The Mikhailovsky Castle, or the Engineering Castle (it can be called that way), is one of the most striking and unusual historical buildings in St. Petersburg. Built by the decree of Emperor Paul I, lovingly and carefully designed as the future ancestral nest of a powerful dynasty and serving as an imperial palace for a short time, the Mikhailovsky Castle, a ghostly museum and monument, stands in the very heart of the Northern capital. It faces the Summer Garden and the Field of Mars and is within walking distance of Arts Square and Nevsky Prospect.
There is a version that the project of the castle was created by V.I.Bazhenov, a talented architect, thinking over the concept of one of the most complex architectural structures in St. Petersburg. However, Western art historians argue that the bold architectural idea belongs to the Italian Vincenzo Brenna, the creator of the artsy palaces of Pavlovsk. After all, Brenna built the Mikhailovsky Castle.
This powerful structure is very distinctive. His style - romantic classicism - is borrowed from the architecture of the Western Enlightenment. Initially, the romantic style was called the opposite style of classicism - critical, conceptually reasonable, in the late 17th - early 19th centuries. opposed to the pretentiousness and "beauty" of other styles, such as Rococo. Romanticism, introduced into classicism, created architectural works that cannot be copied, about which it is difficult to say what is more in them - simplicity and modesty or aesthetics and pretentiousness.
According to legend, the castle received its unique color, pale, pale red with a pinkish tint, in honor of the gloves worn by Lopukhina, the favorite of Paul I, who moved to the castle with him. There is another version, smelling of fiction, about another favorite, gray-eyed and red-haired, about whom the emperor allegedly spoke with love: "Smoke and fire!" The smoky gray finish of the castle perfectly set off the delicate color of its austere fortress walls.
The exterior and decoration of the facades of the Mikhailovsky Castle
- Either a castle, or a fortress.
- Body finishing.
- Facades of the castle.
- Additions to the southern facade: the monument to the equestrian Peter the Great and the Maple Alley.
In appearance, the Mikhailovsky Castle looks like a closed structure with a large square courtyard, similar to a fortress-bastion from a bird's eye view. Paul I was afraid of court conspiracies (from one of which he eventually died) and consciously or subconsciously wanted to hide, to hide in a reliable fortress. An unaccountable fear, reinforced by gloomy predictions (either the shadow of Peter the Great appeared to him, or a gypsy woman), forced him to leave the Winter Palace and settle in a new residence, built on the site of the Summer Palace of Empress Elizabeth. The future Emperor Paul was born in the Summer Palace.
The decoration of the castle was carried out by prominent sculptors of that time - Thibault and P. Stagi, artists - A. Vigi and D.B. Scotti and others. Expensive materials used for the decoration of the facades gave the building a solemnity. The marble used in the construction was prepared for St. Isaac's Cathedral.
The facades of the Mikhailovsky Castle are not alike. The eastern facade, which is visible from the banks of the Fontanka, is considered the most modest, while the southern one is the most solemn.
The northern facade, or the main, front part of the castle looks at the Summer Garden and the Field of Mars. In the pond of the Summer Garden, in calm weather, you can see the reflection of the upper floors and superstructures of the castle. The northern façade welcomes visitors to a spacious terrace with a marble colonnade.
In the central part of the western facade of the Mikhailovsky Castle, overlooking Sadovaya Street, there is a greenish dome with a gilded spire of the church, in which it was supposed to perform the prayers of the royal family. The temple was built in honor of the Archangel Michael, who gave the castle its name.
The eastern facade of the building faces the embankment of the Fontanka River. There is a ledge on the facade, located in the center and strictly opposite a similar ledge on the west side (where the church is). This is the Oval Hall, which belonged to the ceremonial imperial chambers. Like the church, the ledge is surmounted by a turret and a spire for symmetry.
The southern façade is clad in marble and contains a pillared portico, which stands out against the background of the huge castle as an unusual, unexpected detail. Obelisks with knightly armor of the Middle Ages complete the picture of greatness.
The southern facade is also famous and noticeable for the fact that a monument to Peter I was erected in front of it. It was the first monument in St. Petersburg and in Russia to depict the equestrian emperor-reformer. His lead model was made by the great BK Rastrelli during the life of Peter the Great, in 1719 - early 1720s. Then, forty years later, the monument was cast in bronze, but after that he had to wait another forty years for him to finally reign on the pedestal. On the pedestal there is Olonets marble decoration (it can be found in the castle itself). Patriotic bas-reliefs depicting the Battle of Poltava and the legendary battle at Cape Gangut adorn it.
A spacious and long Maple Avenue leads to the south facade. Whenever autumn comes to St. Petersburg, maple leaves, red, like the color of the walls, emphasize the strict beauty of the castle. To the right and to the left of the alley there are pavilions built in the late 1700s - 1800s. Their creators are the architect V. Bazhenov and the sculptor F. G. Gordeev.
Mikhailovsky Castle: inside view
- The interior of the castle for lovers of photo shoots.
- Dampness and luxury.
- Raphael Gallery.
- Throne room.
- Oval hall.
In the interior of the castle there is a lot of marble, including multi-colored ones. Sculptures depicting Hercules and Flora are frozen on their pedestals, guarding the main staircase from the north entrance. The ceilings in the rooms are amazingly painted.
Anyone can visit the Mikhailovsky Castle and take memorable photos inside. Previously, shooting was only paid, but by 2016 everyone was allowed to take pictures, however, without a flash. However, visitors note that the lighting in the castle is dim, the paintings and chandeliers gleam, making it difficult to photograph.
