Livadia Palace is located in the village of Livadia in the Yalta region of Crimea, 3 kilometres from Yalta. This luxurious white stone structure, surrounded by a landscaped park, is one of the main attractions of the region.
Potocki Palace
Once there was a small estate with a Crimean Tatar village and orchards, belonging to F. Reveliotti, commander of the Balaklava battalion. In 1834 it was bought by Count Lev Pototsky and renamed in the Greek manner in Livadia (Greek for "glade" or "lawn"). The extensive and wealthy Potocki family had vast estates in the south of the Russian Empire and were noted for their passion for building palaces. They owned palaces in Lvov, Uman and Tulchin. The founder of Livadia was the son of Severin Potocki, a figure in the Ministry of Education and an acquaintance of Pushkin from his exile in Kishinev. Thus, the famous Jan Pototsky, author of the "Manuscript found in Zaragoza", is the uncle of the first owner of Livadia.
Lev Severinovich Pototsky himself was a diplomat, he began his career at the Russian mission in Italy, was Russian envoy in Lisbon for a long time, then carried out various diplomatic missions. He was an admirer of ancient culture, took out of Naples a rich collection of Pompeian antiquities. According to the memories of contemporaries, his palace in Livadia most of all resembled a museum. The park was decorated with sculptures, the jewel of it was a marble antique sarcophagus.
Flower gardens and greenhouses also attracted attention: Pototsky was a member of the Society of Agriculture in Southern Russia, and in the arrangement of gardens knew. The layout of the park, which had been laid out under Potocki, was so well thought out and successful that it has not changed fundamentally since then.
Tsar's Dacha
In 1861, when Pototsky died in St. Petersburg, his heirs sold Livadia to the treasury for a royal dacha. Alexander II presented this estate to Empress Maria Alexandrovna. Livadia for many years became the Crimean residence of the Russian emperor: here they holidayed almost every year. Maria Alexandrovna liked this place very much, and she enthusiastically undertook the rearrangement: she herself chose the architect (I. A. Monighetti), and approved the plans and facades of the buildings.
The Grand Palace was significantly expanded and redesigned. The former house chapel of the Potocki Catholics became a separate church (it is one of the few buildings that have survived to this day). Then another church was built - and Maria Alexandrovna herself chose the place for it.
A separate Small Palace for the heirs was built, reminiscent of the Bakhchisarai Palace ("in the Tatar flavour" - as the architect himself called this oriental eclecticism), as well as numerous garden pavilions and offices. Marble for decoration was ordered in Carrara, and furniture - from the best Parisian masters.
Park and gardens were now engaged in the gardener Klimentii Geckel, also chosen by the Empress: before that he worked at her personal estate near Moscow. The Empress was fond of roses and was characterised by poor health: Heckel planted conifers to ensure that she was always surrounded by healing air and greatly expanded the rose garden. Pergolas covered with pleached roses became an ornament of the garden.
The first time officially the royal family came here in August 1867. On this occasion in Yalta and the surrounding area was organised a grandiose public festivities with horse races, regimental bands and attractions.
Life at the estate was "home", court etiquette was almost not observed. Here they walked, bathed, rested. The Emperor brought here and his favourite favourite favourite - Princess Ekaterina Yurievskaya. Alexander II spent his last Crimean summer here after the death of the Empress in the spring of 1880 with Princess Yurievskaya as his morganatic wife.
Residence of Alexander III
The next emperor continued to consider Livadia his residence and often came here. He did not get along well with Princess Yurievskaya and his children - and she eventually left Russia.
Now, after the assassination of Alexander II here feared terrorists and the estate was carefully guarded, but holidays still happened. For example, in 1891 the Emperor and Empress celebrated their silver wedding here.
Under Alexander III all the buildings had to be repaired. Both palaces began to crack from the very foundation. By order of the Emperor, his favourite Small Palace was completely rebuilt, at the same time renewed paintings Krestovozdvizhenskaya Church and installed a bell tower next to it.
It was in Livadia, Alexander III died in 1894. He was buried in the Church of the Exaltation of the Cross, and literally the next day in it the bride of the heir - the future empress Alexandra Feodorovna.
In these years, Livadia, as long as it did not remain in it no members of the imperial family, was open for free inspection to all comers.
