Smolny Palace in St. Petersburg: address, photo, reviews

The history of the Smolny Palace, which is located in St. Petersburg, is known to a small degree almost to every resident of the former Soviet Union, who studied and grew up in those times. After all, this was the main building in the years of the establishment of Soviet power. But this palace has a much richer and more interesting history than most people know.

Smolny Palace in St. Petersburg: photo and description

It is considered one of the most interesting monuments of architecture in St. Petersburg. Historically, it consists not of a palace alone, but of an architectural ensemble, which includes the Smolny Convent and the Smolny Institute. His story is interesting from different points of view: both in its magnificent architecture, and in the history of those who stayed in its halls during certain periods of time.

The very name - Smolny - is due to the fact that once in its place, even during the construction of St. Petersburg, there were rooms for storing resin from wood, which they collected for the fleet.

The history of the famous palace in St. Petersburg

The Smolny Palace in St. Petersburg was built at the very beginning of the nineteenth century, but it was conceived long before that.

In 1717, Elizabeth Petrovna, daughter of Peter the Great, decided to get a haircut for a nun, she planned to build a whole resin complex consisting of a cathedral, a monastery and an institute for noble maidens. By her decree, Rastrelli began to design the building of the Resurrection Novodevichy Convent. But in connection with the fact that the seven-year war began, the construction was suspended and resumed only in one thousand seven hundred and sixty-two. This was due to the fact that the funds for its construction was not enough. Actually, he was in the sixty-fifth year of the same century. At a time when the monastery was abandoned, the nuns who lived there scattered around the other temples. This was done also because the number of them at that time was too small, and it was not profitable to keep the cathedral. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the monastery ceased to exist and re-opened only in the middle of the century, already during the reign of Nicholas I. This is the biggest long-term development of tsarist Russia. The building of the Smolny Cathedral was built for eighty-seven years. Such a strange fate was in those years at this monastery.

And only at the end of the eighteenth century the construction of the palace began, and before that it was decided that the noble maidens would be trained in the Novodevichy Convent. It was the first educational institution where they began to train girls. In the beginning the institute was called "Imperial Educational Society of Noble Maidens". The institution was closed, only for noble daughters. In the second half of the eighteenth century, a branch was opened for the philistine daughters. The idea of creating such an institution belonged to II. Betsky. Catherine II believed that they could turn out to be good servants and governesses for the nobility. Therefore, they must receive an appropriate education.

A special building for the institute was built only in the early nineteenth century by the architect Giacomo Quaregi. In it, at some period, courses for teachers are opened, and the philistine class is transferred for training to the Alexandrovsky school. At that moment Empress Maria Feodorovna took charge of leading the institution of noble maidens . She considered that the philistine class should study separately, receiving education only by housekeeping and sewing. However, after a while she again introduced for them the teaching of foreign languages, as it turned out that, having entered the houses of the nobles as nannies and governesses, they can not speak French with the children. In the building of the Smolny Palace there is the Institute of Noble Maidens. It existed successfully in it until the October Revolution of 1917.

Palace in the post-revolutionary years

As a result of the revolution, the Smolny Palace in St. Petersburg was occupied by the Bolsheviks, who set up a temporary headquarters here to prepare for a revolutionary uprising. As long as the capital was Petrograd, as it was called by the Bolsheviks, in the Smolny Palace there was a Bolshevik government headed by V.I. Lenin. In November of the seventeenth year the second congress of Soviets was held here. After the transfer of Moscow to Moscow in the Smolny Palace was the city government.

In the period when the Great Patriotic War was going on, it was in Smolny that the defense headquarters was located. From this palace the city government directed the besieged Leningrad. Nowadays the Smolny Palace is the official residence of the Governor of St. Petersburg. Part of the building is a museum, which tells about all the significant events related to the history of the structure.

Address

The museum is open to tourists, but not just from the street. It can be accessed only by appointment with the group. Where is the Smolny Palace in St. Petersburg? The museum address: St. Petersburg, Smolny proezd, 1, lit. B, the Smolny. According to preliminary calls, the group is dialed for a certain time.

Expositions

The exposition takes only a few halls, telling about the most important moments in the history of women's education in Russia, the political history of the country. It will be interesting for tourists to see the Gallery of Governors of St. Petersburg.

Among other things, in the halls of the Smolny Palace there are concerts of classical music. Their organizer is the international fund of V. Spivak. Also there are various games for children, conferences, thematic exhibitions, which are gladly invited to the Smolny Palace in St. Petersburg.

The mode of work of the palace, the price of the ticket and how to get to it

Works daily from 10.00 to 16.00 hours.

To the museum there are 22, 46, 74, 136 buses, 5, 7, 16 trolleybuses and 16 trams.

On the excursion it is necessary to register in advance by phones: (812) 576-74-61, 576-77-46. When visiting a museum, every person should have a passport with him.

Prices for tickets vary from 550 (for schoolchildren) to 650 rubles. Pensioners, disabled people and students have small benefits.

Photo and video shooting

The museum staff are always polite, competent in matters of history and are waiting for you with joy to tell you about the Smolny Palace in St. Petersburg. Photo inside is forbidden, however, as in most major museums in the world. It is generally forbidden to take pictures using a flash, as it may adversely affect the safety of the work, but there are other reasons. In addition, photographing using a flash can prevent other visitors from viewing the exhibits.

When exhibiting temporary expositions from private collections, the owners of paintings often forbid it. An important reason is copyright, which owners are guided by.

Reviews of people

Tourists visiting the Smolny Palace leave a lot of reviews. As for the excursions, they are very well spoken about, the content is also popular with tourists. Just like the palace itself, and its interior. But many tourists say that it would be much more interesting if the whole palace was opened for visits, and not a small part of it.