St. Petersburg, considered one of the youngest of the great cities in the world, is a truly unique synthesis of the aesthetic directions of antiquity with Western European and Russian traditions. Experts say that his artistic style was predetermined by the content of the era of his birth. After all, the city was created at the very beginning of the seventeenth century, which could not but affect its appearance.
Built by the irresistible will of one man - Peter the Great, he incorporated the whole diversity of European architecture. His appearance was created in the mind of the last Russian Tsar under the influence of Franz Lefort and Vinius - Dutch entrepreneurs who owned huge collections of paintings and prints. They depicted European and, in particular, Dutch cities, in which Western architecture of the 17th century was most clearly reflected.
Baroque style characteristic
This architecture, which fans of classical architecture did not perceive as independent for a long time, appeared in Europe at the turn of the late Renaissance. She was, as it were, its continuation and development. To some extent, this style of architecture can be called a return to philosophy. Its main characteristics were expressiveness and illusory nature. The ideas of ascension and soaring, which were realized by the architects of this period, made the buildings very picturesque and rich in artistic details. Using various interesting techniques, they created truly illusory designs.
general information
"Peter's Baroque" is a term that art historians apply to the architectural style approved by Peter the Great. It was widely used to design buildings in the then capital, St. Petersburg.
In the years 1697-1698, Peter and the Great Embassy visited Holland, in particular Amsterdam. This city was especially fond of the emperor with its strict radially planned streets, concentric lines at the canals. Amsterdam facades end with narrow high stepped triangular gables, towers or round roofs. Traditional Dutch architecture of the 17th century is characterized by the decorative use of such ground order elements as window frames, cornices, pilasters, portals with volutes. This made it possible to create elegant and festive, combined with a modest and business image of the city.
Peter was obsessed with the idea that Russia could join the civilized Western countries, following the European path of not only political or economic, but also largely cultural development. And that is why he invited many famous architects, sculptors and artists to work in his new capital.
Petrovsky Manir
It’s clear from the name that this amazing style owes its appearance in our country to the first Russian emperor. Peter's Baroque became a mixture of the Italian direction of the same name with early French classicism and Rococo. Each architect invited to St. Petersburg represented the traditions of his architectural school. That is why Peter's Baroque reflects not quite clear trends of this period.
Peter's great desire to turn his cities into the most beautiful was the reason that during his reign, baroque became a fundamental architectural trend. The design and construction of buildings in this style, which was also called the Peter Manor, in St. Petersburg for the next few centuries determined the development of architecture.
Features
The first Russian emperor sought to move away from Byzantine traditions in architecture. The formation of this direction falls on the 17th century. The baroque style of Peter is somewhat different from his European prototype. And first of all it is rationalism, clarity and simplicity.
One of the main distinguishing features that characterizes the Petrine Baroque in architecture is the two-tone color of the buildings: red and white. Another feature is a flat interpretation in the decor.
The first buildings in St. Petersburg were huts, as well as wooden structures, similar in design to the western half-timbered houses. Their plaster required painting. Therefore, with such structures and even brickwork “with an inlet”, it was possible to provide only low reliefs of stucco parts or cornices, as well as pilasters and door frames.
Style description
Peter's Baroque is characterized by the use of elements of the classical Tuscan or Corinthian orders, although in a very naive and more archaic interpretation. More common were Russian simple "shoulder blades" that replaced pilasters and columns. The windows were framed with profiled platbands - most often white on a red background, with characteristic thickenings, ears, with the use of a castle stone on top. The corners of the baroque building, and in some cases the first floors, were decorated with rust.
Architects complemented this festive and elegant look with many small architectural details, such as frames, curls and balustrades. The use of all protruding parts of the onion or semicircular pediments was considered mandatory. Thus, the lines of the roofs were visually complicated and enriched.
Equally common was the installation of statues or flowerpots. On the slopes, architects installed lucarnes. So the upper part of many buildings acquired a rich decorative and very complex silhouette.
Baroque architects
Even before the founding of St. Petersburg, Peter and his ambassadors throughout Europe began to hire foreigners: architects, fortifiers, engineers. At the first stage, all the buildings in the city were built precisely according to the projects of foreign architects who came to serve in Russia. And the first among them was Domenico Trezzini, who built the most famous buildings of St. Petersburg, which embody the Baroque style of Peter the Great. A photo of the Peter and Paul Cathedral is vivid proof of this. His bell tower is the high-rise dominant of St. Petersburg. The faceted gilded spire of the cathedral cuts through the gloomy sky as opposed to the stretched squat lines of the Neva embankments.
