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Vorontsov Palace (Alupka)

The Vorontsov Palace (also the Alupka Palace-Museum) is a 19th-century architectural monument in Alupka (Southern Coast of Crimea), the former residence of Count Mikhail Vorontsov, Governor-General of Novorossiya. Today it is a palace-museum and one of the most visited tourist sites in Crimea.

Overview

The palace was built over 20 years (1828–1848) and cost 9 million rubles, not counting the forced labor of serfs and soldiers of the sapper battalion. The design changed several times, and architects succeeded one another. The uniqueness of the structure lies in the combination of Tudor (English medieval) and Moorish styles, which harmoniously fits into the Crimean landscape.

Architecture

  • Architects: initially Franz Boffo (the palace in Odesa) and Thomas Harrison, later Edward Blore — a historian, architect, and restorer who worked for the British royal house. Blore never visited the construction site, designing solely from site plans.
  • Style: a combination of Tudor (western façade — round towers, crenellated walls, narrow arrow-slit windows) and Moorish (southern entrance — a horseshoe arch with plaster carving, the Arabic inscription "There is no victor but Allah," repeated six times). The southern façade is inspired by the Alhambra Palace in Granada (Spain).
  • Foundation: the only building in Ukraine whose foundation slabs are poured with lead for seismic resistance.

History

Construction (1828–1848)

Mikhail Vorontsov, Governor-General of Novorossiya, was among the first to begin developing the Southern Coast of Crimea. Vorontsov's Anglophilia determined the final architectural choice in favor of Edward Blore, an adherent of the Tudor style.

Owners and Nationalization

The palace passed by inheritance between branches of the Vorontsov family. After the establishment of Soviet power in Crimea, it was nationalized, and in 1921 a museum was opened there.

World War II and Occupation

During the German occupation of Crimea the palace sustained no damage from bombings. The occupation authorities issued a protective document for the museum and conducted tours for officers. Retreating in 1944, the invaders took 537 exhibits to Germany (not all were returned). The museum caretaker Stepan Shchekoldin, who preserved the palace, received 10 years in the Gulag as a "collaborator."

Yalta Conference (1945)

In February 1945 the palace hosted the delegation of Great Britain. It was here, on 8 February 1945, that the number of participating countries of the founding conference of the UN and the time and place of the first meeting of the UN member states were finally determined.

Postwar Period

After the Yalta Conference, the palace was used for 10 years as a government dacha of the NKVD. Only from 1956 did it become a museum again. The main collection numbered 27,000 exhibits.

Collections

  • Picture Gallery: a collection of Western European masters from England, Flanders, Holland, Italy, and France. Works by P. Snayers, C. Netscher, Carlo Maratti, William Hogarth, George Dawe, Richard Brompton, and others are represented.
  • Library: built in the 1840s, it numbered 25,000 volumes. Only 10,000 have survived to the present day. The Alupka library is the only one of Vorontsov's libraries to have survived (the Odesa one was transferred to the university, the Tiflis one disappeared, and the St. Petersburg one was sold off by Vorontsov's son).

Current State

In 2018 the company LLC "Meander" began reconstruction of the palace roof (367 million rubles). In June 2019 a heavy rain tore off the temporary roofing, leading to flooding of the museum. Walls, interiors, and exhibits were damaged. The palace was also used as a filming location.