| Vorontsov Palace | |
|---|---|
| Vorontsovskiy palace north.jpg The northern façade of the Vorontsov's Palace, located in the town of Alupka in Crimea, Ukraine |
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| General information | |
| Type | Palace |
| Architectural style | Tudor, Scottish Baronial, Moorish Revival, Gothic |
| Location | Alupka, Crimea |
| Country | Ukraine |
| Coordinates | |
| Construction started | ca. 1828-1830[nb 1] |
| Completed | 1848 |
| Design and construction | |
| Owner | Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov (1782-1856) |
| Architect | Edward Blore[nb 2] |
The Vorontsov Palace (Ukrainian: Воронцовський палац; Russian: Воронцовский дворец) is an historic palace situated at the foot of the Crimean Mountains near the town of Alupka in Crimea, located in southern Ukraine. The palace was constructed for Prince Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov as a summer residence in the Tudor style,[1][5] with elements of Scottish Baronial,[6] Moorish Revival, and Gothic architecture.[3]
The Vorontsov Palace is one of the oldest and largest residential palaces in all of Crimea,[3] as well as one of the most popular tourist attractions on Crimea's southern coast.[5] The palace's territory and grounds are commonly featured in Ukrainian and Soviet cinema productions such as An Ordinary Miracle (1964), Nebesnye lastochki (1976), Crazy Day or The Marriage of Figaro (2004), and Sappho (2008).[7]
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The palace was commissioned to be used as a summer residence for the Governor-General of Novorossiya, Prince Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov (1782-1856).[8] Construction on the palace began in 1830, according to a project by English architect Edward Blore (1789–1879). The architect himself did not visit Alupka, but was well informed about the area's mountainous landscape and terrain. When the construction began, it was discovered that a foundation and basement of the palace's main concourse was already in place, owing to the fact that the palace was originally supposed to be constructed to the design of architects Francesco Boffo and Thomas Harrison.
Serfs from the Moscow and the Vladimir Governorates were brought in to construct the palace. Masons with expertise in "white stone" constructions were also brought in to help. The blocks used on the construction of the palace were made of diabase, locally found in the region.[4] All of the other materials were brought in from far away locations.[4] Work carried out on the place was done by hand, with the use of primitive tools.
The first room to be constructed of the Vorontsov Palace was the dining room, built from 1830-1834. The main and central wing of the building was constructed from 1831-1837. During 1841-1842, a billiard room was added to the dining room. During 1838-1844, the guest wing, the east wing, towers, the maintenance wing, and the front entrance were added on to the building. The last wing built of the castle was the library wing, constructed from 1842-1846. The remaining years on the construction of the palace were spent on the interior decor.[4]
The largest of the landscaping jobs carried out on the palace's grounds were done from 1840 to 1848 with the help of soldiers helping to construct the park's terraces located in front of the building's southern entrance. The parks plant life was brought in from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, from North and South America, and eastern Asia.[4] Currently over 200 species of plant life exist within the palace's grounds.[4][9]
In the summer of 1848, white marble sculptures of two medici lions were installed on the central staircase leading up to the castle. The sculptures were carried out by the Italian sculptor Giovanni Bonnani. The construction of the palace ensemble was finished with the addition of the lion sculptures.
For three generations, the Vorontsov Palace belonged to the Vorontsov family. After the Soviets came to power after the October Revolution, the palace was transformed into a museum, which took up the main, dining, and library wings. In 1927, a resort was opened in a wing of the palace, and a polyclinic and rest facility was opened within the palace's technical wing.[4]
When World War II began in 1941, the museum expositions were evacuated from Alupka in fear of damage from attacking armies. However, other museums in Crimea were not evacuated due to a lack of time. Occupants of the museum had also evacuated many architectural pieces, including some 537 items of art and graphics, 360 pieces of the building's decor, sets of unique furniture, and a series of historic books.[4] After the war, a small collection was recovered and was placed back in the palace.
From February 11–14, 1945, the Yalta Conference took place in the neighboring Livadia Palace between representatives from the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union. During the time, the Vorontsov Palace served as the residence of Winston Churchill and the British delegation to the conference. In 1956, the Vorontsov Palace was once again reinstated as a museum, on the order of the Soviet government.[3][5] Two years later, the museum was changed to incorporate architectural and art exhibits, and in 1965 the palace's territory was named as the Alupka Palace-Park Complex.[4]
The Vorontsov Palace was built according to new architectural-construction principles, however still managing to incorporate Classical style architectural elements. An important architectural characteristic of the palace was its relation to the nearby Crimean Mountains, with which it harmonized perfectly. The palace was designed in the English Tudor style,[1] incorporating elements of early English architecture with later architecture, because it took about 18 years to construct the palace. The earliest examples of the palace's architecture appear from the western gates — the later architecture, appears farther away from the western gates.
However being mainly in the English style, some eastern elements can be seen in the palace. For instance, the Gothic-style chimney stacks are reminiscent of Islamic minarets. The southern façade is also designed in an eastern architecture style. The southern entrance to the palace is characterized with a flat roof topped off with two minaret-style towers, below which rests an entrance hall leading out towards the exit through a horse-shoe arch. On the interior walls of the entrance hall is an inscription written in Arabic: "There is no Conqueror, except Allah." Side balconies adjoin the entrance hall looking over the so-called "lion terrace."