In the 1660s Alexei Mikhailovich to build a new palace in Kolomenskoye. The solemn ceremony of laying the foundation stone of the palace took place on May 2, 1667.
In the 70s. 17th century Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and his family regularly traveled to Kolomenskoye. As noted by the famous Russian historian N.I. Kostomarov in his work “Russian history in the biographies of its main figures”: “There, almost during his entire reign, he built and rebuilt a wooden palace for himself, trying to make it as elegant and elegant as possible.”
Meetings of the Boyar Duma, councils with heads of orders, diplomatic receptions and military reviews were held here. The architectural masterpiece fell in love with all subsequent rulers. Especially often the palace was visited by Tsar Peter I with his mother Tsarina Natalya.
In connection with the dilapidation of the palace in 1767, exactly one hundred years after the start of its construction, Empress Catherine II ordered to dismantle it, having previously made detailed measurements and drawings. Thanks to these valuable documents, the palace could later be restored.
In the 1990s The Moscow government decided to recreate the palace of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. Construction began in June 2007 and was completed in August 2010. The total area of the palace, which consists of six buildings connected by passages, is 7,230 m², including 1,400 m² of interior decoration.
The Kolomna Palace had an asymmetric layout and consisted of independent and different-sized cells, the size and design of which corresponded to the hierarchical traditions of the family way of life. The cages were connected by passages and passages. The complex was divided into two halves: the male part, which included the chambers of the tsar and the princes and the front entrance, and the female part, consisting of the chambers of the queen and the princesses. In total, the palace had 26 towers of different heights - from two to four floors. The main living quarters were the rooms on the second floor. In total, there were 270 chambers in the palace, which were illuminated by 3000 windows.
When decorating the Kolomna Palace, for the first time in Russian wooden architecture, carved architraves and planking imitating stone were used. In the solution of facades and interiors, the principle of symmetry was actively applied. As a result of large-scale work in Kolomenskoye, a complex complex was created that shook the imagination of both contemporaries and people of the "enlightened" 18th century. The palace was very decorative: the facades were decorated with intricate architraves, multi-color carved details, figured compositions and had an elegant look.
Allegorical images of Europe, Africa and Asia, placed in round shields above the mansions, created the global context of this residence, and the likening of Alexei Mikhailovich to the sun, the queen to the moon, their children to planets and stars testified to the cosmic greatness of the sovereign. The palace was designed to show Russian subjects and foreign guests the greatness of the tsar and the power of his power. Simeon of Polotsk called the palace "The Eighth Wonder of the World".
The interiors of the palace combined the high art of the Moscow kingdom of the second half of the 17th century, the advanced building technologies of that time and the skill of the craftsmen. The floors of the palace chambers were made of oak parquet, the walls and ceilings of the palace were upholstered with board, then cloth was laid on it, which was then pasted over with canvas, and paint was already applied to it. In the private chambers of the reigning persons, the walls could be upholstered with gilded leather with embossed ornaments. It was also customary to decorate the walls with Western European tapestries and oriental carpets.
The office of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich
The palace is divided into two halves: male and female. Each of them has a separate entrance from the street, you can also go through the passage inside the palace. Between the "halves" in the basement is a soap dish.
Water for washing was kept in wooden tubs and tubs, as well as metal vessels. They heated it with the help of red-hot stones from the heater, which were thrown into the water. Lye for washing hair was kept in tinned copper basins, kvass - in birch bark tubs. In the upper floors of the tower, the floor and walls of the soap room up to the level of the benches were lined with lead boards soldered at the seams to protect against leaks. Above the door to the soapbox there is a list of the icon "Our Lady of the Life-Giving Spring".
The men bathed here. The women's soapboxes are smaller and separate from the men's.
The Tsarina's Throne Chamber differed significantly from the Tsar's Throne Chamber, although there were many similar pieces of furniture in it, reflecting the high status of the owner. The closed way of life of the female half of the king's family and general position women in the pre-Petrine era did not allow them to often see outsiders - in everyday life, the queen was visited only by females, and from men - close relatives and clergymen. Needlework and entertainment of the queens also took place in a closed circle.
Why is the stove round in the women's section? Because small children lived with the queen. A round stove is harder to hit hard.
Tsarevna Sofya Alekseevna (1957-1704) - the third daughter of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and Tsarina Maria Ilyinichna, like other princesses, was destined for a tower lock and eternal prayers for the country and royal family. However, Princess Sophia showed herself as a "princess of the great mind", which the panegyrists deservedly compared with Sophia the Wisdom of God. After the death of Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich in 1682, as a result of a struggle between court factions and an uprising of archers provoked by the Miloslavsky clan, Ivan and Peter Alekseevich were proclaimed kings, and their elder sister, Princess Sophia, was proclaimed regent.,
Moscow houses: from wood to stoneThe sovereign's court was surrounded by a fence with three gates: Front, Rear and Garden. Gardens were planted around it. This magnificent and intricately decorated system of buildings was not erected for convenience. royal family rather to impress foreign guests. They succeeded: Simeon of Polotsk even called the Kolomna Palace the eighth wonder of the world.
After the death of Alexei Mikhailovich and the transfer of the capital to St. Petersburg, Kolomenskoye fell into decay. Under Catherine II, the dilapidated palace was dismantled. She wanted to restore it, but the 56,934 gold rubles required for this turned out to be too much. Then the building was carefully measured and described. This helped in the reconstruction of the palace.
