Centaur Bridge, Pavlovsk Palace


Temple of Friendship, Slavianka River


The gardeners planted various species of trees, carefully calculating the time when their leaves would turn yellow or red under the cold breath of autumn northern winds, thus creating an inimitable colourful setting for the palace.

    Pavlovsk is only few kilometres from Pushkin and these two suburbs of St. Petersburg have many things in common. Their biographies are closely bound together.
    After Tsarskoye Selo had been built following the construstion of Peterhof, a search was undertaken to find suitable spots near this new out-of-town imperial residence for the royal hunt. The area of today's Pavlovsk was selected, since there were elk and other game in abundance.
    In 1777 Catherine the Great gave this land as a gift to her son Paul (the future Emperor of Russia Paul 1). Building was commenced, parks and gardens were laid out, pavilions and summer houses were constructed.
    In 1796 Pavlovsk became the official summer residence of Paul 1, no longer the heir to the throne, but the Emperor of Russia. He was not, however, destined to live at Pavlovsk for a long time. In March 1801 he was assassinated at the Mikhailovsky Castle in St. Petersburg in the course of a palace coup. The Pavlovsk residence together with the town of Pavlovsk belonged to Pual 1's widow, Empress Maria. The architectural ensemble kept being developed.
    By the middle of the 18th century Pavlovsk had become one of the most beautiful estates not only in Russia, but in Europe as well. Thus it remained until 1941, when Nazi Germany attaked the Soviet Union. During the early months of the war the majority of the Pavlovsk Palace treasures were taken out or hidden. Over 12,000 museum exhibits were evacuated. Many other items such as decorative objects from the Great Palace, statues and other articles of artistic value were either buried in the earth or walled up in the palace cellars. The Nazis devastated the park cutting down tens of thousands of trees, many of the beautiful pavilions and all the bridges over the Slavyanka were blown up and destroyed, the palace was set on fire. Photographs of the ruins of this remarkable architectural monument were shown in evidence by the prosecution among other documents at the Nurmberg Trial of Nazi war criminals.
    The scope of reconstruction work in Pavlovsk was truly great, but the Pavlovsk Palace and one of Europe's largest parks have risen renewed from the ashes.

    The main structure at Pavlovsk is the Great Palace (Pavlovsk Palace). This is the compositional centre of the park and it can be seen from its farthest parts. This three-storied stone building, which seems to be soaring sbove the valley of the Slavyanka, impresses you by the combination of monumental size and lightness. Whereas from the northeast (i.e. from the Slavyanka River) the Great Palace looks just like a magnificent country residence, from the southeast (i.e. from the main entrance) this imposing horseshoe-shaped building has none of the simplicity and homeliness associated with country residences, but rather all the ostentation of the official residence of Emperor Paul 1.

    The palace-and-park ensemble of Pavlovsk was created by Charles Cameron, Vincenzo Brenna, Giacomo Quarenghi, Andrei Voronikhin, Carlo Rossi, Pietro Gonzago. Besides them numerous other masters of palace-and-park architecture and skillful craftsmen who adorned the Great Palace with their priceless artistic masterpieces also worked in Pavlovsk. The gardeners planted various species of trees, carefully calculating the time when their leaves would turn yellow or red under the cold breath of autumn northern winds, thus creating an inimitable colourful setting for the palace.

    The Pavlovsk Park, one of the largest parks in the world, covers an area of more than 600 hectares. Both geometrical and landscape planning have been used here according to the character of the country in Pavlovsk, which consists largerly of undulating hills and valleys through which the meandering Slavyanka River flows.

    Pavlovsk is famous not only for its unique palace and park. In the Pavlovsk concert hall, which was located near the railway station, the celebrated Russian ballet dancer Anna Pavlova performed in her day. A year later after the Lumiere brothers invented cinecma (1895) motion pictures were shown in the auditorium of the Pavlovsk Kursaal. The Austrian composer and conductor Johann Strauss, the world-famous "king of the waltz", performed here for several years during his tour of Russia.