Where is the Oldenburg Palace? Photos and history

One of the main attractions that the Voronezh region is proud of is the Oldenburg Palace. He has an interesting history, inextricably linked with the fate of some representatives of this dynasty. At the same time, many Voronezh people have never seen the palace of Prince Oldenburg in Gagra, which is no less picturesque. In the Soviet period, it housed a well-known sanatorium "Scala". Both buildings were subjected to merciless looting in the 1990s, and only relatively recently they were reconstructed.

Oldenburg house in Russia

This dynasty is of German origin, and its representatives reigned in several countries of Europe. Few know that the assertion that Russia was ruled by the Romanovs is not entirely true. In fact, since the accession to the throne of Peter III and until 1917, the country was in possession of the Holstein-Gottorp line of the Oldenburg house. In addition, many representatives of this dynasty occupied important posts in Russia. For example, for many years Novgorod, Tver and Yaroslavl governor-general was Georgy Oldenburgsky, married to the sister of Emperor Alexander the First. He distinguished himself during the Patriotic War of 1812 and in administrative work. His son Petr Georgievich Oldenburgsky was a close friend of Emperor Alexander II, occupied important posts and was a well-known benefactor.

Alexander Petrovich Oldenburgsky, a member of the State Council, the organizer of the centralized fight against epidemics and the initiator of the founding of the Institute of Experimental Medicine and his younger brother Constantine, continued the traditions of their family. Being the youngest offspring of his family, he left the capital and permanently resided in the Caucasus, developing resort business and viticulture.

Princess Evgenia Maximilianovna Oldenburg

This woman is known as one of the few representatives of the fair sex, who were awarded the medal "For spotless service to the Fatherland in the field of charity and education."

Evgenia Maximilianovna Romanovskaya was the granddaughter of Nicholas I and the great-granddaughter of Napoleon's wife Josephine (from her son from her first marriage to Eugene Beauharnais). At the age of 23, she married Prince Alexander Petrovich of Oldenburg and bore him a son.

Evgenia Maximilianovna was the trustee of many scientific and charitable societies. Among her actions for the benefit of the camp, it should be noted the creation of a wide network of children's art schools for boys from the class of artisans and the publication of postcards with reproductions of paintings from famous metropolitan museums. In addition, she, as they said today, was engaged in business. Her talents in this area, she began to show after in 1879, Alexander II gave her the estate of Ramon.

Palace of the Princess of Oldenburg in Ramoni

Having moved to the Voronezh province, Evgenia Maximilianovna decided to transform her estate, make it an exemplary one and build a comfortable home for her family.

The palace project (modern address: Ramon City, Shkolnaya Street, 21) was commissioned by architect Christofor Naisler, and in 1883 works began on its construction. It lasted 4 years, after which a solemn housewarming took place, attended by many important Moscow guests.

Description

The palace of Princess Oldenburg of red brick was erected at the very edge of the cliff. It was built in the fashionable at the time, but in the unprecedented Voronezh gubernia style neo-Gothic with pointed towers and windows, highlighted in white. The walls of the palace are massive enough and have a meter thick.

Entrance gates are decorated with a tower, on which were mounted a large clock, ordered in the famous British company "Winter". The structure itself has excellent acoustics, which in its time strengthened the bells ringing.

Decor

To create exquisite exterior design of the building, blacksmiths were attracted, who decorated the balconies with a forged fence, and also created a cast iron gate.

In addition, in the glass roof of the eastern veranda we wove a thin tin wire in the form of a web, which was supposed to prevent the splitting of the glass due to the impacts of random objects.

Before the castle was a small fountain. Even more interesting was the landscape design of the backyard. On it, stone staircases led to an artificial picturesque grotto and to a copper statue of a fairy fish erupting a stream of water.

Interior

The Palace of Oldenburg in Ramoni at the time struck with its interior and comfort. In particular, he had the most perfect heating system at that time: special voids were created in the walls, through which heat from a single furnace, located in the basement, was transmitted throughout the castle.

On the second floor there was an oak staircase in 2 turns. The height and depth of her steps were calculated in such a way that it would be convenient for her to climb ladies in long dresses.

As well as outside, the Oldenburg Palace in Ramoni was decorated with forged lanterns, stands and chandeliers from the inside. The ceilings, walls and columns were decorated with a dark moraine oak. The princess herself took an active part in the decoration of the library, on the ceiling of which hexahedrons were laid out drawings based on ancient Greek myths and heraldic symbols of the Oldenburg clan.

Estate

Talking about the palace of the princess of Oldenburg, we can not say a few words about what transformations were made by this amazing woman in his vicinity. In particular, and to this day, locals use the railway line Grafskaya-Ramon. Princess was founded confectionary factory, which used steam engines, a water pipe. There was electricity in public institutions and enterprises, etc. With the participation of Oldenburg from Europe they were brought to Russia and launched into a fenced forest plot with the purpose of breeding 11 deer. Subsequently, they became the ancestors of the herd of these animals living in the Voronezh State Biosphere Reserve.

The Palace of Princess Oldenburg: History

It has long been noted that architectural structures have their own destiny. And the Oldenburg Palace in Ramony saw a lot in its time. After a short period of prosperity in 1917, it left former owners who had emigrated to Canada. They entrusted their estate to the manager Koch, who did everything to fill his pockets, and fled. Since the 1920s, the Oldenburgsky Palace has been used as a barracks, schools, hospitals, factory administrations, etc.

According to legend, the building was not damaged during the war, as the German command did not want to destroy the estate owned by the scions of the famous German aristocratic dynasty.

In the 1970s, the projects of its restoration were first considered. However, no effective steps were taken in this direction.

