Sadovaya St., 20, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 196621
The Volier Pavilion is one of the first structures in Pavlovsk Park, created by Charles Cameron. Paul I and Maria Feodorovna attached great importance to this building and in 1872, before leaving for a tour of Europe, discussed all its details. It was intended that the pavilion would house an aviary for birds, a place for dancing and relaxation, as well as a small museum.
Like most of Charles Cameron's works, the building was distinguished by its simplicity. It was a one-story structure consisting of a central part crowned with a dome and two side buildings connected to it by galleries with columns.
The Volier is located near the Grand Palace by the Triple Linden Alley. It was built according to Cameron's design in 1782-1784 and represents an elegant park pavilion in the classical style. In French, "Volier" means aviary, and originally the pavilion was constructed as a place for songbirds, which was a fashionable trend in the 18th century. To allow more sunlight into the pavilion, its main facade faces south, and thus the Volier is set at a slight angle relative to the Triple Linden Alley.
The Volier consists of three architectural volumes: a central hall and two side rooms, which are connected by open galleries with pairs of Doric columns, between which metal meshes were stretched. Green plants such as ivy and wild grapevines climbed along the meshes. One of the galleries was used for entertainment, dancing, lunches, and dinners, while the other served as a large birdcage. At the end of the 18th century, nightingales, robins, siskins, and goldfinches were kept here; however, forest birds did not adapt well to the Volier, and the pavilion became a pleasant place for relaxation.
Initially, a mesh was stretched between the columns of the northern gallery, and birds fluttered among the flowers inside. In the southern gallery, Maria Feodorovna received guests; dances and "meals" were held here. The pavilion also housed a small museum where antique statues acquired during travels in Europe were displayed.
The central square hall is decorated on the south and north facades with arched two-column porticoes and a pediment, as well as symmetrically placed molded rosettes on the walls. Above it rises a low drum with a dome. Four arched windows are located around the drum, illuminating the room. The hall is separated from the galleries by two Doric columns with an entablature. This was a resting hall where, escaping the summer heat, one could enjoy fresh air and admire the flower beds.
It was for the Volier that Voronikhin designed furniture in the early 19th century: sofas and armchairs that have been preserved in the museum collection. In 1807, Voronikhin partially remodeled the side rooms, which housed collections of antique items brought by the owners of Pavlovsk from their foreign trip in 1782: marble ash urns, small bronze sculptures, ceramic and glass objects.
In the early 18th century, when Maria Feodorovna was already a widow, she released the birds into the wild and arranged a flower garden in the gallery.
The Volier is the center of the regular park Volier section, located around the Volier pavilion in the palace part of Pavlovsk Park. When Cameron built the Volier, he created a "garden with games" around the pavilion. Two flower greenhouses originally adjoined the southern side of the Volier, with a garden between them. In the eastern part, a labyrinth of trimmed shrubs with a network of green corridors was constructed for the entertainment of the court society. Behind the labyrinth was a star-shaped bosquet with swings and skittles, enclosed by a trellis-covered gallery. The Volier section was separated from the Triple Linden Alley by a long bosquet in the form of green arcades. The arcades were trimmed in linden espalier. Antique ash urns were originally placed in these alleys. Parallel to them were flower parterres with marble busts of ancient philosophers and military leaders.
In 1793, Brenna built a wooden theater on the site of the garden with games. In the mid-19th century, instead of greenhouses on the southern facade of the Volier, a shaped pond was dug, and a marble statue of Venus the Bathing was installed in the center of the pond. The pond's banks were planted with flowering shrubs, creating a poetic corner of the park.
In the 19th century, due to dilapidation, the theater was dismantled, and in 1856, a gymnastic ground with a tall mast surrounded by a stretched net was arranged on the site of the former Cameron garden with games. This was a favorite place for sports games for all the children of Pavlovsk.
In 1863, a pond was dug in front of the pavilion, which at that time resembled the figure of a woman in shape. A statue of Venus was installed on an island in the center of the pond, and the pond became known as Venus Pond.
In 1914, on the Volier section, on the site where the theater once stood and later the gymnastic ground, a monument to Empress Maria Feodorovna was erected. During the fascist occupation, the Volier survived in a somewhat damaged state, and the monument to Maria Feodorovna remained in place, in front of which a cemetery for Wehrmacht officers was arranged.
After the Great Patriotic War, the Volier section was recreated according to old drawings: a bosquet with trimmed linden trees, an alley with flower parterres, a green labyrinth, the layout and plantings around the pond. In 2005, after the exhumation of the remains of German officers, the layout of the area around the Monument to Maria Feodorovna was restored in accordance with the 18th-century planning projects of decorator Viollet.
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