Although his fellow country-man had more achievement than him in St. Petersburg, Vincenzo Brenna still identifies as one of the most prominent Italian architects in St. Petersburg because of what he had done on his few projects. Vincenzo Brenna was born in 1745 in Florence. Though he studied to be a painter, he later started to design interiors for Count Stanislaw Potocki of Poland. The Scottish architect Charles Cameron, who was the architect of the future emperor Paul I, had invited Brenna to join his team for designing the interior of Grand Palace at Pavlovsk. From then, he made a strong bond with the royal family, and Paul I had given him the task of reconstructing Grand Palace at Pavlovsk, Grand Palace at Gatchina, and construction of the MIkhailovsky Castle.
One of the highlights of Brenna’s career was training the well-known Italian-born architect, Carlo Rossi, who later became one of the masters of neoclassicism architecture. Brenna’s style of architecture was perfectly matched with Emperor Paul I’s taste, that’s why he left St. Petersburg after his assassination. He returned to Dresden with his assistant Carlo Rossi, and dedicated the last two decades of his life to painting, however, he wasn’t successful. Brenna died in 1820 in Dresden.
Pavlovsk
The Grand Palace at Pavlovsk was initially designed by Charles Cameron, who had won Empress Catherine the Great’s trust after the work he had done in Tsarskoy Selo (Pushkin) for the empress. Cameron was a Scottish born architect who was among artists who had moved to St. Petersburg for work. Cameron began his work in Pavlovsk in 1782, since he was working for the Empress Catherine the Great, he made sure to use neoclassicism architecture in his design. However, his modest design and the fact that he followed Palladian architecture in his design were not something that the successor to the throne, Emperor Pavel I, would accept at all. Pavel I wanted to give the Grand Palace at Pavlovsk to his wife, Maria Feodorovna, but she didn’t like the modesty in Cameron’s design as well. Vincenzo Brenna, who was Cameron’s assistant at that time, was commissioned to reconstruct the palace for Maria Feodorovna. Brenna’s main task was to extend the palace, so he added two curved wings at the end of each side. While the main building was designed in neoclassical architecture, the wings were pretty much was designed in Baroque style. The interior design of Grand Palace at Pavlovsk is a mixture of various architects, including Quarenghi, Brenna, Cameron, Voronikhin, and Rossi. The reconstruction work that Brenna did on Pavlovsk made it one of the major attractions of Russia tour, which also convinced Paul I to offer Brenna another job at Gatchina. If you have plans to visit St. Petersburg suburban area, we at the Star Travel Company recommend a visit to Pavlovsk on your tour to Russia as well as other imperial estates outside the city.
Gatchina
Grand Palace at Gatchina has one of the most unusual architectures of St. Petersburg suburban imperial palaces; however, it’s not striking as the other imperial palaces, such as Catherine Palace at Pushkin or Grand Palace at Pavlovsk. The Grand Palace at Gatchina was initially built for Count Grigory Orlov by one of the most prominent Italian architects in St. Petersburg, Antonio Rinaldi. Rinaldi had the inspiration for his design from his trip to England, which is visible on his plan in Gatchina. He designed Grand Palace like medieval castles that knights used to live in with elements of English royal palaces as well. Rinlandi’s design was both welcoming to people who have visited it, and imposing as well, which is why it was somehow unusual for many people. When Orlov fell out of favor with Catherine the Great, the empress purchased the Gotchina estate for his son, Paul I, but even Orlov’s participation in assassinating his father didn’t stop Paul to fell in love with Grand Palace at Gatchina. However, he commissioned Vincenzo Brenna to reconstruct the palace for him. Paul I was obsessed with military life, and Brenna’s architecture style was perfectly matched with the future emperor’s taste. Brenna mostly added military decoration, such as cannons and sentry boxes to the exterior of the palace, but heavily redesigned the interior; he combined the rococo decoration with neoclassical architecture and created a far more luxurious interior for the palace. Unfortunately, when you visit Grand Palace at Gatchina during your Russia Tour, you will realize that most of the interior of the palace had been changed. Since the second world war, most of the interior of Grand Palace destroyed, and after that, many architects have worked on reconstructing it. Still, we at the Star Travel Company recommend visiting this palace to tourists who have plans to visit St. Petersburg suburban area during their travel to Russia.
St. Michael’s Castle
Brenna’s work in Pavlovsk and Gatchina had impressed Paul I to the point that he decided to give the task of constructing his castle to him. Paul I have the plans to design this castle years before his coronation because he didn’t want to live in Winter Palace, and he also afraid of getting assassinated in the winter palace. Paul I’s obsession with all military things, especially medieval militarism matched with Brenna’s style of work, together and with the help from Vasiliy Bazhenov, have created one of the most unusual buildings in St. Petersburg, the St. Michael Castle or Mikhailovsky Castle. The medieval castle in the center of St. Petersburg between Mikhailovsky Garden and Summer Garden had four different facades in different styles of architecture, including neoclassicism, renaissance, and Gothic architecture style. Paul I’s fear of assassination, resulted in digging two canals around the castle joined with Moika and Fontanka River, which made the castle to only accessible via a drawbridge. Although Brenna had created one of the unusual buildings in St. Petersburg for Paul I, in less than five years, Paul only lived there for about forty days ironically before his assassination; his successor Alexander I had moved the imperial family back to the Winter Palace immediately. Still, St. Michael’s Castle is one of the top St. Petersburg attractive places in Russia tour, which you can visit on your tour to Russia.
Though Brenna hadn’t worked on lots of projects on his time in St. Petersburg, you can still find his works fascinating during your tour to Russia. We at the Star Travel Company recommend our tourist visit our weblog to find out more about top Russia attractive places, our tips about how to spend time during their travel to Russia, and the options and features of our Russia tour programs.
