The Turkish Bath.

 

On the island, which lies in the center of the lake, there was, in the park's earliest days, a hall with galleries. About the year 1750 a stone hall was built there, and in the course of a few years it was beautifully decorated, probably in the same style, as the Great Hall of the Catherine Palace.

Unfortunately, not only nothing of this magnificence is left, but there is not a single drawing, from which one could tell, what this Hall on the Island was like before 1794, when it was remodeled in classical style by Quarenghi. The Architects Stasov and Peter Nilov again restored it in 1817-19, painting the walls with yellow ochre, and laying a new inlaid French floor, while the painter Theodore Barondukov painted the ceilings, covering Quarenghi's original painting.

The exterior of the Hall on the Island has no architectural adornments, and is simply a one-storied stone building, 12 sadjen long by 8 wide, with two doors and 8 windows, in the most simple style of the epoch of Alexander I.

At a short distance from the island the Rostral Column, which was erected at the command of the Empress Catherine in memory of the battle of Chesma, rises out of the lake.

In 1771 an Imperial order was sent to the Isaakievskaya Building Office to prepare a column of marble and send it in parts to Tsarskoe Selo. The work was completed in 1778. The column stands on a foundation consisting of a four-faced pyramid of stone, ornamented with rostral ship's prows of gray polished granite, then comes a basis of white marble and a pedestal of blue marble. The column is 6 1/2 sadjen (45 1/2 feet) high, and is adorned with marble ships prows with a bronze eagle on the top. Two anchors rest on the pedestal; on the south side of the base is a plate with the following inscription:

"In commemoration of naval victories, gained in the Archipelago, between Asia and the island of Chios, on the 24th of June 1770 under the leadership of General Count Alexis Orlov, and of Admiral Gregory Spiridov, by ten Russian warships and seven frigates, which defeated and put to flight Turkish Captain Pasha Djefir Bey with sixteen ships of the line. Of frigates, galleys, brigantines, and small vessels there were more than a hundred".

"On the 26th of the same month all this fleet was burnt in the port of Chesma by Rear Admiral Greig, with a detachment of the conquering fleet on the 2-4th November 1770, in the presence of the leader of the Russian force, General Count Orlov. After a landing had been made on the island of Mitilene, the enemy put to flight, and the district with the dockyards taken, the remains of the Turkish Fleet, consisting of two ships of line, seventy gun ships, and a magazine of various stores and instruments, were burnt".

To the basis are attached three bronze bas reliefs, representing the battle at Chios, the battle of Chesma, and the battle near the island of Mitilene.

Pushkin mentions the monument in his poetry:

"On a hard mossy rock the monument rises. Above it, with outstretched wings, a young eagle sits. Heavy chains and thunderbolts thrice encircle the terrible column, while round its foot roar the gray waves, cast back with sparkling foam."

The road along the bank turns from Sugar Hill, and passes a small headland, on which in 1848 the Emperor Nicholas Pavlovich ordered to build a Turkish Bath in remembrance of the victorious Turkish campaign of 1828-29.

The circumstances under which this bath was constructed are curious. In February 1848 by Imperial order the Minister of the Court sent to the architect Monighetti Rossi's plans for a Turkish Bath, which had not satisfied the Emperor. Monighetti had to make fresh plans, where marble ornamentation brought by the Emperor from Adrianople could be employed. Monighetti's designs were approved by the Tsar in April 1850, and an order was given to begin the construction immediately; but in spite of the fact that Monighetti's calculations were equivalent to 37,838 rubles, 12 3/4 kopecks, the Emperor gave only 30,000 rubles for the building, and ordered the architect to "make due" which he did, by handing over the work to the architect Camuzzi for the sum, allowed by the Emperor. The work was finished in 1852.

The interior of the Turkish Bath is magnificently decorated in the Moorish style. At the entrance a small vestibule leads to, the dressing room, the walls of which are covered with various colored marble mosaic, while their upper parts are decorated with carvings and painted ornamentations; a fountain plays in a niche between the dressing room and the bath room. The niche, is cut out of marble and is gilt like the majority of the decorations. The bath room is lighted from above, and is decorated in the same style as the dressing room. Two marble basins are made in the walls, and they are supplied with hot and cold water. From here an arch leads into a round hall, which is crowned by a cupola, the windows of the hall let in a feeble light. In the center of the hall is a white marble basin with a gilt fountain while near the walls there are two basins supplied with water. Above them the walls are of carved marble with ancient inscriptions. On one side of the hall there is an alcove with columns on either side, in which plays a fountain, with a rich ornamented marble back. Another arch leads into a small dimly lighted hexagonal room, where stand two marble basins; all the floors are of marble, the walls are partly of natural marble and partly of imitation marble.