Vorontsov Palace (Alupka)

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Vorontsov Palace

The northern façade of the Vorontsov Palace.
General information
Architectural style Tudor, Scottish Baronial, Moorish Revival, Gothic
Location Alupka, Crimea, Ukraine
Coordinates 44°25′12″N 34°03′2″E / 44.42°N 34.05056°E / 44.42; 34.05056Coordinates: 44°25′12″N 34°03′2″E / 44.42°N 34.05056°E / 44.42; 34.05056
Construction started ca. 1828-1830[nb 1]
Completed 1848
Cost 9,000,000 silver rubles[5]
Design and construction
Owner Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov (1782-1856)
Architect Edward Blore, William Hunt[nb 2]

The Vorontsov Palace (Ukrainian: Воронцовський палац; Russian: Воронцовский дворец) or the Alupka Palace[nb 3] is an historic palace situated at the foot of the Crimean Mountains near the town of Alupka in Crimea, located in southern Ukraine. The Vorontsov Palace is one of the oldest and largest residential palaces in all of Crimea,[3] in addition to being one of the most popular tourist attractions on Crimea's southern coast.[7][8]

The palace was constructed for Prince Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov for use as a summer residence. The palace was designed in the Tudor style by English architect Edward Blore and his assistant William Hunt.[1][8] In addition, the building also incorporates elements of Scottish Baronial,[9] Moorish Revival,[4] and Gothic architecture.[3] Blore himself had designed many buildings in the United Kingdom, and was particularly well known at home for completing the design of the Buckingham Palace in London.[10]

An important feature of the Vorontsov Palace is the adjoining park ensemble, which features 40 hectares (0.40 km2) of greenery and forestry arranged by German landscape gardener Karl Kebach.[11][12]

Contents

[edit] History

Prince Mikhail Vorontsov (1782-1856) commissioned the palace for use as his own summer residence.

[edit] Early design changes

The Vorontsov Palace was commissioned to be used as a summer residence for the Governor-General of Novorossiya, Prince Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov (1782-1856).[13] Originally, the palace was supposed to be constructed according to a strict classical architectural design, according to plans carried out by Odessa architect Francesco Boffo and English architect Thomas Harrison. Construction began in 1828, however it was suspended in June 1831 by Vorontsov, who at the time was traveling abroad in England.[5] While in Europe, Vorontsov decided to review the palace's draft summary and incorporate it with new trends from Western European architecture.[5]

The palace's Tudor-style exterior diabase stone walls were found locally in the region.

This had put Vorontsov in a little bit of a predicament; he had to find another architect to carry out the new design, who would incorporate elements of luxurious palaces in the British Raj (modern-day India).[5] Vorontsov then choose noted British architect Edward Blore (1789-1879) to complete his summer residence, who had already worked on many British estates and palaces, as well as a couple buildings in then British Australia.[14] Blore himself did not visit the town of Alupka,[10] however, he was well informed about the area's mountainous landscape and terrain.[14] When the construction restarted in 1830 under the supervision of fellow architect William Hunt, it was discovered that a foundation and basement of the palace's main concourse was already in place, owing to its original design by architects Boffo and Harrison.[14]

[edit] Construction

The palace's construction was carried out by the thousands of personal serfs Prince Vorontsov had sent in from from the Moscow, Vladimir, and Voronezh governorates of the Russian Empire.[14][6] moved to conduct the construction work. Masons with expertise in stone buildings were also brought in to help. The blocks used on the construction of the palace were made from a local greenish-gray tinge diabase,[4] chosen for its unique color to match the surrounding mountainous landscape and forest greenery.[14] All of the other materials were brought in from far away locations.[4] All of the labor carried out on the place was done with the use of primitive hand tools.[14]

One of the palace's first rooms to be built was the main dining room, built from 1830-1834. The main and central wing of the building was constructed from 1831-1837. During 1841-1842, a billiard room was added to the dining room. During 1838-1844, the guest wing, the east wing, towers, the maintenance wing, and the front entrance were added on to the building. The last wing built of the castle was the library wing, which was built from 1842-1844. The remaining four years of construction were spent on the palace's interior decor.[4]

The last decorative items to be placed within the place grounds were the two Medici lions.