The place where the palace of Alexei Mikhailovich stood stood untouched for 300 years. Nothing was built there. And in 2010, the palace of Alexei Mikhailovich, recreated in another place, was opened. Another departure from the original was the use of a reinforced concrete frame to keep the building safe from fire.
Now in the palace of Alexei Mikhailovich in the Kolomna Museum. The exposition is divided into two parts: male and female. You can see the recreated interiors and household items of the royal family.
Guide to Architectural StylesThe artistic decoration of the premises is saturated: carved platbands and cornices of windows and doors, burning enamel of valuable stoves, flickering mica and glass windows, multi-color painting of walls and ceilings, patterned fabrics on walls and furniture, carpets. The lamps were also recreated according to Russian and Western European designs of the 17th-18th centuries.
The ceiling in the dining room is originally painted: the four parts of the world and the signs of the zodiac. It was performed according to Western European analogues of the late 16th - first half of the 17th centuries. And the paintings of the royal chambers depict the biblical kings David and Solomon. It is no coincidence that Simeon Polotsky compared the palace of Alexei Mikhailovich with the “Beautiful Solomon's Chamber”. And the mansions of the Empress Queen are decorated with murals on the theme of the seasons and “Parables from the Book of Esther”.
They say that......in the 17th century, a real drama broke out in Kolomenskoye. One of Alexei Mikhailovich's close associates was Prince Lvov. But he had a rival - the boyar Streshnev. Once, the governor of Kolomenskoye, Ivan Alekseev, informed Lvov that the local peasant Simeon Danilov was engaged in witchcraft, and the boyar Streshnev turned to them. Lvov reported to the tsar that the tsar's sister Irina Mikhailovna also turned to the services of the sorcerer through the mediation of Streshnev. An investigation has begun.
Irina Mikhailovna admitted that she wanted to bewitch the Polish prince. And the boyar Streshnev said that he turned to the sorcerer for treatment, and on his estate people got sick and died less often than others. This interested the king, and he decided to test Danilov's abilities.
The frightened Lvov interrogated the young children of Danilov, who reported that their father, on the teaching of the boyar Streshnev, wanted to poison the tsar. However, Alexei Mikhailovich took pity on Streshnev and simply exiled him to Vologda, and Danilov and his wife were burned. During the execution, the sorcerer cursed the entire Romanov family, Lvov and the scammer Alekseev. Soon Lvov was caught embezzling and imprisoned, the manager of Kolomensky Alekseev died during a fire in his own house. It is difficult to say whether Danilov’s prediction came true, but there were the words: “when the son breaks his father’s head” (similar to the death of Emperor Paul) and “everything will end on the sorcerer” - may be an allusion to Grigory Rasputin.
The palace of Alexei Mikhailovich in Kolomenskoye and its interiors in photographs of different years:
The country palace of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich in Kolomenskoye is an ensemble of exceptional beauty and splendor, outstanding work Russian wooden architecture of the 17th century, contemporaries called it the "Eighth Wonder of the World". 26 terems with green roofs in the form of tents, "barrels" and "bulbs", around which porches, galleries are intricately located,
requiring a detour and inspection from all sides.
Alexei Mikhailovich Quiet - the second Russian tsar from the Romanov dynasty (1645 - 1676), son of Mikhail Fedorovich and his second wife Evdokia, father of Peter the Great.
The Palace of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich in Kolomenskoye is a monument of art and life of the last, brightest period of the Muscovite kingdom, in which modern Russia is rooted.
In 1667-1668. Alexei Mikhailovich built a magnificent wooden palace (100 meters long, 80 meters wide and 50 meters high), which became the embodiment of all the achievements of Russian architecture of that time. The single complex of the Sovereign's Court included wooden mansions with a brown Kazan church, Sytny, Kormovoi, Khlebny or Khlebenny yards or palaces, Command chambers, Colonel's chambers and guardhouses. 
The sovereign's court was surrounded by a fence with three gates: Front, Rear and Garden. Gardens were laid out around it, surrounded by a high fence. 
This intricately decorated system of buildings was erected not for the convenience of the royal family, but to impress foreign guests with its splendor. And it succeeded, and Simeon of Polotsk even called the Kolomna Palace "the osm divo", that is, the 8th wonder of the world. 
But after the death of Alexei Mikhailovich and the transfer of the capital to St. Petersburg, Kolomenskoye fell into decay. Under Catherine II, the dilapidated palace was dismantled. Catherine wanted to restore the palace, but 56,934 gold rubles turned out to be too much for her. Then careful measurements and inventories of the building were made. It was they who helped in the recent reconstruction of the palace.
It is interesting that the place where the palace of Alexei Mikhailovich stood stood untouched for 300 years. Nothing was built there. And in 2010, the recreated palace of Alexei Mikhailovich was opened. At the same time, the only deviation from the original was the use of a reinforced concrete frame in order to protect the building from fire.
In total, there were 270 chambers in the palace, which were illuminated by 3000 windows. The Kolomna Palace had an asymmetric layout and consisted of independent and different-sized cells, the size and design of which corresponded to the hierarchical traditions of the family way of life.
On the Front Porch, birthday cakes were distributed on the day of the angel of one of the members of the royal family - an obligatory, important part of the state ceremonial, demonstrating the unity of the ruler and his subjects. The decoration of the porch and its architecture enhanced the feeling of solemnity.
Outside, the facades are decorated with carved platbands with many colorful details. When decorating the Kolomna Palace, for the first time in Russian wooden architecture, carved architraves and planking imitating stone were used.