Construction of the new Grand Palace
Nicholas II believed that the best years of his childhood were spent here, in Livadia. The beginning of the new 20th century he also preferred to meet not in the Winter Palace, but in the Crimea. But in 1910 the Emperor almost stopped visiting here: state affairs required his constant presence in the capital. Meanwhile, the Grand Palace finally became damp and began to fall apart: in 1909 it was demolished in order to build a new one.
The new Grand Palace is now the main attraction of Livadia. It was the last royal palace built in Russia. The architect was N. P. Krasnov. He was a good friend of the royal family - invited to breakfast, taught the Grand Duchesses to draw. Krasnov planned to build the palace in the Italian style, which would have pleased and the first owner of the estate, Pototsky. For example, the lobby of the palace copies the premises of the Doge's Palace in Venice.
Two and a half million rubles were allocated for the construction of the building, and the total for the modernisation of the estate - about six. The new palace being erected was consecrated in 1910, and a silver plate engraved with the blessing, the date and the names of all those involved in the construction - from the minister V. Fredericks to the architect N. Krasnov - was laid in the foundation.
The palace was equipped with all technical innovations. Its own power station, telephone exchange, electric refrigerators, water supply, mechanisms for supplying food from the cellars to the kitchens, an underground tunnel from the palace to the detached scullery, garages for cars. It is a huge complex of various buildings, which has been almost completely preserved to this day.
In Soviet times
During the Revolution, the decoration of the palace suffered: the palace was occupied first by allied German troops, then by the White Guards, then by the Red Army. Furniture, decoration, personal belongings - everything was looted. But the building itself was not damaged and here in 1925 was opened sanatorium for peasants. However, it was visited not only by peasants, but also by famous writers - for example, V. Mayakovsky and M. Gorky. Mayakovsky and M. Gorky.
Livadia complex suffered greatly during the Great Patriotic War. Retreating from the Crimea, the Germans blew up many buildings on the peninsula. In Livadia were blown up the Small Palace and the Suite Building, the Grand Palace was preserved, but badly damaged.
By February 1945, it was urgently patched up. The Yalta Conference was held here, where the leaders of the "Big Three" (USSR, USA and Great Britain) discussed the problems of the post-war world. In the Italian courtyard of the Livadia Palace, a famous photograph was made, on which the leaders of the states are sitting at the fountain against the background of the marble gallery. Here also settled the American delegation headed by F. Roosevelt.
After the war, Livadia was used as a state dacha, and then again became a sanatorium. A museum dedicated to the Yalta Conference was opened in the White Hall. The park and the palace were used for film shoots. The Dog in the Hay" with Boyarsky and Terekhova, "The Gadfly" in 1955, "Anna Karenina" in 1967 were filmed here.
Palace Museum
Since 1994 Livadia has been working again as a museum. An exposition dedicated to the last Romanovs has been opened: the richly decorated interiors have been restored. Here you can see the finishing with marble and wood, elegant furniture factory Siebrecht, wall paintings and much more. The workrooms of the Emperor and Empress, bedrooms, dining rooms, drawing rooms, drawing rooms, and the classroom of the princesses are open for inspection.
The museum contains interesting relics. For example, a Persian carpet with the image of Nicholas I - a gift from the Persian Khan, watercolour portraits of the Empress by the artist Samokish-Sudkovskaya, amateur photographs taken by the Grand Duchess.
The Italian and Arabian courtyards, the Church of the Exaltation of the Cross, and the memorial offices of F. Roosevelt and W. Churchill have also been opened.
Interesting facts:
- In 1867, the American journalist Samuel Clemens visited Livadia and liked it very much. We know him as Mark Twain, the author of "Tom Sawyer."
- The White Hall of the Livadia Palace is still sometimes used for international negotiations.
- In 2011, the Livadia Palace celebrated exactly 100 years. On the anniversary from Europe came great-granddaughter of Emperor Alexander II and Princess Yurievskaya.
On a side note
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Location: Yalta, Livadia settlement, 44a Baturina str.
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How to get there: from Yalta on the route number 11 to stop "Livadia - pentachok", then on foot.
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Official website: http://ливадийский-дворец.рф/
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Opening hours: daily from 10.00 to 18.00, on Saturdays until 20.00.
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Tickets: adult - 350 rubles, discount - 250 rubles, children - 100 rubles.
