The Summer Palace (russian: link=no, Ле́тний дворе́ц) is either of the two wooden
Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
palaces built by
Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli
Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli (russian: Франче́ско Бартоломе́о (Варфоломе́й Варфоломе́евич) Растре́лли; 1700 in Paris, Kingdom of France – 29 April 1771 in Saint Petersburg, Russian Emp ...
on
Tsaritsa's Meadow behind the
Summer Garden
The Summer Garden (russian: Ле́тний сад, ''Letniy sad'') is a historic public garden that occupies an eponymous island between the Neva, Fontanka, Moika, and the Swan Canal in
downtown Saint Petersburg, Russia and shares its name w ...
in St. Petersburg. Neither building survives.
First Palace
It was in 1730 that Rastrelli designed the first wooden palace for
Empress Anna
Anna Ioannovna (russian: Анна Иоанновна; ), also russified as Anna Ivanovna and sometimes anglicized as Anne, served as regent of the duchy of Courland from 1711 until 1730 and then ruled as Empress of Russia from 1730 to 1740. Much ...
. This was a one-storied structure, with 28 rooms, a spacious central hall, and a system of interior waterways.
After
Elizaveta Petrovna
Elizabeth Petrovna (russian: Елизаве́та (Елисаве́та) Петро́вна) (), also known as Yelisaveta or Elizaveta, reigned as Empress of Russia from 1741 until her death in 1762. She remains one of the most popular Russian ...
ascended the Russian throne in 1741, she commissioned Rastrelli to demolish the palace of her predecessor and build a "Venetian-style" residence for herself.
Second Palace
The new Summer Palace, completed in 1744, was the chief residence of
Empress Elizabeth
Elizabeth Petrovna (russian: Елизаве́та (Елисаве́та) Петро́вна) (), also known as Yelisaveta or Elizaveta, reigned as Empress of Russia from 1741 until her death in 1762. She remains one of the most popular Russian ...
in the Russian capital. It was a large and imposing mauve-walled edifice with 160 gilded rooms, adjacent church and a fountain cascade. A Hermitage
pavilion
In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings:
* It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...
and an opera house were added to the compound in the 1750s.
In 1762,
Catherine the Great
, en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes
, house =
, father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst
, mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp
, birth_date =
, birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anhal ...
moved her court to the newly built
Winter Palace
The Winter Palace ( rus, Зимний дворец, Zimnij dvorets, p=ˈzʲimnʲɪj dvɐˈrʲɛts) is a palace in Saint Petersburg that served as the official residence of the Emperor of all the Russias, Russian Emperor from 1732 to 1917. The p ...
, effectively sealing the fate of the older residence. A year after her death in 1796,
Emperor Paul
Paul I (russian: Па́вел I Петро́вич ; – ) was Emperor of Russia from 1796 until his assassination. Officially, he was the only son of Peter III and Catherine the Great, although Catherine hinted that he was fathered by her l ...
(who had been born there in 1754) ordered the dilapidated palace to be demolished and replaced it with a new residence,
St. Michael's Castle.
References
Summer Palace in Encyclopaedia of St. Petersburg*Каталог Франческо Бартоломео Растрелли. – СПб: Лицей, 2000.
*Шварц В.С. Архитектурный ансамбль Марсова поля. – Л: Искусство. Ленинградское отделение, 1989.
{{Imperial palaces in Russia
Palaces in Saint Petersburg
Royal residences in Russia
Baroque architecture in Saint Petersburg
Houses completed in 1744
1744 establishments in the Russian Empire
Demolished buildings and structures in Russia
Buildings and structures demolished in 1797
af:Somerpaleis#Somerpaleise
it:Palazzo d'Estate (San Pietroburgo)#Palazzi d'Estate
pt:Palácio de Verão em São Petersburgo#Palácios de Verão