The Boudoir of the Empress Maria Alexandrovna in the Winter Palace (Room 306)

The State Hermitage continues the series entitled “The Living Quarters in the Winter Palace.” In 1841, before the wedding of the Crown Prince Alexander Nikolayevich and Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna, “the new heir’s quarters” were created on the first floor in the south-western part of the Winter Palace. The living quarters of the newly- married couple, designed by A.P. Bryullov, were simple yet exquisite. The Boudoir (now Room 306) became one of the favourite rooms of Maria Alexandrovna and her family. The interior of the room was decorated in cold tones. The walls are upholstered in blue patterned silk on a light ground. The same fabric was used for the furniture made in the famous Workshop of H.Gambs. As other rooms from the Grand Duchess’s private quarters, the Boudoir was decorated with paintings that were brought from the Hermitage halls for a short period of time to be later replaced with others. During the first happy years of their married life, Maria Alexandrovna and Alexander Nikolayevich liked to spend their time here, drinking tea or reading books. Since the quarters of the Grand Duchess had no library of its own, she had book shelves arranged on the small staircase that connected the Boudoir with the ground floor quarters. This room also served as a study, where Maria Alexandrovna used to write letters to her family, to read and to have a rest. Maria Alexandrovna often held poetry readings in the Boudoir with many famous poets present. Amongst those men were P.A. Vyazemsky, A.K. Tolstoy, F.I. Tyutchev and, of course, V.A. Zhukovsky, the tutor of the Grand Duchess, who ignited her interest in the Russian literature and history. During those happy years of her life in the Winter Palace, the young Grand Duchess was deeply involved in decorating her private apartments. In the early 1850s she once again decided to change the décor of the rooms. The Boudoir was completely remodelled by Harald Julius von Bosse, one of the leading architects of the mid-19th century, who designed the interior in the Second Rococo style. The restrained blue and light blue colour scheme was replaced by the deep garnet colour of the wall upholstery, enhanced by the intricate floral ornament. The architect replaced the former barrel-vault by the flat ceiling, lavishly decorated with gilded ornaments, embellished with the figures of putti along its perimeter, and a mirror in the exquisite frame in the middle. Instead of an austere semicircular niche, Bosse created a rectangular alcove with an intricately fashioned arch, decorated with the figures of Caryatides. Despite the existing ban on installing any new chimneys in the Winter Palace, at the wish of Maria Alexandrovna and with permission from Nicholas I, the fireplace was moved from the internal wall of the building to the external one. As a result, the interior of the Boudoir benefited from this arrangement of the furniture. Today, this fireplace, which stands in the pier between the two windows, is the only heating device in the Winter Palace that is located on the external wall of the building. The décor of the Boudoir survived the turbulent events of the first third of the 20th century, and has come down to us due to the efforts of the restorers. In the 1960s the decayed wall upholstery was replaced with the authentic fabric created according to the original technologies. On one of the walls of the Boudoir the restorers left a fragment of the original garnet brocatel (silk fabric with metal thread) that was ordered in the mid-19th century from the Cartier factory in Paris. The sculptural decoration of the interior has been preserved, as well as the moulded gilded décor, and the painted dessus de porte over the doors depicting the goddess of Venus. Today, the Boudoir is one of the few extant living quarters in the Winter Palace of the mid-19th century that has seen the private life of the members of the Imperial family.

[@user-ew9sb8zo2u]

Впечатлён !, видом, статусом женской части дворцовых покоев !!! ✌️👍👍👍💖
Хоть и исключение из общестатистичего фона "жилья" тех лет..., но ОЧЕНЬ красиво, с тонким высоким вкусом сделано буквально ВСЁ!!!, и определённая выраженная ГОРДОСТЬ за наличие такого факта в те! годы, и тем более что это усилиями государства сохранено, восстановлено именно в сегодняшние дни !!!
Очень полезно не просто для познания образа жизни императорской четы в те времена, но и формирует хороший вкус для обстановки своего жилья !!!
Большое спасибо за содержательный видеоролик !!!
Всем хорошего настроения и крепкого здоровья !!!

[@user-nv2ec2zp5k]

Спасибо, очень интересно и познавательно!

[@user-fc7ek9jj3o]

Спасибо. Смотрим в Запорожье.

[@nochgorod]

Супер!👍👍👍

[@user-ge3kx4uz2w]

Спасибо.

[@user-xw4xn9dd8d]

Благодарю , вас . Красивая , наша история! 🌷🌷🌷

[@ninashepel5292]

Большое спасибо за интересную содержательную и познавательную экскурсию.Очень понравилось.Год назад я была в Петербурге, в Зимнем Дворце,как будто снова посетила великолепный Музей.

[@user-og7bw8gq3t]

Такая красивая императрица

[@olesalutvunenko8784]

А душевная какая!!

[@verabalashkina2156]

🤭😳🥺😩👍@@olesalutvunenko8784