The current building is a life-size model of the Palace of Alexei Mikhailovich. The construction was carried out according to the drawings made at the behest of Catherine II. However, the new building is not completely wooden: all structures are monolithic, reinforced concrete, then covered with logs.
Front porch of the Palace of Alexei Mikhailovich
The Red or Front Porch is the main entrance to any royal palace. According to etiquette, only the king could drive up to him on horseback or in a wagon; severe punishment followed. In Kolomenskoye, even foreign ambassadors and boyars dismounted from their horses in front of the Front Gate of the Sovereign's Court. An elaborate reception ceremony was developed. He demanded with due solemnity to meet eminent guests outside, in front of the house, on one of the platforms of the Red Stairs.
Main entrance to the mansions
Fragment of the front doors of the palace of Alexei Mikhailovich
At that time, the palace was just huge. The total building area is over five thousand square meters, and the total area of the premises is more than seven thousand square meters.
Interiors of the palace in Kolomenskoye
At the entrance to the palace there are two cannons from the time of the northern war. The presence of cannons a few meters from an absolutely wooden palace, which can catch fire from one match, plunges into bewilderment. Maybe they had no combat value, but gave some kind of solemn signal?
Near the palace is a statue of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. This is a model of a monument made for the city of Baltiysk in 2004 by sculptor Georgy Frangulyan. The Empress looks at Europe, and points to Russia with her hand. Elizaveta Petrovna was a brilliant rider, she loved horseback riding and even took parades on horseback.
statue of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna
Inside each hall there are mica windows of the 17th century. A transparent mineral - mica was often used to glass the windows of temples and palaces. Glass in those days was quite thick and poorly transmitted light, and Russian mica was considered the best in the world. In addition, the household tried not to look out the windows, fearing the "evil eye".
Stained glass windows of the palace in Kolomenskoye
Room (study) of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich
Room (study) of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. In this room, the sovereign spent most of the day. He could admit members of the nearby Boyar Duma here, but first of all the room served as a place of solitude. Here the tsar was engaged in state affairs, wrote letters and notes, "corrected documents with his own hand."
Wardrobe-study - reconstruction, imitation of the Italian cabinet of the early 17th century.
In the 17th century, the word office was used to refer to a piece of furniture - a special cabinet with many drawers, secret and not so, for storing various items for writing. Cabinets were invented in Italy at the turn of the XIV-XV centuries. Gradually, the fashion for such lockers spread throughout Europe. Since the cabinets were located in the classrooms, they were also called cabinets. The wardrobe in the room of the palace is a reconstruction, an imitation of an Italian cabinet from the beginning of the 17th century.
Sets of chess and checkers
Alexey Mikhailovich was very fond of quiet games - chess, checkers, he was a wonderful family man, he played these games with his sons. Sets of chess and checkers were specially purchased in the 17th century for the Kolomna Palace.
The reading circle in the room of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich is marked with copies of books and manuscripts (the originals of which are kept in the Russian state archive ancient acts). Among them is the gospel, obligatory for an Orthodox person, printed at the Moscow Printing House in 1663. Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich used glasses to work with books and papers.
The walls are covered with leather wallpaper. Usually Italians made such wallpapers, later they began to make them in Turkey. In the Kolomna Palace, the wallpapers are Turkish, although in the 17th century they should have been Italian. The location of the icons in the office is curious. Icons were usually hung in the red corner. But if there were a lot of them in the chambers and there was not enough space in the red corner, then they could be hung on all the walls where there was a place. In the “room” they used just such a hanging of icons. All icons shown here belong to XVII century. The icon of the holy princes of the passion-bearers and martyrs Boris and Gleb is not found here by chance. The palace was founded on May 3, 1667 - the day of memory of Saints Boris and Gleb.
fragment of a tiled stove
Tsarevich Fyodor Alekseevich's room
Tsarevich Fyodor Alekseevich's room. Fedor, the ninth child of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, was born sickly. No special hopes were placed on him as a future ruler. But in 1676, the sixteen-year-old prince was crowned king instead of his father, who had suddenly died. Fedor Alekseevich became a very active sovereign and managed to change a lot in Russian society in a short six-year reign.
window fragment
Fragment of a tiled stove
Fragment of a chandelier
They say that Fedor Alekseevich was in poor health. But this is not true. In the rest of the sovereign is Western armor and halberds. This is not only a hint of military reform. In childhood, among the toys of both Alexei Alekseevich and Fyodor Alekseevich there were some amusing armor. Western weapons introduced the heirs to Western culture, Western civilization.
Cabinet of Peter I
The walls are upholstered with green cloth. It, like red, was the most favorite for a tent attire. The room is lit by simple rectangular windows with fine Dutch binding. There is an authentic Dutch-made cabinet here, and in it is real Dutch crockery from the turn of the 17th-18th centuries.
Window glass is opaque. The glass rolling mill had not yet been invented. The glass blower blew a large bubble and rolled it with a rolling pin. The result was an uneven wavy surface. There are manuscripts and books on the table. The manuscripts are facsimile copies of the handwriting of Peter I himself. The tsar's handwriting was terrible, however, like that of the priest and his elder brother. Two books are very characteristic of the Petrine era. These are Arithmetic by Leonty Magnitsky and General Geography.
In the study of Peter I. A fragment of a tiled stove. The stove in the Peter's room is a historical reconstruction. It is decorated with modern tiles, made according to the model of the early Peter the Great time. These tiles fit into the first decade of the 18th century.
