Bridge Leading to the Grotto

 

To the right of the chief dam is an exquisite little one storied building with a landing place in front of it. This is the Grotto or Morning Hall. In the distance are to be seen the colonnade, the southern front of the palace, and the monument of the Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich with the lawn, sloping from the palace, as background. Directly in front of the observer is a large island with a hall in its centre, and beyond the island glitter the gilded roof and minaret of the Turkish Bath, and rising from the water, the rostral column in memory of the battle of Chesma. To the left, is the red-brick building of the Admiralty and a multitude of small rowing boats, which are rocking on the water between the landing place and the chief dam. The Grotto was built during the reign of the Empress Elizabeth Petrovna in 1755-56. This construction, as well as the interior decorations, was carried out by an Italian, Rossi, under the supervision of Rastrelli. At that time it was the fashion to adorn rooms in palaces, or pavilions in parks, with shells. Such a room existed in the Great Catherine Palace, but it was abolished on account of its being damp. The shells from it were salvaged for decorating the new pavilion, thus turning it into a grotto. The adornment of the Grotto required 210,000 large shells and nearly 17 1/2 poods of small ones. Thus decorated and with a stone balustrade round its roof of tin plated iron, the Grotto existed till 1770, when the Empress Catherine ordered the balustrade to be removed, the shells to be taken away, and the interior to be finished with simple grotto square work. During the reign of Catherine the was used as a place for storing antique works of art. In the descriptions of Tsarskoe Selo in the 18th century, and in engravings of the period, the Grotto is called the Hall of Antiques. At the close of Catherine's reign a multitude of statues, molds, old inscriptions and Houdon's marble statue of Voltaire, sitting in a chair, were kept in the Grotto. Among the huge number of antique works of art, there were many objects of comparatively small worth. In the summer of 1792, Catherine ordered her secretary, Chrapovitsky, to have bronze copies made of the best of the antique busts and to have them placed in the Cameron Gallery. On the accession of the Emperor Paul, the treasures were removed from the Grotto and sent partly to Gatchina and partly to St. Petersburg. The statue of Voltaire could not be found for a long time - it was thought to be lost - until it was discovered during the reign of Alexander II - when it was found in the basement of the Tauride Palace in St. Petersburg. It was then taken temporarily back to Tsarskoe Selo, and then again sent to St. Petersburg.

The Empress Catherine was very fond of the view from the Grotto over the lake, and used often of a summer morning to attend to affairs of state and do her literary work sitting there. At 10 o'clock onm such days young people were summoned here to partake of a light breakfast, composed of tea, coffee, or chocolate. Sometimes there was music. Frequently, on warm evenings, when it began to grow dark, the Empress would sup here, listening to military music from the Hall on the Island.

The exterior of the building was considerably changed, you would not know it on the old engravings. The decorations on the roof and the balustrade with the statues, have been removed, and on either side of the doors, leading to the lake, statues have been placed, representing the Dying Gaul and a Gladiator. During the reign of Alexander II a landing place was constructed in front of the Grotto.

The interior of the Grotto consists of one large hall, divided by two arches. In the central part, there is a huge statue of the Empress Catherine II, represented as the goddess Minerva, the work of Rachette (1789); the statue was sculpted at the Imperial Academy of Art by Vasily Moyalov. Along the walls stand a few marble statues and busts; these, however, are of no unique artistic value.

Beautifully ornamented iron gratings are in front of the doors and windows of the grotto; the walls are adorned with carvings and are painted in two tints, the floors are paved with marble. In spite of the simplicity of the decoration, the building with its fine proportions and perfect style, produces a pleasing impression. Its decorations of "simple square work", chosen by Catherine, are finer than the thick external gildings and multitude of shells, which Elizabeth Petrovna was so fond of.

During the last few years, every 6th of January, on the day of the Epiphany, a solemn Te Deum and the ceremony of blessing the water, have taken place on the landing place in front of the Grotto in the Imperial presence. The Divine Service being finished in the Church of the Great Palace, the Imperial procession passes through the halls to the main staircase, enters the park and proceeds to the grotto, whence, after the Te Deum and the water blessing, it returns to the palace amid the thunder of cannon.

