Catherine Palace. Main staircase

The Hermitage Embassy staircase is the main front staircase of the Winter Palace. On it, the ambassadors of foreign states went up to the palace. The name "Jordanian" staircase was due to the fact that the royal family on the feast of the Epiphany descended along it to the Jordan - a special hole in the frozen Neva, where the ceremony took place.
The staircase was made by Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli in the Baroque style. The main staircase was restored after a fire in 1837 by V.P. Stasov, who retained in general terms the idea of F.B. Rastrelli.

2 White marble sculptures and balustrades, gray marble columns, luxurious gilding of plaster moldings - everything is admirable. Let's walk through it, shall we?

3 The white marble staircase forks in different directions: to the right and to the left, diverges into two wide solemn marches, which rejoin at the upper platform. It occupies the entire height of the building (height 22 meters). A wide staircase with comfortable low steps - it is good to climb them in chic ball gowns

4 During the restoration of the stairs after the fire, Stasov replaced the gilded carved balusters with a heavy marble balustrade. Balusters made of Carrara marble by sculptors F. Triscorni and E. Moderni

6 The walls are decorated with decorative sculptures from the era of Ancient Rome. Atlant

7 Caryatid

9 Sculptures "Justice" and "Mercy"

10 At the top of the stairs - monolithic columns made of gray (Serdobol) granite - St. Petersburg stone. Ten monolithic Corinthian columns decorate and support the vaults of the staircase.

13 In the central niche there is a statue of the "Vladychitsa", brought from the Taurida Palace

16 The central ceiling of the staircase has an area of about 200 square meters. It depicts the pictorial composition "Olympus" by the Italian artist of the 18th century Gasparo Diziani, which rests on the padugas, decorated with figurative and ornamental paintings in the "grisaille" style. Having chosen an 18th-century plafond with the image of Olympus in the pantries of the Hermitage, Stasov included it in the composition of the ceiling, and since the new plafond turned out to be somewhat smaller than the old one, the remaining space, the artist A.I. Solovyov painted according to Stasov's sketches

17 In 1898-1901, electric lighting fixtures in the form of chandeliers and sconces made of non-ferrous metal, gilded in a galvanic way, were used to illuminate the stairs.

18 They were made in neo-baroque style under the guidance of architect L.N. Benois according to the drawing of the artist V. Emme at the St. Petersburg factory of A. Moran

2 White marble sculptures and balustrades, gray marble columns, luxurious gilding of plaster moldings - everything is admirable. Let's walk through it, shall we?

6 The walls are decorated with decorative sculptures from the era of Ancient Rome. Atlant

7 Caryatid

9 Sculptures "Justice" and "Mercy"

10 At the top of the stairs - monolithic columns made of gray (Serdobol) granite - St. Petersburg stone. Ten monolithic Corinthian columns decorate and support the vaults of the staircase.

13 In the central niche there is a statue of the "Vladychitsa", brought from the Taurida Palace

17 In 1898-1901, electric lighting fixtures in the form of chandeliers and sconces made of non-ferrous metal, gilded in a galvanic way, were used to illuminate the stairs.

18 They were made in neo-baroque style under the guidance of architect L.N. Benois according to the drawing of the artist V. Emme at the St. Petersburg factory of A. Moran

Finding the right hall in the Hermitage is a whole art, and it is even more difficult to be able to find a suitable staircase to move from floor to floor. We tell five stories about the central stairs of the Hermitage in order to better remember their names and skillfully use them in a conversation with the curator when drawing up a route.

Embassy (Jordanian, Main) stairs

The majestic and beautiful Main Staircase of the Winter Palace in the 18th century played a very important representative role, being included in the suite of ceremonial halls where solemn ceremonies and court festivities were held. According to it, the ambassadors of foreign states went up to the central halls for audiences, so it was called the Embassy. After the revolution, when the palace became a museum, the guides gave it the name Jordanskaya, because on the feast of Epiphany the royal family and other participants in the procession descended along it, starting from the Great Church and going to the Jordan - a special hole in the frozen Neva, where the rite of blessing was held.

The main staircase of the New Hermitage (Terebenevskaya stairs)

This staircase is associated with the construction of the New Hermitage, a building designed specifically as a museum for the overgrown art collections. It was built in 1850 by the architect H.E. Efimov under the direction of V.P. Stasov, designed by L. von Klenze. The staircase became the main entrance to the building of the New Hermitage and was similar to the one that led to the Athenian Acropolis. Its entrance from the side of the street is decorated with granite sculptures of ten Atlanteans, created by Academician A.I. Terebenev, hence the other name - Terebenevskaya stairs. If you look at the stairs from the landing of the first floor up, you will notice one curious architectural solution: in each next flight, the number of steps is reduced by one, which creates the illusion of an endless road up.

