Italian palace: history, description. Sights of Kronstadt

Many tourists want to see the Italian Palace in St. Petersburg. But to look for a tourist attraction in the city on the Neva is not worth it. After all, the palace, which will be discussed in this article, is not in St. Petersburg, but in Kronstadt. The magnificent building is also called the Menshikovsky Chertom, as it was built for the "Sovereign Prince". It is worth noting that the close friend of Peter the Great had three palaces. The first was located in St. Petersburg itself, the second - in Oranienbaum and the third - in Kronstadt.

And it is the last hall that outshines the first two in beauty. Paradoxically, Menshikov did not have time to enjoy all this luxury. He was arrested and exiled to exile, and the estate withdrew to the state treasury. But why exactly did Kronstadt become the base for the construction of the palace? What was attractive in the island of Kotlin, which was at that time fifty kilometers from St. Petersburg? This you will learn from this article.

Sights of Kronstadt

The place where Peter the Great decided to lay the city was teeming with islands. On one of them, Kotlin, the king ordered to build a fortress. She had to protect the entrance to the mouth of the Neva from Swedish ships. This citadel was built in May 1704. She was named "Kronshlot" - a royal castle. But the military fort gradually turned into a dwelling of peaceful citizens. Twenty years later there was already a shopping gallery around which the merchants settled. So the name was changed to Kronstadt - the royal city. He was surrounded by forts, which are now his main attractions: "Emperor Alexander I", "Kronshlot", "Totleben" and "Obruchev".

Is on the island and its Summer Garden. Of the churches of Kronstadt, mention should be made of the Vladimir and the Sea of Nicholas cathedrals. And, of course, the Menshikov Palace is a significant attraction of this city-island . The address of this building with a complicated history is: Makarovskaya street, house 3. Today Kronstadt ceased to be an island in the strict sense of the word: in 1984 the dam connected its highway with St. Petersburg. But the historical center of the city is under the auspices of UNESCO, being a World Heritage site.

Why is the Italian palace so called?

One gets the impression that Alexander Menshikov has drawn architects from the Apennine peninsula to build his chambers. However, this is an incorrect opinion. German architects were in charge of the works. The project was built by the architect IF Braunstein. Supervised the work of G. Shedel. For a model, the Germans took the palazzo, with which Italy is so rich. It is believed that in the role of ordinary workers in the construction of the palace came from the peninsula of the Apennines, but this version seems unlikely. Most likely, Menshikov simply liked the Italian baroque style, and German architects adapted it to the harsh conditions of the island in the Gulf of Finland.

The building was built from one thousand seven hundred and twenty to the twenty-fourth year. The Italian palace often changed the owners. There were schools in it, which is known to be very harmful for buildings of historical and cultural value. Especially the appearance of the palace was altered by the reconstruction of AN Akutin and E. Kh. Anert, which was held in the middle of the nineteenth century.

History: the eighteenth century

By the end of the construction of the Italian Palace, Russia and Sweden concluded a truce, and Menshikov fell into disgrace. His property went to the treasury. In the 1740s the palace is called the Own House of His Imperial Majesty. Twenty years later the Admiralty College moved to the Italian Palace. Kronstadt at that time had regular communication with St. Petersburg only in the warm season by sailing boats. Therefore, the state institution did not occupy the building, although it was listed in its jurisdiction. Then the building of the palace passed to the school of navigators, which was headed by Stepan Malygin. From 1771 to 1798 the building was run by the Marine Cadet Corps.

Perestroika of the nineteenth century

In 1815, at last, regular communication was established between Kronstadt and St. Petersburg. Sailing boats of private cabmen have replaced "passazhboty", specially designed by Charles Byrd. This was the first public water transport in Russia. Kotlin Island has become more accessible. And from 1798 to 1872 St Petersburg School of Navigation moved to the Italian Palace. Later this educational institution was renamed Marine Technical, and before the October Revolution itself it was called Engineering.

The stay of students in the historical building most sadly affected its safety. And the time and the windy climate did not spare the construction. In the forties of the nineteenth century a cardinal reconstruction of the palace was started. The works were carried out according to the plans of the architects Akutin and Stasov. At the western wall of the palace was defeated the Cadet Garden, and in place of the front yard - the Admiralty. At the very end of the century, the construction was significantly expanded (the Novikov project).

What did the Italian Palace (Kronstadt) look like?

Originally it was a three-story building, designed in the Italian Baroque style. Its facades were decorated with pilasters, bas-reliefs, decorative stone vases. The roof was crowned with a balustrade with a sculpture. Approximately at the same time as the Italian Palace, a pond was dug in front of the main facade of the building. The architect Giovanni Fontana decorated it with several dozen fountains.

This pond, named after the Italian palace, continued the merchant's harbor. It served for wintering ships. Two cranes worked on the shore, which removed the masts from the ships, and with the beginning of navigation put them in place. In the merchant's harbor came and ships bringing fish from the Ladoga Lake. For trade on the shore, a structure resembling the structure of the times of antiquity was erected. It was called this building in the style of classicism by fish rows. In the middle of the nineteenth century, the fourth floor was built in the Italian Palace.

Modern building

The fire that happened in 1926 destroyed what the students did not spoil. The building was restored, but it is not much like the original building. The palace was visited by the House of the Red Army, the Sailor's Club, the Headquarters of the Baltic Fleet. Then there was a theater. Since the end of 2011, the Italian Naval Palace in Kronstadt was transferred to the Naval Museum as a branch. The mode of operation of this institution of culture is quite simple. It is open from 8:15 to 17:15, with an hour-long lunch break. On Saturday and Sunday the building does not work.