Ropsha Palace: legends. The former Romanov Palace in Ropsha

The Leningrad region is rich in architectural monuments of the past: ancient castles, shrouded in a veil of mysteries and intrigues, luxurious manors, impregnated with the spirit of "glorious times", once lulled by prosperity, and now forgotten, orphaned, dilapidated palaces. It is worthwhile to drive away from St. Petersburg for some 50-100 km, and majestic monuments - witnesses of the main events of the past epochs will tell a "different story" in which personal successes and tragedies of outstanding characters are closely intertwined with the ups and downs of a huge Empire.

But few objects of cultural heritage of Russia can tell as much as they saw the ruins that were lost in the wild park of the country-provincial Ropsha.

The most famous "hall of misfortune"

Many of the manors of the Leningrad region were covered with legends. Take, for example, the family estate Blumetrostov or Demidovs - the first was destroyed almost to the foundation, and the second - almost preserved in its original form. Here, "every stone knows how to speak." Local residents say that in dashing weather near voices loud voices are heard, heard from everywhere, and music flows ...

But Ropsha Palace - the abode of kings, nobles and nobles are surrounded by myths and legends of a completely different kind.

Laughter and fun are alien to the local spirits. It is rumored that the remains of thousands of convicts are hidden in the mortuary chambers. Probably, it was this amazing combination of the blissful carefreeness of some and the doom of others that caused the formation of bad energy that had played a fatal role in the life of the rulers.

Ropsha Palace: legends about Fyodor Romodanovsky

Ropsha's heights were once chosen by Peter I himself: enchanted by the picturesque beauties, he ordered to build there a small wooden house, a church and a park with water reservoirs. However, four years later the tsar granted his companion Fyodor Romodanovsky - head of the Preobrazhensky order (analogue of the Secret Chancellery).

The new master of the Ropsha land was known as a cruel man (at that time the investigative bodies were pulling out "convenient truth" from the suspects, just as with the veins). Very soon the "defender of the interests of the tsar and the state" turned a modestly large estate into a "mansion for torture" - a sort of branch of an emergency special service. The retolds of those years say that the jails with the barred windows were located in close proximity to the main structure, that the groans of the candelabra were carried to the surrounding forests, while Romodanovsky himself, "aki Satan", reveled in the sufferings of the victims.

Today, almost 300 years after the death of the generalissimo-executioner, the superstitious inhabitants of Ropsha still hear shouts from the half-filled cellars; It seems to them that, as if a tame bear, but a formidable bear - the legend says that it was she who guarded the entrances to the torture halls - she periodically goes outside, examines the ruins, and then again goes underground ...

The role of the estate in the fate of Mikhail Golovkin

The Ropsha Palace underwent considerable modernization in 1734. The owner of that time was Romodanovsky's son-in-law, Mikhail Golovkin. The career of the official developed so rapidly that it seemed as though there were no doors to which the mint ruler, and in combination - the adviser and favorite of the empress Anna Ioannovna, was not a member.

As further events showed, the rumor about the "accursed palace" was not in vain. In 1741, as a result of the successful implementation of the conspiracy, Elizabeth Petrovna ascended to the throne , and in the life of Golovkin a black strip entered . The renewed Senate found the coin guilty of embezzlement and sentenced him to death. However, at the last moment the owner of the ill-fated palace managed to escape the fate of being hanged - he was exiled to Siberia, and all property was confiscated in favor of the state.

Architectural "flowering": Rastrelli's hand

The next stage of the transformation of the architectural ensemble of the manor coincided with the years of the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna. This is by its decree Ropsha Palace was refined in accordance with the fashion trends of the era. And no one was in charge of the work processes, and Francesco Rastrelli himself is the leading European architect and recognized master of his work. A peculiar "Italian trace" in the external decoration of the palace can be called the columns of the Corinthian order, which even now, in the days of complete forgetfulness of the once majestic structure, continue to proudly carry the tricorn roof (classic portico).

However, even the genius of Rastrelli was not able to dispel the evil charms that were hanging in the golden halls of the hall - after a few years the empress had come down from an unknown illness, and before her death she gave Ropsh Pyotr Fyodorovich - the heir to the throne.

"The soul-killer palace" and Peter III

Objects of cultural heritage of Russia in the distant past often became places of the last refuge for important people.

And Ropshinsky manor, with the passing of Elizabeth Petrovna's life, did not stop her at the expense of ruined souls - Peter III, the unfortunate specter of which, according to popular rumor, sometimes appears at the ruins and asks random passers-by to send a scarf tightly tied around the neck ...

According to an unofficial version, the murder of a young tsar is the work of Alexei Orlov, a devoted associate of Catherine II; He allegedly strangled Peter Fedorovich, for which he was generously rewarded by his patroness. Among other gifts, the highest person was the Count and Ropsha Palace. However, Orlov was not a great hunter before vacationing in the country, and so soon he got rid of real estate.

Favorite Romanov Palace: Ropshinsky Fatum

The whole of the XIX century the estate lived a troubled life: the owners changed, cardinal amendments were made to the architecture of buildings, the park complex evolved, and ... the dignitaries who somehow related to this wretched mansion were dying. (In 1801, just a week after the purchase of the palace, King Pavel I was killed.) Did not change the terrible tradition and the twentieth century ...

Emperor Nicholas II - the last in the list of "God's henchmen," who owned the damned chertom. And although death overtook him for many hundreds of versts from Ropsha, the scale of the tragic events again indicated the existence of a frightening connection between the palace and its inhabitants: the entire family of Romanovs, who loved to rest in the estate, was shot by the Bolsheviks in 1918. (Experts believe that the place of execution was the basement of the house of the merchant Ipatiev, a famous merchant from Yekaterinburg.)

Rebirth and oblivion: the Moloch Revolution

In the post-revolutionary years, the manors of the Leningrad Region were used in different ways: hospitals and hospitals were deployed on the territory of some, and other Soviet authorities gave them to the needs of collective farms; There were also those who served as warehouses, houses of culture, administrative buildings.

With Ropsha Palace and the adjacent park, history played a cruel joke - the land was placed at the disposal of a fish nursery of all-Union significance. And then - World War II, devastation, reconstruction with a profile reorientation for the needs of the military, the collapse of the USSR, oblivion ...

Today's Days: Memorable Ruins and UNESCO

The restoration of the Ropsha Palace is a topic that has been repeatedly returned since 1991. At the initiative of UNESCO, the estate was even given the status of a "cultural heritage object of a planetary scale". However, the deplorable state of the monument constantly frightened off both officials and private investors.

So they waited: somehow in the winter the column portico collapsed - the one that remembered the cheerful architect-wizard Rastrelli.

Residents of Ropsha do not want to put up with the indifference of the authorities - they have already applied collectively to the Presidential Administration, so that there, "at the top", influenced local government. And, it seems, the reaction still followed.

The operatively created commission estimated the budget of the urgent reconstruction of the facility at 15 million rubles. But the amount needed for the total restoration of the palace is estimated in billions - an expensive price has to be paid for a disregard for the history of its state ...