The first visitors to the museum, which opened on February 7, 1852, climbed the Main Staircase of the New Hermitage.

The Hermitage opened to the public under Nicholas I only in 1852.
Under Catherine II, Paul I and Alexander I, the Hermitage was like a palace museum, where few people entered. DIn order to get into the Hermitage, a special permit was required, which was issued only to the elite. So, for example, the great poet A.S. Pushkin l ish in 1832was able to get a permanent museum pass only on the recommendation of V.A. Zhukovsky, mentor of the emperor's children. Famous artists who needed to work in the halls could not always get such permission.

Soviet stairs

This staircase has nothing to do with the Soviet Union. The Soviet staircase, built in the middle of the 19th century by the architect A.I. Stackenschneider, got its name due to the fact that members of the State Council passed through its entrance, heading to meetings that took place under the chairmanship of the king. The staircase is also unique in that it links three buildings of the museum complex at once: it communicates with the Small Hermitage through a passage corridor, the Old Hermitage is located on the opposite side along the embankment line, the doors in the center (opposite the windows) lead to the halls of the New Hermitage.

October stairs

The name "October" stairs was given in memory of the revolutionary events of October 1917, when the assault troops entered the Winter Palace along it. On the October stairs, on the night of October 25-26, 1917, the captured ministers of the Provisional Government were led out.

No guidebook can find the exact date of the appearance of this name, and the famous memorial plaque was installed on it after the new name took root. Prior to that, the staircase was called "Her Imperial Majesty", since it adjoined directly to the apartments of the empresses - the wife (later the widow) of Paul I Maria Feodorovna and the wife of Alexander II Maria Alexandrovna.

church stairs

The church staircase is located in close proximity to the Small Church of the Winter Palace, where services were held with the participation of members of the royal family. A few years ago, an amazing incident occurred in the Hermitage: during scheduled electrical work, a plaster sculpture immured into the wall was discovered on the site of the second floor of the Church Stairs.

The sculpture depicts a slave and is called "White Slave". During the restoration of the find, it turned out that it was created by the famous sculptor Vladimir Beklemishev at the end of the 19th century. And in 1893 she represented Russia at the Chicago World's Fair. How and why she ended up in "imprisonment" is unknown, but she spent more than 60 years there. There have been no such discoveries in the museum for more than a century.

Source: fiesta city

Source https://vk.com/spb.welcome?w=wall-60191095_74818

About the front stairs

front stairs - the main stairs leading to the front entrance of the palace. The main staircase is most often given a central place in the palace. This is a monumental structural element of the interior enriched with decoration. For its production, elite, noble woods, natural stone, gilding and silver finishes are used.

The majestic and beautiful Main Staircase of the Winter Palace (Ambassadorial (Jordanian)) - the main attractions of the northern capital. Beautiful and majestic interior, about which the connoisseur of architecture A.P. Bashutsky wrote that this staircase is “decidedly the only one in Europe in terms of the beauty of its location and vastness.” It is she who is called upon to be the first to show that the palace is the imperial residence, that is, not only the place of residence of the head of state and holding various kinds of celebrations, but the “face of the country”: evidence of its power, wealth, and high culture.

Soviet stairs , the main entrance to the building of the Old Hermitage. The official decoration of the stairs is emphasized by the coat of arms of the Russian Empire, a double-headed eagle, located at the level of the landing on the second floor under the imperial crown.
The white marble staircase was built on the site that was formerly occupied by the oval hall. One of the surviving reminders of the early decoration of the hall is a picturesque ceiling painting, on the allegorical plot “Russian Youth Presented to the Goddess Minerva” by the French artist of the eighteenth century, Gabriel-Francois Doyen. An outstanding element of the decoration of the Soviet staircase is a large malachite vase made in Yekaterinburg using the Russian mosaic technique. The Soviet staircase is undoubtedly an architectural masterpiece of the State Hermitage

Main staircase of the New Hermitage (Terebenevskaya stairs) . This staircase was the main entrance to the building of the New Hermitage. Its entrance from the street is decorated with granite sculptures of ten Atlanteans, created by Academician A.I. Terebenev (1815 - 1859). The design of the stairs is designed in the spirit of late classicism - using elements of classical art, with its characteristic clarity, symmetry, and the predominance of clear and straight lines. A wide staircase of sixty-nine white marble steps is bordered on both sides by smooth, unadorned wall planes covered with an even, shiny layer of yellow stucco. Its warm tone contrasts spectacularly with the cool gray tone of the porphyry monolithic columns that rise in two parallel rows high above the walls of the stairs.

Walk through the halls of the Hermitage. Part 1. The Hermitage in St. Petersburgis one of the most famous museums not only in the northern capital, but throughout the world. Together with such world museums as the Louvre, the Metropolitan and the British Museum, it has a rich collection and is one of the most visited museums in the world.

