extraordinarily interesting and beautiful is the Amber Room in the Catherine Palace.It is even quite deservedly called a miracle of light.The emergence of this unique space fanned by myths and legends.But the disappearance of this masterpiece in wartime still stirs the imagination.Fortunately, the Amber Room did manage to recover.In this article we describe in detail about its history as well as about where the Catherine Palace, the Amber Room.Ticket prices and opening hours of the museum you can also learn from this article.
Prussian period
Prussian kings Elector of Brandenburg (Prussia and was considered the center of the famous amber-fishing in Europe) from 1618 as gifts to other princes began the tradition to give Amber is the "gold" of the Baltic Sea, as it is called.What makes the art of stone processing is growing rapidly, and one of its peaks and became the Amber Room.It was created at the height of the Prussian and German art as a whole, namely, at the turn of the XVII and XVIII centuries.
Elector Frederick III (the years of reign - 1657-1713 gg.) In 1701 took up the reconstruction of its capital and in particular the royal residence - the whole complex of buildings belongs to the XVI-XVII centuries.The court architect of JF Eozander made suburban possession of this palace, built on the model of Versailles.Nowadays, it is known that the architect has created a draft of the Amber room.Littsenburg and Oranienburg, two palaces of King of Prussia, which was associated with the fate of the Amber Room in 1707 to become a place of activity Eozandera.First, the Amber Room has been designed to process Littsenburg Palace.During the life of the royal family could not see the finished room.The work was in 1709 still in full swing.By the time Sophia Charlotte died (in 1705).Frederick I decided to stop the project and decorate the panels of amber gallery in the palace of his friend - Oranienburg.Most likely, the king decided to stop the construction to save Littsenburg Palace, the residence of his wife, as he was during her lifetime.The walls, which are supposed to establish amber panels, decorated with gold lace and damask.Today, the palace Littsenburg can admire the Red damastovoy bathroom.In memory of Queen Sophia Charlotte, this palace was called Charlottenburg.
Then the king instructed Eozanderu increase in Oranienburg Palace, adding to the Amber Gallery is 30 meters long, exceeding its initial size of the project.However, despite extensive work, the gallery was not completed during the life of Frederick I, who died in 1713.
Gift Peter I
Russian Emperor was delighted with the work Eozandera not hide his desire to have such a work of art in their own country.Frederick William I, the heir to the King (life years - 1688-1740, the Board - since 1713), introduced in the country strict discipline whose aim was practical use, and decided to stop such expensive work in the palaces of his father.But undisguised admiration for the many guests prompted him to mount the amber panels in office, state rooms belonging to the Berlin Royal Castle.It was the only fact pdtverzhdenny stay in Berlin this masterpiece to be sent to the Russian capital, St. Petersburg.
Peter I during the life of Frederick I personally inspected the panel to the Amber Gallery, during his visit to Berlin.In November 1716, during a meeting with his son, held for the sake of an alliance between Russia and Prussia, Friedrich Wilhelm I gave the emperor gifts, among which was listed and the Amber Room.January 13, 1717 The Amber Room was brought to St. Petersburg in 18 boxes, which, in addition to ready-made panels, it was not a large number of previously used tracks.
testify where Tsar Peter I planned to install these panels are not preserved, so the assumption that its proposed use in the interior of the Winter Palace are unfounded.
Amber Room during the reign of Elizabeth
In 1743, the emperor's daughter Elizabeth after coming to the throne told to put a gift into a new residence STORY - Third Winter Palace.To carry out the works has been invited by the Italian architect A. Martelli.Under the direction of another great architect - Rastrelli - already in 1746 appeared transfigured Amber Room in the Winter Palace.However, some elements for the new interior was lacking, so I decided to set Rastrelli mirrored pilasters and insert additional panels painted "by Amber."In 1745 the King of Prussia Friedrich II gave the Russian Empress another project performed by A. Reich amber frame, which is used in the decoration of motifs and allegories glorifying the greatness of Elizabeth.In 1746, the Amber Room was used for official receptions, although it many times during the repeated reconstruction of the Winter Palace was transferred from place to place.
Amber Room in the Catherine Palace
12 years later, in June 1755, is already in Tsarskoye Selo by decree of Empress begins to be created under the guidance of Rastrelli Amber Room (where the Catherine Palace, now everyone knows).So a new era of Fame this masterpiece in Russia, which lasted about two hundred years.
Palace room reserved for her, was an area of 96 square meters, which is significantly greater than the size of the previous room.Therefore, the panels were placed in the middle tier on three walls and separated by pilasters with mirrors and gilded woodcarvings.Where amber lacking walls of the hall were covered with canvas and decorated with paintings "by Amber" by the artist Ivan Belsky.Rastrelli brilliantly coped with its task, enhancing the interior beautiful bronze lamps, ceiling painting, gilded carvings, mirrors and parquet flooring from different precious wood.
center of the ceiling decorated with a huge size painting by an unknown artist from Venice XVIII century, representing Wisdom, keep the Youth from the temptations of love.
average, the central stage was 8 vertical panels, of which four were placed in a mosaic of colored stones, made in Florence in the 1750s, vividly depicting the five basic senses: hearing, sight, touch, taste and smell.