In the study of Peter I. Portrait of Catherine I
The portrait depicts Catherine I. Ekaterina Alekseevna, Marta Skavronskaya, a Livonian woman, either a peasant or a townswoman, who was destined to become the All-Russian Empress. Her portrait was placed here, because it was in the Kolomna Palace that Ekaterina Alekseevna gave birth to Peter's daughter, Elizaveta Petrovna. In what particular room Catherine gave birth is unknown, maybe according to the old Russian custom, this happened in a soap room.
Canopy in front of the dining room
The canopy in front of the Dining Chamber is a kind of pantry, from which royal feasts were served. Here they put everything that was later served on the tables: from the Sytny Dvor - vessels with wines, beer, honey and kvass; from the Khlebny yard - kalachi, loaves, pies; jugs of vinegar and lemon pickle stood from the Stern Yard before the start of the feast.
The king's dining room
The dining room is the largest, ceremonial and solemnly decorated room of the palace. The most important palace ceremonies were held in the chamber. Foreign guests were received here, family and church holidays were celebrated, and they could arrange a reception in honor of an important appointment.
"Guests in the palace are like seeds in a cucumber. One from Sweden, the other from Greece,
The third from Hawaii - and give everyone a meal! One - lobster, the other - squid,
To the third - sardine, and there is only one getter!
Food and drink were served on the royal table, following the court ritual. Each dish was tried many times for fear of poison or spoilage. On vacation from the cookery, the cook served the dish in the presence of a solicitor, the dishes were taken from him by the housekeepers (each a separate dish) and, under the protection of the solicitors, they carried them to the palace.
royal feast
Serving food to the feeder, the keykeepers tried each from their own dish; finally, the butler (the head of the Order of the Grand Palace, who was responsible for the products for the royal table) tried the food and gave it to the stolniks "to carry before the sovereign." Before serving, the dishes were tasted by the kravchiy, and the drinks - by the cup.
Tiled stove in the dining room. Reconstruction based on tiles from the 17th century
Fragment of ceiling and wall painting in the dining room
Duma Chamber
The Duma Chamber served as a waiting room senior officials(boyars) of the royal exit, or invitations to even more solemn and important chambers.
In terms of design, this chamber is very similar to the canopy in front of the dining room, the same carving, the same tent cloth attire, the same wall benches traditional for Rus'.
Fragment of a tiled stove in the Duma Chamber.
Reconstruction based on tiles from the 17th century
The Throne Chamber served in the royal palaces as the Throne Hall. The sovereign sat on this throne. Below are two golden lions. They are with a secret. Alexei Mikhailovich was a great lover of mechanics, and on his orders, for the amusement of the guests, mechanical lions were installed near the throne, which shook their heads and sparkled with their eyes, which led foreigners to a "light" surprise to the great pleasure of the Russian Tsar.
Fragment of ceiling painting on the subjects of the Old Testament
For the queen, the female half of the palace was arranged. Alexei Mikhailovich was married twice. In 1648, the tsar married Maria Miloslavskaya. Until her death, the tsar was an exemplary family man, they had 13 children, including the future tsars Fedor and Ivan, as well as the princess Sophia.
After the death of Maria Miloslavskaya, Alexei Mikhailovich in 1671 married Natalia Naryshkina, a relative of the nobleman Artamon Matveev, who began to exert great influence on the monarch. The young wife gave birth to the king of three children and, in particular, the future Emperor Peter I.
Blue living room of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna
Recreated blue living room of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. The daughter of Emperor Peter I, Elizabeth, was born in 1709. As a child, she and her sister Anna spent a lot of time in the royal "Moscow region" (there was even a legend about the birth of Elizabeth in Kolomenskoye). In 1741, the daughter of Peter the Great managed, relying on the guards, to ascend the throne.
Chambers of Elizabeth Petrovna
In the hall there are portraits of Elizabeth Petrovna, Peter the Great and the Swedish king of that time. The emperors considered each other brothers and held images of the monarchs of other states who ruled simultaneously with them. The walls are decorated with damask wallpaper, created especially for this room according to old patterns.
In the room of Elizaveta Petrovna, the baroque era, the classical baroque of the 18th century, is represented. On the ceiling is written "Triumph of Mars and Venus". The chandelier is made of Venetian glass, it is modern but stylized in the 18th century.
The chandelier is made of Venetian glass, it is modern but stylized in the 18th century.
The room reflects the era of Elizabeth Petrovna. She was born in Kolomna. And often visited here before and after the coronation. Perhaps, in her reign, some of the chambers were painted in a similar way. Although this room is not particularly suitable for such pomp. For luxurious baroque, it is small and low. The queen was very fond of fruits from the Kolomna gardens. From Kolomenskoye to St. Petersburg, she was specially delivered apples and pears sprinkled with rye in a special way so that they would not spoil along the way.
Queen's throne room
In this chamber, the empress held receptions on the occasion of
- their name days
- birth of an heir, name day of children
- Easter, Christmas and other important holidays.
Women were allowed to these receptions, sometimes there were also men, but in this case the king himself was present at the reception. He stood nearby, could receive elected representatives with gifts from different strata of society, not only the nobility. In this chamber there were elected from merchants and townspeople.
The Tsaritsyn's Throne Chamber differed significantly from the Tsar's Throne Chamber. The closed way of life of the female half of the tsar's family and the general position of women in the pre-Petrine era did not allow them to often see outsiders - in everyday life, only females visited the tsarina, and close relatives and clergymen visited the tsarina.