The largest of the landscaping jobs carried out on the palace's grounds were done from 1840 to 1848 with the aid of soldiers, who helped to form the complex's terraces located in front of the southern entrance.[14] The park's fauna was brought in from various locations including from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, from North and South America, as well as Eastern Asia.[7] The plant life brought in over a 150 years ago still features close to 200 species of plant life.[7][11] In the summer of 1848, two white marble sculptures of the Medici lions were installed on the central staircase leading up to the palace, carried out by the Italian sculptor Giovanni Bonnani. The construction of the palace ensemble was finished with the addition of the lion sculptures.[14]

[edit] Post-Vorontsov history

For three generations, the Vorontsov Palace belonged to the Vorontsov family. After the October Revolution in 1921, the palace was nationalized, after which it was named a museum, which occupied the main, dining, and library wings of the building.[5] In addition to the Vorontsov family possessions, the palace featured the exhibits of the nationalized estates of the Romanovs, Yusupov, and Stroganovs.[5] In 1927, the palace's Shuvalov wing housed a sanatorium "10 Years of October," while the palace's main concourse featured Alupka's resort polyclinic and spa baths.[5]

When World War II began in 1941, most of the museum's expositions were evacuated from Alupka in order to minimize potential damage and loss. However, some 537 art and graphics exhibits (including temporary exhibition paintings from the State Russian Museum and the Simferopol Art Museum), 360 pieces of the building's decor, sets of unique furniture, and a series of historic books were stolen by occupying Nazi German forces.[7]

The palace grounds and the steep Crimean mountainside during World War II. July 1942.

During the war, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler presented the palace as a reward to Field Marshal Erich von Manstein, which explains why it is so well preserved.[1] After Crimea's liberation, the Vorontsov Palace was used as a summer residence for the Soviet secret police, the NKVD, and then as a trade union sanitarium.[1] After the war, the majority of the looted artwork was never returned, albeit only a small collection was recovered and was brought back to the museum.[5]

While the Yalta Conference was taking place in the neighboring Livadia Palace from February 11-14, 1945 between representatives from the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union, Winston Churchill and the British delegation had taken up temporary residence within the Vorontsov Palace.[10] The palace had reportedly gained praise from Churchill himself for its architectural style and design.[10] In 1956, the Vorontsov Palace was once again reinstated as a museum,[8][15] while two years later, the museum was expanded to also include interior architectural and art exhibits. In 1965, the palace's territory was officially named as the "Alupka Palace-Park Complex,"[7] which includes the Massandra Palace built in the Louis XIII château style for Russian Tsar Alexander III.[16]

The Moorish Revival southern façade features elements of Islamic architecture.

Although the palace has survived years of wear and warfare, one of the palace's wings is in danger of collapsing into the Black Sea below.[10] Cracks have begun to appear in the library, housing the museum's nearly 10,000 books and manuscripts.[10] Edward Blore had a state-of-the-art drainage system built into the palace's foundation, although years of neglect and the construction of a nearby sewage pipe in 1974 have helped to increase the potential for a landslide.[10] Another potential looming disaster is the area surrounding the medieval-style gatehouse near the palace's west side.[10]

[edit] Architecture

The Vorontsov Palace was built according to new architectural-construction principles, however still managing to incorporate Classical style architectural elements. Owing to the its entire architectural design and structure, the Vorontsov Palace harmonized well with the neighboring Crimean Mountains, closely tying in the architectural structure and forestry of the palace grounds.[1][5][11] On the exterior, the palace was designed in the English Tudor style,[1] although over the years it came to encompass elements of Scottish Baronial,[9] Moorish Revival,[4] and Gothic architecture[3] since it took close to 18 years to complete its construction. The earliest examples of the palace's architecture can be seen from the western gates—the later architecture, appears farther on the other side of the palace towards the southern end.

However being mainly in the English style, some eastern elements can be seen in the palace. For instance, the Gothic-style chimney stacks are reminiscent of Islamic minarets. The southern façade is also designed in an eastern architecture style. The southern entrance to the palace is characterized with a flat roof topped off with two minaret-style towers, below which rests an entrance hall leading out towards the exit through a horse-shoe arch. The interior walls of the entrance hall feature the Shahada with an inscription stating "There is no God but Allah" in Arabic.[5] Side balconies adjoin the entrance hall looking over the so-called "lion terrace."

The palace has a total of 150 rooms, the most important of which are the blue room, chintz room, dining room, and the Chinese cabinet.[1] The palace museum covers the first floor's eight rooms, featuring more than 11,000 exhibits, including engravings of the 18th century, paintings of the 16th-19th centuries, including those depicting Crimean scenarios by Armenian seascape painter Ivan Aivazovsky, as well as furniture crafted by Russian wood masters from the 19th century.[11]

The palace's library is based off of Sir Walter Scott's own library, revealing the personal friendship that Blore had with Scott.[17] Inside, the library features about 6,000 literary and musical works of the 18th-19th centuries.[1] The interior's woodwork, including the doors, panelling, and ceilings, is made out of oak. The walls are adorned in cloth, with designs made by Dutch, Flemish, French, and Italian painters. The palace's Gothic fireplaces are made out of polished diabase.

The interior's woodwork is made out of oak.
The blue room features intricate decor completed by serf artisans led by Roman Fortunov.
Detail of the blue room's flowery decor.

[edit] Grounds

A 19th century vintage postcard showing the Vorontsov Palace and nearby greenery.

