The family of the Emperor of All Russia lived in Tsarskoye Selo (now the city of Pushkin, St. Petersburg) for more than two decades, occupying the Alexander Palace. This raised the status of a small town to the unofficial second capital of the state. Therefore, before the First World War, the construction of public and administrative buildings, barracks and temples was widely carried out in Tsarskoe Selo. This is how the complex arose, united by a common neo-Russian architectural style. Perhaps the main part of these buildings is the Sovereign Military Chamber. What it is? Our article will tell about the interesting history of the building. Interestingly, the building was originally built for the museum collection. The Military Chamber, no doubt, can be called the pantheon of military glory, because the exposition was dedicated to the military exploits of the Russians. And now the building houses a museum dedicated to the horrors of the First World War.
Grounds forconstruction
In 1911, the widow of the brother of the founder of the famous Tretyakov Gallery, Elena Andreevna Tretyakova, gave Nicholas II an interesting collection. A selection of artifacts was united by the theme of the wars that the Russian army has ever waged. Where should all these cards, trophies, ancient weapons be placed? And the emperor ordered to build a museum building for the collection donated to him, which it was decided to give the name "Sovereign Military Chamber". It was decided to build it near the northern wall of the Alexander Park, next to the Fedorovsky town. The first stone was laid on May 16, 1913 in the presence of Nicholas II. It is noteworthy that the construction of the museum was carried out at the expense of the donor, Elena Andreevna Tretyakova.
The Feodorovsky town complex and neo-Russian style
The author of the building project is the eminent architect S. Yu. Sidorchuk. All details were agreed with the emperor and the commission. The architect wanted the Sovereign Military Chamber to fit into the complex of buildings that began to be erected in Tsarskoe Selo at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. All of them were united by one architectural style. It was necessary to show the continuity of Russia with the glorious past of the Slavs and at the same time modernize the appearance of buildings that were supposed to serve administrative and public needs. This is how the neo-Russian style arose, which is a connected bridge between the past and the future. For the model for the Military Chamber, the architect took the Pskov-Novgorod buildings of the fourteenth -sixteenth century. After all, the territory of Tsarskoye Selo was once part of an independent principality. At the same time, elements of Novgorod architecture were used in the nearby Feodorovsky Cathedral. Thus, the two dominant buildings of the architectural complex wonderfully harmonized with each other. Construction was completed only in the summer of the seventeenth year.
Complex of the Military Chamber
The construction of the museum was approached with all seriousness. Tretyakov's widow - the main patron of the arts - spared no expense. The Sovereign Military Chamber was to become one of the key buildings of Tsarskoye Selo. The layout of the building is based on an irregular polygon with a vast courtyard. The dominant feature in the Chamber of Warriors is the main two-story building. It is easily recognizable by the relief image of a double-headed eagle on the facade. Adjacent to this main building is an octagonal three-tiered turret crowned with a high dome-tent. Such an attempt to combine a government building with an exclusively decorative element is the highest manifestation of the neo-Russian style. The turret seems to send the viewer back to the glorious times of the medieval past, linking the pragmatic values of the twentieth century with the spiritual aspirations of Holy Russia.
Pantheon of Russian Glory
Initially, the museum in Tsarskoye Selo (the modern city of Pushkin, St. Petersburg) was conceived as a repository for the collection of E. A. Tretyakova, which she presented as a gift to Nicholas II during the anniversary exhibition of 1911. This compilationvarious items was linked by one theme - the feats of arms of the Russian army in numerous battles. However, when the construction of the museum building was not yet completed, the First World War broke out. According to the order of Nicholas II, Prince Putyatin, who served as the head of the palace administration in Tsarskoe Selo, asked the headquarters of the Russian army command for any trophies obtained from the fields of modern battles. The exposition of the museum was replenished with portraits of the heroes of the current war, who deserved at least three St. George's crosses. They were painted from photographs by artists S. Devyatkin, M. Kirsanov, I. Streblov and V. Poyarkov. Large trophies were displayed in the courtyard, such as the German Albatross fighter shot down in 1916.
World War I Museum
In 1917 the building was completely completed. It not only housed the exposition of the museum, but also gave lectures. For this, a huge two-tiered hall for four hundred seats was specially equipped, equipped with advanced technology for those times. There was even a screen for showing films. The military chamber in Pushkin was painted with the coats of arms of all the provinces of the Russian Empire. But after the October Revolution, the museum was abolished. The building of the Military Chamber housed the club of the Petrograd Agronomic Institute (from 1923 to 1932), and then a student hostel. After World War II, which caused enormous damage to the building, warehouses were located in the museum. Only in 1970 it housed a restoration workshop. A real breakthrough that saved the building from completedestruction, happened in 2009, when it was decided to transfer it to the ownership of the Tsarskoye Selo State Museum Reserve. The renewed exposition received its first visitors on the centenary of the start of the First World War.
How to get to the Military Chamber
There are two ways. The most budgetary will be to get from St. Petersburg to the station "Tsarskoe Selo - Pushkin" by train. Then you should transfer to a minibus or bus. You need to get off at one of the stops: "Farm Road", "Academic Avenue" or "Park". The most easily and without transfers can be reached from St. Petersburg to the Museum of the First World War by intercity bus. Cars depart from Kupchino, Zvezdnaya and Moskovskaya metro stations.
Museum opening hours
The Military Chamber in Pushkin is located at the address: Fermskaya Road, 5A. This building now houses the exposition of the museum "Russia during the Great War". Entrance there is paid, but the price is symbolic. Unlike most museums, the day off in the Military Chamber falls not on Monday, but on Wednesday. And on the last Thursday of each month, a sanitary day is held in this cultural institution. The museum is open from ten in the morning until six in the evening, but the box office closes at 17:00.
