26, Ulitsa Sadovaya
Subway: Gostiny Dvor, Nevsky Prospekt
Closed to the Public
The Vorontsov Palace is a palace in the central part of St.
Petersburg, located on Sadovaya Street opposite Gostiny Dvor. It was
built according to the project of architect Francesco Rastrelli in
1749-1758 for Chancellor Mikhail Vorontsov. The palace was
distinguished by a rich, elegant decor of the facades and lush
interior decoration, it has more than 50 ceremonial halls and rooms.
Due to the colossal construction costs, a few years after the
completion of the work, Vorontsov was forced to sell the palace to
the treasury for 217 thousand rubles. Under Paul I, the palace was
given to the Order of Malta, then the Maltese Chapel was built
according to the project of Giacomo Quarenghi. In 1810, Emperor
Alexander I placed the Corps of Pages in the palace; the building
belonged to him before the revolution.
In the 20th century,
the palace complex was occupied by various military schools. In
2019, the building was occupied by the Third Court of Cassation of
General Jurisdiction. In 2021, under the guise of a major overhaul,
the institution initiated a competition for the demolition of three
pre-revolutionary wings on the territory of the palace.
The lands between the Fontanka and the modern Sadovaya Street were
gradually built up from the 1720s, by 1740 they were located on the
estates of the cabinet-secretary of Peter I Alexei Makarov and Alexei
Volkov, secretary of Prince Alexander Menshikov, built according to the
project of Domenico Trezzini. In the 1740s, the plots were bought and
united by Vice-Chancellor Mikhail Illarionovich Vorontsov, who decided
to build for himself a vast city estate similar to the Anichkov Palace.
Documentary sources give different dates for the construction of the
palace complex. In the work of Academician Igor Grabar "History of
Russian Art", the years 1744-1745 are indicated, and in the notes on
Russian architecture by Jacob Shtelin - the period from 1746 to 1759.
The most reliable year of completion of construction is 1758. In the
newspaper "Sankt-Peterburgskiye Vedomosti" at number 95 for 1758, a
housewarming party is mentioned on November 23 at Count Mikhail
Vorontsov, which was personally attended by Elizaveta Petrovna. The
Empress presented the count with a "decree for 40,000 rubles" and
conferred the title of Chancellor. After that, the palace received a
second name - "Chancellor's House".
The Vorontsov Palace became a
vivid example of a city estate of the middle of the 18th century. On the
site in the form of an irregular rectangle, there is the main building
with two side wings, one of which is adjoined by a U-shaped two-story
building, forming a closed courtyard. In the main court of honor, a
regular garden was laid out, planned symmetrically to the main axis of
the palace. An oval-shaped pond was dug in the garden, from which alleys
diverged in different directions, a little further away from it there
was a pool connected to the Fontanka. From the side of the large
courtyard, the facade, 109 meters long, is designed in the style
characteristic of Rastrelli - the central risalit is flanked by two
lateral ones, decorated less magnificently and inferior in height. The
facades are designed in the Baroque style, with fantasy window frames,
abundant gilded stucco molding, and patterned lattices. Along the
perimeter, the estate was surrounded by a fence cast according to
Rastrelli's sketches. The central gate with a forged lattice is
supported by two attached columns, on which the sculptures were
originally located.
The interiors of the palace received a
luxurious finish, only the main halls and rooms in it are over 50. A
vast vestibule with a main staircase decorated with sculptures and
mirrors opened behind the main entrance. The stairs led to the halls of
the second floor, intended for receptions and holidays. The main front
room was a two-height hall in the mezzanine. It received a particularly
rich decor, the ceilings were decorated with plafonds painted with
scenes from ancient myths. The walls were painted by the Bolognese
artist Angelo Carboni.
Construction costs were so high that
Vorontsov was ruined. In letters to his friend Ivan Shuvalov, he often
complained that he had become "completely bankrupt because of his
unfortunate palace." In 1763, due to colossal debts, he was forced to
sell the palace to the treasury. The cost of the estate was estimated at
217 thousand rubles. The palace was empty for seven years, until it
began to be provided to foreign guests - in 1770, Prince Henry of
Prussia lived in it, after him - Prince of Nassau-Siegen, then -
Vice-Chancellor I. A. Osterman.
