Senate (Сенат) (Moscow)

 

Location: Moscow Kremlin

The Senate Palace is a front building on the territory of the Moscow Kremlin, designed by the Russian architect Matvey Kazakov in 1776-1787. Made by order of Empress Catherine the Great in the classical style characteristic of that time. As of 2023, the Senate Palace is the working residence of the President of Russia

 

History

XVIII-XIX centuries
The construction of the Senate Palace was started in 1776 by decree of Catherine II. Initially, the building was intended for holding meetings of the nobility of the Moscow province, but after the division of the Senate into departments, everyone remained in the palace, except for the court and the nobles in charge of the rights, who were transferred to St. Petersburg. For the construction of the building, the princes Trubetskoy and Baryatinsky were bought out of their Kremlin courtyards and the courtyards of the monasteries were abolished. The selected site had a triangular shape and was inconvenient for development: it was located between the Kremlin wall, the Zeikhgauz building and the Chudov Monastery. The project was compiled by Matvey Kazakov. Karl Blank helped Kazakov to draw up an estimate for the construction. He also supervised the construction in 1777-1778. However, construction progressed sluggishly, and in 1778 Kazakov was appointed to supervise the construction of the building. In 1776-1786, Kazakov reworked the original project several times. Four sets of author's drawings have been preserved.

By the middle of the 19th century, the building fell into disrepair. Since the time of Arakcheev, its main hall has been used either as a flour barn or as an archive of the military ministry. Only in 1865, during the preparation of the judicial reform, it was decided to place the bodies of the new public court in the building. Under the guidance of the architect K.S. Afanasiev, restoration and adaptation to public jurisprudence was carried out. The palace began to be called "the building of the Moscow judicial institutions." It houses the District Court, the Judicial Chamber, the Survey Office and other institutions. The dome of the building was crowned with a symbol of imperial justice - a pillar with the royal crown and the inscription "Law".

XX—XXI centuries
In March 1918, Vladimir Lenin moved to the Senate Palace, for whom they arranged the apartment of the former tsarist prosecutor on the third floor. The Politburo and the Council of People's Commissars sat next to it. The total area of Lenin's apartments was 560 m². In 1955, a museum was set up in the former office of Lenin - “The office and apartment of V. I. Lenin in the Kremlin.” It was adjacent to the premises of the Government of the USSR and consisted of more than 40 thousand exhibits. In 1994, by order of the Government of the Russian Federation, in connection with the reconstruction of the Senate building and the placement of the residence of the President of Russia in it, the collection was transferred to the Gorki Leninskiye State Historical Museum-Reserve.

After the Soviet government moved in 1918, a flagpole with the flag of Soviet Russia was installed in place of the pillar with the crown. The building housed the Council of People's Commissars and the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. In the former Catherine's Hall, which received the name Sverdlovsk under Soviet rule, the presentation of prizes, for example, Lenin and national ones, the Plenums of the Central Committee of the CPSU were held, there was a meeting room of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU.

In 1932, Joseph Stalin occupied a five-room apartment on the first floor. A year later, the building was replanned for the first time, changing the interiors: the walls were sheathed with oak panels, new doors were installed. Above Stalin's apartment were his personal office and the Special Sector of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. On the right side of the reception room, Major General Alexander Poskrebyshev and his deputy L. A. Logino worked.

During the Great Patriotic War, the palace housed the State Defense Committee, the apparatus of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and the Council of People's Commissars. After coming to power in 1953, Nikita Khrushchev arranged his office on the third floor of the palace, which occupied 100 m². In 1972, the building housed the offices of the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee and employees of the General Department of the CPSU Central Committee, a relaxation room, a small office, a reception room, a Nut Room, a Politburo meeting room, an archive and a group of the Special Sector of the General Department of the CPSU Central Committee. In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev moved to the palace, for whom new apartments on the third floor were equipped.