Nevertheless, the queens also arranged audiences: people from the Tsaritsyna Master Chamber, managers and residents of settlements subordinate to the chamber, clergy with offerings and requests, as well as other petitioners - queens and princesses, often petitioned the tsar for mitigation of sentences.
Allegories of the seasons are written on the ceiling. They are made in a very interesting manner. We are used to the fact that parts of the world are depicted in female images, but here the four seasons are depicted by men. different ages. Winter is presented in the form of an old man, spring is a young man, almost a boy, autumn is a mature husband, summer is a young man.
Below, in the lower register of the wall, for the first time in the painting, landscapes appear - lanchaks. These are echoes of Western culture, when landscapes appeared in art. At the court they knew that they should be portrayed, but they didn’t quite understand where, so in the palace they were carefully placed in the lowest tier. In the picture of the stove below, one lunchbox is visible.
For the throne chamber, they chose the icon of the Assumption of the Virgin. under the icon there is an embroidered veil "Cross of Calvary". This embroidery serves as an example of needlework, sewing with pearls by a noble woman of the 17th century. The Empress-Queen herself was also engaged in such sewing.
Queen's Workshop
In the workshop chamber, the empress was engaged in needlework.
This chamber can be conditionally called the “Ministry of Needlework”.
The “Tsarina’s Workshop Chamber” was in charge of gold-embroidery workshops in Kadashevskaya and Khamovnicheskaya settlements of Moscow. The empress was supposed to distribute lessons, i.e. tasks, assignments to workshops and accept their work. If the work was done badly, then she herself had to show how to do it well. The queen was a craftswoman of craftswomen, the best embroiderer and needlewoman. She had to be able to work brilliantly with a needle.
tiled stove in the Tsarina's workshop
All embroidery work in the tsarina's workshop was made for the palace or for the church - embroidered icons, hanging air, funeral shrouds. There was competition among craftswomen. Each workshop and craftswoman tried to show that they are the best. During Ivan the Terrible, two workshops competed - Tsaritsyn, Anastasia Romanova and Efrosinya Staritskaya - the wife of Ivan the Terrible's cousin. Many then said that the Staritsa workshops were better than the Tsaritsyn ones.
Prayer (Cross Chamber of the Empress)
The iconostasis in the cross prefabricated, from the icons of the XVII century. It is worth paying attention to the icon of Our Lady Hodegetria. It was believed that this icon must be in the iconostasis of the queen. She was also revered in Byzantium.
It is much larger than the men's prayer room. Whether this was really unknown, but museum workers came up with the idea that all children up to a certain age lived in half of the queens before they were transferred to separate chambers - the prince and the princesses. There should be enough space for all the children in the women's cross dress, while the king, as a rule, prayed in solitude.
Royal bedchamber
As expected, the beds in those days were short, as they slept sitting up so that the blood did not rush to the head (this was considered life-threatening). Access to the room was strictly limited. No one could enter here, except for the courtiers closest to the king. In peace with the sovereign spent the night his bed-keeper.
Poles and a canopy were necessarily installed above the bed. The beds in those days were short, sleeping on them almost sitting. If the sovereign deigned to rest with the empress, then he went to the half of the queen. The queen, if she ever visited this bedchamber, did not stay overnight. Chests. They kept the most protected part of the royal property, called the white treasury. The white treasury or linen treasury is underwear and bed linen, as well as towels. Linen was kept more than an eye, because through it, through what is closer to the body, it was easiest to let the spoilage.
Once, not in Kolomenskoye, but in the Kremlin, some roots were found in linen. And the roots are always a hint of sorcery and witchcraft, potions were brewed from them. A fierce search was carried out to find out where it came from. They found some porter who foolishly put them there. They didn’t punish her severely, but they dismissed her from the palace service and, just in case, they exiled her to some northern city, like Kargopol. Also, just in case, they changed the staff of bedding. Care - it is care and there is.
Cross Chamber - private room for sovereign prayer
There were several cross chambers in the palace. Each adult family member necessarily had his own separate cross chamber. In it, the morning and evening prayer rule was performed. Alexei Mikhailovich was distinguished by piety and such pious deeds took about 5-6 hours a day in his royal schedule. On major holidays, he spent at services and in prayer until 8-9 o'clock. Attending divine services was the direct duty of the king. It was believed that if the king prays well, then the country lives well, and if the sovereign neglects these duties, then nothing good can be expected for the country. The cross chamber is formed as a kind of special, spiritual, personal space of a person who prayed in this chamber.
Teacher's Chamber
Alexei Mikhailovich was a wonderful family man, the father of 16 children from two marriages. Not all of his children survived, but the sovereign's offspring and heirs were present in the palace in no small number. The king gave great attention education and upbringing of their children. Alexei Mikhailovich himself received the traditional Old Russian education which consisted in teaching reading, writing and church singing.
In the teacher's room
Soap and "movable" canopy
"movable" canopy
The soap room includes a “movable” canopy and the soap room itself. In the hallway in front of the soap room, they not only undressed, but also rested after the bath, so along the wall there were benches with carved edges and a “moving” bed. In addition to benches in the entryway, there were tables in front of the soap room, one of which was intended for “washing cooking” (things that were used during washing - caps, sheets, fans, etc.).
in the "washroom"
transition to "soap"
IN royal palace soap (movnya, movnitsa - the old name of the bath) was arranged in the basement or on the same floor with living rooms, separating them from them by small corridors or corridors. In the entryway in front of the soap room, they not only undressed, but also rested after the bath, so along the wall there were benches with carved edges and a “moving” bed.