In the late 1790s, Emperor Paul I
handed over the palace to the capital of the Order of Malta. For his
needs, some rooms were rebuilt, the main staircase and the lobby were
changed. In the years 1798-1800, according to the project of the
architect Giacomo Quarenghi, the Church of the Nativity of St. John the
Baptist was built in the palace, and the Maltese Chapel, decorated in
the style of high classicism, was attached to the main building from the
side of the garden. Under the guidance of the master David Eltseser, the
walls were decorated with artificial marble, the stucco master Berne
made decorative reliefs. A luxurious marble altar and a 15-register
organ were installed in the chapel, order jewels and the chair of the
chief master were placed in it. According to urban legend, a
3.5-kilometer underground tunnel was laid from the bedroom of Paul I in
the Mikhailovsky Castle, leading to the basement of the chapel.
In 1810, by decree of Emperor Alexander I, the palace was transferred
to the Corps of Pages. Since the layout and decoration of the palace was
not suitable for the needs of a military educational institution, they
decided to rebuild the palace. The architect Alexander Shtaubert was
invited to lead the project. The design of the facades was left
unchanged, but the original interiors were almost completely lost:
almost all the interior premises were replanned for the needs of the
educational institution. During this period, the ceiling and wall
reliefs, the parquet floor were removed, the painting disappeared, the
main staircase was moved closer to the church. Only a few vaulted
galleries and corridors have survived from the original interior. The
premises on the first floors of the outbuildings began to be rented out
as shops. One of the tenants was the bookstore of Ivan Lisenkov, where
the poet Alexander Pushkin often went. The palace was maintained with
the proceeds from the rent.
In the future, the palace complex was
completed and expanded according to the needs of the Corps of Pages. The
palace garden was gradually filled with outbuildings. In 1832-1834,
under the leadership of the architect Albert Cavos, office buildings
were rebuilt along Chernyshev Lane. In 1853-1856, the Maltese Chapel was
expanded - an extension was erected on the eastern side and the sacristy
was enlarged, and a chapel was added in the altar part, under which the
crypt of Duke Maximilian of Leuchtenberg was located.
The next
stage of reconstruction of the palace took place in 1883-1884. Then
several new service buildings were erected on the territory,
outbuildings were added to the northern part of the main building and to
the chapel, the southwestern building of the main part of the palace was
built on a floor. In the new volume, the premises for the third company
were planned.
The Corps of Pages was housed in the palace from
1810 until the revolution.
After the revolution, the palace was occupied by the First Petrograd Infantry School of the Red Army. In 1927-1933, the complex was restored, the project was led by the architect N. P. Nikitin. During the Second World War, the building served as a hospital. Since 1950, the palace was occupied by the Kirov Leningrad Infantry School, and since 1958 - by the Suvorov School. During this period, a series of restoration and repair work took place, during which the facades of the main building and outbuildings, the lobby, the dining room were restored, and the floor beams were replaced. Under the leadership of the artist Nikolai Pertsev, the murals in the church and the chapel were restored.
On July 10,
2001, the palace was given the status of an object of cultural heritage
of federal significance.
In 2019, the Vorontsov Palace was
transferred to the Third Court of Cassation of General Jurisdiction.
In June 2021, an expert report of the KGIOP was published, “justifying the measures to ensure the safety” of the Vorontsov Palace and the ensemble of Zodchego Rossi Street, authored by expert Galina Aleksandrovna Kurleniz. The document contains three wings of the palace at st. Sadovaya, d. 26, letters P, P, N, are mentioned as being in an unsatisfactory condition and subject to demolition, however, data are not given either on the history of the outbuildings or on the purpose of dismantling. The St. Petersburg branch of VOOPIIK sent a request to KGIOP to finalize the GIKE act and prevent demolition. On June 30, 2021, the Third Court of Cassation announced a competition for a contract for a "selective repair" of the palace. In VOOPIIK they suspect that they want to carry out the demolition of the outbuildings in order to organize parking in their place.