Chesme Palace

Categories / Architecture/Architectural Monuments/Palaces
CHESME PALACE (15 Gastello Street), monument of pseudo-Gothic architecture (1774-77, architect Y.M. Felten). Built in Kekerekeksinen meaning, "frog marsh" in Finnish, hence the original name Kekerekeksinsky or Kekerikitsky Palace) as a palace en route to Tsarskoe Selo. In 1780, it was called Chesme Palace (in memory of victory of the Russian Navy in the Battle of Chesme, 1770). The building plan was designed on the model of Longdortsky Palace (1591, architect G. Thorp), taken from the fifth volume of Vitruvius' work De Architectura: an equilateral triangle with round turrets at corners and a vast Ceremonial hall in the centre, with a covered dome and oval windows. The elements of Gothic architecture (ogive windows, dentil parapet on the walls) were used in the decoration of its facades. The ensemble of Chesme Palace includes outbuildings and the Nativity of St. John the Baptist Сhurch (see Chesme Church). Originally Chesme Palace complex was a fortress surrounded by moats. Entrances from the side of Moscow road are reminiscent of triumphal arches with observation turrets, bridges with granite stands led to the gates. In 1832-34, Chesme Palace was reconstructed (architect A.E. Staubert), three wings of identical architectural style (built on to the fourth storey) were added to the main block. Chesme Military Hospice (The Invalids' House) was created by the order of Emperor Nicholas I for veterans of the Patriotic War of 1812. In the 1930s, the Road Transport Institute was situated in Chesme Palace. Since 1947, after restoration (architect A.V. Koryagin) the Institute of Aircraft Instrumentation (today, the State University of Aerospace Instrumentation) has been located on this site. In the vicinity of Chesmensky Palace in 1836, Chesme Military Cemetery emerged (today 9 Gastello Street, present-day area 1.3 hectares). In 1941-45, Leningrad defenders were buried there (Heroes of the Soviet Union, A.T. Sevastyanov, F.A. Smolyachkov et al.); the old tombs have been completely lost.

References: Морошкин К. Д. Исторический очерк Чесменской военной богадельни императора Николая I. СПб., 1896; Тартаковская Е. А. Чесменский дворец // Изобразительное искусство. Л., 1927. С. 171-193. (Временник отдела изобр. искусств; 1). См. также лит. при ст. Ю. М. Фельтен.

V. A. Frolov. Felten Yury (Georg Friedrich) Matveevich
Koryagin A.V.
Nicholas I, Emperor
Sevastyanov Alexey Tikhonovich
Shtaubert Alexander Egorovich
Smolyachkov Feodosy Artemievich
Thorp J.
Gastello St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 9
Gastello St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 15
Морошкин К. Д. Исторический очерк Чесменской военной богадельни императора Николая I. СПб., 1896
Тартаковская Е. А. Чесменский дворец // Изобразительное искусство. Л., 1927
см. также лит. при ст. Ю. М. Фельтен. Chesme Church
1774