And here is the "soap" itself. Along the wall from the stove to the opposite wall stretched a shelf with steps and a headboard. The higher the step of this peculiar bathing ladder was, the hotter it was. Along the other walls were benches where people washed. Fresh hay with aromatic herbs was laid out on shelves and benches. In the center of the soapbox there is a large wooden bathtub with a bench and sheets inside, it was in it that the king bathed.
If we proceed from traditional ideas about the Russian bath, then the royal soap room is quite spacious. However, this is exactly how it was according to the plans of the palace. It is worth paying attention to the floors. The floor in the soapbox is arranged "in a hole", as it was called in the 17th century. Boards lie quite rarely with a noticeable distance between them. Lead plates are laid under the floor. They lie with an inclination so that water flows through the cracks in the floor along these plates.
Tiled stove in the bathroom
ALL TO THE GARDEN!...
We leave the palace of Alexei Mikhailovich and go down to the apple orchard.
Of course, none of the current apple trees can remember the king, how much time has passed, but the garden complements the atmosphere of the palace very well.
Both the palace itself and the surrounding gardens were supposed to symbolize some kind of paradise or Eden,
and therefore the apple trees here are not simple, but some kind of special, bright red or even burgundy, emitting an amazing aroma. This place has long been called "Dyakovo settlement",
its cultural part is called "Dyakovskiy garden", thousands and thousands of apple trees, but these red ones grow only in one place, near the palace.
The palace of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich is a fabulous handsome man, the opening of this palace in Kolomenskoye took place in 1672. In the seventeenth century, the original palace in Kolomenskoye aroused great delight among contemporaries, and it was not for nothing that foreign guests called it "the eighth wonder of the world." He is so handsome and unique.
PHOTO NOT MY!!! Many thanks for the provided photos.
The village of Kolomenskoye near Moscow was once the patrimony of the Russian tsars. Now this place is the territory of the State Architectural Reserve. On a huge area of almost four hundred hectares, there are suburban monasteries and churches, as well as palaces: the house of Peter the Great, transported here from Arkhangelsk, and, in fact, the mansions of Russian tsars - Alexei Mikhailovich, nicknamed the Quietest, and Fedor Alekseevich. Most of the reserve is a park and nature untouched by man: ravines, forest. In the southeastern part, it goes to So that you can sail to the Tsar's palace in Kolomenskoye on a pleasure boat. It is good to look here during folk festivals at Christmas or Maslenitsa. Then theatrical performances, sleigh rides and other amusements take place in Kolomenskoye. There are also several ancient churches on the territory of the reserve. But in this article we will focus on the palace of Russian tsars.
A bit of history
Russian princes loved Kolomenskoye. The palace stood in this place in the fourteenth century. Therefore, the surroundings of the village were decorated with churches of the “metropolitan scale”. For example, Vasily III erected in 1532 the Ascension. Lived in Kolomenskoye and Ivan the Terrible. Chronicles report that here, in his palace, he celebrated his name day. But this place was especially fond of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich. He ordered to expand the mansions, in fact, to build a new palace on the old site. On September 17, 1640, the tsar celebrated a housewarming party with the boyars. The heir, Alexei Mikhailovich, also fell in love with this place. An avid hunter, he repeatedly visited this country residence. After ascending the throne, he started a new construction.
Kolomenskoye: the palace of Alexei Mikhailovich
Back in 1649-1650, as well as in 1657, the tsar added new premises to the old ones - on the occasion of the birth of children. But it wasn't all that. The tsar wanted to create an integral ensemble, and not a system of huts connected by passages. In 1667, the first stone was laid for the construction of what later contemporaries would call "the eighth wonder of the world." It should be noted that the palace of Alexei Mikhailovich was built in Kolomenskoye simple people- carpenters Semyon Petrov and Ivan Mikhailov. A year later, the decoration of wooden walls, windows and facades with skillful carvings began. In the spring of 1669, finishing materials and paints were ordered from abroad), and the master himself, Bogdan Saltanov, an Armenian from Persia. The icon painter Simeon Ushakov supervised the finishing work. and walls, the gilding of the tents lasted about two years. Finally, in 1673, the master of the Armory, Peter Vysotsky, installed a clock on the gate tower and arranged the mechanics of roaring lions.
Fyodor Alekseevich's perestroika
After the death of the Quietest, the new tsar took over Kolomenskoye. The palace was rebuilt again. Fedor Alekseevich ordered the construction of a new refectory, which was connected to the tsar's private chambers by a gallery. This canteen was built by the serf boyar Sheremetyev Semyon Dementyev. The Gilded Gates were also erected, which, in the absence of the tsar in Kolomenskoye, were hung with cloth so as not to fade. Repairs were made to the roaring lions at the throne, the exterior decorations and the interior. The restoration was completed in the spring of 1682. For about two more years, work was underway to repair outbuildings, decorate roofs and paint rooms. As a result of the rebellion of the archers, barracks for personal protection were erected - a total of sixteen huts. In 1685, they were reinforced with English tin and iron, and a new clock was installed.