There is practically no analogue of the cathedral in Western European architecture. It only resonates with a twisted spire located on the exchange building in Copenhagen, which is also based on the Baroque style. The photo of the latter, however, is another proof that the St. Petersburg spire is somewhat different: both in size and in faceted shape.
Among the first architects who created the Petrine Baroque, belong, in addition to Trezzini, and Jean-Baptiste Leblond, and Schlüter, and J. M. Fontana, as well as Michetti and Mattarnovi. All of them came to Russia at the invitation of Peter. Each architect brought to the appearance of the buildings he constructed the traditions that were widespread in his country, the basics of the school he represented. Helping to carry out their projects, gradually the traditions of European Baroque were also mastered by local architects such as Mikhail Zemtsov.
Differences from Moscow Baroque
Peter's Baroque is typical for Petersburg. Outside of such structures are very few. In particular, it is the Menshikov Tower, built in Moscow, as well as the Tallinn Palace Kadriorg.
Unlike the Naryshkin trend in Moscow, the Petrovsky trend, represented by a sharp rejection of the Byzantine traditions that dominated Russian architecture for almost ten centuries, is characterized by symmetry and poise. Highlighting the center of the composition, multicolor and restraint in decoration, arched or rectangular window openings, mansard roofs with a fracture - all these features of the Baroque style, named after the first emperor, became the hallmark of many buildings of St. Petersburg.
Vivid examples
Today, tourists coming to the northern capital have the opportunity to appreciate the work of the architects who worked in that era. Peter's Baroque is represented by many famous buildings. This is the Peter and Paul Cathedral, the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, the House of the Twelve Colleges with the Summer Palace of Peter I, the Chambers of Schluter, the Menshikov Palace, the Kunstkamera, which several people worked on at the same time: Mattarnovi, Chiaveri and Zemtsov. The creation of the latter is also the Church of Simeon and Anna.
On Vasilievsky Island there is another example of a Baroque building - the first ceremonial palace in St. Petersburg. It was the residence of the Governor General, where receptions were held and assemblies were held. Being a typical example of a rich palace, overlooking the main facade of the embankment, the building also embodies Peter's Baroque.
The Twelve Collegia Building
Nearby is another monument built in this architectural style. This is the House of the Twelve Collegia. The architect Trezzini was very original to solve the problem posed by Peter. This baroque building, which consists of twelve similar buildings located in one line close to each other, has a common through corridor stretching for three hundred and eighty meters. Each part has a separate roof. At the same time, a literally bewitching cascade of repeating pediments and risalits, pilasters and platbands on the facade saturated with red and white give the structure a majestic appearance.
Landscape gardening
Baroque features can be seen not only in buildings built in that era. The palace and park ensembles are no less interesting. This, for example, is the Summer Garden familiar to everyone, which was broken according to a special drawing of Peter himself; The Peterhof ensemble, which, according to experts, is based on the impressions of the first Russian emperor from his visit to Versailles. Today they are quite significant monuments of landscape gardening.
The summer garden was the king’s attempt to make “something instructive” out of a large park. Fountains were built in it, consonant with the themes of the Aesopian fables, and in a special gallery they installed the statue of Venus, found during excavations in Rome and with great difficulty, brought to Russia - an ancient Roman marble copy of the Hellenistic original. Visitors to the garden, all without exception, had to kiss the cold marble of this pagan goddess. Other statues and busts were erected along the alleys, as well as in Versailles.
Summer palace
This bright representative of Peter's Baroque is small and extremely simple in terms of layout. He was fully consistent with his task - providing opportunities for the rest of the royal family.
Some people call this monument in the style of Peter the Great Baroque because of its small size "the first Russian cottage." As an architect and designer, D. Trezzini managed the construction of this palace for four whole years. The bas-reliefs on the outside are made on a mythological theme. Trezzini's goal was to perpetuate the victory in the Northern War. Contemporaries perfectly preserved and reached carved oak and walnut painted ornaments in the interior and picturesque ceiling.
Finally
Despite the fact that it is considered not quite appropriate to its name, Peter's Baroque is unique in its own way. With all the clearly visible borrowings, this style carries a lot of individual features. Moreover, the buildings of that era have no analogues in the world, they are original. Facades of buildings, although relatively simple, but at the same time elegant and very representative. There are no bulky and heavy decorations on them, while expressiveness is achieved with minimal details.