The palace park forms a single ensemble with the palace, consisting of a total of 40 hectares (0.40 km2)[11] designed by German landscape gardener Karl Kebach.[12] Created in the first half of the 19th century in the from of an amphitheatre, the park features wide open spaces and gardens planted alongside the walkways covered with 29 bags of colored stones brought in from the Crimean city of Koktebel.[1]

The park incorporates the landscape's native vegetation, mountain springs, and nearby rocky masses.[11] It features more than 200 exotic tree and shrub species, including a wide variety of pam trees, laurels, cypresses, olive trees, and evergreen viburnum, among many others.[11]

Crimea's coastal highway runs through the park, dividing it into the upper and lower portions.[11] The upper park is dominated by the mountain springs, as well as by the native southern coast forestry and clusters of foreign tree growth. A feature of the upper park is the Fountain of Trilby, placed in 1829.[11] The lower park is modeled after Italian Renaissance gardens, featuring three pairs of Medici lions, carved out of carrara marble.[11]

[edit] In popular culture

Owing to its status as an important local tourist attraction and architectural monument, the Vorontov Palace and park territory were commonly featured in Ukrainian and Soviet cinema productions such as An Ordinary Miracle (1964), Nebesnye lastochki (1976), Crazy Day or The Marriage of Figaro (2004), and Sappho (2008).[1][18]

Russian poet Ivan Bunin visited the palace and wrote a short poem in 1900 entitled "Long alley leading down to the shore..." (Russian: К прибрежью моря длинная аллея...).[19]

[edit] See also

  • Vorontsov Palace, list of similarly named palaces built for the Vorontsov family

[edit] References

Notes
  1. ^ Some sources specify 1828 as the construction date,[1][2] while others date the building's construction to 1830.[3][4] Indeed, construction began in 1828 according to an original design plan; however, it was restarted in 1830 according to a new plan conducted by architect Edward Blore.
  2. ^ The palace was originally supposed to be built according to a plan by architects Francesco Boffo and Thomas Harrison; however, only the foundation and lower levels were finished before architect Edward Blore took over as lead architect.
  3. ^ The Alupka Palace (Ukrainian: Алупкінський палац; Russian: Алупкинский дворец) name was contrived during Soviet times[6] to remove mention to the Vorontsov noble family.
Footnotes
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Vorontsovsky palace" (in Russian). Qrim.ru. 31 October, 2008. http://www.qrim.ru/about/sights/VorontsovPalace. Retrieved 29 July 2011. 
  2. ^ "Official website" (in Russian). Alupka palace-park museum preserve. http://worontsovpalace.com.ua/. Retrieved 2011-07-29. 
  3. ^ a b c d Ivchenko 2010, p. 290.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Zharikov 1983-1986, p. 298.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Vorontsovsky palace" (in Ukrainian). Zabytki. http://zabytki.in.ua/uk/29/vorontsovskiy-palats. Retrieved 30 July 2011. 
  6. ^ a b Chernov 1986, p. 184.
  7. ^ a b c d e Zharikov 1983-1986, p. 299.
  8. ^ a b c Malikenaite 2003, p. 60.
  9. ^ a b Gilbert 1992, p. 817.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h Warren, Marcus (28 October 2000). "Crimea's castles in the air face collapse". The Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/1372204/Crimeas-castles-in-the-air-face-collapse.html. Retrieved 30 July 2011. 
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Vorontsovsky palace and Alupka park" (in Russian). Sunny Crimea. http://www.sunnycrimea.com/sights/alupka.shtml. Retrieved 2011-07-29. 
  12. ^ a b Shirokov, O. "Alupka Park". The Crimean sights. Taurical National University. http://www.crimea.edu/eng/crimea/sights/landscap/parks/aluppark/full.html. Retrieved 3 August 2011. 
  13. ^ "Vorontsovsky palace" (in Russian). Alupka government palace-park museum preserve. http://vpalace.narod.ru/. Retrieved 2011-07-29. 
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h "Alupkinsky palace" (in Russian). Vorontsov Mikhail Semyonovich. voroncov.net. http://www.voroncov.net/article/dvorec1.html. Retrieved 30 July 2011. 
  15. ^ Ivchenko 2010, p. 292.
  16. ^ "Crimean republican establishment "Alupka Palace-Park Museum-Reserve"" (in Russian). Ministry of Culture of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. http://www.mincult.crimea-portal.gov.ua/rus/index.php?v=5&tek=67&par=41&l=&art=93. Retrieved 23 February 2012. 
  17. ^ Port, M. H., "Blore, Edward", on the website of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (subscription or UK public library membership required), http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/2679 
  18. ^ "Vorontsovsky palace" (in Russian). Crimean Architectural Portal. http://www.archiportal.crimea.ua/yalta/vorontsovskiy-dvorets.html. Retrieved 29 July 2011. 
  19. ^ Bunin, Ivan. "Long alley leading down to the shore" (in Russian). Ivan Alekseevich Bunin. bunin.niv.ru. http://bunin.niv.ru/bunin/stihi/231.htm. Retrieved 3 August 2011. 
Bibliography

[edit] External links

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