Palace embankment(Russia) - description, history, location. Exact address, phone number, website. Reviews of tourists, photos and videos.
- Tours for the New Year in Russia
- Hot tours in Russia
Previous photo Next photo
Palace embankment can be called one of the most beautiful and famous embankments in St. Petersburg. It is here that the world-famous sights of the Northern capital are located: the Hermitage, the Winter Palace, the Russian Museum, the House of Scientists and many others. This street offers an excellent view of the Spit of Vasilyevsky Island and Peter and Paul Fortress. Palace embankment is located on the left bank of the Neva from the Kutuzov embankment to Admiralteyskaya embankment. Its length is 1300 meters.
The world-famous sights of the northern capital are located on the Palace Embankment: the Hermitage, the Winter Palace, the Russian Museum, the House of Scientists and many others. This street offers a great view of the Spit of Vasilevsky Island and the Peter and Paul Fortress.
The palace embankment began to be built up quite early - at the very beginning of the 18th century. The architectural tone of the buildings was set by the summer and winter residences of Peter I. People close to the tsar also began to build their houses on this land. In 1705, the first wooden house of General Admiral Fyodor Apraksin appeared. The building determined the red line of the street, and all other buildings began to be erected according to this line.
Palace embankment
The Palace Embankment had many names: Cash Line, Embankment Upper Stone Line, Millionnaya. It was often called Postal due to the fact that the Post Yard was located here. In 1762, the architect Rastrelli built here the royal residence - the Winter Palace. After that, the embankment, the square and the bridge, located nearby, began to be called palace. Already under Soviet rule, the street was renamed the Embankment of the Ninth of January. But in 1944, the old name was returned to her.
To transport the main part of the Alexander Column, which weighs 600 tons, they used a special pier on the Palace Embankment. Engineer Glasin has developed a special boat capable of lifting loads up to 1100 tons. In order to unload the monolith, they even built a new pier.
Gradually, the embankment became better and better: it was dressed in granite and made comfortable slopes to the river. By the way, until the middle of the 18th century, all St. Petersburg embankments were wooden. The Palace Embankment became the first stone street. Nevertheless, in the 20s of the 19th century, the area around Winter Palace remained unkempt. The construction of the General Staff building was planned here, and therefore working materials, piles of sand and boards were everywhere, as well as all kinds of warehouses and barns. Nicholas I instructed the architect Carl Rossi to put this place in order. Rossi developed a project for a beautiful descent to the Neva, decorated with Dioscuri sculptures and lions. But the emperor was not impressed by the sculptures of young men holding back horses, so they were replaced with porphyry vases. Subsequently, in connection with the construction of the Palace Bridge, the pier with lions was moved to the Admiralteyskaya embankment.
Palace Embankment has always been famous for the fact that famous and influential people lived here: the Romanov dynasty, the poet Ivan Krylov, Count Sergei Witte.
Publications in the Architecture section
Where did the Romanovs live?
Small Imperial, Marble, Nikolaevsky, Anichkov - we go for a walk along the central streets of St. Petersburg and recall the palaces in which representatives of the royal family lived.
Palace embankment, 26
Let's start the walk from the Palace Embankment. A few hundred meters east Winter Palace the palace of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, son of Alexander II, is located. Previously, the building built in 1870 was called the "small imperial court". Here, almost in its original form, all the interiors have been preserved, reminiscent of one of the main centers of the social life of St. Petersburg at the end of the 19th century. Once upon a time, the walls of the palace were decorated with many famous paintings: for example, “Barge haulers on the Volga” were hung on the wall of the former billiard room. Ilya Repin. Monograms with the letter "V" - "Vladimir" have been preserved on the doors and panels.
In 1920, the palace became the House of Scientists, and today the building houses one of the main scientific centers of the city. The palace is open to tourists.
