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41, Nevsky Prospekt
Subway: Nevsky Prospekt, Gostiny Dvor,
Dostoevskaya or Vladimirskaya
Tel. +7 (812) 515-5236
Open for
concerts
Palace of Beloselsky-Belozersky; The Sergievsky Palace is a palace in
St. Petersburg, on Nevsky Prospekt at its intersection with the Fontanka
River.
The author of the project is the architect A. I.
Shtakenshneider, who carried out the construction in the style of the
so-called “Russian neo-baroque”.
In 1797, Princess A. G. Beloselskaya purchased from I. A. Naryshkin a small stone house on the corner of Nevsky Prospekt and Fontanka Embankment. The house was demolished, and in its place at the end of the 18th century, the architect F.I. Demertsov built the first three-story palace with a modest facade in the classical style. The appearance of this house was preserved in the drawing by M. N. Vorobyov.
In 1847-1848, the palace was rebuilt by
the architect A. I. Stackenschneider, acquiring a modern look.
The building, after reconstruction in the neo-baroque style,
began to resemble Rastrelli's palaces. Stackenschneider
completed the project commissioned by Prince E. A.
Beloselsky-Belozersky. As part of this work, not only were the
buildings overlooking Nevsky Prospekt and Fontanka completely
rebuilt, but new wings were erected in the courtyard of the
house. Not only the external appearance was recreated, but also
the interior decoration of the building.
There is an
opinion that the Stroganov Palace, designed by the architect
Bartolomeo Rastrelli, served as the prototype of the building.
In the decoration of the facades of the palace, the artistic
techniques of the Russian baroque of the 18th century were
widely used.
The sculptor D. I. Jensen was invited to
decorate the palace. According to his models, the figures of
Atlanteans and caryatids were created. The interior decoration
of the palace was made by Stackenschneider, the wide front
staircase and marble fireplaces were striking examples of such
decoration. Caryatids and sculptures supporting gilded
candelabra stood along the stairs, and the author placed elegant
monograms of the owner's initials in the openwork lattice of the
railing. The Beloselsky-Belozersky library was superbly
decorated: the walls were upholstered with carved wooden panels
and covered with silk, the fireplace was decorated with a relief
pattern, a huge mirror in a gilded frame.
The
name "Beloselsky-Belozersky" is conditional: one of the heirs of
the Myasnikovsky millions, the general of the retinue, Prince
Esper Beloselsky-Belozersky, ordered a building in the spirit of
Rastrelli to Andrey Stackenschneider, but died when the
foundation of the mansion was being dug, in 1846. Wife Elena
Pavlovna (nee Bibikova) moved to his mansion on Liteiny
Prospekt, having married Prince Vasily Kochubey. She did not
leave the palace on Nevsky Prospekt, using it for balls and
social events. It was located next to the imperial Anichkov
Palace, and royal people often came here.
In 1865,
Nadezhda Dmitrievna (née Skobeleva) married Konstantin
Beloselsky, an aide-de-camp, son of Elena Pavlovna (in her
second marriage, Princess Kochubey) from her first marriage and
settled in the palace. The palace in that era continued to be
considered the most secular place in the capital, the owners
spoke Russian with a slight English accent - in the latest
fashion of the 1880s. At that time, a crisis occurred - the
capitalization of the metallurgical enterprises of the Urals -
the main assets of the owner - was rapidly declining: the reason
for this was unsuccessful management, lack of investment in the
main production. Prince Kochubey tried to rectify the situation,
for this he took loans from the state, but could not save the
situation, and in the end he was forced to pay off the treasury
with this palace.
Since 1884, the palace has been
associated with the name of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, the
younger brother of Alexander III, becoming in some way a wedding
gift for his marriage to Elisabeth of Hesse-Darmstadt (Elisaveta
Feodorovna). The palace received a new name - "Sergievsky".
Since 1891, the Grand Duke became the Governor-General of
Moscow and the palace was empty.
In 1905, Sergei
Alexandrovich was killed by the Socialist-Revolutionary militant
Ivan Kalyaev, and everything changed in the mansion: Elizabeth
became a nun, abbess of the Moscow Marfo-Maryinsky monastery.
