Vorontsov Palace (Alupka)

The Vorontsov Palace (Ukrainian: Воронцовський палац; Russian: Воронцо́вский дворе́ц) or the Alupka Palace[nb 1] is a historic palace situated at the foot of the Crimean Mountains near the town of Alupka in Crimea. The Vorontsov Palace is one of the oldest and largest palaces in Crimea,[2] and is one of the most popular tourist attractions on Crimea's southern coast.[3][4]

The Vorontsov Palace: the northern entrance façade. The stone was mined locally as part of a conscious effort to blend the building with its mountainous surroundings.
The southern façade of the main building is built in the style of an iwan, which is common in Islamic architecture.

The palace was built between 1828 and 1848 for the Russian Prince Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov for use as his personal summer residence at a cost of 9 million roubles.[5] It was designed in a loose interpretation of the English Renaissance revival style by English architect Edward Blore and his assistant William Hunt.[4][6] The building is a hybrid of several architectural styles, but faithful to none. Among those styles are elements of Scottish Baronial,[7] Indo-Saracenic Revival Architecture,[8] and Gothic Revival architecture.[2] Blore had designed many buildings in the United Kingdom, and was later particularly well known there for completing the design of Buckingham Palace in London.[9]

Once completed, the palace was visited by many members of the Russian Empire's elite ruling class; a great number of these vastly wealthy nobles were so taken with the palace and its seaboard site that they were moved to create their own summer retreats in the Crimea. By the early 20th century not only many aristocrats, but also members of the Imperial Family, including the Tsar himself, had palaces in an assortment of architectural styles in the vicinity.

An important feature of the Vorontsov Palace is the adjoining park ensemble, which features 40 hectares (99 acres) of greenery and forestry arranged by German landscape gardener Carolus Keebach.[10][11] Today, the Vorontsov Palace is a part of the "Alupka Palace-Park Complex," a national historical preserve including the Massandra Palace in neighbouring Massandra.

Owing to its status as an important local tourist attraction and architectural monument, the Vorontsov Palace and its surrounding park complex were frequently featured in Ukrainian and Soviet cinema productions such as: An Ordinary Miracle (1964), Nebesnye lastochki (1976), Crazy Day or The Marriage of Figaro (2004), and Sappho (2008).[6][12]

Russian poet Ivan Bunin visited the palace in 1900 and wrote a short poem entitled "Long alley leading down to the shore ..." (Russian: К прибрежью моря длинная аллея ...).[13]

  1. ^ Chernov 1986, p. 184.
  2. ^ a b Ivchenko & Parkhomenko 2010, p. 290.
  3. ^ Zharikov 1983–1986, p. 299.
  4. ^ a b Malikenaite 2003, p. 60.
  5. ^ "Vorontsovsky palace". Zabytki (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 30 July 2011.
  6. ^ a b "Vorontsovsky palace". Qrim.ru (in Russian). 31 October 2008. Retrieved 29 July 2011.
  7. ^ Gilbert 1992, p. 817.
  8. ^ Brett, p?
  9. ^ Warren, Marcus (28 October 2000). "Crimea's castles in the air face collapse". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference sunny was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Shirokov, O. "Alupka Park". The Crimean sights. Taurical National University. Archived from the original on 6 October 2011. Retrieved 3 August 2011.
  12. ^ "Vorontsovsky palace". Crimean Architectural Portal (in Russian). Retrieved 29 July 2011.
  13. ^ Bunin, Ivan. "Long alley leading down to the shore". Ivan Alekseevich Bunin (in Russian). bunin.niv.ru. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 3 August 2011.


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