In former times the ceremony of blessing the water also took place here, on Whit Sunday, on the 1st of August, if the Imperial court was at Tsarskoe Selo.

At the chief landing place of the Great Lake, which is situated at the large dam, there are always many people waiting their turn for a row in the boats, which are at the disposal of the public for a small tip. It is forbidden to land on the island, on the banks of the lake, or on other landing places.

A little farther from the Grotto and nearer to the Palace, there stood from the year 1750 a wooden boat house, where the Empress' private boats were kept, and where the sailors, who took care of them, lived. There was also a wooden house for water birds, part of which were formerly kept in a poultry yard, close to the Lower Lake. But during the reign of Elizabeth, the wooden boathouse and the poultry yard were removed to the other side of the lake beyond the dam. In 1773 the Empress Catherine ordered to pull down the wooden sheds and to erect a stone boat house with a large hall over it and accommodations for the birds on both sides. At the same time the poultry yard near the Lower Lake was pulled down. The work was carried out by the architect Vasily Nilov, who in 1770 had been sent to England together with his son, to study "and to see sights and examine buildings, both ancient and modern". The Nilovs returned within a year, bringing with them a large collection of engravings and drawings, part of which decorate the walls of the Hall Over the Boathouse. The result of their journey was felt in the erection at Tsarskoe Selo of facades in the Gothic style , a type new to Russia, among which are those of the Hermitage kitchens, the Arsenal, the Red Bridge on the Swan Canal and the Admiralty. The Boat House with the hall above it, the Birds' Houses, and the house for the sailors together are known as the Admiralty and were erected apparently to commemorate the capture of the Tauris kingdom.

Between the main building and the Birds' Houses, two round ponds have been dug for the birds, while in one of the Birds' Houses there still exists a basin for the use of the swans and ducks in winter.

The Hall Over the Boathouse was ornamented in 1774 in the Dutch style, with 166 colored English engravings under white glass. The floors are paved with dark-red flags.

The hall also contains an immense globe, which was transferred from the Academy of Arts in 1901. Bergholz, a gentleman of the bed chamber, who saw this globe in St. Petersburg on the 6th of September 1721, gives the following detailed account of it:

"After dinner some of us went to look at the huge globe from Schleswig, which 8 years ago, with the consent of the Bishop-Administrator, was brought here; it had traveled four years and was brought as far as Revel by water, and from thence to St. Petersburg by land, by means of a specially constructed machine, which was drawn by men. It was found necessary to widen the road and cut down trees, in order that the globe might pass, and many men perished, in bringing it hither. It stands on a lawn in front of the residence of His Royal Majesty, in a specially constructed shed, where, I am told, it is to remain until the large building on the Vassilevsky Ostrov which is intended for works of art and other varieties, is finished. It is looked after at present by the man, who brought it there, a tailor, and a Saxon by birth; but who has lived a long time in Schleswig. Since it is placed here only temporarily, it does not stand properly; the gallery, which ran round it at Schleswig, and which represented the horizon, is kept separately. The exterior of the globe, which is in perfect order, is made out of paper, fastened to a copper basis, and skillfully drawn and painted. A door with Holstein arms leads to its interior and right in the centre is a table with benches, where all ten of us could sit down. Under the table is a mechanism, which the tailor, who sat with us, put into motion; whereupon both the hemispheres, the stars, made of copper, and the external globe began to move slowly over our heads on their axle, which is made of thick polished copper and passes through the globe and through the table, at which we sat. Round the same axle in the centre of the table is a small globe of polished copper, artfully engraved, which represents the world. It remains motionless, when the large heavenly sphere turns round it, while the table forms its horizon. On the same table, at the same time as the rest of the machine, a copper circle, moves slowly round, the meaning of which no one could explain to me. The benches round the table, with their backs form the horizon of the large heavenly sphere. On the outer side of the globe, there is an inscription in Latin meaning, that "H.R.H. Frederic, Duke of Holstein, out of love for the mathematical sciences, in 1654 ordered the globe to be made. His heir, the ever memorable Christian Albert, carried out the work, and finally finished it in 1661, under the direction of O'Leary; after him the "fabricator" and "architect" of the whole machine, both natives of the town of Luttich, were invited, as well as two brothers from Guzum, who drew the hemispheres with the pen, and did the painting. When this globe will be transferred to the new house, the Tsar intends to arrange a special mechanism, so that it will turn without the help of human hands, as formerly in the garden of Gottorp, where it was turned by water power."

