One of the main attractions that the Voronezh region is proud of is the Oldenburg Palace. It has an interesting story, inextricably linked with the fate of some representatives of this dynasty. Moreover, many Voronezh residents have never seen the palace of the Prince of Oldenburg in Gagra, which is no less picturesque. In the Soviet period, it housed the famous sanatorium "Skala". Both structures in the 90s were mercilessly plundered, and only relatively recently they began to be reconstructed.
Oldenburg house in Russia
This dynasty is of German origin, and its representatives reigned in several countries of Europe. Few people know that the assertion that the Romanovs ruled Russia is not entirely true. In fact, from the time of accession to the throne of Peter the Third and until 1917, the country was in the 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 the Novgorod, Tver, and Yaroslavl governor-generals were George 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 Pyotr Georgievich Oldenburgsky was a close friend of Emperor Alexander II, held important posts and was a well-known philanthropist.
The traditions of his family were continued by Alexander Petrovich Oldenburgsky - a member of the State Council, the organizer of a centralized fight against epidemics and the initiator of the founding of the Institute of Experimental Medicine and his younger brother Konstantin. As the youngest offspring of his family, he left the capital and constantly lived in the Caucasus, developing spa business and viticulture.
Princess Eugenia Maximilianovna Oldenburg
This woman is known as one of the few representatives of the fair sex who was awarded the medal "For Immaculate Service to the Fatherland in the Field of Charity and Education."
Evgenia Maksimilianovna Romanovskaya was the granddaughter of Nicholas I and the great-granddaughter of the wife of Napoleon Josephine (from her son from her first marriage, Eugene Beauharnais). At the age of 23, she married Prince Alexander Petrovich of Oldenburg and gave birth to a son.
Evgenia Maksimilianovna was the trustee of many scientific and charitable societies. Among her actions for the benefit of the countries, 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 would say today, was engaged in business. She began to show her talents in this area after Alexander II donated the Ramon estate to her in 1879.
Palace of the Princess of Oldenburg in Ramoni
Having moved to the Voronezh province, Evgenia Maksimilianovna decided to transform her estate, make it exemplary and build a comfortable home for her family.
The palace project (modern address: Ramon, 21 Shkolnaya St.) was commissioned by the architect Christopher Neisler, and in 1883 work began on its construction. It lasted 4 years, after which a solemn housewarming took place, at which many important metropolitan guests attended.
Description
The red brick princess palace of Oldenburg was erected on the very edge of the cliff. It was built in a fashionable style at that time, but in an unprecedented neo-Gothic style in Voronezh province with lancet towers and windows highlighted in white. The walls of the palace are quite massive and have a meter thickness.
The entrance gates are decorated with a tower, on which were mounted a large clock, ordered by the famous British company Winter. The building itself has excellent acoustics, which at one time amplified the ringing of bells.
Decor
To create an exquisite exterior design of the building, blacksmiths were involved, who decorated the balconies with a wrought iron fence, and also created twisted cast-iron gates.
In addition, the finest tin wire in the form of a web was woven into the glass of the roof of the eastern veranda, which was supposed to prevent the glass from breaking due to impacts of random objects.
There was a small fountain in front of the castle. 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 fabulous fish, spewing jets of water.
Interior
The Oldenburg Palace in Ramoni once impressed with its interior decoration and comfort. In particular, he had a perfect heating system at that time: special voids were created in the walls through which heat from the only furnace located in the basement was transmitted throughout the castle.
An oak staircase in 2 turns led to the second floor. The height and depth of her steps were calculated in such a way that it was convenient for ladies in long dresses to climb it.
As well as the outside, the Oldenburg Palace in Ramoni was decorated from the inside with wrought-iron lanterns, coasters and chandeliers. The ceilings, walls and columns were finished with dark stained oak. The princess herself took an active part in the decoration of the library, on the ceiling of which figures from motifs of ancient Greek myths and heraldic symbols of the genus of Oldenburg were laid out from hexagons.
Estate
Speaking about the palace of the Princess of Oldenburg, one can not help but say a few words about what transformations were made by this amazing woman in his vicinity. In particular, to this day, local residents use the Grafskaya-Ramon railway line. The princess founded a confectionery factory, which used steam engines, water pipelines. There was electricity in public institutions and enterprises, etc. With the participation of Oldenburg from Europe, they were imported into Russia and launched into a fenced forest area with the aim of breeding 11 deer. Subsequently, they became the founders of a herd of these animals living in the Voronezh State Biosphere Reserve.
Princess Oldenburg Palace: History
It has long been noted that architectural structures have their own destiny. So the Oldenburg Palace in Ramoni has seen a lot in its lifetime. After a brief heyday in 1917, the former owners who emigrated to Canada left it. They entrusted their estate to the manager Koch, who did everything to fill his pockets, and fled. Since the 1920s, the Oldenburg Palace has been used as a barracks, school, hospital, factory management, etc.
According to legend, the building was not damaged during the war, as the German command did not want to destroy the estate belonging to the offspring of the famous German aristocratic dynasty.
In the 1970s, projects for its restoration began to be considered for the first time. However, no effective steps in this direction have been taken.
