218 years ago, on February 26, 1797, the foundation of the Mikhailovsky Castle was founded in St. Petersburg. This palace was the dream of Emperor Paul I, but ironically, it was here that the conspirators dealt with him. The history of one of the most beautiful architectural monuments of the 18th century has always been shrouded in mysticism. the site recalls interesting facts and urban legends associated with the castle.
Castle Obsession
Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich planned to build a luxurious palace back in 1784. From that moment on, the process of designing the building began, which lasted almost 12 years.
Mysterious coincidences can be traced in the history of the building from the very beginning. For example, the castle could have been built not in the center of St. Petersburg, but in Gatchina. But subsequently the emperor’s residence was placed exactly on the spot where Elizabeth Petrovna’s Summer Palace had once been located. It was there that Pavel was born on September 20, 1754. 47 years later, he would meet his death here. But first things first…
Mikhailovsky Castle replaced the wooden Summer Palace. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / Aleks G
Paul I ascended the throne in early November 1796. One of his first decrees was a document on the need to build a luxurious residence on the embankment of the Fontanka River. For this purpose, the emperor ordered to stop many other construction projects, from where materials for the castle were removed, sketches for which, among other architects, were prepared by the king himself.
Marble was brought from St. Isaac's Cathedral to the Fontanka embankment, inlaid parquet was brought from the Tauride Palace, and decorative stone, columns, friezes and sculptures were delivered from Tsarskoe Selo. About six thousand people were herded to the construction site, who worked day and night by torchlight.
The Emperor entrusted the realization of his dream to the architect Vasily Bazhenov and the Italian Vincenzo Brenna. A foreign specialist finalized Bazhenov’s project, which is why he was later mistakenly considered the only author.
The suspicious Paul I, fearing palace coups, wanted to complete the construction of the Mikhailovsky Castle as soon as possible in order to move there from the Winter Palace. In his mind, the castle was supposed to become an impregnable fortress. In many ways this was true. The luxurious building is located on an island: it was washed by the Moika, Fontanka and two canals. Bridges were thrown across them, which were raised at night.
On February 1, 1801, the emperor, together with Maria Feodorovna and his children, solemnly moved into the palace.
Paul I and Maria Fedorovna with their sons Konstantin and Alexander. Photo: Public Domain
Radiant Youth
According to legend, the king gave the name of the residence because of a vision. A young man surrounded by radiance appeared to a military man standing guard at the Summer Palace. He said to the soldier: “Go to the emperor and convey my will - so that a temple and a house in the name of the Archangel Michael be erected on this place.” However, historians do not rule out that with the help of mysticism, Paul I, known for his oddities, tried to justify the need for the speedy construction of the building.
At the moment, the facade of the Mikhailovsky Palace is being restored. Photo: www.russianlook.com
The word “castle” in the name also belongs to the king’s whim. He, who accepted the title of Grand Master of the Order of Malta, called all his palaces “castles”.
This case became the only one in the history of Russian architecture when a secular architectural structure began to be named after a saint.
40 days in a castle
Paul I was destined to briefly enjoy the large-scale and expensive realization of his dream. The Tsar lived in Mikhailovsky Castle for only 40 days.
The Emperor wanted to host meetings and ceremonies of the Knights of Malta at his residence - for this purpose, several state apartments were decorated in the appropriate style. The only formal reception was the audience with the Danish minister Count Levendal, given on February 24, 1801 in the Maltese throne room.
Also, in just over a month, a masquerade was held in the Mikhailovsky Castle, and the last event was a concert in the General Dining Hall, where Madame Chevalier performed, who, according to rumors spreading at that time, was the mistress of Paul I and a spy for Bonaparte.
Throne room of the Mikhailovsky Castle. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / Mikhailovsky Castle
47 letters
On the night of March 11, 1801, Emperor Paul I was killed by conspirators who managed to penetrate the fortress, which at that time was surrounded by ditches and bridges. In the Mikhailovsky Castle they demanded that the emperor abdicate the throne, but Paul I refused. Then brute force was used: the king’s head was broken and he was strangled with a scarf. Subsequently, the official version stated that the emperor died of “apoplexy.” Information about the conspiracy has reached our days thanks to the few recollections of participants in those events.
