FOREWORD
Architectural and cultural integrity of the palace-and-park
ensemble in Pavlovsk has always made it distinguished from other palace
residences in the suburbs of St. Petersburg. The Pavlovsk Palace is a monument
of the Russian Classicism of the late 18th-early 19th centuries, with its rich
collections of Russian, West European and antique works of art. After the
Palace was turned into a state museum in 1918, its collections and other
property were considerably lessened. It was a result of a redistribution of
museums collections in 1920-1930s, occupation of Pavlovsk in 1941-44 by German
and Spanish troops and the transferring of part of the Pavlovsk collections to
the Goskhran (State Depository), archives, libraries and other museums in
1950-1960s. In the wartime the building itself also suffered, many elements of
the fa?ades, decoration and interiors were lost or damaged. Such as sculptures
of plaster of Paris which used to be an integral part of the interior decor in
the Egyptian Vestibule, Throne and Greek Halls, and the Lantern Study; numerous
reliefs, decorative cornices, frames, mirrors, bronze rosettes, accessories,
carved doors with bronze decorations, inlaid floors, forged grills on
staircases and balconies, painted plafonds, panels and frescoes in Maria
Fiodorovna's Dressing-Room and on the palace facades. This also concerns park
pavilions, bridges, berths, statues and stairways, partly or fully damaged. The
area of the Pavlovsk park is 600 hectares. In the park, which is an outstanding
monument of landscape architecture about 70,000 trees were cut, the parterres
and lawns were damaged by bombs and missiles, trenches and other defense
constructions. The system of ponds was practically destroyed. That is why the
number of losses included in this catalogue is not exact. In 1936, a special
commission was organized by an order of the Palaces and Parks Department at the
Leningrad City Soviets which worked out an emergency evacuation plan for museum
treasures. According to this plan unique and most valuable pieces of art from
the Pavlovsk collections were included into the list of works which had to be
evacuated in the first place. The packing materials for them were prepared as
well as the places of their destination were determined. These were Gorky (now
Nizhny Novgorod) and the city of Sarapyl in Udmurtia. The plan played a great
positive role in rescuing of the collections. The administration of the
Pavlovsk museum zone was able to start packing and evacuation of the museum
collections as early as the morning of June 23, 1941, just next day the war had
begun. The exhibits from park pavilions were brought to the palace. By July 5
the 655 exhibits included into the evacuation list were ready to be dispatched.
Among them there were Maria Fiodorovna's Sevres toilet set, washing set and
toilet set designed by Voronikhin, and French porcelain, tapestries, part of
bronze and painting collections, including the works of Guido Reni, and Hubert
Robert, drafts by Charles Cameron, Giacomo Quarengui, Thomas de Thomon,
Architectural and cultural integrity of the palace-and-park
ensemble in Pavlovsk has always made it distinguished from other palace
residences in the suburbs of St. Petersburg. The Pavlovsk Palace is a monument
of the Russian Classicism of the late 18th-early 19th centuries, with its rich
collections of Russian, West European and antique works of art. After the
Palace was turned into a state museum in 1918, its collections and other
property were considerably lessened. It was a result of a redistribution of
museums collections in 1920-1930s, occupation of Pavlovsk in 1941-44 by German
and Spanish troops and the transferring of part of the Pavlovsk collections to
the Goskhran (State Depository), archives, libraries and other museums in
1950-1960s. In the wartime the building itself also suffered, many elements of
the fa?ades, decoration and interiors were lost or damaged. Such as sculptures
of plaster of Paris which used to be an integral part of the interior decor in
the Egyptian Vestibule, Throne and Greek Halls, and the Lantern Study; numerous
reliefs, decorative cornices, frames, mirrors, bronze rosettes, accessories,
carved doors with bronze decorations, inlaid floors, forged grills on
staircases and balconies, painted plafonds, panels and frescoes in Maria
Fiodorovna's Dressing-Room and on the palace facades.
On July 14 the first group of the museum exhibits came to Gorky and was placed
in the Stroganov Church and in the Museum of Local Lore and History.
