patron of the Order of Malta). To the right of the altar, under a canopy, stood the crimson velvet chair of the grandmaster (great master) of the order.

The chapel was consecrated in June 1800, and a year later Paul I was killed in the Engineers' Castle. His successor Alexander I renounced the title of Grand Master of the Order, but retained the title of Protector. From Russian state emblem the Maltese cross was removed. In 1803, Alexander I resigned from his title of protector, and in 1817 it was declared by the highest authorities that “the order no longer exists in the Russian Empire.”

For some time, the chapel operated as an ordinary Catholic church. In the middle of the 19th century, a chapel was added to it, where the ashes of the former trustee Duke Maximilian of Leuchtenberg rested.

In 1928, the building of the Maltese Chapel was transferred as a club to the infantry school. Sklyansky, then the Leningrad Twice Red Banner Military School named after. CM. Kirov, and since 1955 it belongs to the Suvorov Military School. The interior of the Maltese Chapel was restored for the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg.

Mikhailovsky Castle

Sadovaya street, 2

Mikhailovsky Castle, or the Engineer's Castle, is an example of the extravagant preferences of Paul I. The palace became the last home and place of death of the emperor; it embodied the autocrat's dreams of a “knightly stronghold.”

Mikhailovsky Castle - the dream and death of Paul I. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / Aleks G

The palace, which Pavel persistently called a “castle” (however, he even called the Winter Palace that way), was unusual in its architectural design for St. Petersburg. It was erected in extreme haste according to the design of Vincenzo Brenna and was completed by the time the emperor agreed to accept the title of Grand Master of the Order. It was planned that meetings and ceremonies of the Maltese cavaliers would take place here. That is why the image of the Maltese cross is so often repeated in interiors.

On the central wall Grand staircase a bronze coat of arms of the Russian Empire was installed in the version approved under Paul - with a cross. The coat of arms is the only Maltese relic in the castle that has survived to this day.

One of the controversial issues in the history of the castle remains its mysterious reddish color. There is a beautiful legend that the walls were painted the color of the glove that the emperor’s favorite Anna Gagarina dropped at the ball. The second version says that brick red is the traditional color of the Order of Malta.

Today in interiors Engineering castle There is a branch of the Russian Museum.

Cathedral of the Savior Not Made by Hands in the Winter Palace

Palace Embankment, 32

Cathedral of the Savior Not Made by Hands (or Great Church Winter Palace) was founded in 1753 as an Orthodox palace church. Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli executed it in the Rococo style. For many years it was the home temple of the imperial family.

This is what the cathedral looked like from the inside until 1917. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

Three ancient relics of the Hospitallers were delivered here in December 1799: a piece of the tree of the Holy Cross, the Philermos Icon of the Mother of God and the right hand of St. John the Baptist, which were presented to Paul I in October in Gatchina. In memory of this event, in 1800 the Holy Synod established a holiday on October 12 (25) in honor of “the transfer from Malta to Gatchina of part of the tree of the Life-giving Cross of the Lord, the Philermos Icon of the Mother of God and the right hand of St. John the Baptist.” Today, the right hand of John the Baptist is kept in a monastery in the Montenegrin city of Cetinje.

Since 1918, the cathedral has been one of the halls of the Hermitage Museum, used for exhibitions.

Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist

Kamennoostrovsky prospect, 83

The Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist, or St. John's Church, was built in 1778 according to the design of Yuri Felten at the nursing home for sailors of the Baltic Fleet. This pseudo-Gothic style building can be mistaken from a distance for a Catholic church due to its uncharacteristic Orthodox churches architecture: red brick walls with a pointed grey-colored dome. Lancet barred windows, a narrow canopy over the entrance, and a wooden iconostasis are reminiscent of Gothic.