Amber Room of the Catherine Palace had a luxurious decor.It accounted for Chinese porcelain and chests Russian work.The Amber Room was kept and one of the largest collections of products from amber in Europe, and eventually will be a museum of amber items, where they were chess, checkers and caskets.
personal items of the royal family
From the middle of the XVIII century in Tsarskoye Selo, where at that time there were upscale master processing amber began to arrive from Kamertsalmeysterskoy pantry to repair various items belonging to members of the royal family.The documents indicated that in 1765 brought here to repair more than 70 products from the stone, among which were the subject of a cult (the crucifixion and crosses), furniture (postavtsa, cabinets and closets) and household items.A special group of things of time Elizabeth make table decorations, made in the form of a shell valves with acanthus leaves and baroque volute.All of them are decorated with carvings.These products probably decorated festive table Empress Elizabeth during the reception.
Amber Room during the reign of Catherine II
In 1763, Empress Catherine II issued a decree according to which all the canvases, painted "for amber", should be replaced by this mosaic of amber.In the great work it took 4 years and 450 kilograms of stone.In 1770, work was completed.
By decree of Catherine II, to pay more attention to the development of the furniture industry in Russia, the Amber Room supplemented by numerous masterpieces of the craft.
On the inventory, compiled D. Grigorovich, the end of the XIX century in the palace there was a large amount of furniture, mostly dressers and tables.Basically she was of French origin.Where the place of production has not been specified, most likely it was a Russian product.One of the exhibits, chest of drawers, is particularly interesting.Unusual his fate and pair him chest is very interesting.During World War II, they have been left in the palace and taken to Germany invaders, and half a century later one of them returned to their original location.In pre-war photos of the Amber Room were recorded both the chest, they were also included in the inventory of the museum in 1938-1940 years.Returned piece of furniture has a marking that corresponds to the accounting documents of the palace.In the 1990s, the chest was found in Berlin, in a private collection, and bought from its owner at the initiative of the magazine "Spiegel", and later, in 2000, regained the masterpiece of the Amber Room of the Catherine Palace (Pushkin).Chest, in addition to its interesting fate is curious in itself, as an example of one of the first attempts of creating furniture in Russia on samples of French products related to the 1760 th year.
As strong temperature fluctuations, drafts, and furnace heating amber destroyed, only three times in the XIX century was carried out restoration of the Amber Room.
picture Amber Room
In 1907, the Lumière brothers launched the first plastinki- "autochromes" developed by tri-color mosaic pattern.These were some of the first color images in the history of photography.In 1917 Lukomsky head Kunsthistorisches Commission, who worked in the palaces, received permission to carry out shooting in the palaces of Tsarskoye Selo.Including planned to withdraw in the town of Pushkin Catherine Palace, the Amber Room was also to be photographed.It is essential for the creation of catalogs of museum exhibits.Shooting was conducted AAZeestom.The Catherine Palace pictures were taken in June and in the Alexander - August 14, 1917, immediately after the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II with his family was sent to Tobolsk.PK Lukomsky 11 October 1917 received 140 shots, one of which was captured and the Amber Room in the Catherine Palace.Until 1941, he remains the only color its image.
In the years 1933-1935 minor restoration works carried sculptor I. Krestovskiy.
Loss interior
summer of 1941, planned a grand restoration of a masterpiece, but the Great Patriotic War prevented its implementation.Amber Room would be evacuated, which mosaics were covered with a thin layer of a special tissue paper.But the removal of the trial panel found that amber crumbles.It was important to save from looting Catherine Palace.The Amber Room, the price of which was truly enormous, certainly had to be hidden from the invaders.Therefore, it was decided to subject its preservation in place.Panel taped gauze cloth, laid the cover of batting and covered them with wooden boards.
When the Amber Room (Catherine Palace, Pushkin) was attacked by German soldiers, among whom was a team of experts for the export of art treasures, the panel was removed and sent to Konigsberg.
where it was until the spring of 1945.According to the German newspaper "Kenigsberg Allgemeine Zeitung", an art historian Alfred Rode November 13, 1941 organized an exhibition of precious stones, and some elements of decoration of the Amber Room (sheltered in a safe place) in the Prussian Art Museum.In 1944, when the Germans retreated, dismantled the panel again, piled into boxes and sent to an unknown destination.Since then the remains of the lost Amber Room.
Renaissance masterpiece
In 1979 the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR, it was decided to re-establish the amber panels.
In 1983 photos and negatives of the Amber Room in the Catherine Palace of revival by the architect A. Kedrinsky.In 1994 he established the first panel in the lower tier, and two years later was finalized mosaic "view."In April 2000, the museum returned found in Germany dresser Russian and mosaic work "touch and smell" that were part of the decoration of the room.
In June 2003, in honor of the tercentenary of St. Petersburg, Pushkin (Catherine Palace) The Amber Room was opened to the public.The ceremony was attended by the leaders of Russia and Germany.The work lasted 24 years old, has been completed.A new period in the history of this great work of art!
Amber Room (Catherine's Palace) where he was, working hours
Pushkin City, which houses a museum, is 25 kilometers from St. Petersburg.
Currently, Catherine Palace (Amber Room) is open daily from 10 to 17 hours, the only day off - Tuesday and every last Monday of the month is a sanitary day.
In summer service of tourist groups and official delegations is carried out from 10 to 16 hours and from 16 to 17 - the entrance by ticket for individual visitors.If there are no custom groups, service individual visitors can also take place at another time.Tickets are not pre-sold, they must be purchased at the box office, located in the lobby of the Palace (Pushkin, Tsarskoye Selo, Catherine Palace).
Amber Room, a visit which is a paid, offers discounts for certain categories of the population.Thus, the ticket price for adults is 400 rubles, and for students of Russian universities, as well as pensioners of the Russian Federation and Belarus - 300 rubles.These ticket prices are set Catherine Palace.The tour through the halls (Amber Room including) is charged separately.