After the first part of the collection had been evacuated, time came to prepare
the second turn of the works and at the same time it was necessary to make
conservation works in the palace, park pavilions and in the park itself. Each
day the task became more and more difficult because of lack of staff, boxes as
well as other packing materials, and the front moving closer. Nevertheless, on
July 13 the next lot consisting of 1,659 objects was sent from Pavlovsk to
Gorky (Inventory Sector of the Pavlovsk Zone. Act No. 74 of July 13, 1941).
By the special order of the Leningrad City Soviet issued on July 31, 1941, A.
M. Kuchumov was appointed the chief curator of all museum valuables brought
from the city of Pushkin, Pavlovsk and Peterhof to Gorky and Ye. G. Levenfish
was made his assistant.
The third batch of the museum pieces from Pavlovsk consisted of 3,168 objects.
It was sent to Sarapul, Udmurtia, on August 20 (Act No. 68, of July 20, 1941).
In Sarapul the collection was placed in the Museum of Local Lore and History.
The third batch was prepared and evacuated under unceasing fire by German
artillery and aviation. Soon the fascist troops blocked the railways, which
made the transportation of the forth part impossible.
All the rest parts of the exhibits were sent from Pavlovsk to
Leningrad. The forth lot was sent on September 1; the fifth one, - on September
3; the sixth one, - on September 5. Totally 2,180 priceless pieces of arts were
rescued. In Leningrad they were kept in the St. Isaac Cathedral. The windows of
the cathedral were boarded up, the cupola camouflaged. Despite hard
bombardments, the cathedral stood safe and sound. Yet, the high humidity and
the absence of ventilation became dangerous for the pieces of
art. Therefore, at the end of 1943 they were all transported from the cathedral
to the State Hermitage, the Academy of Arts, the City Museum and the House of
Entertaining Science.
Since July 1941 all the staff members of the Pavlovsk museum were busy not only
with preparing lots of objects of arts for evacuation but also with hiding the
rest of collections and conseration of the palace and pavilion buildings. At
that time everybody regards the occupation of the Leningrad suburbs by Germans
as inconceivable. So, the main task for the staff members was to save the
treasures from damage in case of fire or explosion. For this purpose the palace
rooms on the upper floors were emptied. The furniture was placed on the ground
floor, and in the process the pieces from different sets were mixed.
Porcelains, glass and other fragile works were put into the basement, as well
as antique sculptures which were poured with sand and then all of them were
bricked up. Draperies and curtains from upper floors were hidden in chests of
drawers.
Mirrors and windowpanes were pasted with fabric, and the
windows of the ground floor were boarded up and covered with sand. Inlaied and
parquetted floors were covered with carpets, with their pile turned down, and a
layer of sand 2-3 cm. thick. In rooms and lofts there were placed tanks with
water and sand.
In August the staff members started to hide park sculptures. They dug pits,
poured sand into them and then put there marble sculptures which were, as a
rale, in wooden boxes. After that, the pits were filled up and then covered
with turf. All plans and works were kept secret.
On September 15 German troops occupied Pavlovsk. In the archives of A. M.
Kuchumov there is his Report on the State of Preservation of the Palace Museum
in Pavlovsk on the Day of the Leaving the Town, September 15, 1941 (quoted from
the book by A. M. Kuchumova From the Tsarist Palace to Soviet Museum, pp.
137-138).
"On September 15, 1941, the general state of the palace
building was satisfactory, except several windows broken.The first floor was
nearly empty, part of the lower rooms were left in following state:
1. Dining-room: ceiling painting, stucco mouldings, mirrors remained safe. Four
especially valuable vases by Jillet; furniture in the piers: console, table by
Roentgen from the Carpet Study, cabinet with cameos, many pieces of furniture
by Jacob (nearly all furniture from the Throne Hall), and the piano from the
recreation centre.
2. Paul's Dressing-Room: one mirror win-dowpane is broken, painted wall panels
are kept intact. A box in the centre of the room... Chests-of-drawers (the Ball
Clock is in one of them). Many pieces of furniture and couches from
store-rooms. One chest-of-drawers is filled with books (fiction).
3. New Study: furniture in the piers.
4. Common Study: a lot of picture frames. By the wall, several unknown pictures
and pastels.
5. Crimson Study: furniture in the piers.
6. Passage room with an attic storey: furniture from ceremonial halls (mainly
from the Italian Hall), China folding screens from storerooms, Paul's
writing-desk with pastels under it. A lot of frames, large pictures.