The globe was brought from the Academy of Arts to Tsarskoe Selo in 1901.

 

The Admiralty

In order to see the Hall of the Admiralty, one should speak to one of the sailors in the boat house.

From the Admiralty a foot path runs along the bank of the lake, almost parallel to the carriage drive, which was made during the reign of the Emperor Alexander I and leads from the gate, called "To My Beloved War Companions", past the Gate of the Corps, which serves as an issue from the park into Sophia (between Trifonov Hill and the Admiralty) to the Orlov Gate, which leads from the park to the broadway of Gatchina. Along this road, on the other side of the railings, runs the Volkonskaya Street, which, beyond the Orlov Gate, is known as the Stolbovaya Road. From the broadway of Pavlovsk to the Cadet's Gate, along the Volkonskaya, stand a number of private villas, in front of which a row of trees was planted in 1884. In 1897 a similar row of trees was planted along the other side of the street, on the spot of the old open canal of the Taitsky Water Works, which was then replaced by subterranean pipes.

From the Cadet's Gate to the Orlov Gate stretch a series of buildings belonging to the Department of War. Opposite the Cadet's Gate are the Barracks of the Imperial Family's Regiment of Rifles (formerly the boarding houses, belonging to the Lyceum which from 1829 to 1859 were occupied by the Alexander Cadet Corps), farther on are two red buildings; these are the Barracks of His Majesty's Own Life-guards Hussars; beyond them is the guard house of the same regiment, which occupies one of the towers, belonging to a cattle yard, which existed here in the middle of the reign of Catherine II. The second tower is still untouched, as well as the central building, which is occupied now by the commander of the regiment. After the "reorganization of Sophia" in 1870, the council works of the district town were lodged here, but they were removed in the reign of Alexander I to Tsarskoe Selo. Behind the tower there are barracks, belonging to the same regiment.

 

The Park in the Time of Catherine the Great

The Empress Catherine was very fond of walking along the lake, and often used to rest on a small hillock, over which a road leads to the cast-iron Gothic gate. This hillock is called Sugar Hill. During one of the Empress' walks a circumstance took place, which illustrates the unusual kindness of the Empress to those around her.

The Countess Golovina in her memoirs gives us the following narrative:

"One evening Her Majesty went out walking and took us to the lake; sitting down on a bench, she ordered Their Imperial Highnesses to throw bread to the swans, which were :accustomed to this dinner. The whole court took part in this pleasure, while the Empress spoke to me about "toache" (a cat which being extremely attached to her, was the bug bear of everybody). "Imagine", said she, what an act of injustice was done yesterday. (I had been absent from the Court the day before, owing to illness.) "When we were walking along the colonnade, the poor cat jumped on to the Grand Duchess Elizabeth's shoulder and wished to caress her, the Grand Duchess knocked it off with her an, a poor animal was driven away in disgrace. Since then l have not seen it".

"Scarcely had her Majesty uttered these words, when the cat appeared behind us on the back of the seat. Unfortunately I had a hat on, which was very much like the one the Grand Duchess had been wearing the day before, and the cat took me for her. But after smelling my face and noticing my displeasure, it scratched violently my upper lip and seized my cheek with its teeth. In her fright, the Empress began to scream and called me tender names in Russian, while the blood ran from my lips, a fact which increased her terror. I beseeched her not to fear, and seizing my enemy's mouth with one hand, I took it by the tail with the other and handed it to a page, whom the Empress had summoned for help. She expressed infinite pleasure at my of American cat, and my calmness, which she praised far more, than I deserved, and wiping away the blood with her own handkerchief repeated, how pleased she was, to see me without hysterics and affectation. The poor cat was shut up in an iron cage and sent to the Hermitage in town, and I never saw it any more".