When moving, the emperor was in such a hurry that he did not wait for the completion of the finishing work. Contemporaries noted that a castle with damp walls and wood lice crawling among magnificent paintings is destructive to life. But Paul I was not stopped by the dampness, he simply ordered to insulate his family's private chambers with a tree. Paul I tried to compensate for the uninhabited dankness of the imperial dwelling with the luxury of the interior.
The most notable of the interior rooms are the Throne, Oval and Church Halls, which have preserved part of the original decoration, and the Raphael Gallery. The Raphael Gallery is so named because it used to be hung with carpets on which the works of the great artist were copied. Today you can see copies of paintings by other prominent Renaissance masters there.
The walls of the Throne Room, which were round in shape, were previously draped with green velvet, and the throne was crimson. Roman emperors in the form of busts installed above the doors in special niches guarded the entrance. From gilding, luxury, furniture of precious woods and other delights to this day, something has been preserved.
The oval hall is solemnly and magnificently decorated: bas-reliefs, statues in the Italian style have survived to this day. K. Albani worked on the interior in Pavlovsk times. The gods who descended from Olympus adorn the plafond created by A. Vigi. True, not all of the bas-reliefs survived: during the rearrangements after settling in the castle of the engineering school, something had to be removed.
The interiors of the Mikhailovsky Castle are imperially luxurious and pretentious. However, his main treasures - paintings, sculptures and other works of art - were sent to other palaces after the assassination of the emperor: Winter, Tauride, Marble. The family of Paul I also left the castle forever, returning to the former patrimony - the Winter Palace.
Legends and shadows of the castle
- Tragedy and palace coup.
- The ghost of the Mikhailovsky Castle.
- Further history of the Engineering Castle.
The Mikhailovsky Castle has its own amazing and tragic history, closely intertwined with the history of the life and death of its crowned creator. In 1801, on March 11, in the Mikhailovsky Castle, where the finishing work was still carried out, Emperor Paul I was treacherously killed.
The palace coup, which entailed a brutal murder, was caused by the opposition's dissatisfaction with the economic reforms of the emperor, the bureaucratization of society, which was attributed to Paul I, the inconsistency of government, the barracks reform of the army, and other management decisions. The alliance with Napoleon, concluded by Paul I in 1800, created a threat to Russia from England. Perhaps the emperor was not so wrong: the war with France, with which Russia had no significant disagreements either before or after, later showed this, but then the oppositionists - supporters of the late mother of Emperor Catherine the Great - thought differently.
The emperor was awakened in the middle of the night, demanded to abdicate the throne, and in response to refusal, he was strangled with a scarf. He was forty-six years old. The length of stay of Paul I in the Mikhailovsky Castle turned out to be mystical: only forty days, from February 1 to March 11.
Discontent with the emperor gave rise to a tragedy, the echoes of which can still be caught in the gloomy and solemn aura of the castle, where the museum is now located. It seems that under its arches a certain mystery lives to this day, which only for a moment can be touched by those who come on an excursion. There is a myth that Paul I stands at the window of his bedroom on every anniversary of his death, counts passers-by and, having counted forty-seventh, leaves, taking the unfortunate man with him. The emperor, who has turned into a ghost, wanders the corridors of his castle at night, frightens the night watchmen with creaks and taps, and his shadow on the wall is clearly visible at night.
These inexplicable visions brought commissions on anomalous phenomena to the Mikhailovsky Castle. And members of the commissions, including atheists, noted that about two dozen phenomena were recorded in the castle that had no explanation from the point of view of science.
In the 1820s, the short-lived imperial palace was transferred to the Nikolaev Engineering School and renamed the Engineering Castle.
The engineering school graduated many glorious sons of the Fatherland, who have proven themselves not only as worthy engineers. So, one of the graduates was F.M.Dostoevsky. In the pre-revolutionary years, the hero of the Soviet Union D. Karbyshev graduated from the school, who later became a lieutenant general of the engineering troops.
During the Great Patriotic War, a hospital worked in the Mikhailovsky Castle, and the monument to Peter I was buried in the ground in order to protect it from shelling.
We recommend seeing the Trakai Castle.
Visitors will be told about all this during the excursion when they come to the Mikhailovsky Castle.
How to get to the castle museum and when to visit it
- Location of the museum.
- Weekly operation.
- The cost of visiting for various categories of citizens.
- Exhibitions and expositions in addition to the main program.
The official address is Sadovaya Street, 2. It is not difficult to get there. You have to get to the metro station "Nevsky Prospekt" or "Gostiny Dvor" (the same station, only a different line) and walk for ten minutes along Sadovaya Street towards the Field of Mars.
The opening hours of the museum are the same on all days of the week, except Tuesday - the only day off - and Thursday. On Thursday, the museum is open to visitors from 1 pm and closes later than usual at 9 pm. Opening hours on other days are from ten in the morning to six in the evening.
At cost, visiting the museum is available to almost everyone. In 2017, the price for tickets to various categories of tourists was set as follows. Adult Russians and Belarusians pay two hundred rubles, students and pensioners pay one hundred, children under sixteen are free. The price for adult foreigners is three hundred rubles, for foreign students one hundred and fifty, for children - free.
In addition to the main excursions, exhibitions of the Russian Museum are periodically held in the castle. Their schedule depends on the schedule of exhibitions held by the Russian Museum.
The Russian Museum is located nearby, in the central part of the Arts Square, between Rakova and Inzhenernaya streets, in the Mikhailovsky Palace. Even Petersburgers often confuse the Mikhailovsky Palace and the Mikhailovsky Castle. Unfortunately, polls conducted by local historians show that many citizens take two cultural and architectural monuments as one!
There are also permanent exhibitions in the castle. They either relate to the history of the Mikhailovsky Castle, or acquaint visitors with the artistic tendencies of Antiquity and the Renaissance, echoing the original Russian art.