7. Round Study (Valet Room). A plaster of Raris statue in the alcove is safe;
two Gambs mahogany wardrobes decorated with bronze.
8. Pilaster Study: pilasters and murals are kept safe. Windowpanes are safe.
Wardrobes and frames along the walls.
9. Lantern Study: caryatids and murals are kept safe. Window glasses are safe.
Wardrobes and frames along the walls.
10. Maria Fiodorovna's Dressing Room: furniture in the piers.
11. Tent-Room: the niche is filled with the books from the Rossi Library (120
books of the 18th-early 19th centuries). Semicircular sofa with embroidery.
12. Halls where embroideries were displayed (dinning-room of the recreation
centre): filled with furniture, the doors from the ceremonial halls on the
upper storeyes are brought there too.
13. Entrance Room: furniture and panels from the Rossi Library.
14. Store-room No. 3 (round the Italian Hall): research archives, photographs
collection, tortoise-shell and ivory carved baskets from the Rossi Library,
miracle plays, 4,000 books from the auxiliary library, Mineral Collection from
the Rossi Library. Herbariums.
15. Store-room No. 2 (behind the mirror door in the Egyptian Anteroom): part of
antique sculptures from store-rooms and marble lanterns on bronze chains from
palace halls. Several books from the Rossi Library.
16. Pantry and passage store-rooms: marble busts by Antokolsky and gilt frames.
17. Store-rooms around the pantry: alabaster vases from palace halls, vases and
chandeliers from the Rossi Library, small sculptures, mahogany bed, where all
the draperies from ceremonial halls are piled up; stone and porcelain vases,
Oriental porcelain, porcelain with bronze decor from the Pilaster Study,
standard lamps from the War and Peace Halls.
A considerable part of the rest museum treasures, as well as other musem
property were put and hidden outside the palace: in store-rooms of the former
so-called "Red Corner" room, in the cellar, air-raid shelter and in
the Temple of Friendship."
On January 24, 1944, the Soviet Army liberated Pavlovsk (Slutsk). In the same
month the palace was seriously damaged by the fire.
On February 18, 1944 the Department for the Protection of Monuments of Arts
under the Executive Committee of the Leningrad City Council hold a special
session. Its agenda was as following: "On the state of palaces and parks
of Leningrad after barbaric destruction by fascist invaders". In his
report, the head of the Sector for the Monuments Protection, N. N. Bele-khov,
said: "... while the Pavlovsk park suffered worst of all, the Pavlovsk
Palace is damaged least of all, and we have an opportunity to restore it
because the interiors of its rooms have not been destroyed."
The Soviet Government assigned special commissions for the investigation of the
crimes committed by fascists and their confiderates. In the second half of 1944
the Leningrad CityInvestigation Commission compiled an act on the damage caused
to the art and historical monuments of Leningrad.
In 1944-1945 in Pavlovsk conservation of the palace interiors, searching and
gathering of museum pieces of art, both in the palace and park, clearing of
blockages began. In April 1944, the Executive Committee of Leningrad City
Soviets and Leningrad Regional Deputy Soviets issued a mutual decision "On
Collection and Protection of Works of Fine and Applied Arts". It said:
"In the aim of the restoration of museums that suffered from the fascist
occupation, it is necessary to organize collecting and guard of the works of
the fine and applied arts and all things of historical value".
About 30 pieces of furniture, two large portraits (portrait of Peter I by
Tannauer and portrait of Paul I by Borovikovsky), marble sculptures and vases
were found on the territory of the City of Pavlovsk and its environs and in the
park.
Antique sculptures were taken out from the palace cellars and appeared
practically unharmed.
From 1944 till 1949 A. M. Kuchumov (at that time the director of the Central
Depository of Museum Fund of Suburban Palaces) visited the Baltic republics,
Konigsberg and Berlin trying to find and return the lost museum treasuries. He
succeeded much. For example, the collection of negatives (about 2,500 photo
negatives) was returned from Riga. Sometimes only fragments of furniture were
found. Later they were included into the newly restored pieces. However, the
final number of losses in 1941-44 constitutes 8,715 pieces from 22,133 works of
arts housed in Pavlovsk before the occupation.
N. Tretyakov,
General Director The Pavlovsk State Museum Zone