Since she was childless, her husband's nephews, Dmitry and
Maria, became her adopted children. Their mother died in
childbirth, and their father, Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich,
took the wife of the beautiful Olga from General Erich von
Pistelkors and married her. After this, the Grand Duke was
expelled from Russia for a long time.
Maria Pavlovna
married a Swedish prince, and Dmitry Pavlovich received from her
aunt her Petersburg palace on Nevsky. Dmitry was the favorite of
the last sovereign and the conqueror of women's hearts. A master
of horse riding and dressage, he led the Russian equestrians at
the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, was a race car driver. In the
last years of the empire, he cooled off towards the sovereign
and empress, with Felix Yusupov he carried out an attempt on
Grigory Rasputin. After the murder of the “old man”, the famous
royal resolution followed: “In Russia, no one is allowed to
kill,” and he parted with the palace: Dmitry Pavlovich was sent
to Persia. There is an assumption that he managed, while in
exile, to sell the palace to Ivan Ivanovich Stakheev, the owner
of a large financial and industrial monopoly, but there is no
documentary evidence of this.
During the First World War, the Sergius Palace housed the
Anglo-Russian Military Hospital, solemnly opened by the British
Red Cross in the presence of the Empress on January 30, 1916 and
existed until January 1918. English staff worked in the hospital
under the direction of Dr. Flemming. During their work in the
hospital, about 6,000 Russian soldiers were treated.
After the October Revolution of 1917, the Beloselsky-Belozersky
Palace, like many others, was nationalized. Since 1920, the
district committee of the party of the Central, later - the
Kuibyshev region, was located here. The palace parted with the
collection of paintings collected by the Beloselsky-Belozersky:
it was transferred partly to the Hermitage, and partly to the
mansion on Krestovsky Island, which also belonged to this
family.
After the failure of the August coup in 1991, the
district committee of the CPSU ended its existence and in 1992
the Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace was transferred to the
Committee for Culture of the St. Petersburg City Hall and the
state cultural institution "Petersburg Cultural Center" was
placed in it.
From the mid-1990s until 2004, the
Historical Wax Museum was located in the palace.
Since
January 2003, the building has been transferred under the
jurisdiction of the Administration of the President of the
Russian Federation. Much attention is paid to its technical
condition. The last restoration work was carried out in 2015.
During the restoration of the Mirror (concert) Hall and the Main
Dining Room, the original color schemes in the design, conceived
by A. I. Stackenschneider, were returned, all the paintings and
panels built into the walls of the Main Dining Room were
restored.
The original interiors of the palace have been
preserved, among which the ceremonial halls on the 2nd floor
stand out: the Oak Hall (former library), used as a small
concert hall, the Picture Gallery, the Grand Dining Room, the
Beige, Green and Crimson drawing rooms, the Mirror (ballroom)
hall with a beautiful acoustics, which was originally intended
for concerts and is still used in this capacity. In all these
and other halls, artistic decoration of the mid-late 19th
century has been preserved: fireplaces, lamps, stucco,
paintings, mirrors, furniture and much more.
This site on the left bank of the Fontanka has long
acquired the mystical aura of the "Region of Twins":
On the site of
the Trinity-Sergius Compound, which is located next to this palace,
there was once a palace where Empress Anna Ioannovna saw a double just
before her death.
Pyotr Andreevich Vyazemsky lived not far from here,
and once, having come home, he saw in his office “himself, sitting at
the table and writing something.”
Now several organizations rent premises on the
territory of the palace:
St. Petersburg cultural center "Palace of
Beloselsky-Belozersky" (theater and concert events, excursion programs)
"Channel One - St. Petersburg" (representation of "Channel One"
Museum of the formation of democracy in modern Russia named after
Anatoly Sobchak
Company "Petersburg Real Estate"
Saint Petersburg
State Academic Symphony Orchestra
Office of the Customer for the
Construction and Reconstruction of Facilities in the North-Western
Federal District
Prime Advice Consulting Group
Mir International
(tour operator)