Palace embankment, 18
A little further on the Palace Embankment you can see the majestic gray Novo-Mikhailovsky Palace. It was erected in 1862 by the famous architect Andrey Stackenschneider to the wedding of the son of Nicholas I - Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich. The new palace, for the restructuring of which neighboring houses were bought out, absorbed the styles baroque and Rococo, elements of the Renaissance and architecture from the time of Louis XIV. Before the October Revolution, there was a church on the top floor of the main facade.
Today, the palace houses the institutions of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Millionnaya street, 5/1
Even further on the waterfront is located marble palace, the family nest of Konstantinoviches - the son of Nicholas I, Konstantin, and his descendants. It was built in 1785 by the Italian architect Antonio Rinaldi. The palace was the first building in St. Petersburg to be faced with natural stone. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich, known for his poetic works, lived here with his family, in the pre-revolutionary years - his eldest son John. The second son, Gabriel, wrote his memoirs "In the Marble Palace" in exile.
In 1992 the building was handed over Russian Museum.
Admiralteyskaya embankment, 8
Palace of Mikhail Mikhailovich. Architect Maximilian Messmacher. 1885–1891 Photo: Valentina Kachalova / photo bank "Lori"
Not far from the Winter Palace on the Admiralteyskaya Embankment, you can see a neo-Renaissance building. Once it belonged to the Grand Duke Mikhail Mikhailovich, the grandson of Nicholas I. They began to build it when the Grand Duke decided to marry - his granddaughter became his chosen one Alexandra Pushkin Sofia Merenberg. Emperor Alexander III did not give consent to the marriage, and the marriage was recognized as morganatic: the wife of Mikhail Mikhailovich did not become a member of the imperial family. The Grand Duke was forced to leave the country without having lived in the new palace.
Today, the palace is leased to financial companies.
Labor Square, 4
If you walk from the palace of Mikhail Mikhailovich to the Blagoveshchensky bridge and turn left, on Labor Square we will see another brainchild of the architect Stackenschneider - the Nikolaevsky Palace. A son lived in it until 1894. Nicholas I- Nikolai Nikolaevich Senior. During the years of his life, there was also a house church in the building, everyone was allowed to attend services here. In 1895, after the death of the owner, a women's institute named after Grand Duchess Xenia, sister of Nicholas II, was opened in the palace. Girls were trained in the professions of an accountant, housekeeper, seamstress.
Today in the building known in the USSR as Palace of Labor, excursions, lectures and folklore concerts are held.
English embankment, 68
Let's go back to the embankment and go west. Halfway to the Novo-Admiralteisky Canal is the palace of Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich, son of Alexander II. In 1887, he bought it from the daughter of the late Baron Stieglitz, a well-known banker and philanthropist, whose name is the Art and Industry Academy he founded. The Grand Duke lived in the palace until his death - he was shot in 1918.
The palace of Pavel Alexandrovich was empty for a long time. In 2011, the building was transferred to St. Petersburg University.
Embankment of the Moika River, 106
On the right side of the Moika River, opposite the island New Holland, the palace of the Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna is located. She was married to the founder of the Russian air force, Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, the grandson of Nicholas I. The palace was presented to them for a wedding - in 1894. During the First World War, the Grand Duchess opened a hospital here.
Today the palace houses the Lesgaft Academy of Physical Culture.
Nevsky prospect, 39
We leave on Nevsky Prospekt and move in the direction of the Fontanka River. Here, at the embankment, the Anichkov Palace is located. It was named so after the Anichkov Bridge in honor of the old family of pillared noblemen Anichkovs. The palace, built during the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna, is the oldest building on Nevsky Prospekt. Architects participated in its construction Mikhail Zemtsov and Bartolomeo Rastrelli. Later, Empress Catherine II donated the building to Grigory Potemkin. On behalf of the new owner, the architect Giacomo Quarenghi gave Anichkov a more austere, close to modern look.
