The Vladimir Palace (russian: Влади́мирский дворе́ц, Vladimirsky dvorets) is the former palace of

Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia (russian: Влади́мир Александрович; 22 April 1847 – 17 February 1909) was a son of Emperor Alexander II of Russia, a brother of Emperor Alexander III of Russia and the senior Gr ...

, son of Alexander II. It was one of the last imperial palaces to be constructed in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

. It was designed by a team of architects including Vasily Kenel, Aleksandr Rezanov, Andrei Huhn, Ieronim Kitner, Vladimir Shreter and Maximilian Messmacher. Construction work on the waterfront lasted from 1867 to 1872, additional construction and extensions continued in the 1880s and 1890s. Major restorations were made in 1980s and in 2010. Like the

Winter Palace The Winter Palace ( rus, Зимний дворец, Zimnij dvorets, p=ˈzʲimnʲɪj dvɐˈrʲɛts) is a palace in Saint Petersburg that served as the official residence of the Russian Emperor from 1732 to 1917. The palace and its precincts now ...

and the Marble Palace, the Vladimir Palace is on the waterfront of the South bank of the river

Neva The Neva (russian: Нева́, ) is a river in northwestern Russia flowing from Lake Ladoga through the western part of Leningrad Oblast (historical region of Ingria) to the Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland. Despite its modest length of , ...

; the location on

Palace Embankment The Palace Embankment or Palace Quay (Russian: Дворцовая набережная, Dvortsovaya naberezhnaya) is a street along the Neva River in Central Saint Petersburg which contains the complex of the Hermitage Museum buildings (including ...

was extremely prized by the Russian aristocracy. The

Neo-renaissance Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range ...

façade, richly ornamented with

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...

rustication, was patterned after

Leon Battista Alberti Leon Battista Alberti (; 14 February 1404 – 25 April 1472) was an Italian Renaissance humanist author, artist, architect, poet, priest, linguist, philosopher, and cryptographer; he epitomised the nature of those identified now as polymaths. H ...

's palazzi in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

. The main porch is built of

Bremen Bremen ( Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state cons ...

sandstone and adorned with

griffin The griffin, griffon, or gryphon ( Ancient Greek: , ''gryps''; Classical Latin: ''grȳps'' or ''grȳpus''; Late and Medieval Latin: ''gryphes'', ''grypho'' etc.; Old French: ''griffon'') is a legendary creature with the body, tail, and ...

s, coats-of-arms, and cast-iron

lantern A lantern is an often portable source of lighting, typically featuring a protective enclosure for the light sourcehistorically usually a candle or a oil lamp, wick in oil, and often a battery-powered light in modern timesto make it easier to ca ...

s. Other details are cast in

portland cement Portland cement is the most common type of cement in general use around the world as a basic ingredient of concrete, mortar, stucco, and non-specialty grout. It was developed from other types of hydraulic lime in England in the early 19t ...

. The palace and its outbuildings contain some 360 rooms, all decorated in eclectic historic styles:

Neo-Renaissance Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range ...

(reception room, parlor),

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

(dining room),

Russian Revival The Russian Revival style (historiographical names are: ''Russian style'', russian: русский стиль, ''Pseudo-Russian style'', russian: псевдорусский стиль, ''Neo-Russian style'', russian: нео-русский стил ...

(Oak Hall),

Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

(White Hall),

Byzantine style Byzantine architecture is the architecture of the Byzantine Empire, or Eastern Roman Empire. The Byzantine era is usually dated from 330 AD, when Constantine the Great moved the Roman capital to Byzantium, which became Constantinople, until the ...

(study),

Louis XIV Louis XIV (Louis Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was List of French monarchs, King of France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the Li ...

, various oriental styles, and so on. This interior ornamentation, further augmented by Maximilian Messmacher in 1881–1891, is considered by art historians, such as

Nikolay Punin Nikolay Nikolayevich Punin (russian: link=no, Никола́й Никола́евич Пу́нин; – August 21, 1953) was a Russian art scholar and writer. He edited several magazines, such as ''Izobrazitelnoye Iskusstvo'' among others, and w ...

, a major monument to the 19th-century passion for

historicism Historicism is an approach to explaining the existence of phenomena, especially social and cultural practices (including ideas and beliefs), by studying their history, that is, by studying the process by which they came about. The term is widely ...