Epoch and Kolomenskoye
The palace, with the transfer of the capital to St. Petersburg, began to gradually fall into decay. Wood is not a very durable material. The subsequent empresses also did not pay enough attention to this country residence. Anna Ioannovna, however, ordered to keep her "in good care", but she did not deign to allocate funds for this. In the autumn of 1762, Catherine II visited Kolomenskoye. She ordered a repair estimate. The document was presented in 1764. But instead of reconstruction, the empress ordered the construction of a new palace on the site of the collapsed outbuildings. In May 1767, Catherine was informed that stairs and roofs had begun to collapse in the old mansions. Then the empress ordered that the palace of Alexei Mikhailovich in Kolomenskoye be dismantled, and the place cleared. The exact date of destruction is unknown. Karamzin in "Poor Liza" (1792) mentions the village of Kolomenskoye with a high palace. In place of the wooden choirs, a four-story building was erected in the style of classicism. But it was destroyed a century later.
Museum "Kolomenskoye"
The restoration of the historical site began with the initiative of the famous restorer P. Baranovsky. In 1923, he proposed to arrange an open-air museum on the territory of the former estate of the Russian tsars, dedicated to the wooden architecture of Russia. This is how the presence in Kolomenskoye is explained. In it, the reformer tsar lived on Markov Island for about two months, personally supervising the construction of the defensive fortress of Arkhangelsk. Baranovsky restored the interior of the house, the Mokhovaya Tower of the Sumy Ostrog, the gates of the Nikolo-Korelsky Monastery, the Church of St. George the Victorious and other monuments of wooden architecture. Gradually, other buildings began to be reconstructed, which were already directly related to Kolomenskoye: the Vodovzvodnaya tower, the Fryazhsky cellar and the church of St. George with a bell tower. And in 1990, an idea appeared to recreate the summer palace of Alexei Mikhailovich.
Reconstruction
Although the royal mansions of the seventeenth century were completely razed to the ground, many lithographs and drawings remain, which depict in detail the interiors and exterior decoration of this "eighth wonder of the world." In addition, the drawings of the builders themselves have been preserved. Since the site of the palace has already grown ancient oaks and linden, it was decided to reconstruct the building in another place, nearby, in the village of Dyakovskoye. The construction was completed in 2010. The wooden palace of Alexei Mikhailovich was replaced by a reinforced concrete structure lined with logs. Despite the fact that she changed her original orientation to the cardinal points, tourists can see the chambers of the king and empress, the chambers of the prince and princesses. A special impression is left by the main dining room, to which covered galleries lead from different wings of the palace.
Museum: opening hours, cost
Despite the fact that the entire palace was built in the first years of our century, an excursion to Kolomenskoye will not disappoint anyone. After all, all the interiors were recreated with extreme care, completely copying the preserved drawings and drawings. The chambers are equipped with unique lamps, mica windows and furniture. In twenty-four interiors of the palace, the personal life and officialdom of the Russian sovereigns of the pre-Petrine era appear before the eyes of tourists.
Entrance to the park is free. But at the exhibition - for a fee. If you come to Kolomenskoye for the whole day, it is better to purchase a single ticket - it costs 400 rubles and gives you the right to visit various premises. The exposition is open every day except Monday. Entrance to the palace costs 250 rubles.
Kolomensky is a former royal residence, and now the Moscow State United Museum-Reserve.
I suggest you plunge into the times of Tsarist Russia and visit the wooden palace, which is located there.
Further word to the author.
The Kolomna Palace of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich - once considered the "eighth wonder of the world", and now called the "Luzhkov's remake" - opened its doors to visitors on September 04, 2010. I only got to it a couple of weeks ago and I suggest you examine it with me. Looking ahead, I’ll say that I really liked the recreated interiors, and appearance of the palace is almost identical to what can be seen on its "old" images.
A bit of history. By 1668, the bulk of the work on the construction of the "old palace" was carried out by an artel of carpenters under the leadership of Senka Petrov and Ivashka Mikhailov. The best masters of Moscow and other cities were involved at all stages of construction work. The murals of the interiors of the palace were created by the masters of the Armory.
Created in the 17th century, the wooden palace was intended, first of all, to show Russian subjects and foreign guests the greatness of the tsar and the power of his power. Patriarch Kirill, who was present at the opening of the new palace, noted in his characteristic manner that Russia was a great state even before Peter I, which many people forget.
The "modern" palace, like the original one, has 270 rooms with an area of 7,239 sq. m. (this is not a one-room apartment of 40 square meters for you!). To date, the interiors have been recreated in only 24 rooms. 226 people of 20 different specialties were involved in the creation of interiors in the palace today.
During the time of Alexei Mikhailovich, the palace was not only a place of rest, but also the main country residence of the Russian sovereign. Here were held meetings of the Boyar Duma, "exterminated" later by Peter I, councils with heads of orders (prototypes of ministries), diplomatic receptions and military reviews.
Unfortunately, when I walked in Kolomenskoye, the flower beds around the palace had not yet been planted with flowers. I managed to photograph only this bush.
The "modern" palace is not completely wooden, unlike its original design. All structures are now monolithic, reinforced concrete, which are then lined with logs. The orientation of the new palace relative to the cardinal points is also broken, now the palace is rotated around the vertical axis by 90 degrees, which violated it, including its sacred purpose.
The palace of Alexei Mikhailovich is a complex labyrinth of rooms connected by passages. Now you can see the chambers of the king and queen, as well as princes and princesses.
The wood for the construction of the new palace was brought from the Krasnoyarsk Territory, then processed by craftsmen near Vladimir, and then delivered to Moscow.
The palace was divided into 2 parts: male and female. Accordingly, women could not enter the male half, and even the king went to the female half of the queen only for marital need.