Starting with Nicholas I, the heirs to the throne mainly lived in the palace. When Alexander II ascended the throne, the widow of Nicholas I Alexandra Feodorovna lived here. After the death of Emperor Alexander III, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna settled in the Anichkov Palace. Nicholas II also grew up here. He did not like the Winter Palace and most of the time, already being emperor, he spent in the Anichkov Palace.
Today it houses Palace of Youth Creativity. The building is also open to tourists.
Nevsky prospect, 41
On the other side of the Fontanka is the Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace - the last private house built on the Nevsky in the 19th century and another brainchild of Stackenschneider. At the end of the 19th century, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich bought it, and in 1911 the palace passed to his nephew, Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich. He sold the palace in 1917, being in exile for participating in the murder of Grigory Rasputin. And later he emigrated and took the money from the sale of the palace abroad, thanks to which he lived comfortably for a long time.
Since 2003, the building has been owned by the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation, it hosts concerts and creative evenings. On some days there are guided tours of the halls of the palace.
Petrovskaya embankment, 2
And walking around Petra's house on Petrovskaya Embankment, you should not miss the white majestic neoclassical building. This is the palace of the grandson of Nicholas I, Nicholas Nikolaevich the Younger, the supreme commander of all land and sea forces of the Russian Empire in the early years of the First World War. Today, the palace, which became the last grand-ducal building until 1917, houses the Representation of the President of the Russian Federation in the Northwestern Federal District.
A gallery for the king's rest was built here. Peter I, being in St. Petersburg, visited the gallery every day from 11 am to 12 noon. At this time, anyone could submit a petition to the king. After 12 o'clock Peter dined, the reception of visitors, in addition to especially important matters, was not carried out. Sometimes holidays were arranged in the gallery.
According to Meyer's atlas, in 1725 there was a swimming pool, and in 1731 - a guardhouse. In 1750, the architect F. B. Rastrelli built a wooden two-story building of the Opera House on this site. This establishment was famous for its decorative finishes. Rastrelli created in it two tiers of theatrical boxes, an imperial box with three armchairs trimmed with gold. The auditorium was equipped with wooden chairs and benches. The Opera House was also called the "Bolshoi Theatre", which was considered courtier. A noble audience visited the theater for free. French and Italian opera and ballet troupes performed here.
In 1755, the first Russian opera "Cefal and Prokris", composed by A.P. Sumarokov, was given at the Opera House. In 1757, the building was rented by an Italian troupe, who made the entrance paid. Many places after that began to be purchased by subscription for the entire season. The entrance fee was quite high. In 1759, a ticket costs 1 ruble. In the last years of the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna, tickets were distributed primarily to the courtiers. The opera house stopped working in 1763, after which the Italians left for their homeland.
Until 1770, the Opera House was empty. Later, for two years, it was occupied by officers and servants of the court department. In 1772 the Opera House was demolished [Ibid.].
On the site of the opera house in 1784-1787, on the orders of Catherine II, a mansion was built for Ivan Ivanovich Betsky, who settled here only two years later. The designer of this building is unknown. Historians suggest that the architect here could be J. B. Vallin-Delamot or I. E. Starov. The second of them was the chief architect of Her Majesty's Office for the Construction of Houses and Gardens, headed by Betsky.
Some researchers of the history of St. Petersburg claim that initially there were two houses on this site at once. From the side of the Palace Embankment, the building was built by J. B. Vallin-Delamot in 1774-1775, the daughter and son-in-law of I. I. Betsky lived in it. From the side of Millionnaya Street, the building was built in 1784-1787 by Yu. M. Felten, V. I. Bazhenov or I. E. Starov, Betskoy himself settled in it.
I. I. Betskoy is known for his role in the formation of education in Russia. He was director of the Land Gentry Corps, president of the Academy of Arts. Ivan Ivanovich, as well as his neighbor Saltykov, was the tutor of the Grand Dukes Alexander and Konstantin Pavlovich.