Shortly before the murder, according to legend, a holy fool appeared in St. Petersburg, who predicted that the Tsar would live for as many years as there were letters in the biblical aphorism inscribed above the Resurrection Gate of the Mikhailovsky Castle: “To your house befits the holiness of the Lord for the length of days,” that is - 47.
Also, some sources mention that on the day of the murder, the son of Paul I, Mikhail, was playing in the residence, and when he was asked what he was doing, he replied that he was burying his father.
After the murder, the family left the Mikhailovsky Castle, returning to the Winter Palace.
Ghost of the King
Only in 1819 the empty building was given to the Main Engineering School, which is why the castle began to be called the Engineering Castle. The canals were filled in, bridges were removed, and later redevelopment was carried out. During the Great Patriotic War, a hospital was located here, and until 1991 several institutions moved here at once. After perestroika, the Mikhailovsky Palace was given to the Russian Museum, where it still belongs.
However, according to legend, the ghost of Paul I was never able to leave the place of his death, just as he was unable to abdicate the throne before his death. The silhouette of the Tsar was first seen in the 1840s. He was noticed by soldiers from a platoon of a military garrison transporting property. Later, the new inhabitants of the building, as well as random passers-by, noticed a figure resembling an emperor.
St. Petersburg residents still see a ghost in the windows of the Mikhailovsky Castle. Photo: www.russianlook.com
However, it is possible that the image of the ghost of Paul I was created by senior cadets of the Engineering School in order to intimidate recruits. Russian writer Nikolai Leskov wrote about this in his book “Ghost in the Engineering Castle” about hazing at the school. In it, the ghost was demystified.
In the 1980s, an informal study was carried out at the castle by employees of the Commission on Anomalous Phenomena at the Russian Geographical Society of the Russian Academy of Sciences. They studied the supposed anomalous activity, but their findings, if any, were not widely publicized.
Be that as it may, some of the St. Petersburg residents walking past the Mikhailovsky Castle still claim that they sometimes notice the silhouette of Paul I in the window.
The ghost of Paul and the fatal number of letters on the main facade. There are many legends and mysteries around the Mikhailovsky Castle, which has become one of the most mystical places in St. Petersburg. On March 9, exactly 220 years ago, the first stone was laid in the foundation of the palace. Life, together with the historical writer and researcher of St. Petersburg urban folklore Naum Sindalovsky, recalled several of the most famous legends associated with the final resting place of Paul I.
The castle was built by order of the Archangel Michael
“On this site a temple should be built in the name of the Archangel Michael.” Such a message, allegedly from the Archangel Michael himself, was delivered to Paul I on the night of 1797 through the watchman of Elizabeth Petrovna’s palace, which then stood on the site of the present Mikhailovsky Castle. The emperor hastily began to carry out the divine will, but made his own adjustments to it. Four years later, a luxurious country house grew up on the site of the temple. But the house church on the castle grounds was still named after the archangel. Paul I moved into the residence on February 1, but lived there for 40 days: on the night of March 11-12, 1801, he was killed in his own bed.
“The holiness of the Lord is fitting for your house for as long as the days are.”
At the Smolensk cemetery, the Blessed Xenia predicted: Paul I will live as long as the letters in the saying above the main facade of the Mikhailovsky Castle. The inscription on the pediment read: “To your house shall the holiness of the Lord befit the length of days.” After the news of Pavel's death, St. Petersburg residents ran to the castle and feverishly began to count the letters. It turned out to be 47. Exactly as old as the emperor, who was born in 1754.
Good morning, Your Majesty!
An emperor with such a mystical character could not just leave his possessions after death. When the castle was rebuilt into the Engineering School, the cadets who studied there frightened each other by walking along the corridors in a sheet and holding a candle. Paul I turned into a horror story of the times of Tsarist Russia. However, even our contemporaries believe in the restless spirit of Catherine’s son. Some servants of the castle in the morning, walking around the empty halls, say “Good morning, Your Majesty,” spoken into the emptiness of the echoing corridor. Or not completely into emptiness...
