Gosudareva Rat Room in the city of Pushkin (former Tsarskoye Selo): description, history

The family of the Emperor of All Russia spent more than two decades living in Tsarskoe Selo (now the city of Pushkin, St. Petersburg), occupying the Alexander Palace. This increased the status of a small town to the informal second capital of the state. Therefore, before the First World War, construction of public and administrative buildings, barracks and temples was widely conducted in Tsarskoe Selo. So there was a complex, united by a common Neo-Russian architectural style. Perhaps the main part of these buildings is the Sovereign Military Chamber. What it is? Our article will tell you about the interesting history of the building. It is interesting that the building was originally built for the museum collection. The Military Chamber, no doubt, can be called a pantheon of military glory, because the exposition was dedicated to military exploits of Russians. And now in the building there is a museum dedicated to the horrors of the First World War.

Grounds for construction

In one thousand nine hundred and eleventh year the widow of the brother of the founder of the famous Tretyakov Gallery, Elena Andreevna Tretyakova, gave Nicholas II an interesting collection. The collection of artifacts was united by the theme of wars that the Russian army had ever waged. Where should you put all these cards, trophies, ancient weapons? And the emperor ordered to build a museum under the collection given to him, which was decided to give the name "Sovereign Rat House". He decided to erect near the northern wall of the Alexander Park, in the neighborhood of the Fedorovsky town. The first stone was laid down on the sixteenth of May one thousand nine hundred and thirteenth year in the presence of Nicholas II. It is noteworthy that the construction of the museum was conducted for the funds of the donor, Elena Andreyevna Tretyakova.

Complex Feodorovsky town and neo-Russian style

The author of the project is the famous architect S.Yu. Sidorchuk. All details were agreed with the emperor and the commission. The architect wanted the Sovereign Wound Chamber to fit into the complex of buildings that, at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, began to be erected in Tsarskoe Selo. All of them were united by one architectural style. It was necessary to show the continuity of Russia with the glorious past of the Slavs and at the same time modernize the appearance of buildings that were supposed to serve administrative and public needs. This is how the Neo-Russian style emerged, which is a bridge between the past and the future. As a model for the House of Ward, the architect took the Pskov-Novgorod buildings of the fourteenth - sixteenth centuries. After all, the territory of Tsarskoe Selo was once part of an independent principality. At the same time, elements of the Novgorod architecture were applied in the nearby Cathedral of Theodore. Thus, the two dominant buildings of the architectural complex miraculously harmonized with each other. Construction was completed only in the summer of the seventeenth year.

Complex of the Military Chamber

The construction of the museum came very seriously. The widow of Tretyakov - the main patron of art - did not spare the means. Gosudareva Ratnaya Chamber was to become one of the key buildings of Tsarskoe Selo. At the heart of the layout of the building is an irregular polygon with an extensive courtyard. The dominant position in the House of Commons is the main two-story building. It is easy to recognize by the relief image of the two-headed eagle on the facade. To this main building adjoins an octagonal three-level tower, crowned by a high dome-tent. Such an attempt to connect a state building with an exclusively decorative element is the highest manifestation of the neo-Russian style. The turret seems to refer the viewer to the glorious times of the medieval past, linking the pragmatic values of the twentieth century with the spiritual aspirations of Holy Russia.

The Pantheon of Russian Glory

Initially, the museum in Tsarskoye Selo (the modern city of Pushkin, St. Petersburg) was conceived as a storehouse for the collection of EA Tretyakova, which she presented as a gift to Nicholas II during the anniversary exhibition of 1911. This collection of various subjects was linked by the same theme - military feats of the Russian army in numerous battles. However, when the construction of the museum building was not yet completed, the First World War broke out. According to the order of Nicholas II, Prince Putyatin, who served as the head of the palace administration in Tsarskoe Selo, requested from the headquarters of the Russian army command any trophies extracted from the fields of modern battles. The exposition of the museum was replenished with portraits of the heroes of the current war, who deserved not less than three St. George crosses. They were written on photographs by artists S. Devyatkin, M. Kirsanov, I. Streblov and V. Poyarkov. In the courtyard were exhibited large-size trophies, for example, the German fighter Albatross, shot down in 1916.

Museum of the First World War

In 1917 the building was completely completed. It not only housed the museum's exposition, but also lectured. For this purpose, a huge two-tiered hall for four hundred seats was specially equipped, equipped with advanced technology for those times. There was even a screen for showing movies. The military chamber in Pushkin was painted with the arms of all provinces of the Russian Empire. But after the October Revolution the museum was abolished. In the building of the Ratroom Chamber was the club of the Petrograd Agronomical Institute (from 1923 to 1932), and then completely a student hostel. After the Second World War, which caused a huge damage to the building, the museum housed warehouses. Only in 1970 it housed a restoration workshop. A real breakthrough that saved the building from total destruction occurred in 2009, when it was decided to transfer it to the State Museum Reserve "Tsarskoe Selo". The renewed exposition took its first visitors in the centenary of the First World War.

How to get to the Rat Room

There are two ways. The most budgetary will be from St. Petersburg to the station "Tsarskoe Selo - Pushkin" by train. Then you need to transfer to a minibus or a bus. You have to go to one of the stops: "Farm Road", "Academic Prospect" or "Park". The most easily and without transfers can be reached from St. Petersburg to the Museum of the First World War by intercity bus. Cars are sent from metro stations "Kupchino", "Zvezdnaya" and "Moskovskaya".

The museum's working hours

The military chamber in Pushkin is located at: Fermskaya road, 5A. In this building there is now an exposition of the museum "Russia during the Great War". The entrance is paid, but the price is symbolic. Unlike most museums, the day off in the Rat House is not on Monday, but on Wednesday. And on the last Thursday of every month in this institution of culture is a sanitary day. The museum is open from 10am to 6pm, but the ticket office closes at 17:00.