The mansion was often called a palace. With a modest interior decoration, outwardly it looked much richer than many residential buildings; the building included a hanging garden. The house consisted of a three-story building on the side of the Neva and a two-story building on the side of Tsaritsyn Meadow, connected by a one-story outbuilding and a covered gallery from the side of the Summer Garden.
The owner of the palace did not arrange balls and masquerades, he had a significant collection of works of art here. Betsky was visited by the French philosopher Diderot, the Polish king Stanislav-August. Sometimes evenings were held here for pupils of educational institutions subordinate to Betsky.
At the age of 75, Betskoy adopted a graduate of the Smolny Institute, Glafira Ivanovna Alymova, and settled her in his house. He felt for her by no means paternal feelings, which Alymova herself did not hide. When she married the senator and chamberlain Alexei Andreevich Rzhevsky, Betskoy also settled here the husband of his adopted daughter. Later, Rzhevsky built his house on the Fontanka and moved there with his wife.
In June 1787, Francisco de Miranda, a participant in the war for the independence of the British colonies, who later became one of the founders of the Venezuelan Republic, visited Betsky's house.
The mansion was so large that some of its premises were rented out. In 1791-1796, I. A. Krylov lived in Betsky's house. The writer opened his printing house here, where he printed the magazines Spectator and St. Petersburg Mercury. In addition to them, over the six years of the existence of the printing house, 21 books and a lot of small printed matter (posters, announcements) came out of it. In March 1792, the following announcement was placed in the St. Petersburg Vedomosti:
"In St. Petersburg, in the printing house of Krylov and his comrades, in the new house of His Excellency Ivan Ivanovich Betsky, near the summer garden, a monthly publication called Spectator is published: it contains both satirical, critical and poetic compositions, imitations and translations. This edition began in February 1792. ... If someone for good reasons to honor this edition by sending his essay, then it will be placed with gratitude.
Ivan Andreevich Krylov was seen here not only at work on the magazine. In the mornings, he liked to walk around his room playing the violin completely naked. The windows of his room overlooked the Summer Garden. The sounds of music attracted ladies strolling through the garden, who, seeing a naked man in the window, were often indignant. It came to the intervention of the police, who prescribed the fabulist "draw down the curtains while he is playing, otherwise you can’t walk in the garden (in this part)".
The historian G. Zuev in the book "The Moika River Flows" gives extremely contradictory information about the presence of the Krylov printing house in the house of I. I. Betsky. On one of the pages, he writes that the printing house worked here from 1791 to 1796. He is supported by local historian V.S. Izmozik, who indicates the same years in the book "Walking along the Millionnaya". Local historian T. A. Sokolova does not agree with the first two, calling in her work "Palace Embankment" other terms of stay in the house of Betsky I. A. Krylov - 1791-1793. The situation is confusing that G. Zuev already on the next page gives information that already in May 1792 the police came to Betsky's house and carried out a search. According to its results, Catherine II took away printing equipment from Krylov, the journalist had to leave St. Petersburg. He returned to the capital only in 1803, that is, he could not continue working here until 1796.
After the death of Betsky in 1795, the house passed to his daughter Anastasia Ivanovna Sokolova, who was married to the builder of Odessa, Admiral O. M. de Ribas. De Ribas could only live here until December 2, 1800, the date of his death.
Anastasia Sokolova died in 1822. The house from the side of the Neva began to be owned by her daughter Ekaterina, the granddaughter of Ivan Ivanovich. She was married to officer Ivan Savvich Gorgoli, who became a senator three years later. The house on the side of Millionnaya Street belonged to another granddaughter of Betsky - Sofia, the wife of Prince M. M. Dolgorukov.