For some time there was a Maltese cemetery behind the church. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org/IKit

During the time of Paul I, the church was transferred to the Order of Malta, and a cemetery for the Maltese cavaliers was built next to it. The graveyard was closed after Alexander I ascended the imperial throne. In 1807, the remains of the cavaliers were transferred to the Smolensk cemetery. After the construction of the Kamennoostrovsky Palace, the church was transferred to him. Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin baptized his two children here.

The church was closed on March 15, 1938, and its ruined interiors housed various organizations. It was returned to the parish in 1989, and services resumed there in November 1990. Today the temple belongs to the St. Petersburg Russian Diocese Orthodox Church, is part of the Petrograd deanery district.

Cantemir Palace

Millionnaya street, 7

The outstanding Italian diplomat Julius Litta, a Maltese cavalier and the youngest general in the history of Russia, lived in St. Petersburg on Millionnaya Street for more than 40 years - he was awarded the rank at the age of 26. Such attention to the Italian was explained by the desire of Catherine II to strengthen ties with the Order of Malta.

Litta appeared in St. Petersburg first as an experienced naval officer and then as an envoy of the Order of Malta at the Russian court. By the way, it was he who brought Leonardo da Vinci’s “Madonna” to Russia, which is displayed today in the Hermitage under the code name “Madonna Litta”.

The house where Litta lived has three addresses at the same time. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / Helvin spb

House behind Marble Palace has three addresses at once: Millionnaya Street No. 7, Mramorny Lane No. 1 and Palace Embankment No. 8. In 1715, on this site, at the behest of the Moldavian aristocrat Dmitry Cantemir, Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli built a palace in the Baroque style. In 1743, the Church of the Great Martyr Theodore Stratelates was built on the top floor. Later, Count Alexey Bestuzhev-Ryumin, Count Vladimir Orlov, and Count Pavel Skavronsky lived here. Skavronsky's widow Ekaterina Vasilievna married Litt, who settled with her in the palace. For them, the architect Luigi Rusca rebuilt one of the buildings of the palace in the classicist style. After the death of Julius Litt, the mansion came under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Finance, and is now occupied by the Maritime Register Russian Federation and the Institute of Culture.

One of most interesting buildings in St. Petersburg is the Maltese Catholic Chapel, hidden from the eyes of citizens and tourists behind the facade of the Suvorov School.

How the Maltese Chapel appeared in St. Petersburg

By the end of the eighteenth century, the Russian fleet became the main threat to the fleet of the Ottoman Empire. This led to a rapprochement between the Order of Malta and the Russian Tsar. In 1797, Paul I organized a new main priory of the order on the territory of the Russian Empire. The Hospitallers needed a patron since they were expelled from Malta by Napoleon.

Emperor Paul greatly favored the Maltese. On the territory of Russia, he provided members of the Order with “all those distinctions, advantages and honors that the famous Order enjoys in other places.” Three commanderies were organized, the head of the Main Priory in Russia was introduced into the State Council. Russian nobles were encouraged in every possible way to join it.

In 1799, Emperor Paul awarded the Commander's Cross to commander Alexander Suvorov. The Hospitallers opened the Corps of Pages in St. Petersburg, which produced many military leaders. The Corps of Pages later became the Suvorov School. It was then that a Catholic (Maltese) chapel appeared on the territory of the military school.

However, Paul’s flirting with the Catholic Church, his rapprochement with Rome did not like the Russian Orthodox Church (Russian Orthodox Church) and the entire policy of the emperor towards a foreign religious order was another, among many others, reason for his murder in St. Michael’s Castle in St. Petersburg on the night of March 13 1801.

The new Emperor Alexander I, in the very first months of his reign (August 1, 1801), renounced the title of Grand Master of the Order and ordered the Maltese cross to be removed from the state emblem.

However, the Corps of Pages (now the Suvorov School is based in the building) and the Maltese Chapel remained in St. Petersburg. Lately she has served as concert hall. So in order to look at this unusual building for our latitudes, you need to buy a concert ticket.

p.s. Unfortunately, the chapel is currently under renovation and there are no concerts. But they do conduct excursions. Official website of the chapel: