The city of St. Petersburg is one of the most significant places for tourists to visit on their tour to Russia because it has various places to offer to tourists with different tastes and expectations. One of the highlights of the city is its architecture, which many tourists would love to learn about its history while they’re visiting it on their Russia tour. Many people have worked hard to bring St. Petersburg to this level of attraction, including several foreign artists who have traveled to Russia to work. Some of the pioneer artists who had moved to Russia were Italian architects, such as Domenico Trezzini and Francesco Rastrelli; however, Rastrelli had traveled to Russia as a boy with his father, who was a skilled sculptor that invited to Russia to work.
Even though he was born in Paris, Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli was one of the greatest Italian architects who had worked in Russia. He entered Russia with his father, Carlo Rastrelli, and studied architecture under his father's guidance. Rastrelli was a skilled baroque style architect, who had seen the replacement of his field of expertise with neoclassical architecture in his latest years of activity in St. Petersburg. During his time in St. Petersburg, he was responsible for constructing several significant Russia attractive places in St. Petersburg, including the Winter Palace, Grand Palace of Peterhof, The Catherine Palace of Tsarskoy Selo, the Stroganov Palace, the Smolny Cathedral, and Hermitage Pavilion in Pushkin. He was also the chief architect of Elizabeth's court but dismissed from this title during Catherine the Great's reign. He left St. Petersburg in 1763 but returned in 1771 to teach at the Academy of Art. Sadly, he died a few months after his return.
Peterhof
At first, Peter the Great had plans to establish his court in Strelna. Once he gave up the Strelna plans because of the unsuitability of the ground on the island, he began to think about creating his court at Peterhof, where his Grand Palace at Peterhof was to be the centerpiece of his Russian Versaille. Jean-Baptiste le Blonde, who was one of the most prominent French architects in St. Petersburg, was the designer of the Grand Palace. Since Peter the Great had given up his plans in Strelna, he had decided to bring the glory to Peterhof, which led to the design of the Upper Garden, Nizhny Park, and the Grand Cascade. The Sea Canal was also dug, and Monplaisir, Marly Palace, and Hermitage were built as well; however, before the works in Peterhof completed, Peter the Great died, and the project was abandoned. Francesco Rastrelli was hired after Empress Elizabeth took power to reconstruct the Grand Palace at Peterhof. The Grand Palace was designed in the Baroque architecture, and it had not many decorations, which was the opposite of Rastrelli’s taste in architecture. Rastrelli and his team have added two pavilions at the end of the palace’s wings, which gave it a more majestic look. The interior of the palace has been completely recreated after the second world war when the Nazi army took over the palace and almost destroyed everything inside it. Still, the visitors of the palace would notice the works of Rastrelii alongside Yury Felten and Valiian de la Mothe inside the palace. One of the first things that tourists would see inside the palace is Rastrelli’s Ceremonial Staircase, which has set the mood right for the rest of the tour inside the palace. Though Grand Cascade and Nizhny Park are the main attractions in Peterhof, the Grand Palace is also considered to be one of the significant architectural attractions of the tour to Russia, which we at the Star Travel Company recommend a visit during our Russia Tour program.
Pushkin
Catherine Palace originally belonged to Peter I’s wife, Cathrine I, who was the ruler of Russia for two years after Peter’s death. The original palace was a modest two-story building, but when Empress Elizabeth, daughter of Peter and Catherine I, came to the throne, she had chosen Tsarskoe Selo (Pushkin) as her summer residence. However, she wasn’t happy with the modest palace, so she ordered the chief architect of her court, Francesco Rastrelli, to redesign Catherine Palace in Pushkin. While Peter the Great had the vision to create his Russian Versailles in Peterhof, the Catherine Palace in Pushkin has always been identified as the French palace rival in Russia. Rastrelli began his work in Tsarskoy Selo in 1743, and he invited German sculptor Johann Franz Dunker to assist him in interior creating one of his masterpieces. The exterior of the Cathrine Palace took around 100kg of gold to decorate, which upset the successor to the throne, Catherine the Great when she found out about the matter. Rastrelli had designed the interior of the palace as spectacular as the exterior. The great hall, the White Dining Room, and other rooms of the palace take away the breath of every visitor even today. While each room in this palace can be identified as one of the tour to St. Petersburg attractions, the highlight of the palace would be the fantastic Amber Room, which was previously located in the winter palace but had moved to Catherine Palace by the orders of Elizabeth. We at the Star Travel Company recommend all the tourists visit this room if they take a trip to Pushkin on their tour to Russia.
Smolny Convent
The last project that Francesco Rastrelli had done in St. Petersburg was the unfinished Smolny Convent, which could be his ultimate architectural masterpiece. Still, he only had time to finish the cathedral. The Smolny Convent was a complex of cathedrals, nunnery, and a girl school, which Elizabeth had the plan to build in Russia. It could also be the first school exclusively for girls in Russia if the construction would be completed. Rastrelli began the building in 1748, and by 1761, he was able to finish the cathedral. Unfortunately, Elizabeth died in that year, and her successor, Catherine the Great, was not impressed by Rastrelli's work since she was more into the neoclassicism architecture. Rastrelli dismissed from his job on Smolny Convent in 1763, and the project left abandoned till the 1830s. Although Nicholas I commissioned Vasily Stasov to finish the project, not all the Rastrelli's designed was used in Stasov's vision, including the bell tower. Rastrelli had plans to build; Rastrelli wanted to construct the tallest structure of St. Petersburg, and replace the Peter and Paul Cathedral bell-tower (which was the tallest structure in the city at the time). Though the interior of the cathedral has changed, the exterior of the cathedral is still one of the most beautiful designs of Rastrelli in St. Petersburg, which you can visit on your Russia tour.
Francesco Rastrelli was one of the most prominent architects in St. Petersburg, who could not complete his legacy in the city. However, he still managed to construct some of the major Russia attractive places, which you can visit during your Russia Tour plan. We at the Star Travel Company also recommend our tourists visit our weblog to learn more about our tour to Russia, the best places that they can visit on their travel to Russia, and our tips on how to spend time on their Russia tour.