Which have not be avoided
Paul's death is shrouded in mystery and speculation. The most common story is that the emperor could have escaped. Allegedly, an underground passage to the monument to Peter I was built from his bedroom. But Pavel did not have time to use it. Moreover, his last evening with his family was accompanied by hints and half-hints, which were subsequently interpreted by many as predictions of death. The emperor left the dining room, uttering the phrase “What happens, must happen.” These were his last words on that fateful night.
Dates names the promises that were announced to the pagan peoples through the holy Prophets and whose faithfulness the Lord testified, having actually fulfilled at the last days of His coming. Holiness befits Your house, O Lord. The House of the Lord is the Church, and it behooves it to be holy: because He who alone is holy will dwell in it. And when this is fulfilled, then, having partaken of the endless shrine, he will enjoy it.
Blzh. Theodoret of Cyrus
“Your testimonies were greatly assured.” Yet You foretold these things from of old, and foretold them through Your holy Prophets; and the truth of this is proven by the evidence of works. This addition is also wonderful: "zelo", that is, it is not possible to discern even the slightest lie in the prophecies, but everything now visible is predicted with accuracy.
“Holiness befits Thy house, O Lord, throughout the length of days.” But the greatest and best of all blessings is that the enjoyment of what is given is not fleeting and not limited by time, like the Jewish service, but constant, always abiding and eternal; because this corresponds and befits Your new house. And the divine Paul called the house of God the assembly of believers, to which, as the Prophet said, "befitting a shrine". Therefore, it behooves us, according to the apostolic exhortation, to cleanse "from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit", create "a shrine in the passion of God"(2 Cor. 7:1), so that, having prepared a temple worthy of God, we may receive into it an eternal Dweller.
Evfimy Zigaben
Your testimonies were greatly assured.
The testimonies, he says, about You, Lord, are very faithful, that is, true; otherwise: the sayings of the prophets, spoken by them at different times and in different forms about the incarnation of Christ and about His economy in the flesh, according to the nameless explainer and Didymus, all turned out to be true from the very deeds and events.
Words Theodorite: The addition is also appropriate: zelo (strong), instead of saying otherwise; None of the prophecies should be supposed to be false; but exactly everything that is now visible was predicted in advance and turned out to be true.
Holiness befits Thy house, O Lord, for the length of days.
The House of God is a conciliar Christian church, as we have noted many times. This, he says, is fitting for Thy house, O Lord, to be holy; otherwise, it is fitting for it to be holy, as the house of a holy God. And the church will be holy if there is purity and holiness in it and non-involvement in any defilement, either mental or physical. And such holiness and non-participation in the Church of God must turn into the length of days, otherwise it will be forever. According to Paul, the house of God is also called the temple of God and every Christian, in which the holiness and purity of His life should be found.
Why and Afanasy says: This means that nothing is needed so much for the preservation of the church in the length of days as holiness. If it happens that in the house of God there is absurdity and instead of holiness there is a nasty and unclean thing, then it will be impossible for her to remain for a long time. Unnamed: The House of God is all Christians who appropriate Him to their home. Such should be true saints, not only on this or that day, but throughout the length of days; just as Paul said: Or do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone corrupts the temple of God, then God will corrupt him; for the temple of God is holy; and such are you (2 Cor. 3:16). For whoever has become the house of God truly becomes holiness and sanctification, so that, as belonging to God, he would equally be holy, and, conversely, as holy, he would at the same time be God’s. If holiness is appropriate for all Christians who belong to the church; then isn’t it much more fitting for the holy patriarchs, bishops and priests who are in it? Why and Zlatoust in the 83rd conversation on Matthew, the priesthood was called the ministry of Angels, and Clement the Gatherer was undefiled and immaculate (book 7. Collections). And holiness, according to the divine Dionysius, there is perfect purity and non-involvement in any filth (chapter 12, About God's names). Why Theodorite said: Therefore, according to the admonition of the Apostle, we must cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit and practice holiness in the fear of God, so that, having prepared a worthy house of God, we may also receive an eternal dwelling.
Drunk with wine and anger,
Hidden killers are coming,
There is insolence on their faces, fear in their hearts...
