Author Topic: Catherine Palace Restoration  (Read 139289 times)

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dmitri

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Re: Catherine Palace Restoration
« Reply #30 on: September 13, 2007, 09:47:07 AM »
I don't think there would be much to see if the Catherine Palace has not been so well restored by the Soviet experts after the destruction caused by the Nazi Germans. It really has been a truly remarkable act of love restoring what others would have thought was an impossible undertaking.

Offline Vecchiolarry

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Re: Catherine Palace Restoration
« Reply #31 on: September 13, 2007, 10:39:42 AM »
Hi Dmitri,

Yes, great credit must go to the restorers, carpenters, plumbers, plasterers and goldsmiths - etc. who did a superlative job on The Catherine Palace and so many more.
I understand there are several other places that will be done too.  Wonderful!!

I know when I have my palace built, that I will definitely hire them!!!
OK - - so I live in a dream world.......

I'm glad you got to see it all.

Larry

dmitri

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Re: Catherine Palace Restoration
« Reply #32 on: September 13, 2007, 11:16:03 AM »
Yes there are very few other things in life as thrilling.

helenazar

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Re: Catherine Palace Restoration
« Reply #33 on: September 13, 2007, 11:26:09 AM »
Sorry Valois - give me 'dilapidated' over 'restored' any day.   Just so long as the structure is sound, I would much prefer to see interiors worn, aged and in the case of the Agate Rooms with a very moderate degree of vandalism (e.g. the medallions stolen from the fireplaces), but with atmosphere remaining, than restored until not one single iota of authenticity remains.


I feel exactly the same way, tsaria, but many people disagree...

dmitri

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Re: Catherine Palace Restoration
« Reply #34 on: September 13, 2007, 11:40:53 AM »
I can understand your opinions. Where the essential fabric remains this is indeed possible. Sadly though when buildings are basically destroyed through gross acts of barbaric behaviour, restoration is the only real option. I hate to think of Pavlovsk, Peterhof and the Catherine Palace at Tsarskoe Selo still in ruins. I admire what the Soviet and Russian restorers have done to bring back these treasures to their former glory. How much poorer we would all be without them. Gatchina is also an example of the need for further restoration as is the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoe Selo.   

helenazar

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Re: Catherine Palace Restoration
« Reply #35 on: September 13, 2007, 12:52:20 PM »
It's true that they couldn't leave Catherine Palace as is, since it was nothing but ruins when they got through with it. So there had to be restoration of course. I am talking more about places like the AP, where most of the original structure is intact, and I would hate to see it "restored, i.e. things changed and added, and become "touristy" like some other palaces, and lose it's authenticity. Not to say that it shouldn't be upkept, like the roof, the basic structure, etc., but "restored" in the sense that they have done with some other places, to a point where it loses it's original flavor - I am not so sure about that.

Last week I had a similar conversation with a curator at the Edgar Allan Poe House-Museum in Philadelphia. Right now the house is as bare as can be: basically the original structure and walls and that's it. The museum is thinking of "restoring" it, bringing in furniture, etc. The problem is, they don't really know what kind of furniture was there, where it was located, what the place really looked like... Right now, when you walk in there, you can really use your imagination and feel the former occupants, and they feel real, it feels authentic. But if they do restore it - I think it will lose that, and become just another museum...

For those interested in EAP: http://www.dlackey.org/weblog/images/PoePhil.jpg 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/db/RavenStatue-Philadelphia.JPG/300px-RavenStatue-Philadelphia.JPG

dmitri

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Re: Catherine Palace Restoration
« Reply #36 on: October 05, 2007, 08:36:40 AM »
I do understand what you are saying. The situation though with the Alexander Palace is one where a great deal is no longer there.  Much needs restoration as it simply no longer exists. You get some idea of how it may have been to a certain extent but so much is gone that no real impression is left. The other thing that comes to mind is that none of these Palaces will ever serve their original purpose ever again. They are museums. The imperial age is over and will never return. What you see today at most of the Palaces is restoration. Peterhof is a case as is Pavlovsk and the Catherine Palace. There really was no real alternative. Some items of furniture, clothing and artworks have been returned to the Alexander Palace. There are also many items that are simply left over from a film that was shot there. I guess the real question that needs to be asked is what do people want to see happen there? At the moment it is an interesting curiosity far removed from any real connection with Nicholas and Alexandra. Unless I had been familiar with old photos before my visit and also seen the large photos in the rooms which tried to give an impression of how they once were, I very much doubt that I would have really known which room was which as so much has completely changed. Thank goodness there were some items still there on display. The uniforms and some clothing from Nicholas, Alexis, Alexandra and the four Grand Duchesses provided some connection. I found there was more in fact to see from the reign of Nicholas II in the Kremlin Museums in Moscow than in the sadly neglected, largely destroyed interiors of the Alexander Palace. Restoration is desperately needed there. It's a vastly different story where most is intact. This simply is not the case at the Alexander Palace.       