Surprisingly, it is a fact: the female half of the royal family, in fact, was locked up and even the queen was not allowed to go anywhere. The only occupations are needlework and prayers. Men did not enter the female half, and only on holidays the queen, for example, could invite her father to visit.
Alexei Mikhailovich had 2 wives: Maria Ilyinichna Miloslavskaya, who bore him 13! children (she died a few days after the last birth) and Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina, who gave birth to only 3 children, the eldest of whom was none other than the future emperor All-Russian Peter I. There is even a version that Peter was born not in the Terem Palace of the Moscow Kremlin, but in the Kolomna Palace.
The king, queen, princes and princesses had separate chambers in the palace with separate entrances and exits and additional rooms for servants / servants and mothers / nannies .. I must say that out of the 16 children of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich - more than half died either in infancy or in childhood.
Surely you ask about the tiles. It is wooden, the material is linden.
What else? The palace was not recreated in its original place. It was considered that the construction of a palace not far from the tent church of the Ascension would lead to a terrible influx of people in Kolomenskoye in one place.
Now let's go inside. Let me point out some of the details:
the entrance to the palace is naturally paid, but I did not expect the price of 400 rubles per person. Yes, I understand that a lot of money has been invested in the palace (I hope that at least most of it was used for its intended purpose!), But 400 rubles, it seems to me, is a little expensive.
For children, students and pensioners - 200 rubles + 100 rubles if you want to join an excursion group, which I recommend doing.
But that is not all. In one of the parts of the palace there is an exhibition "Treasures of Russian art of the 17th century" - a ticket there is 250 rubles. At first we did not understand where the entrance to the palace itself was and paid 250 re. Then we realized that having already paid 500 rubles (no, I love Russian art!) we have to pay another 800 for two! Yes, you counted everything correctly, my dear friends! A walk through the palace for two cost 1,300 rubles in the end!
I will not torture you with the treasures of Russian art of the 17th century, but I will show you the interiors of the palace. Let's go?
The rich decoration of the country residence once struck the imagination of nobles and foreign ambassadors. Now, to go inside, you have to put on shoe covers like in a hospital. Cleanliness is very monitored, carpets covering the floors are carefully vacuumed.
In the interiors of the palace, the high art of the Moscow kingdom of the second half of the 17th century was combined with the advanced building technologies of that time and the skill of the craftsmen. Everything in the palace was thought out to the smallest detail: from finishing the floors and painting the ceilings to the smallest details of the furniture.
Painting on one of the ceilings
This is the front entrance, where foreign ambassadors waited for the reception of the sovereign.
This is also a painting of one of the ceilings. Alexei Mikhailovich likened himself to the Sun, the queen to the Moon, and his children to the planets and stars, which should have testified to the cosmic greatness of the sovereign.
These are reception rooms and a refectory where Alexei Mikhailovich received guests.
The furniture in the royal palace was varied: Russian furniture, imported Western European and Russian, made according to European models. Russian furniture is, first of all, benches and benches. Imported European furniture - beds, armchairs and chairs.
The sovereign sat on this throne. Notice the two golden lions below? They are in secret!
Alexei Mikhailovich was a great lover of mechanics, and on his orders, for the amusement of the guests, mechanical lions were installed near the throne, which shook their heads and sparkled with their eyes, which led foreigners to a "light" surprise to the great pleasure of the Russian Tsar.
If you join the tour, these same lions will be turned on for you. Your children will be delighted! Guaranteed! By the way, children are allowed to sit on the floor on carpets, which they also like very much during the tour.
In addition to the sun, Alexei Mikhailovich compared himself with the kings David and Solomon, as well as the emperors Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar. This photo shows a fragment of a painted ceiling depicting King Solomon.
And here are the portraits of Alexei Mikhailovich himself.
A place was also found for the portrait of Tsarevich Peter, whose reign turned the Russian state into the Russian Empire.
This is the office of Alexei Mikhailovich, where the tsar worked and edited state papers with his own hands.
This is what the king's bedchamber looked like. As befits the bed in those days - it was very short, because they slept sitting up so that the blood did not rush to the head (and this was considered life-threatening), and because of the wigs that were put on for several days.
In all the chambers of the royal family there were icons and chapels for worship and prayer. In the chambers of the king, the chapel was called the Cross Chamber.
This, if I am not mistaken, is the teaching chamber where the princes were taught.
The most interesting, but, in my opinion, very modern looking room is the soap room. Did you also think it was more like a Finnish sauna? Anyway! Let's believe that soap, i.e. the bath, under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, looked exactly like this! The king was progressive, and the palace was built according to last word technology.
Water for soap was taken from the Moskva River, and the tsar always washed here before and after committing sinful deeds, which included visiting the tsarina and visiting the theater.
This is a prototype of a bath, at the bottom of the trough (or what to call it?) they put red-hot stones so that the water would not cool down, and the king could steam his legs.
Let's go to the women's quarters. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem as interesting to me there as at the men’s one, and I didn’t photograph much. But anyway, let's see some pictures.
Perhaps the most interesting place the female part is a recreated blue living room of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna.
And here is her portrait.
I will finish with a portrait of Catherine II, by whose order the palace of Alexei Mikhailovich was dismantled after reporting to her that the restoration of the palace was impossible, and the collapse of the ceilings had already begun near the wooden structure. It was thanks to her, as I wrote above, that it became possible to reconstruct the palace in our time, since the empress ordered to make measurements and accurate descriptions of the palace, as well as its wooden model.
