The Chinese Theater

In the third square, to the left of the Chinese Bridge, on the other side of the Vista, stands the Chinese Theatre, or "Stone Opera", as it was called during the reign of the Empress Catherine; this theatre was built in 1777.

 

Stage of the Chinese Theater

During the reign of the Empress Elizabeth there used to be a theater in the new Orangery Hall, built by Valeriani. Under Catherine II, as has been already said in the description of the Great Palace, a small theater was erected there in 1765, but was moved to the Orangery in 1774. In 1777 the building of the Stone Opera was begun by the architect Nilov. The theatre was 224 feet long and 70 wide. It was in the Chinese style and of a very simple exterior. In 1908-1909 the architect Danini was ordered to add two Green Rooms and a new staircase; at the same time a central heating and ventilation were installed and modern fire preventing improvements added. Up until quite recently, the theater, although of stone, was only used in summer. The stage is immense, and the most complicated ballets and operas can be performed on it. The auditorium is decorated with ornaments in the Chinese style and can contain 350 spectators. The walls of the small Imperial Boxes are decorated with old Chinese laquer panels. From the 20th of July 1779 Catherine used often to go to the theater, where, by the way, on the 19th of June 1780, a performance was given in honour of the Count Falkenstein, aka the Austrian Emperor Joseph II. On the 2nd of July 1779, a Gala Spectacle, with which the opening of the theater was celebrated, was repeated in the presence of guests from St. Petersburg, among which were all the members of the Holy Synod, the piece was a musical comedy. For 25 years after the death of Catherine the theatre was not used until the 22nd of July 1821, when a Gala Performance was given on the Empress Maria Fyodorovna Name's Day. A few gala spectacles were performed during the month of August and September 1830, with the famous Sontag, in the principle part of "The Barber of Seville". During the following years, French and German pieces were often performed here. In 1892 the Count Leon Tolstoy's comedy "Fruits of Culture" was performed for the first time by amateurs. In 1902 a performance was given in honour of the French President Loubet. The theater was restored, and electric light installed for that evening. Finally in 1909 in the presence of the Emperor, the officers of the lzmailovsky Regiment performed a translation of Schiller's "Bride of Messina". The Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich took part in the performance.

At the sides of the Auditorium are three Green Rooms, one of them is behind the large Imperial Box; it is hung with yellow silk, while its furniture is gilt and covered with white silk. A second green room, is decorated with carving in the style of Louis XV. It has an immense porcelain chandelier with mirrors, a mantlepiece and chimney, all from the Imperial Porcelain Factory, founded by the Emperor Nicholas I. These mirrors and mantelpiece adorned one of the halls of the Alexander Palace, before its alteration in 1880. From the Green Room, old doors of polished walnut decorated with porcelain medallions, also from, the Alexander Palace, lead to the antechamber of the small Imperial Box. This room is decorated in the style of Louis XIV. A special white marble staircase connects this room with the private Imperial Entrance. To the left of the auditorium is the third large Green Room, which is decorated in the Chinese style with a carved ceiling. In the right Green Room, the furniture is of the middle of the 18th century, and is covered with silk stuff; the curtains are of the same material; the furniture in the left Green Room is black, covered with yellow stuff, and the curtains are red. The fourth square of the New Garden is occupied by an artificial hill called Parnassus, to the top of which winds a narrow footpath. Beyond Parnassus is the "Fazannik" (Pheasantry). Apparently the Parnassus was made with the earth taken from the ponds and from the Krestovy Canal, when they ere deepened in 1755. Trees were planted along the sides and at the top of the hill and now they completely hide it from view. According to Yakovkin, it was intended to erect an octagonal arbor with a cupola, on the top of Parnassus, but this intention was, however, never caried out.

The Pheasantry, which lies almost on the bank of the Krestovy Canal, consists of a small wooden building for the pheasants, with a lodging for the keeper, and a high iron aviary, built in 1909. Till 1895 the pheasants were kept near the hay sheds. The public is not admitted to the Parnassus and to the Pheasantry.

The vista, which separates the Parnassus from the little lakes, crosses the Krestovy Canal and leads up to the garden of the Alexander Palace. Two bridges are thrown across the canal to the avenues, which run along the vista; a little to the right one of the roads communicates with the drive, running along the canal, by means of a small foot suspension-bridge. Beyond this bridge, part of the water leaves the canal by way of a lock and enters the kitchen pond, which is picturesquely situated in front of the windows of the east forefront of the palace. Beyond this pond on the Dvortzovaya Street are the chief Kitchens of the Alexander Palace - they are of a very simple classical design.

 

Monument to Tutor Merder

To the left of the vista, from the drive to the palace, lies the Private Garden of the Alexander Palace, which is surrounded by a low cast-iron palisade. This palisade stretches from the palace to the transverse drive, and then along it, to the lock (erected in 1897 by Engineer Makarevich, to let the water run from the Krestovy Canal, into the pond in the Private Garden). This lock permits a boat to pass to pass from the pond to the Krestovy Canal. On an island (called the Children's Island) in the pond stands a small pavilion, erected in 1830 by the architect Gornastaev, and in front of it is a marble bust of the tutor of the Emperor Alexander II, with the inscription: "To the never-to-be-forgotten Karl Karlovich Merder".

This pavilion contains a Drawing Room, which occupies the whole of its width, and four small rooms; to the right of the Drawing Room are the Rooms of Alexander Nicholaevich and Maria Nicholaevna, and to the left the Rooms of Alexandra Nicholaevna and Olga Nicholaevna. Everything is decorated very simply; the ceilings are painted in the Empire style and in the style of Louis XVI, and have children's furniture; the room of Alexander Nicholaevich is covered with leather, the furniture of the drawing-room is covered with leather and with an embroidered material, while the other rooms are covered with cretonne. To the right of the pavilion, on "The Cape of the good Sasha", is a marble bust of another tutor - the poet Yukovski; in place of the usual inscription, a bronze plate is affixed to the pedestal, on which is engraved the poet's lines to "The Swans of Tsarskoe Selo". The Private Garden is closed to the public.