In the spring of 1675, an unusually charming and nimble young man appeared in Moscow. He came from Switzerland in search of adventure and quick we alth. We must give him his due - and for both he had an excellent scent. The German settlement where he settled in those years was teeming with visiting adventurers, but it was for him, Franz Lefort, that fate prepared a winning ticket, making him the closest associate of Peter the Great.
Fortune's young minion
Having settled in the German Quarter, Franz was in no hurry to burden himself with any particular occupation, and in order to have a livelihood, he married a somewhat overripe, but financially secure daughter of Colonel Suge, brought to Russia from France in search of happiness. Young, handsome, and besides, having received a solid dowry, Lefort led a carefree life, similar to an endless holiday. It was in the whirlpool of fun that he was destined to meet the then young Emperor Peter I.
The young Swiss had many talents, but the most striking among them was the ability to please the right person. Very soon, the Russian autocrat not only brought him closer to himself, but alsomade one of his confidants. Since then, Lefort's career has gone uphill, and favorable Fortune has lifted the lucky man to the very top of prosperity.
Gift of the sovereign to his favorite
Generous to his favorites, Peter makes a truly royal gift to his new favorite - he builds a luxurious mansion for him on the banks of the Yauza in Moscow, surrounded by a park and called the Lefortovo Palace. The architect Dmitry Aksamitov, who accepted the order for the project and the construction of the building, completed his brainchild in 1698. It was very innovative for its time.
The earlier built palaces of Moscow paled before the residence of a successful grandee. His mansion was erected in the so-called eclectic style, which absorbed elements of the old tower buildings and the trend that was emerging in those years, called the "Petrine Baroque". It is rightly considered that the author of the project is one of the first Russian architects who made an attempt to break out of the tight framework of pre-Petrine architecture.
Splendor of the reception hall
Everything in it was new and unusual in comparison with the established Moscow canons. In order to make the Lefortovo Palace a place for future assemblies capable of accommodating a significant number of guests, the tsar ordered that a reception hall be built in it, not inferior in size to European standards. D. Aksamitov exactly fulfilled this requirement, and the giant hall of ten meters in height and an area of three hundred square meters became the pride of the palace he built.
The light of precious chandeliers reflectingin a multitude of mirrors, illuminated by a huge portrait of Peter I, majestically looking from a wall upholstered in red English cloth. The gaze of the guests was involuntarily lost in the abundance of paintings and picturesque tapestries brought here from the best workshops in Europe. The hall was so large that one and a half thousand people could admire its splendor at the same time.
Enfilade of rooms
I was amazed by the Lefortovo Palace and the luxury of the rest of the rooms. It is known from the memoirs of contemporaries that a suite of rooms opened up to the eyes of the guests, among which one, upholstered in green leather, was filled with cabinets with porcelain, another struck the eye with whimsical products of Chinese craftsmen, the third - with precious furniture. And there were no number of such treasures.
Palace Park
To match everything was the park surrounding the Lefortovo Palace. We learn about him from the letter of the owner himself, sent by him to his brother in 1698. He describes the vast territories that belong to him, where wild animals live, as if in freedom, among shady trees. Lefort also mentions in a letter about the great rarity of those times - artificial ponds abounding in fish.
The layout of the building was carried out in such a way that the main facade was facing the Yauza. It is believed that this expressed the perception of it as a completely navigable river. As conceived by the author, the general view of the palace was to be complemented by fifty cannons placed on the galleries.
The curse on the palace
The housewarming, accompanied by unrestrained fun, took place in February 1699. Literally since thenoriginate the secrets of the Lefortovo Palace. The fact is that in its history there were many inexplicable events that gave rise to the darkest legends. The first of these was the sudden death of the owner of the house, which overtook him three weeks after the stormy celebration.
The official reason for it was an illness that had tormented Lefort for many years, but those who did not want to agree with this hinted at some envious people who were full of the German Quarter, among whom there could well be experts in poisons. But later, when the ominous string of deaths continued, the general opinion converged on a kind of curse that weighed on this palace. Like it or not, it is hard to say, but only Peter, far from superstition, used the luxurious palace for its intended purpose, arranging receptions for ambassadors, assemblies, and more often just crazy revels.
