Discussion of project proposals for the restoration of the Strelna palace-and-park ensemble

On 8 October 2001, in the Great Hall of the Menshikov Palace, a meeting was held of the "expanded scholarly expert board" to review preliminary proposals for the restoration and reconstruction of the Strelna palace-and-park ensemble. Participants included Natalia Dementyeva, first deputy Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation, and project reviewer D.O. Shvidkovsky.

This event is a consequence of the fact that in June 2001 a consortium made up of GIPRONII RAN (the Russian Academy of Sciences Design and Research Institute) and the State Hermitage won by tender the right to draw up a plan for the restoration and reconstruction of the Strelna palace-and-park ensemble. GIPRONII RAN is assuming the role of general designer, while the State Hermitage will act as scholarly supervisor of the plan.

The meeting of the scholarly board was chaired jointly by N.I. Yavein, chairperson of the St Petersburg Committee for the State Use and Preservation of Historical Monuments, and Hermitage director Mikhail Piotrovsky. Ye.Ye. Kolchina, chairwoman of the St Petersburg administration’s Culture Committee, was also present. In June–August 2001, in effect concurrently with the planning work, the Hermitage conducted several meetings of the "Scholarly-Methodical Board on the Restoration of the Strelna Palace-and-Park Ensemble" which identified issues arising from the conception of the restoration work — the adaptation of the Strelna Palace for use as the setting for state receptions as well as a museum, and the possible construction of a "pavilion for negotiations" on Petrovsky Island in the Lower Park.

These issues concern Natalia Dementyeva, a St Petersburger who holds a high government post in Moscow. It was on her initiative that the "expanded board" was created, made up of the Scholarly-Methodical Board on the Restoration of the Strelna Palace-and-Park Ensemble (chaired by Mikhail Piotrovsky) plus the scholarly-expert board attached to the St Petersburg Committee for the State Use and Preservation of Historical Monuments (chaired by N.I. Yavein). This board includes such prominent restorers and architectural theoreticians as I.N. Benois (project reviewer), A.V. Kobak, T.A. Slavina, V.G. Lisovsky, Yu.I. Kurbatov, B.M. Kirikov, O.V. Taratynova and V.P. Lukin.

Preliminary proposals were put forward for discussion: Mikhailov’s Architectural Studio’s suggestions for the restoration and reconstruction of Grand Duke Konstantin’s Palace and the park; GIPRONII RAN’s proposal for the construction of a "pavilion for negotiations" on Petrovsky Island; the Liteinaya chast–91 architectural bureau’s ideas for the restoration of small elements and objects in the ensemble. Each member of the board expressed his or her views on the most important project issues:

• the possible recreation of the side galleries of the palace. (The galleries were an integral part of the original design of the palace produced by the Italian architect Niccolo Michetti about 1719. They stood until the early 1800s when they were dismantled.)
• the possibility of recreating the palace interiors (after the Second World War not a single room was left in the palace with its decorative finishing intact. In the 1950s two state rooms — the Marble and Blue Halls — were recreated with a number of inaccuracies and deviations from the original interiors.)
• the possible construction of a "pavilion for negotiations" on Petrovsky Island
• the possible linking of the central canal to the Gulf of Finland and the ordering of the coastal area (in keeping with plans drawn up in the first half of the 18th century).
  

The plan for the restoration and reconstruction of the Strelna palace-and-park ensemble is presently in the active development stage. The questions covered here relate to the first phase of the project which is intended for completion by May 2003.

N.I. Yavein, chairperson of the St Petersburg Committee for the State Use and Preservation of Historical Monuments, Hermitage director Mikhail Piotrovsky and Natalia Dementyeva, first Deputy Minister of Culture at the meeting

The main stages in the formation of the spatial composition of the architectural monument (analytical diagrams)
Larger view

The main stages in the formation of the spatial composition of the architectural monument (pictorial material)
Larger view