The Grand Palace in Pavlovsk

About museum

The golden‑white palace, built on the high bank of the Slavyanka River, is visible even from distant points of the park and the town. Its three‑storey central block, crowned by a flat dome supported by sixty‑four columns, is the earliest constructed and the most exquisitely finished. It was created by Charles Cameron in the 1780s.

Colonnades of curved galleries connected the central block with the one‑storey service wings, forming a ceremonial courtyard in the shape of a wide horseshoe.

After Paul I ascended the throne, Pavlovsk became an imperial country residence. Paul I’s court architect Vincenzo Brenna significantly enlarged the palace in the 1790s. He raised second storeys above the service wings and added two new semicircular pavilions to them, almost closing the ceremonial courtyard. The gallery‑colonnades were also raised by one storey. Despite these alterations, the central block retained the main position in the palace composition, continuing to stand out both in scale and in the elegance of its decoration.

Cameron’s principal decorative element is the white column: columns adorn the facades of the central block, form open galleries, and support the palace dome. Complementing this main element are a delicate moulded frieze with acanthus leaves encircling the building and three round bas‑relief medallions with allegorical depictions of Architecture, Sculpture and Painting on the main facade.

Brenna decorated the facades of the newly built wings with stucco: monograms and crowns of the palace owners, images of military armour and trophies. Only on the end walls of the semicircular pavilions did he place four‑column portals, as if opening the entrance onto the parade ground. This compositional device allowed the new and old buildings to be joined into a single ensemble.

At the beginning of the 19th century Andrey Voronikhin and Giacomo Quarenghi completed the finishing of the palace facades on the side of the Private Garden. Thus appeared a marble porch with balustrades, a balcony, and the glazed semicircular “Lantern.” In 1806–1807 P. Gonzaga painted frescoes on the gallery wall facing the Slavyanka. They depict light‑filled arcades and staircases of majestic buildings receding into the distance. In the history of Russian art this gallery became known as the Gonzaga Gallery. In 1822 Carlo Rossi installed a library with arched windows above the Gonzaga Gallery, with busts of philosophers between them. The creation of the library completed the formation of the palace ensemble.