Concert hall in Catherine Park

In the 1780s, architect Quarenghi built the Concert Hall in the Catherine Park, which he described as “a music hall with two cabinets and an open temple dedicated to the goddess Ceres.” Confirmation that the pavilion was conceived as a temple of Ceres was the panel “Sacrifice to Ceres” in its large hall, depicting the statue of the goddess in the temple’s portico, in front of which an altar was placed. Initially, the pavilion was called the “Temple of Friendship,” but from 1788, at the behest of Catherine II, it became known as the “Music” or “Concert” Hall.

The architectural appearance of the building is simple and concise, fully corresponding to the canons of classicism. The interiors of the Concert Hall impress with their sophistication and artistic richness. The internal layout of the building includes a central hall and two cabinets. The interiors of the large hall are faced with artificial marble, decorated with Corinthian order pilasters, sculptural medallions, and the painted panel “Sacrifice to Ceres.” Along the walls, on marble consoles, are placed antique sculptures, busts, and vases.

You can reach the island with the pavilion by a metal bridge, which was made in 1784 according to Quarenghi’s drawings at the Sestroretsk Arms Factories. The bridge leading to the Concert Hall was the first metal bridge on the European continent. 

The majority of the building is occupied by a rectangular hall. On the sides of the rotunda are two small square cabinets. Despite the simplicity of the exterior design, the decoration of the interior spaces was distinguished by richness and variety of decorative techniques. The walls of the hall are faced with artificial marble, decorated with Corinthian pilasters, sculptural medallions, and painted panels. The ceiling painting uses the motif of rectangular panels: one depicts Juno on a chariot, another the titan Cronus. The vault is decorated with diamonds bearing zodiac signs, the sun, and the moon, painted in grisaille. Of special value is the mosaic floor from the late 2nd – early 3rd century, brought to Tsarskoye Selo from Rome in 1784. The black-and-white mosaic depicts an episode from the myth of the abduction of Europa by Zeus, who took the form of a bull. The figures of the bull and the half-naked woman with a flowing veil above her head stand out against the white background of the mosaic, in the corners of which sea monsters with fish tails are depicted. The composition is framed by a frieze with stylized lotus flowers. The parts of the mosaic floor on the sides of the antique composition were executed according to Quarenghi’s design by Russian craftsmen.

According to the architect’s plan, twenty-eight marble busts—originals and copies of antique originals—were installed on pedestals in the hall, almost completely lost during the war years. Currently, stone vases and sculptural works stylistically close to the hall’s decoration are placed here—reproductions of antique originals and several genuine antique busts.

Antique motifs were also used in the decoration of the eastern and western cabinets of the Concert Hall: one is decorated with four bas-reliefs by the Italian sculptor Albani—allegories of architecture, painting, sculpture, and science; the other with painted panels depicting scenes of sacrifice. The floors in both cabinets are made of marble slabs with ornamental mosaic inserts of Roman work from the late 1st – early 2nd century AD; the ceilings are painted with multicolored ornamental painting. The painted decoration of the pavilion’s interiors was done by artists Scotti, Valesini, Danilov, Krist, Kades, and Bogdanov.

In the sculptural (eastern) cabinet stands an antique statue of a senator, previously located on the facade of the “Kitchen Ruin,” and in the Painted (western) cabinet—antique sculptures “Roman Matron” (2nd century AD) and “Aphrodite in the Gardens” (1st century AD).

On the island where the concert hall now stands, there was previously another small complex—the “Farmstead” of Alexander II’s daughter Maria. It consisted of two wooden huts, a cowshed, and a poultry house. Everything was made in a reduced size in the Russian style. Inside was wooden carved children’s furniture. The young princess took great pleasure in “farming” here. According to contemporaries, the emperor father loved to tell stories about his daughter’s “farming.” The complex was destroyed during the war.

Sources:

https://www.tzar.ru/objects/ekaterininskypark/landscape/concerthall

https://pushkin.spb.ru/encycl/parks/kontsertnyiy-zal.html