The new owner of the palace
This continued until 1706, until the fire that happened in Semyonovskaya Sloboda destroyed the house of another royal favorite - Alexander Danilovich Menshikov. To console the high-ranking victim of the fire, the sovereign presented him with the orphaned Lefortovo Palace, undertaking some restructuring of it. Invited by the new owner, the Russian architect of Italian origin Giovanni Maria Fontana, in addition to the main building, erected an open square of two-story buildings connected by covered passages and decorated the courtyard with intricate arcades.
From that time on, the Lefortovo Palace began to be called Menshikovsky, but the curse that weighed on it did not allow even that until the end of daysenjoy the splendor of wondrous chambers. After the death of his patron, Alexander Danilovich, who completely stole, lost power and was exiled to Siberia, as they say now, with a complete confiscation of property.
Further victims of evil spirits
When, during the short period of the reign of Peter II, the capital was again transferred to Moscow, this palace became one of the residences of the young sovereign. It was in it that the autocrat stayed in 1727, having arrived at his coronation. However, the curse reminded of itself here too - his sister Natalya Alekseevna died suddenly. Out of harm's way, Peter II left the palace, but returned the next year.
That was very reckless of him. Having lived in a “bad palace” for less than a year, the tsar became engaged to Princess Ekaterina Dolgorukova, but the wedding was not destined to take place. On the appointed day, January 18, 1730, he died unexpectedly. Shortly after his death, Empress Anna Ioannovna ascended the throne.
Bes didn't miss a chance to screw up here. In one of the palace halls, he advised her to break the previously signed Conditions, which limited the lawlessness of royal power. As a result, the extravagant empress plunged Russia into a bloody maelstrom of her arbitrariness for a whole decade.
Only Empress Elizaveta Petrovna turned out to be somewhat more successful than her predecessors, staying here in 1742 during her visit to Moscow without obvious harm. Fate spared this blue-eyed beauty, who more than anything in the world loved fun, outfits and statelyguard officers. By her arrival, the chambers of the palace had been restored after the Moscow fire that raged in them in 1737.
Further fate of the palace
Once owned by the Treasury, the Lefortovo Palace in Moscow has long been used primarily as a residence for foreign ambassadors and as a reception for the most important diplomats. In addition, in 1771 a plague quarantine was located here, and later theatrical servants settled. The palace acquired a new meaning in 1804, when it housed the military state archive.
The end of the palace splendor came in 1812. The fire that engulfed the ancient capital did not spare these walls either. Since then, on the site where the once Peter the Great baroque merged in amazing harmony with the ancient Russian tower style, only blackened ruins have risen. The treasury did not have the funds to restore it, and the palace was abandoned and forgotten by everyone for many years.
According to the memoirs of contemporaries, its ruins were soon overgrown with trees and grass, which seemed to be trying to hide the painful traces of desolation from the eyes of passers-by. In the ruins themselves, new inhabitants soon appeared. They became a haven for local thieves and bandits who were hiding there from the police. This was facilitated by a huge, once well-groomed, and by that time wild park. In those years, Muscovites tried to avoid this gloomy place.
Palace turned archive
The revival of the palace began in the late forties of the XIX century, when, by the highest commandEmperor Nikolai Pavlovich, it was rebuilt and supplemented with a third floor. Its halls housed the state archive of the General Staff of the Army, which is still there.
But today in this complex of buildings, military documents are accompanied by an extensive collection of audio materials relating to various periods of history. This collection includes numerous sound monuments of cultural and socio-political life. In the collection of this grandiose music library, called RGAFD for short, you can see and listen to a variety of sound media, from wax rollers to modern CDs.
Monument of old Moscow
It is impossible to explore old Moscow without seeing the Lefortovo Palace. Its address: 2nd Baumanskaya st., 3. It is not difficult to get there. You can use the metro and get off at Baumanskaya station, or you can take bus number 78. In extreme cases, any Muscovite will be happy to tell you where the Lefortovo Palace is located.
Today, its appearance is somewhat different from that which it had in past centuries. The reason for this is the numerous reconstructions, often carried out solely for practical purposes and without taking into account the architectural originality laid down in it by the author of the original project.
As a result of changes made to the general layout of the area, the once beautiful view from the Yauza side has also been closed. As for the curse that weighed over the palace in the old days, since the military appeared within its walls, it does not manifest itself in any way - evenevil spirit.
