Ropsha Palace

[Vassili_Vorontsoff]

Thank you so much Geglov, I had never seen those shots before, I am breathless.

Thanks,
Vassia

[Joanna]

Ropsha is being developed as a business/hotel complex by an Italian consortium to be completed by 2009. Construction apparently has begun. It will be interesting to see what the site is like when I return.

Joanna

[amelia]

Thank you so much, I also have never seen this photos before.

Amelia

[dmitri]

It should be quite lovely providing they follow the plans of the original. The basic shell is still quite sound. The rest was burned by the barbarian Nazi Germans during their plunderous time in the former Soviet Union.

[Joanna]

A current close-up view of the portico area:
http://www.adresaspb.ru/arch/adresa_11/11_021/11_110.jpg

Joanna

[Geglov2-3]

Кадры из кинофильма "Седьмой спутник" 1967 год. Ленфильм.
Staff from a film " the Seventh satellite " 1967.



















Не знаю как эти кадры из фильма.
I do not know as this staff from film.

[Alexander1917]

Yes, Grand Duchess Ksenia Aleksandrovna and Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich spent their wedding night there, and perhaps a couple more days before going to Ai-Todor, Sandro's estate in the Crimea. No one really 'lived' at Ropsha by this time--the IF went there occassionally for visits, but they never stayed long. None of them seemed to care for it much, perhaps because it was the place of Peter III's murder.

Wasn't it a summer palace of Grand Duke Vladimir (Miechens husband)...NII wrote so to MF...

[alixaannencova]

I have no firm evidence, but I was always under the impression that the palace and park remained in the Emperor's keeping and that it was borrowed by the Vladimirs and also by Xenia and Sandro for part of their honeymoon.

It does not appear to have been a very large palace... although it appears to have had annexes connected to the main block that are not in any photos here. It is such a shame that the links posted some time ago to the plans of the palace and park are no longer available, I long to see more about this intriguing palace, what with its rather blood thirsty history and Paul Petrovich's apparent obsession with the place and his plans to rename it etc.

I notice from the photographs we see today, the ones of the ruins as well as the old one from the turn of the last century, it appears that the photographs may have been taken by the photographers standing with their backs to the the 'little' lake visible on the map...am I right? I wonder if this was the principal entrance facade or whether it was regarded as a garden front and that the opposing facade, of which we do not have any pictures, was perhaps the principal entrance front instead. I have also noted that their was a belvedere, and wondered if it lit a central hall within the main block of the palace?

If all the scant literature available is accurate, it appears that the palace really was a homogeny of styles, having been worked on by various architects, including Rastreli to Felten, although the facade we see in the photograph appears pretty uniform neoclassical to me! Perhaps Paul had the whole palace demolished and rebuilt?

I have found some tragically haunting contemporary photos, which bring home to one just how dreadful the state of the palace became;-

http://photogoss.spb.ru/index.php-en&ft_fotoropsha.htm


     

[alixaannencova]

Is it true that the Paul Petrovich contemplated renaming the palace something like Krovaviye Polevoy Dvorets (Bloody Field Palace)? (Excuse my attempt at trying to anglicize Russian words...it probably looks really silly and probably makes no sense whatsoever!)

[Svetabel]

Is it true that the Paul Petrovich contemplated renaming the palace something like Krovaviye Polevoy Dvorets (Bloody Field Palace)?

I've heard only about "Bloody Field". Such Pavel I called the Ropsha estate which he finally bought in the end of his life.

[Mike]

The Ropsha estate remained a Crown property till the revolution. It was occasionally used by various members of the Imperial family, but always for short periods of time, typically for their hunting parties.

[Joanna]

It does not appear to have been a very large palace... although it appears to have had annexes connected to the main block that are not in any photos here.

I notice from the photographs we see today, the ones of the ruins as well as the old one from the turn of the last century, it appears that the photographs may have been taken by the photographers standing with their backs to the the 'little' lake visible on the map...am I right? I wonder if this was the principal entrance facade or whether it was regarded as a garden front and that the opposing facade, of which we do not have any pictures, was perhaps the principal entrance front instead.

Compared to Peterhof and Tsarskoe Selo, Ropsha was smaller - the location and use c1700s-1800s dictated size. There were annexes on either side that are no longer there. Some outbuildings remain and these were numerous i.e. kitchen, etc. What surprised me was the narrow width of the palace. I am curious of the interior (we did not dare to enter very far into it) if there was a corridor or if the rooms opened into each other from the central part.

Alixannencova, you are right. The photographs were taken from the garden side with the columned portico which slopes down to the lake. The other side would have been the carriage route with the paths connecting the outbuildings similar to the plan of Yelagin but on a much smaller scale. Today there is a rough path that you can drive from the main road to garden side.

Joanna

[BobG]

Joanna,
I found this web site with information on Ropsha which also has a plan of the palace.
Thought this might satisfy your curiosity.
BobG

http://kovcheg.spb.ru/ropsha/ropsha.htm

[alixaannencova]

Many many thanks for the link BobG....now we can get a much better idea of the palace....it looks as though the annexes are much bigger than I thought as they seem to extend outwards, flanking the entrance front of the palace!

[Cathy]

Wonderful pictures of Ropsha!  Sad to see it in such ruins.  I believe that Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna and her husband Grand Duke Alexander spent part of their honeymoon here.

Xenia and her first cousin once removed, Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia wedded on August 6, 1894. They spent their wedding night at Ropsha Palace and their honeymoon at Ai-Todor (Alexander’s estate in Crimea).