Geglov2-3

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Re: Catherine Palace Restoration
« Reply #37 on: July 12, 2008, 10:44:03 AM »


1942 год. Может кто-то знает из какого зала дворца столик у Испанцев ?
1942. Someone little table at Spaniards can knows from what hall of a palace?

Offline Joanna

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Re: Catherine Palace Restoration
« Reply #38 on: July 12, 2008, 01:13:04 PM »

The wall is painted lower portion darker than upper. I am wondering if it is possibly basement room of a palace as it has more a raw feel compared to the family's wall-papered rooms. As this photo is during war years, the elaborate table and divan was probably moved for comfort of their quarters.

Joanna
« Last Edit: July 12, 2008, 01:14:57 PM by Joanna »

Geglov2-3

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Re: Catherine Palace Restoration
« Reply #39 on: July 12, 2008, 01:22:19 PM »
Почти 100% что это комната в бывшем Офицерском собрании Собственного Е.И.В. конвоя, после революции здание использовал Молочный институт. Как я понял в войну его Испанцы использовали под казарму.От линии фронта оно защищено другими зданиями.

Almost 100 % that are a room in former Officer assembly Own Е.И.В. An escort, after revolution the building was used by Dairy institute. As I have understood in war its Spaniards used under a barracks. It is protected from a front line other buildings.

Ближе был Александровский дворец, из него скорее всего и взяли мебель для украшения солдатского быта.
Was closer Aleksandrovsky a palace, from it most likely and have taken furniture for an ornament of a soldier's life.

Всю остальную мебель "приличную" после революции уже всю "прибрали" ...
All other furniture "decent" after revolution already all "have tidied up"...
« Last Edit: July 12, 2008, 01:25:21 PM by Geglov2-3 »

Geglov2-3

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Re: Catherine Palace Restoration
« Reply #40 on: July 12, 2008, 01:30:51 PM »
Плохо видно, но кровать там тоже стоит не "простая" ...
It is badly visible, but the bed there too costs not "simple"...

Интересно благодаря тому что из дворца брали мебель во время войны, часть её и сохранилась. Интерьер парадного кабинета Императора во дворце так и нашли илив блиндаже или где- то в здании - казарме ...
Interestingly that owing to that that from a palace took furniture during war, its part and was kept. An interior of a smart cabinet of Emperor in a palace and have found илив a dugout or где-that in a building - a barracks...

Geglov2-3

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Re: Catherine Palace Restoration
« Reply #41 on: July 12, 2008, 01:47:13 PM »


Не удивительно бросили очень много и янтарную комнату.
Можно подумать по фото что это город курорт, а это 1942 год город в оккупации зонтики от солнце и другое ... ( а рядом Ленинград уже один год в блокаде).

Have not surprisingly thrown much and an amber room. It is possible to think on a photo that it is city a resort, and it is 1942 city in occupation umbrellas from the sun and another... (And a number Leningrad one year in blockade).
« Last Edit: July 12, 2008, 01:50:10 PM by Geglov2-3 »

Nick_Nicholson

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Re: Catherine Palace Restoration
« Reply #42 on: October 20, 2008, 01:45:58 PM »
the target date for completion o the Catherine Palace restoration is 2010, for the 300th anniversary of Tsarskoye Selo.  Exterior restoration of the Alexander Palace is also scheduled for then.

The Italian team leading the restoration effforts uncovered the original blue of the palace, and also the original layer of lacquered gilding.  Watch out, because it will be restored to its original Rastrelli finishes, and it will be BLINDING for years.

Offline ArchitectCS

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Re: Catherine Palace Restoration
« Reply #43 on: October 21, 2008, 10:04:44 AM »
How fantastic!  The effect will be dazzling indeed.  Nick, where did you find this info?  If there is an article, I'd love to read it.

Thanks.

Nick_Nicholson

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Re: Catherine Palace Restoration
« Reply #44 on: October 22, 2008, 01:37:26 PM »
From the Tsarskoye Selo website.

http://www.tzar.ru/museums/museums-300let/restauro

Very interesting!

N

If you don't read russian, view it through the www.translate.ru website, which though it comes out sort of in gobbledy gook, helps alot--you'll get the gist.