page_title: Battle of the Palaces
section_title: First strike
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of the Palaces / First strike
caption_attribution_description: English: Tsaritsino
context_page_description: The "Battle of the Palaces" occurred in the Russian Empire in the last decade of the reign of Catherine II and the reign of Paul I, with ripple effects extending into the beginning of the reign of Alexander I. A bitter standoff between Catherine and Paul, her only legitimate son and heir, manifested itself in transient political and ideological conflicts, but also had a lasting, tangible impact on Russian architecture. Both parties materialized their political statements and their understanding of sovereign power in expensive construction projects involving the most illustrious architects of the period – Vasily Bazhenov, Vincenzo Brenna, Charles Cameron, Matvey Kazakov, Giacomo Quarenghi, and Ivan Starov. Catherine's palace projects followed the neoclassical canon of the Age of Enlightenment, while Paul deliberately leaned to emerging Romanticism. Buildings that stylistically fell apart from these programs were demolished or rebuilt without hesitation. The "battle" began in 1785 with the demolition of the main palace in Tsaritsyno, and culminated in 1796 with the demolition of Pella, the largest imperial palace in the Saint Petersburg area.
context_section_description: In 1775 Catherine approved Vasily Bazhenov's drafts of Tsaritsynno Palace, but upon actually seeing the nearly complete structure on June 14 [O.S. June 3] 1785, she found it highly displeasing, scorned Bazhenov and ordered immediate demolition. In her June 19 [O.S. June 8] 1785 letter to Paul she only mentioned that "Kremlin Senate and Tsaritsyno are not ready yet". The mechanism of destruction was already underway, although at a slow pace. Catherine signed a formal decree to raze Bazhenov's palaces and authorized Matvey Kazakov's drafts on February 17 [O.S. February 6] 1786.
  Neither Bazhenov's affiliation with free masons, nor his Gothic Revival architecture were at fault. Bazhenov, however, made a mistake by sticking to the 1775 plans that provided for two identical palaces for Catherine and Paul centered around the public core building. In 1775 the equality of mother and son was in line with Catherine's policy, but by 1785 their relations were irreversibly strained. Catherine dismissed Bazhenov and invited Kazakov to rebuild the palace with only one main building – her own. It was structurally completed in 1790s but abandoned after Catherine's death. It stood in ruins for over two centuries and was rebuilt into a modern convention center in 2005–2007.
caption: Main palace of Tsaritsyno Park - Matvey Kazakov's core reconstructed during 2005–2007.
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