The unfaithful sentry is silent,
The drawbridge is silently lowered,
The gates are open in the darkness of the night
By the hired hand of betrayal...
A.S. Pushkin
M
Ikhailovsky or Engineering Castle of St. Petersburg.
This is not only a historical and architectural monument. This is the mystical castle-palace of Emperor Paul I, which became a predictor of his death. Legends and traditions of past centuries swirl around it, and even now there is still a lot of mystical and inexplicable things in the castle.
Some historical sources claim that the name is associated with the appearance of the Archangel Michael or his envoy to the guard soldier at the place where the castle was subsequently erected (perhaps in memory of this there is a small soldier in a niche near the bridge). This is exactly how the sovereign’s decision was previously explained to call the castle “Mikhailovsky” immediately after the start of construction.
The palace was built in an emergency... Pavel was in a hurry, taking away construction and finishing materials from other objects. And here is your first legend. Not only coins were laid in the foundation (as it should be for good luck). Pavel personally also laid commemorative bricks made of jasper.
I have a separate post about the construction of the castle-palace and its history in Pavlovian times and after it...
On November 8 (21), 1800, on the day of St. Michael the Archangel, the castle was solemnly consecrated, but work on its interior decoration continued until March 1801. The assassination of the emperor took place 40 days after the housewarming...
In a niche near the bridge, stalwart tin soldiers stand guard day and night. Even the shadow of the emperor is visible.
Some believe that this is Second Lieutenant Kizhe, a sort of Lieutenant Rzhevsky from the time of Paul I. He will bring good luck if you hit his head with a coin. Then he will swear...
Listen carefully, the place where he will send you is the promised land for you... (joke).
The second lieutenant is not the only mystical guard of the Mikhailovsky Castle.
They say the ghost of the murdered Emperor Paul still walks the dark corridors at night.
This is no longer a joke. His silhouette was seen immediately after his death, then during the years of revolutionary change. Even during the time of Soviet anti-religious atheism, the ghost regularly made your teeth chatter with fear.
The spirit of the murdered emperor frightens both religious people and atheists. Usually he comes exactly at midnight. Pavel knocks, looks out the window, tugs the curtains, creaks the parquet floor... even winks, inhabiting his own portrait. Some see light from the glow of the candle that Paul's spirit carries before him.
At night, doors slam loudly here (even if all the windows are closed). And those who are especially lucky and impressionable even hear the muffled sound of playing the harmonic, an ancient musical instrument that the emperor loved to listen to during his lifetime...
There is a belief that every year on the day of his death, Paul stands at his bedroom window and looks down. He counts passers-by... and takes the soul of 48th with him... however, there is no need to panic, this is just a legend. And he can take the soul only if there is a bright Moon in the sky.
Attention! In order not to incur the wrath of a ghost, when meeting you, you need to lower your head and say: “Good night, Your Imperial Majesty!” The Emperor will immediately disappear... otherwise, there may be trouble.
The portrait of the emperor is also naughty... for those interested, watch the video in the post under the link below.
In addition, according to legend, a casket with great Christian relics of the Order of Malta, including the “Grail,” is hidden in the dungeons of St. Michael’s Castle. This legend is not based on nothing! I have already written about it in detail, so I will not repeat it.
During the Great Patriotic War, the city leadership received information from the military from a deceased monk about a secret room under the basements of the castle where there was a silver casket with Christian relics and a certain mystical object that allowed one to travel in time and look into the future.
After the war, a commission on anomalous phenomena worked in the palace. Whether the reason was the desire to find the casket or frequent complaints about ghosts, it is no longer possible to find out. But a commission consisting of Soviet atheist scientists counted more than 17 inexplicable facts and inexplicable night lights (ghosts) in the castle. The materials were classified - no one intended to scare the religious population and amuse the communists.
In 2003, a monument to Paul I by sculptor V. E. Gorevoy and architect V. I. Nalivaiko was erected in the courtyard of the castle.