Currently, the museum's collection includes more than 3,000,000 exhibits. These are primarily paintings and sculptures, objects of applied art, as well as other works of art. If we consider each exhibit for one minute, it will take 8 years to examine the entire collection. To view all the expositions, you need to walk 20 kilometers.

Five buildings connected to each other on the Palace Embankment make up the Hermitage museum complex:

* Winter Palace (1754 - 1762, architect B. F. Rastrelli)
* Small Hermitage (1764 - 1775, architects J. B. Vallin-Delamot, Yu. M. Felten, V. P. Stasov). The Small Hermitage complex includes the Northern and Southern pavilions, as well as the famous Hanging Garden
* The Great Hermitage (1771 - 1787, architect Yu. M. Felten)
* New Hermitage (1842 - 1851, architects Leo von Klenze, V. P. Stasov, N. E. Efimov)
* Hermitage Theater (1783 - 1787, architect G. Quarenghi)

View from the Neva to the complex of buildings of the State Hermitage: from left to right the Hermitage Theater - the Big (Old) Hermitage - the Small Hermitage - the Winter Palace; (The New Hermitage is located behind the Bolshoi)

Buildings and expositions of the Hermitage in St. Petersburg

The most famous building of the museum complex is the Winter Palace. Everyone who comes to the Palace Square admires this building, created by the architect B.F. Rastrelli in 1754-1762. In addition to it, the single complex includes the Small Hermitage (architect J.B.M. Vallin-Delamot), the Great Hermitage (architect Yu.M. Felten), the Hermitage Theater (architect J. Quarenghi) and the New Hermitage (L. von Klenze ).

The museum presents expositions of the Department of the Ancient World, the Western European Department, the Department of the East, the Department of Primitive Culture, the Department of the History of Russian Culture (it also includes palace interiors, the Menshikov and Winter Palaces), "Golden Pantry", Department of Numismatics.

Jordan stairs in the Hermitage of St. Petersburg

The Jordan Staircase leads from the lobby to the second floor, which has hardly changed its original appearance. Only after the fire of 1834, the gilded wooden sculptures in the niches were replaced with marble ones. And the artificial marble columns were replaced with granite ones. The staircase got its name from the ceremony of consecration of water in the Neva.

The central ceiling depicts the gods on Mount Olympus.

Field Marshal's Hall

The hall was created in 1833-1834. Auguste Montferrand. After the construction was completed, in 1834, portraits of Russian field marshals were placed on the walls of the Field Marshal's Hall in six of the seven niches. In March 2012, the design of the hall was completely restored. The portraits of Paskevich-Erivansky, Suvorov-Rymniksky, Golenishchev-Kutuzov-Smolensky, Potemkin-Tavrichesky, Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky, Dibich-Zabalkansky were returned to their place. The seventh niche, as well as according to the established tradition in the 19th century, is empty

Field Marshal's Hall. Winter Palace. Sadovnikov Vasily Semyonovich

Eduard Petrovich Hau

Zaryanko S.K.

Portrait of Ivan Paskevich of Russia, Franz Kruger 1834 St. Petersburg, State Hermitage.

Portrait of A.V. Suvorov 1833 N.-S. Froste

P. Basin. Prince M. Kutuzov-Smolensky.

Petrovsky (Small Throne) Hall

The hall was created in 1833.O. R. de Montferrand and restored after a fire in 1837.V. P. Stasov. The hall is dedicated to the memory of Peter I - the interior decoration includes the emperor's monogram (two Latin letters "P"), double-headed eagles and crowns. In a niche designed as a triumphal arch, there is a painting "Peter I with Minerva". In the upper part of the walls there are canvases representing Peter the Great in the battles of the Northern War (P. Scotti and B. Medici). The throne was made in St. Petersburg at the end of the 18th century. The hall is decorated with silver-embroidered Islyon velvet panels and silverware made in St. Petersburg.

Eduard Petrovich Hau

Zaryanko S.K. Petrovsky

Armorial Hall

The Armorial Hall of the Winter Palace, intended for ceremonial receptions, was created by V.P. Stasov in the late 1830s. At the entrance to the hall there are sculptural groups of ancient Russian warriors with banners, on the shafts of which shields with the coats of arms of Russian provinces were fixed. In addition, the coats of arms of the provinces are located on gilded bronze chandeliers. A slender colonnade carrying a balcony with a balustrade, a frieze with an ornament of acanthus leaves, as well as a combination of gold and white color create an impression of grandeur and solemnity. In the center of the hall there is an aventurine bowl made by Yekaterinburg stone cutters of the 19th century.

