Chinese Palace (Saint Petersburg)

 palace, museum, Baroque (architecture), listed building / architectural heritage, 18th century construction

Architect: Antonio Rinaldi, late 1750s - 1768
Architects: A.I. Stackenschneider, Ludwig Bohnstedt, 1852-1853

The Chinese Palace is a part of the grandiose palace-and-park ensemble of the «Private Dacha» of Empress Catherine II. The palace was built by the architect Antonio Rinaldi. According to his project a big rectangular pond was dug out in front of the south facade of the Chinese Palace, the small Freilinsky House was built on its left bank, on the right bank there was a place for a little Coffee House (this project has never been realized). At the east facade of the palace, beyond the limits of the Private Dacha, the Kitchen Block was built.

In the mid-19th century the Chinese Palace was reconstructed. Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna had it significantly transformed. After the project by the architects Ludwig Bohnstedt and A.I. Stackenschneider the first floor was constructed. A glazed gallery was built under the balcony, it connected two avant-corps along the south side. Small premises-antechambers were added to the east and to the west ends of the building.

While the exterior of the palace was changed, the interiors have remained predominantly unchanged since the 18th century. The Chinese Palace is the embodiment of the fashionable influences and aesthetic predilections of the 18th century, the adornment of the palace was made by European and Russian artists with surprising imagination.