In 1830, Nicholas I summoned his nephew Prince Peter Georgievich of Oldenburg to Russia. He began service in the Preobrazhensky Regiment. On this occasion, the house of I. I. Betsky was bought out to the treasury and presented to Peter Georgievich. For the prince in the 1830s, the architect V.P. Stasov combined two independent buildings into one. The hanging gardens were removed, in their place, on the side of the Swan Canal and the Field of Mars, a new floor was built, where a dance hall was placed. Stasov also created a Protestant chapel in the name of Christ the Savior here (Stasov and the owner of the house were Protestants).
The next reconstruction of the mansion was carried out in the 1850s. As a result, its height became the same on all sides. The attic of the southern facade was decorated with a sculpture created by M. I. Kozlovsky. The prince kept a record of the alterations in the palace, his records are preserved in the Public Library:
“In the confectionery, arrange an oven that would heat the corner of my office near the new extension, the pink office, the mezzanine floor and the small living room. Arrange the air vents for the windows themselves. summer garden; in the princess's office, break down the wall near the closet; in a small living room, convert the stove to a fireplace; heat part of the stairs near the fountain; in the human wing to fix the stoves and change the beams; illuminate the corridor above the stable from above; bring a temporary wooden shed into a decent shape and make a gap in the same stable" [Quoted from: 3, p. 261].
Peter Georgievich of Oldenburg, like Betskoy, became famous in the field of education. In 1834 he left the military service and took up public projects. First of all, the prince bought a nearby house on the Fontanka for the School of Law founded by him. Pyotr Georgievich was his lifelong trustee. As a professional jurist, the prince took part in the peasant and judicial reforms of the 1860s. He headed the management of the St. Petersburg Mariinsky Hospital for the Poor, contributed to the creation of the Committee for the Management of Women's Educational Institutions. At his own expense, P. G. Oldenburgsky created a women's gymnasium, opened several public schools. From 1844 to 1881, the prince was in charge of the Imperial Lyceum, which had moved from Tsarskoye Selo to Kamennoostrovsky Prospekt.
The House of Oldenburg was famous for its musical evenings. After military parades on the Field of Mars, Pyotr Georgievich's colleagues from the Guards Corps and other officers were received here.
In the 1830s, Count Nikolai Nikolayevich Novosiliev, who was the illegitimate son of Count A. S. Stroganov, rented an apartment in the house of Prince Oldenburg. Here he spent the last years of his life, which ended in 1838.
After the death of Peter Georgievich on April 28, 1881, the mansion passed into the possession of his son Alexander. After his marriage to Princess E. M. Leuchtenberg, on the third floor, according to the project of G. H. Stegeman, an Orthodox church was created in the name of the Most Holy Theotokos. In the house of Alexander Petrovich of Oldenburg, magnificent receptions were often organized. He continued his father's work, doing charity work. He founded the Institute of Experimental Medicine, a hospital for the mentally ill at the Udelnaya station, and the People's House of Emperor Nicholas II.
The personal life of the Oldenburgskys was overshadowed by the problems of their son Pavel. He was known as a passionate card player. In society, it was tactfully said that he "was not interested in ladies." In 1901, Peter was married to the sister of Nicholas II, Olga, they settled in a mansion on Sergievskaya Street (now it is house No. 46-48 on Tchaikovsky Street). The groom spent the wedding night playing cards.
In September 1917, Alexander Petrovich Oldenburgsky sold the house for 1,500,000 rubles to the provisional government, which in turn gave it to the Ministry of Education. The collection of works of art stored here was transferred to the Hermitage. After October 1917, communal apartments were arranged here. In 1921, the Central Pedagogical Museum was opened in the Oldenburgskys' house; M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin.
Since 1962, Betsky's house belonged to the Leningrad Library Institute. Currently, the building belongs to the St. Petersburg State University of Culture and Arts. It is connected to the neighboring house of the Saltykovs, also owned by the university, by internal passages.
In memory of the Oldenburgskys and their charitable activities, on July 20, 2000, a memorial plaque was installed on the facade of the house from the side of the Palace Embankment.