Surprisingly, during the renovation, an antique lampshade (a huge painting on the ceiling) from the main hall of the Catherine Palace was found in it. Previously, the lampshade was considered lost. Now it is in its historical place. The lampshade was rolled into a huge roll, which lay quietly in the corner, littered with various antique rubbish. But inventories took place there throughout the Soviet period! I wrote a detailed post about this on Mail, I’ll post it over time.
From secular legends - supposedly the color of the walls was chosen in honor of the glove of the emperor's favorite Anna Gagarina (Lopukhina).
But it’s time to move on to the main legend and the tragedy of the castle - assassination of Paul I
The brutal murder of Emperor Paul I in the Mikhailovsky Castle gave rise to many legends. According to evidence, a few days before the murder, the spirit of Peter I appeared to Paul, who warned his grandson about the danger that threatened him. They also said that on the day of the murder, Pavel saw in one of the mirrors the reflection of himself with a broken neck.
On the day of his death, Pavel was cheerful. But at breakfast he suddenly became sad, then stood up abruptly and said, “What happens, cannot be avoided!”
Some researchers believe that Paul knew about his imminent death and tried to avoid it in the palace. There is a legend that Hieroschemamonk Abel told Paul the approximate date of his death. Paul believed the predictors and this particular elder, because he accurately predicted the date of death of his mother, Catherine the Great. Allegedly, Paul asked him about his death and heard in response - “The number of Your years is like the counting of the letters of the saying above the gates of Your castle, in which is truly the promise and about Your Royal generation.”
This inscription was a modified text of the psalm of David (Ps. 93:6):
“YOUR HOUSE SHALL BE HOLY TO THE LORD FOR THE LENGTH OF DAYS ”
By order of Paul, the builders brought this inscription with copper letters from St. Isaac's Church, and for Isaac it was “stolen” from the Resurrection Novodevichy Convent.
Perhaps by the holiness of the test, Paul wanted to remove the “curse” of prediction from himself. Or perhaps he simply surrendered himself into the hands of God.
The inscription contains 47 letters, and Paul I was killed precisely at the age of 47.
When the conspirators came to kill Pavel, he could use the secret passage that was in his bedroom. There was enough time for this. But for some reason Pavel didn’t want to... the fact that he was hiding from the conspirators in the fireplace was quite possibly an invention of the killers.
An underground passage was dug from the Mikhailovsky Castle to the Vorontsov Palace. 3.5 km! At that time it was the longest underground passage in Russia, and possibly in the world. Some historians believe that it was precisely because of this that the conspirators entered the palace.
Here is a plan of the castle premises. I won’t write how the murder was committed; Google will tell you about it just as well as I can.
The conspirators failed to get him to abdicate the throne and...
As you know, the emperor died from an apocalyptic blow... to the head with a snuff box (the black humor of those times).
Not everyone knows that Pavel (for the first time for Russia), instead of an image of his profile, ordered the inscription to be minted on a silver ruble:
"NOT TO US, NOT TO US, BUT TO YOUR NAME."
The emperor took religion seriously.
Researchers generally consider the number 4 to be magical for Pavel. The total length of Paul's reign was 4 years, 4 months and 4 days. Mikhailovsky Castle (his main and favorite brainchild) took 4 years to build. And the emperor managed to live in it only for 40 days.
Engraving by Uthwaite after a drawing by Philippoto.
Paul tried to make the castle impregnable. Perhaps he foresaw future upheavals (according to some sources, the future of all the Romanovs was predicted for him) and Pavel wanted to protect his descendants, build a protected fortress house for them. Which would be guarded by soldiers and guns and the Lord God himself.
The palace was surrounded on all sides by water - from the north and east by the Moika and Fontanka rivers, and from the south and west by the Tserkovny and Voznesensky canals. The palace could only be reached via three drawbridges, which were very tightly guarded. In addition to bayonets, Paul was protected by guns and secret passages and numerous secret rooms of the castle.
But all this did not help Pavel. The elder’s prophecy came true... and his castle, instead of a defender of autocracy in Russia, turned into a mystical “dirty” place - no one else dared to trust the castle with their lives, because it could not even protect its creator, Emperor Paul.