The current state of the palace

In March 2014, the Voronezh Region government approved the concept of restoring the Palace complex, which provides for the restoration of the landscape and the placement of museum exhibits inside the building. In this case, one of the buildings of the estate "House with risalitami" is supposed to be provided to investors for the implementation of their projects.

Some work has already been done. In particular, tourists who recently visited the palace of the princess of Oldenburg (the correct name without mentioning the owner's title), in their responses, usually note that the estate has put in order a landscape park and the building itself looks very good. However, many are dissatisfied with his internal state, to which the hands of restorers have not reached.

A.P. Oldenburg

Spouse Yevgenia Maximilianovna (Alexander Petrovich) was in everything to match his wife. The list of his acts for the benefit of the Fatherland will take more than one page. In 1890, he decided to start creating a resort zone, as it used to be called a climate station in Gagra. According to his idea, Abkhazia was to become the Russian Monte Carlo. Alexander Petrovich founded a telegraph there, conducted electric lighting and water supply and created a subtropical technical school. January 9, 1903 in the restaurant "Gagripsh" was the official opening of the resort.

Palace in Gagar: construction

To be able to devote himself entirely to the realization of his project, Prince Alexander Petrovich decided to build a house for himself and his family in Abkhazia. The palace of Prince Oldenburg in Gagra (photo of which is presented in the article) began to be built on the wild rock of the Zhoekvara gorge, from where a gorgeous view to the Gagra bay, to the hotels, the park, the pier, the highway from Adler and the bazaar. Creation of a project for the main building and outbuildings was entrusted to Grigory Ippolitovich Lyutsedar. It is believed that the builders tried several times to lay the foundation for the palace, but each time he gave a crack. Finally, the prince was recommended to contact the Iranian contractor, who had been living in Gagra for many years, named Yahya Abbas-ogly. He agreed to get down to business with his team and successfully coped with all the tasks assigned to him.

Palace in Gagra: description

Initially, two buildings were built on the rock. First they built an asymmetrical western part of the palace with a large round window, a tall chimney and a panoramic terrace, as well as a decorative element that depicts the curl of the vine. In parallel, a four-story part of the palace was erected. It resembled a small hotel with a first floor, like a gallery, with stone pipes and with many living rooms with small similar balconies.

Above the palace, there was an upper wing with an observation tower, which was used to house servants.

History of the palace

The Prince was very fond of his Abkhazian dwelling. As in Ramony, the Oldenburg Palace in Gagra was equipped with all the systems of comfortable life support that existed at that time. He was repeatedly visited by Nikolai the Second with his family, the Grand Dukes of the Romanov family and relatives representing the German branch of the Oldenburg family.

Alexander Petrovich himself spent a lot of time in the palace. Sometimes his son and his wife Olga, the younger sister of Nicholas II, came to visit him. However, the young couple Oldenburg did not particularly like the palace in Gagra. Therefore, most often, Alexander Petrovich had to be content with the company of Eugenia Maximilianovna, who by that time was paralyzed and could not move independently. By the way, it was in his palace that Prince Oldenburg learned about the beginning of the First World War in 1914. He immediately went to St. Petersburg and never again returned to his beloved home.

Collection of works of art

Prince Alexander Petrovich collected in his palace a fairly large collection of paintings. In this collection of paintings there were paintings by Aivazovsky, Bryullov, Shchedrin, Levitan, many copies of the works of the old masters of the Italian school. Her adornment was paintings "Annunciation" Martini and "Return of Joachim to the Shepherds" Giotto. In addition, for the rooms of the palace guests Oldenburg acquired landscapes of Gagra and its environs. Unfortunately, during the turbulent revolutionary times and during the Civil War, the collection disappeared, and its future fate is still unknown to this day.

Petersburg residence

The Oldenburg Palace is another architectural structure known as the House of Betsky, since it was built in 1784, presumably by Vasily Bazhenov for the wealthy Catherine's grandee. It is located on the Palace Embankment and the Swan's Leaf. The house in the plan forms the correct 4-gon with a spacious courtyard. It consists of several multi-storey buildings, decorated with turrets. In the old days there was a hanging garden. It was located on different levels and pictured between the towers.

In 1830, the House of Betsky was bought back into the treasury and presented to Prince PG Oldenburg, the father of Alexander Petrovich. He ordered to build the third floor above the southern corps, overlooking the Field of Mars. It housed the Ballroom, as the Oldenburgers loved to give balls. Hanging gardens to new owners did not like, so they were removed. In the unchanged form was only the facade that emerged on the Neva. At the same time, part of the premises was re-planned and finished according to the project of V.P. Stasova in the style of classicism. In addition, the same architect built a Protestant chapel inside the building in the name of Christ the Savior, because, despite the love of his new homeland, Oldenburg did not change the faith of the ancestors of Orthodoxy.

After the death of his father in 1881, the mansion became the property of Prince Alexander. After he married Eugene Maximilianovna, who adopted Orthodoxy, a small Orthodox church appeared in the palace in the name of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Further history

In 1917 the palace of Prince Oldenburg in St. Petersburg (Palace Embankment, house 2/4) was sold to the owners of the Provisional Government, and then transferred to the Ministry of Education. The rich collection of paintings in the building passed to the State Hermitage.

In the years that followed, the palace first housed various institutions, and then it was divided into communal apartments. Only in 1962 the House of Betsky was transferred to the Leningrad Library Institute. At the moment the building houses the St. Petersburg State University of Culture and Arts.

Now you know what is remarkable and where the Oldenburg Palace (Voronezh) is located, as well as the residences that once belonged to this family, which are located in Gagra and in St. Petersburg.