The current state of the palace
In March 2014, the government of the Voronezh region approved the concept of restoring the Palace complex, which provides for the restoration of the landscape and placement of museum exhibits inside the building. At the same time, it is supposed to provide one of the buildings of the house with the risalits 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 title of owner), in their reviews usually note that the estate has put in order a landscape park and the building looks very good from the outside. However, many are dissatisfied with his internal state, to which the restorers did not reach.
A.P. Oldenburg
Spouse Evgenia Maximilianovna (Alexander Petrovich) was in everything to match his wife. The list of his acts for the good of the Fatherland will take more than one page. In 1890, he decided to start creating a resort area, as it was customary to say then - a climate station in Gagra. According to his idea, Abkhazia was to turn into Russian Monte Carlo. Alexander Petrovich founded a telegraph there, conducted electric lighting and running water, and created a subtropical college. On January 9, 1903, the official opening of the resort took place in the Gagripsh restaurant.
Palace in Gagara: construction
To be able to devote himself entirely to the implementation of his project, Prince Alexander Petrovich decided to build a house in Abkhazia for himself and his family. The Palace of the Prince of Oldenburg in Gagra (the 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 of the Gagra Bay, hotels, park, marina, highway from the side of Adler and the bazaar opened. The creation of the project for the main building and outbuildings was entrusted to Grigory Ippolitovich Lutsedarsky. It is believed that the builders tried several times to lay the foundation for the palace, but each time it cracked. Finally, the prince was advised to turn to the Iranian contractor, who had lived in Gagra for many years, by the name of Yahya Abbas-oglu. He agreed to get down to business with his brigade and successfully coped with all the tasks assigned to him.
Palace in Gagra: description
Initially, two buildings were built on the rock. First, the asymmetric western part of the palace was built with a large round window, a tall pipe and a panoramic terrace, as well as a decorative element that depicts a curl of vine. In parallel with this, a four-story part of the palace was erected. It looked like a small hotel with a gallery-like ground floor, with stone pipes and many living rooms with small balconies of the same type.
Above the palace, the upper wing with an observation tower, which was used to house the servants, was preserved.
Palace History
The prince was very fond of his Abkhaz dwelling. As in Ramoni, the Oldenburg Palace in Gagra was equipped with all the comfortable life support systems that existed at that time. He was repeatedly visited by Nicholas II with his family, the Grand Dukes of the Romanovs and relatives representing the German branch of the Oldenburg family.
Alexander Petrovich himself spent a lot of time in the palace. Sometimes a son and his wife Olga, the younger sister of Nicholas II, came to visit him. However, the young spouses of Oldenburg did not particularly like the palace in Gagra. Therefore, most often, Alexander Petrovich had to be content with the company of Evgenia Maximilianovna, who by that time was paralyzed and could not move independently. By the way, it was in his palace that the prince of Oldenburg learned about the beginning of the First World War in 1914. He immediately went to St. Petersburg and never returned to his beloved home.
Art collection
Prince Alexander Petrovich collected in his palace a rather large collection of paintings. This collection of paintings was attended by paintings by Aivazovsky, Bryullov, Shchedrin, Levitan, many copies of the works of old masters of the Italian school. Her decoration was the painting “Annunciation” by Martini and “The Return of Joachim to the Shepherds” by Giotto. In addition, Oldenburgsky acquired landscapes of Gagra and its environs for the rooms of the guests of the palace. Unfortunately, in turbulent revolutionary times and during the Civil War, the collection disappeared, and its future fate is still unknown.
Petersburg residence
The Oldenburg Palace is another architectural structure that is known as the Betsky House, as it was built in 1784, presumably by Vasily Bazhenov for the wealthy Catherine’s nobleman. It is located on the Palace Embankment and at the Swan groove. The house in terms of forms a regular quadrangle 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 at different levels and was picturesquely viewed between the towers.
In 1830, Betsky’s House was bought into the treasury and presented to Prince P.G. Oldenburgsky - the father of Alexander Petrovich. He ordered a third floor to be built over the southern building overlooking the Field of Mars. It housed the Ballroom, as the Oldenburg couple adored giving balls. The new owners did not like the hanging gardens , so they were cleaned. Only the facade, which overlooked the Neva, remained unchanged. 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 arranged a Protestant chapel in the name of Christ the Savior inside the building, because, despite the love of his new homeland, the Oldenburgs did not change the faith of their ancestors to Orthodoxy.
After the death of his father in 1881, the mansion became the property of Prince Alexander. After he married Eugene Maximilianovna, who converted to Orthodoxy, a small Orthodox church in the name of the Most Holy Theotokos also appeared in the palace.
Further story
In 1917, the palace of the Prince of Oldenburg in St. Petersburg (2/4 Palace Embankment) was sold by the owners to the Provisional Government, then transferred to the Ministry of Education. The rich collection of paintings in the building passed to the State Hermitage Museum.
In subsequent years, various institutions were located in the palace, and then it was divided into communal apartments. Only in 1962 was Betsky's House transferred to the Leningrad Library Institute. At the moment, the building is located St. Petersburg State University of Culture and Arts.
Now you know what is remarkable and where is the Oldenburg Palace (Voronezh), as well as residences that once belonged to this family, which are located in Gagra and in St. Petersburg.