It so happened that Paul I died in the same place where he was born. He erected the building of the Mikhailovsky Castle on the site of the wooden Summer Palace, where on October 1 (September 20), 1754, Grand Duchess Ekaterina Alekseevna gave birth to him...
The image of a ghost was actively used by senior cadets of the Nikolaev Engineering School, based in the Mikhailovsky Castle, to intimidate younger ones.
The fame of the ghost of Pavel was brought by the story of N.S. Leskov "Ghost in the Engineering Castle".
In Soviet times, there were complaints about doors slamming, footsteps involuntarily opening windows in the castle at night (which led to the alarm going off). In the 1980s, staff of the Commission on Anomalous Phenomena of the Russian Geographical Society of the Russian Academy of Sciences conducted a limited and informal study of supposed anomalous activity in the building (which was simply amazing for that time).
The research consisted of a detailed survey of employees, filming the premises with a film camera, measuring the magnetic field, and even examining the premises with a “frame” or “dowsing”. The study's findings are kept secret.
They met a long time ago - great-grandfather and great-grandson... I’m sure they had something to tell each other about. If Pavel had lived, the history of Russia would definitely have turned out differently. And it’s not a fact that it would have been less great; Paul was preparing to take India in alliance with Napoleon. At the very least, a war with Napoleon would certainly have been avoided, but it would obviously have been necessary to fight with England together with Napoleon and capture India. I don't even know which is better.
Some photos and information (C) Wikipedia and other Internet
Three-part bridge
Maple Street
Two pavilions of the Guardia of the Mikhailovsky Castle
The architecture of the palace is uncharacteristic for St. Petersburg in the 18th century. With the strict elegance of its style, the castle is more reminiscent of a medieval fortress; it is the only palace building in Russia in the style of romantic classicism.
The unique appearance of this building, combining contradictory architectural trends and stylistic techniques, sets it apart in the general mainstream of the development of Russian classicism. However, it is the Mikhailovsky Castle that is perceived as the most expressive symbol of the Pavlovian era. Its appearance clearly embodied the artistic tastes and originality of the personality of the owner and main creator - Emperor Paul I
Southern (main) facade
The central part of the southern façade is contrastingly highlighted by a portico raised to a high ground floor of four double Ionic columns of red marble with a richly decorated sculpted pediment and attic above it.
It was decorated with the bas-relief “History records the glory of Russia on its tablets,” made by the sculptor P. Stadzhi. Also on this façade was a modified biblical quote (originally referred to God, not the monarch) - To your house shall the holiness of the Lord befit the length of days.
The main southern facade is emphatically monumental and representative. The solemn formation of its columns and giant obelisks are reminiscent of the Louvre colonnade and the Saint-Denis gate in Paris.
The northern facade opposite the main one, facing the Summer Garden, was designed as a park.
At its center is a wide, sculptured staircase leading to an entrance loggia with a pair of Tuscan marble colonnade supporting a terrace. The facade is completed with a richly decorated attic.
The open terrace of this facade is supported by a marble colonnade, and a wide staircase decorated with statues of Hercules and Flora is also used.
The western and eastern facades, according to Bazhenov’s project, were treated in the same way as subordinate ones.
Western façade
East façade
The facade of the palace church, which is crowned with a typical St. Petersburg spire, protrudes towards Sadovaya Street.
Known for his demands for ostentatious effect in palace life and parades, Pavel literally “stuffed” Mikhailovsky with luxury and wealth. They exude both from the interiors themselves (malachite, various types of marble, lapis lazuli, jasper), combining monumental painting and wood carvings, amazing modeling and velvet upholstery with silver embroidery, and from the works of art present in these walls.
On November 8, 1800, on the day of St. Michael the Archangel, the solemn consecration of the castle and its church took place, and in February 1801, Pavel and his family moved from the Winter Palace to the Mikhailovsky Castle.
Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich and Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna with their sons Alexander and Konstantin; presumably K. Heuer, 1781
Gerard von Kügelgen. Portrait of Paul I with his family. 1800
Johann Baptist Lampi the Younger Equestrian portrait of Emperor Paul I with his sons Alexander and Constantine, as well as Palatine Joseph of Hungary. 1802
Maria Feodorovna ; before converting to Orthodoxy - Sophia Marie Dorothea Augusta Luisa von Württemberg (German: Sophia Marie Dorothea Augusta Luisa von Württemberg; October 14, 1759, Stettin - October 24, 1828, Pavlovsk) - princess of the House of Württemberg, second wife of the Russian Emperor Paul I. Mother of Emperors Alexander I and Nicholas I.
Alexander Roslin. Portrait of Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna
Maria Fedorovna shortly after the wedding. Portrait of Alexander Roslin
M.F.Kvadal. Coronation of Paul I and Maria Feodorovna
Maria Fedorovna by Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun (1755-1842)
Vladimir Borovikovsky (1757-1825) Portrait of Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna (1759-1828)
Veil of Jean Louis - Portrait of Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna
Dow George (1781-1829) Portrait of Empress Maria Feodorovna
For just over a month the castle was the royal residence. “Here I was born, here I would like to die” - these words of Emperor Paul I were destined to become prophetic. On March 11, 1801, Emperor Paul I was killed in his bedroom in the Mikhailovsky Castle, becoming a victim of a palace conspiracy. The next morning, the august family returned to the Winter Palace.
The Assassination of Emperor Paul I, engraving from a French historical book, 1880s
Maria Fedorovna in a widow's outfit
Tombstone of Paul I and Maria Feodorovna in the Peter and Paul Cathedral
Mikhailovsky Castle is full of legends and mysteries. Rumor has it that after the murder he walked in it ghost of the murdered emperor, to whom the monk Abel also prophesied about the fate of the entire Romanov family and the Russian state. The envelope with this prophecy was to be opened according to Paul's will on the centenary of his death, and it was kept in another castle - in Gatchina, the suburban residence of the emperor.
For two decades, Mikhailovsky Castle was used for private residence; government apartments for departmental officials and various institutions were located here.
Paul I in a portrait by S. Shchukin
In 1822, by decree of Alexander I, the building was transferred to the Main Engineering School, which gave the castle a new name - “Engineering”. Over the course of a century, the school rebuilt the former imperial residence for its needs. In the middle of the 19th century. By order of Alexander II, on the site of Paul's former bedroom, the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul was built, partially preserved to this day.
Portrait of Emperor Paul I - Nikolai Argunov
F.M. was educated within the walls of the Military Engineering School. Dostoevsky, D.V. Grigorovich, I.M. Sechenov, T.A. Cui and many others.
V.L. Borovikovsky. Portrait of Paul I
In 1991, the building of the Mikhailovsky Castle was transferred to State Russian Museum. Since that time, a comprehensive restoration of the one-of-a-kind architectural monument has been carried out.
Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky
One of the legends of the Mikhailovsky Castle is associated with the color of its walls: according to one version, it was chosen in honor of the glove of the emperor's favorite Anna Gagarina (Lopukhina). According to another, it was the traditional color of the Order of Malta. Following the tsar's choice, the color came into fashion, and for some time the facades of some St. Petersburg palaces were repainted in the same color.
Anna Lopukhina (Gagarin) - the emperor's favorite
When the Russian Museum began restoring the palace, the walls of the castle were brick-red, to which the townspeople had long been accustomed, considering it the original color, especially since it coincided with the colors of the Order of Malta. But restorers discovered remnants of the original paint under the plaster of the palace facade, and this difficult-to-define color (pinkish-orange-yellow) was very different from the usual colors, confirming the story about the glove.
Paul I wearing the crown, dalmatic and insignia of the Order of Malta. Artist V. L. Borovikovsky
In 2001-2002 A uniquely complex reconstruction of part of the fortifications that previously surrounded the castle was carried out - fragments of the Resurrection Canal and the Three-Span Bridge, preserved underground, were discovered. Scientific research and archaeological work made it possible to reconstruct the engineering and technical complex of the 18th century. - one of the central architectural ensembles of St. Petersburg during the time of Paul I.
S. Tonchi Portrait of Paul I in the robes of the Grand Master of the Order of Malta
The restored halls now house permanent exhibitions and temporary exhibitions.
Pavel I - Vladimir Borovikovsky