.Belyakova, ''The Romanov Legacy '', p. 172 Grand Duke Vladimir decorated his apartments with his collection of Russian paintings by the best artists of his time, such asPerry & Pleshakov, ''The Flight of the Romanovs '', p. 36

Ilya Repin Ilya Yefimovich Repin (russian: Илья Ефимович Репин, translit=Il'ya Yefimovich Repin, p=ˈrʲepʲɪn); fi, Ilja Jefimovitš Repin ( – 29 September 1930) was a Russian painter, born in what is now Ukraine. He became one of the ...

Ivan Aivazovsky Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky (russian: link=no, Иван Константинович Айвазовский; 29 July 18172 May 1900) was a Russian Romantic painter who is considered one of the greatest masters of marine art. Baptized ...

, Feodor Bruni, Vasili Vereshchagin,

Ivan Kramskoy Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoi (russian: Ива́н Никола́евич Крамско́й; June 8 (O.S. May 27), 1837, Ostrogozhsk – April 6 (O.S. March 24), 1887, Saint Petersburg) was a Russian painter and art critic. He was an intellectual l ...

Mikhail Vrubel Mikhail Aleksandrovich Vrubel (russian: Михаил Александрович Врубель; March 17, 1856 – April 14, 1910, all n.s.) was a Russian painter, draughtsman, and sculptor. A prolific and innovative master in various med ...

, Nikolai Sverchkov and .Belyakova, ''The Romanov Legacy '', p. 162 After the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mom ...

of 1917, the original owners were purged and fled the country. The property was confiscated by the

Soviet government The Government of the Soviet Union ( rus, Прави́тельство СССР, p=prɐˈvʲitʲɪlʲstvə ɛs ɛs ɛs ˈɛr, r=Pravítelstvo SSSR, lang=no), formally the All-Union Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, commonly ab ...

. After several years of disputes and uncertainty, in 1920s the palace and what was left of the interior design was transferred to House of Scientists (Дом Учёных), (named after

Maxim Gorky Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (russian: link=no, Алексе́й Макси́мович Пешко́в; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (russian: Макси́м Го́рький, link=no), was a Russian writer and social ...

). Under the patronage of

Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across t ...

, the palace and its interior has been preserved to a greater extent than other Romanov family residences. Much attractive tiling, and many internal architectural details have been retained and restored. Also preserved has been much of Vladimir's collection of late 19th-century

porcelain Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises main ...

, most of it manufactured in the Imperial Porcelain Factory, and painted or decorated by its leading artists. The collection has been extended to include interesting porcelain from the early Soviet period, including figures of

Chaliapin Feodor Ivanovich Chaliapin ( rus, Фёдор Ива́нович Шаля́пин, Fyodor Ivanovich Shalyapin, ˈfʲɵdər ɪˈvanəvʲɪtɕ ʂɐˈlʲapʲɪn}; April 12, 1938) was a Russian opera singer. Possessing a deep and expressive bass v ...

and

Nijinsky Vaslav (or Vatslav) Nijinsky (; rus, Вацлав Фомич Нижинский, Vatslav Fomich Nizhinsky, p=ˈvatsləf fɐˈmʲitɕ nʲɪˈʐɨnskʲɪj; pl, Wacław Niżyński, ; 12 March 1889/18908 April 1950) was a ballet dancer and choreog ...

, as well as vases and dinner services inspired by

constructivism Constructivism may refer to: Art and architecture * Constructivism (art), an early 20th-century artistic movement that extols art as a practice for social purposes * Constructivist architecture, an architectural movement in Russia in the 1920s a ...

References

Sources

* Памятники архитектуры Ленинграда. 4-е изд., перераб. Л., 1975. * T. A. Solovyeva, ''Dvortsovaya Naberezhnaya'', St. Petersburg, 2005 () * E. S. Khmelnitskaya, ''Farfor v sobranii Dvortsa velikogo Vladimira Aleksandrovicha'', St. Petersburg, 2006 () {{Authority control Palaces in Saint Petersburg Royal residences in Russia Italianate architecture in Russia Houses completed in 1872 Cultural heritage monuments of federal significance in Saint Petersburg