Russian Palaces


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The small drawing room in the Tsarina's apartment shows the influence of the Neo-Rococo Style. The main features are the combination of light colors (white, gold, and blue) and the original layout of the room around a central pillar.
The central pillar divides the transit area from what is called the Welcoming Corner.
​
The Yusupov Palace is a palace of Grandeur.
The ceilings are elegantly fancy.
The furnishings are of the utmost quality.
​
The St. George Room was named in honor of the Knights of St. George.
​
 
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Here are a few of the photos I took at the Winter Palace - sometimes referred to as the Imperial Hermitage, (the Hermitage being made up of four buildings).

The brown doors are made from tortoise shell.

An unbelievably beautiful place - much more beautiful internally than Versailles, though Versailles has the advantage of it's gardens and fountains.

The Winter Palace though, has the advantage of being just around the corner from Nevsky Prospekt, the big - long and wide - shopping street of Saint Petersburg.

But then the whole city of Saint Petersburg is one palace after another, and now a lot of them are in very good condition, or being worked, on thanks to the influx of International tourists. The Russians know what a jewel they have in this city. I fell in love with it.

And the river just on the other side of the Palace freezes for four months a year - yet is a major cargo corridor, so the ice-breakers have to go through each night.

And don't get caught on the wrong side, as the bridges close each night to let the shipping through all year round, and you won't be able to get home until the next day.
 

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:previous: Where are the pictures, Sun Lion? Eagerly await. ;)

I love your short travelogue snippets. :flowers:
 
Lady Nimue said:
:previous: Where are the pictures, Sun Lion? Eagerly await. ;)

I love your short travelogue snippets. :flowers:
Click to expand...



Hi Lady Nimue - hope you can see them now.

So hard to choose which photos to post, no single photo can convey the actual splendour of these places.

I took almost 17,000 snaps in total on my trip, and a lot of course have nothing "Royal" about them, but I did see many palaces and castles, so have an enormous supply to post if I can.

This is one place, the other being the Queen Mother's Castle of Mey, that was a real joy to see - thrilling even, it was so big, so beautiful, and it "Russianess" so exotic.

Hopefully I'll eventually get around to some of the others - saw the church where CP Mary was married, (I "follow" her), and where the twins were Christened, plus Amalienborg.

Even Skagen where M and her family sometimes holiday.

A lot of English, Scottish, Irish and Welsh castles.

Sweden's Royal Palace, a wonderful house in countryside Finland that the Russian Imperial Family used to holiday at, and which they could have escaped to, but they didn't think they were in danger at that time.

So many places I got to see, and wonderful guides everywhere with their stories and in some cases personal anecdotes.

It's lovely you're enjoying my snippets - I so didn't want to leave Europe - so many things that are so different to here in Oz.
 
Sun Lion said:
Hi Lady Nimue - hope you can see them now.
Click to expand...

Yes, I can, thank you. :flowers: Lovely.

Sun Lion said:
So hard to choose which photos to post, no single photo can convey the actual splendour of these places.
Click to expand...

The little bit, and the personal nature of the pictures, more important.

Sun Lion said:
This is one place, the other being the Queen Mother's Castle of Mey, that was a real joy to see - thrilling even, it was so big, so beautiful, and it "Russianess" so exotic.
Click to expand...

"Russinaness" of the Castle of Mey? Explain, please. :)

Sun Lion said:
Sweden's Royal Palace, a wonderful house in countryside Finland that the Russian Imperial Family used to holiday at, and which they could have escaped to, but they didn't think they were in danger at that time.
Click to expand...

So sad. :sad: A different world had they survived, methinks.

Sun Lion said:
So many places I got to see, and wonderful guides everywhere with their stories and in some cases personal anecdotes.
Click to expand...

Would love too hear those stories! ;) Hint! Hint!

Sun Lion said:
It's lovely you're enjoying my snippets - I so didn't want to leave Europe - so many things that are so different to here in Oz.
Click to expand...

I am. I wish you would go on in further depth, and at longer length. :flowers: View that as an invitation, a prod. ;)
 
Lady Nimue said:
So sad. :sad: A different world had they survived, methinks.
Click to expand...


I really doubt that. The revolution was already underway and the Bolsheviks would still have taken over when they did setting up the Communist regime.

The Civil War would still have happened - minus 5 major victims - and that is all that would have been different.

Add to the fact that they would have been targets for the Communists as threats to the regime - and the regime were good at killing their opponents outside the USSR as well as within it.

They would have been something like the Greeks - regarded as 'royal' by other royals but to the rest of the world an oddity.
 
Will do Lady Nimue.

I know what you mean about "little bit" and "personal".

At Versailles I took a lot of photos of urns in the garden and birds sitting on ledges!

Some big shots too of course, but a lot of others on a more "manageable" and relatable scale.

You know you can't get in everything you're seeing and experiencing, so it's sometimes best to take a token photo of something unique or that you can touch - as a memory of being there.
 