"Large" French carriage, 1720s Tapestry Manufactory, Paris

Eduard Petrovich Hau
Ladyurner, Adolf Ignatievich - Types of halls of the Winter Palace

Military gallery of 1812

The gallery is dedicated to the victory of Russian weapons over Napoleon. It was built according to the project of Karl Ivanovich Rossi and solemnly opened on the anniversary of the expulsion of Bonaparte from Russia, December 25, 1826, in the presence of the Imperial Court, generals, officers and soldiers, who were awarded for participating in the Patriotic War of 1812 and in the foreign campaign of the Russian army in 1813 - 14 years On its walls are placed portraits of 332 generals painted by D. Dow - participants in the war of 1812 and foreign campaigns of 1813-1814. In addition, the galleries contain portraits of Emperor Alexander I and King Friedrich-Wilhem III of Prussia by F. Kruger, and a portrait of Emperor Franz I of Austria by P. Kraft. The prototype of the gallery was one of the halls of the Windsor Palace, dedicated to the memory of the Battle of Waterloo, in which portraits of participants in the Battle of the Nations were concentrated.

Portrait of Alexander I (1838). Artist F. Kruger.

Austrian Emperor Franz I. Artist P. Kraft.

Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm III. Artist F. Kruger.

Field Marshal M.I. Kutuzov.

Field Marshal Barclay de Tolly.

Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich.

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Military Gallery of the Winter Palace, G.G. Chernetsov, 1827

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Eduard Petrovich Hau

Pushkin, who admired this gallery, dedicated several stanzas to it in his poem "The Commander". They are carved on a marble board installed here.

Georgievsky (Large Throne) Hall

The hall of the Winter Palace was created in the early 1840s. V. P. Stasov, who retained the compositional solution of his predecessor J. Quarenghi. The two-height columned hall is decorated with Carrara marble and gilded bronze. Above the Throne Place there is a bas-relief "George the Victorious, striking a dragon with a spear". The large imperial throne was executed by order of Empress Anna Ioannovna in London (N. Clausen, 1731-1732). Magnificent set parquet, created from 16 types of wood. The solemn decoration of the hall corresponds to its purpose: official ceremonies and receptions were held here.

Ukhtomsky Konstantin Andreevich

Polyakov - Speech from the throne of Nicholas II during the opening of the First State Duma in the Winter Palace

is the main staircase of the Winter Palace. It was on it that the ambassadors of various countries climbed in order to enter the halls for an audience with the Russian rulers. Based on this, the staircase was originally called the Embassy. And only after the revolution, when the Winter Palace became a museum, it received the name Jordanian. They attributed this to the fact that the royal family descended the stairs to Baptism for the ritual of blessing water to - a special hole in the Neva.

History of the Jordan Stairs

The Jordan Staircase was built in the Baroque style by a Russian architect, Italian by birth, Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli. But in 1837 there was a terrible fire, which destroyed almost all the interior decoration of the Winter Palace with its fire, and, of course, did not spare the stairs.

The restoration of the Main Staircase was entrusted to V.P. Stasov, who for a year and a half tried to restore the staircase in a completely old way, as ordered by Emperor Nicholas I. The architect was very attentive to the restoration of the Jordan Staircase, trying to preserve all the beauty and luxury that he gave her Rastrelli.

Staircase at present

Today, the staircase is presented to visitors almost in its original form and delights. White marble sculptures, gray marble columns, gilding of stucco - all this delights and makes you fall in love with yourself at first sight.

The best materials were used to design the stairs. For the manufacture of balustrades, floors and steps - white Carrara marble. And for the walls - artificial marble, also white. The columns on the second level are made of Serdobol granite.

Gray granite dilutes the overall white and gold color scheme, marking the grandeur and monumentality of the interior. The ceiling of Fontebasso, which burned out in a fire, was replaced by Stasov with the ceiling of Olympus found in the Hermitage vaults. It was also created in the 18th century in Gasparo Diziani.

The statues to decorate the stairs were obtained from the Summer Garden and the Tauride Palace. They were brought from Italy back in the time of Peter the Great. The statue "Power" was brought from the Taurida Castle, which adorns the central niche. An interesting and curious fact is that behind the statue of "Power", installed on the Jordan Staircase in the Hermitage, the name "Vladychitsa" soon stuck, indicating in some way the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna and Catherine II.

How to find the Jordan Stairs in the Hermitage

You probably won't have to look for it. As a rule, inspection of the Palace begins with a passage through the lobby, which leads to the Main Staircase. The lobby, as it were, prepares visitors for the perception of the magnificent, graceful beauty of the Jordan Stairs. Getting here, you immediately feel its size, spaciousness, abundance of light that comes not only from huge windows, but also through reflection in large mirrors.

The magnificent appearance of the Winter Palace and, in particular, the Ambassadorial Stairs were supposed to demonstrate the position of the new city on the Neva. Interestingly, in 1844, Nicholas I signed a decree that stated that in it is forbidden to build civil buildings higher than the Winter Palace.