On December 25, 1991, the place of the Soviet flag on the dome was taken by the Russian one, which in 1994 was replaced by the presidential standard. In 1992, the restoration of the building began. The historical appearance was preserved by the Catherine and Oval halls, the rest were created anew in accordance with the original style of Matvey Kazakov. As a result of restoration work in 1994-1996, ancient high reliefs, stucco decoration of the cornice, frieze and capitals were restored in the halls.

As of 2022, the palace is the working residence of the president.

 

Architectural features

The Senate Palace has become the largest completed project of Matvey Kazakov. According to the architect's intention, the building was supposed to symbolize civic ideals, law and justice. He found their embodiment in the classical forms of antiquity. This explains the conciseness of the building, with the help of which Kazakov wanted to enhance the architectural expressiveness of Red Square as the main square of Moscow.

The Senate Palace is a three-story building shaped like an isosceles triangle. Its outer perimeter is 450 meters, inner - 360. The outer facades of the building have three risalits, highlighted by Doric pilasters. The first and basement floors are rusticated, which gives the building the properties of monumentality and unity of volume. The corners of the building are cut and processed with projections, in the solution of which the motif of triumphal arches is used, which is repeated in the center of all three facades. An entrance arch with an Ionic four-column portico and a pediment leads to the courtyard from the Senate Square. The palace is crowned with a green dome in the form of a hemisphere, under which the Catherine's Hall is located.

From the outside, on the top of the dome until 1812, there was a sculptural equestrian group depicting St. George the Victorious. During the occupation of Moscow, by order of Napoleon, the statue was removed and taken to France.

 

Interiors

The presidential residence consists of two parts: business and representative. The business part includes working and representative offices, a meeting room of the Presidential Council, a library, and the premises of the Security Council. The representative part consists of a grand suite of halls where international meetings and protocol events take place. All rooms are located along the outer facades and are connected by through corridors running along the perimeter of the courtyards.

The representative office of the president, decorated in white and green colors, is located in the Oval Hall. It hosts meetings and negotiations, and awards state awards. The room is decorated with a malachite fireplace, decorated with a mirror with a bronze clock and candelabra on the mantelpiece, as well as four tall sculptures: Peter I, Catherine II, Nicholas I and Alexander II. The crystal chandeliers of the hall are made according to Kazakov's drawings.

In the deepening of the courtyard is the main compositional center of the structure - the Dome Hall of the Senate, or Catherine. This is one of the largest round halls in Moscow: its diameter is 25 meters and its height is 27 meters. Previously, it was intended for noble assemblies held for the purpose of elections to self-government bodies. The hall is decorated with 24 Corinthian white marble columns and bas-reliefs in antique style. The walls between the windows of the dome are filled with plaster medallions with bas-relief images of Russian princes and tsars, made from marble originals by the sculptor Fedot Shubin, originally created for the Chesme Palace near St. Eighteen high-relief panels, presumably by Gavriil Zamaraev, based on allegorical scenes composed by Gavriil Derzhavin and Nikolai Lvov, are installed in the piers between the columns. They reflect the state activities of Catherine II, glorify the rule of law, justice, education. All decorative moldings were made by I. Yust, Arnoldi and other sculptors. The vault of the dome is decorated with caissons, giving it depth. The Shokhinsky staircase, finished with marble and granite, leads to the hall. Its base is decorated with two floor lamps, and the spans are decorated with sculptures of the goddess of justice Themis.

The office of the president is made in the style of classicism with a round rotunda, decorated with a bronze chandelier. Next to it is the Blue Living Room with white and gold furniture. The Audience Hall, made in light colors with gilding, is decorated with portraits of Russian emperors, marble, and a classically shaped fireplace. The suite of representative rooms is completed by the Banquet Hall designed in light yellow and blue tones. The furniture installed in it was created according to the surviving drawings of the 18th century.

The Fireplace Hall and the Living Room are used for holding meetings and signing state documents. The Dining Room hosts informal breakfasts and lunches, as well as working meetings between the President of Russia and the leaders of various states. The Presidential Library is located on the third floor of the northeastern part of the building. Encyclopedias, reference books, legislative acts are collected in bookcases. This room houses the original copy of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, on which the presidents take the oath at the time of taking office.