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Sun Lion said:
Here are a few of the photos I took at the Winter Palace - sometimes referred to as the Imperial Hermitage, (the Hermitage being made up of four buildings).

The brown doors are made from tortoise shell.

An unbelievably beautiful place - much more beautiful internally than Versailles, though Versailles has the advantage of it's gardens and fountains.

The Winter Palace though, has the advantage of being just around the corner from Nevsky Prospekt, the big - long and wide - shopping street of Saint Petersburg.

But then the whole city of Saint Petersburg is one palace after another, and now a lot of them are in very good condition, or being worked, on thanks to the influx of International tourists. The Russians know what a jewel they have in this city. I fell in love with it.

And the river just on the other side of the Palace freezes for four months a year - yet is a major cargo corridor, so the ice-breakers have to go through each night.

And don't get caught on the wrong side, as the bridges close each night to let the shipping through all year round, and you won't be able to get home until the next day.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the photos !:flowers::flowers:
The Winter Palace is as majestic as I remember it. Based on your photos, I think that major restoration work on the Palace has been done.
 
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Sun Lion said:
Will do Lady Nimue.

I know what you mean about "little bit" and "personal".

At Versailles I took a lot of photos of urns in the garden and birds sitting on ledges!

Some big shots too of course, but a lot of others on a more "manageable" and relatable scale.

You know you can't get in everything you're seeing and experiencing, so it's sometimes best to take a token photo of something unique or that you can touch - as a memory of being there.
Click to expand...

I await your stories with anticipation! :flowers:

You didn't answer my query regarding your observation of the Castle of Mey. :)

"Russinaness" of the Castle of Mey? Explain, please. :flowers:

Iluvbertie said:
I really doubt that. The revolution was already underway and the Bolsheviks would still have taken over when they did setting up the Communist regime.

The Civil War would still have happened - minus 5 major victims - and that is all that would have been different.

Add to the fact that they would have been targets for the Communists as threats to the regime - and the regime were good at killing their opponents outside the USSR as well as within it.

They would have been something like the Greeks - regarded as 'royal' by other royals but to the rest of the world an oddity.
Click to expand...

All true. :flowers:

I think what I meant was that in human terms the Czar and Czarina would have made a great deal of difference to the Russian emigree community. It would have been a different world. An interesting 'maybe' to think through. An alternate history line.

You are also correct that something untoward may have been devised by the Soviets for the Czar, anyway. Alexis would have likely died young, too. No male issue. Line would have died out, but those girls may have married well.
 
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Lady Nimue said:
I await your stories with anticipation! :flowers:

You didn't answer my query regarding your observation of the Castle of Mey. :)

"Russinaness" of the Castle of Mey? Explain, please.
Click to expand...




Hi Lady Nimue - I meant the Winter Palace's Russianess - and that of all the castles and palaces I visited, this, the Winter Palace and the Queen Mother's Castle of Mey were the two that I valued the most.

Perhaps because of their remoteness and that they were not on my radar as much as for example, Hampton Court Palace and Windsor Castle - which were wonderful to see - but they really impressed me, and are at opposite ends of the scale.

The Winter Palace so big and opulent, the Castle of Mey, although a castle, so much a home, and a welcoming and comfortable one at that.

The Castle of Mey has it's Orkney weaved chair and peat fires - a very distinctive smell.

Sorry for the confusion - and I see now I had a typo too. :flowers:
 
Thanks for the link!:flowers:
The Romanovs definitely knew how to choose architects to build/reconstruct magnificent residences.
 
They had no budgets. The people lived in hovels and they lived in splendor.
 
It should be noted that most of the palaces in St Petersburg that exist today aren't the originals but are reproductions or rebuilds from ruins undertaken by the Soviets after the Nazis basically looted and destroyed them during WWII.

The Soviets used similar tactics to the Romanovs to rebuild with no concern for workers safety or rights.

They are magnificent buildings but, like all the palaces over Europe, built on the backs of the workers who had no safety standards and many died building all of them - not just the Russians.
 
The Power of Architecture

:previous: From the link:

"The cottage was not designed to impress foreign ambassadors with its architecture and sumptuous interiors, or to entertain members of the court and inspire awe in the subjects."

Exactly! There is much talk like: The Romanovs lived in Palaces, but the Serfs in sheds... But there is a reason for that, a political-economical reason: Russia always had to attract foreign capital and therefore it had to prove it's credit worthyness.

Today's architecture out of the same reason is the "Moscow Business Centre":

220px-Moscow_Business_Center_5073-84.jpg
 
:previous:
That I did not know so Thank you for the info. I think this is one of the prettiest palaces in history, it is just gorgeous. To think that it has survived all these decades and remains intact is amazing. I would love to visit and take pictures of the inside as that is an area of interest to me, and the grounds with the white wrought iron planters and fences are so outstanding. What a beautiful place and hope the gov keeps it that way for history sake.
 
Do some use some of these palaces for private gala dinners?
 
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