Description of the attraction
The White Tower pavilion is located in the landscape garden of the Alexander Park. It is part of a complex of buildings inspired by the image of a medieval knight's castle. In addition to the "White Tower", this ensemble includes the Gate-ruins (2 towers with a gate between them), a moat and a rampart, which is crowned with a brick parapet.
The complex was built in the period from 1821 to 1827 according to the plan of the famous architect and park planner Adam Adamovich Menelas for the sons of Emperor Nicholas I - the Grand Dukes Nicholas, Alexander, Constantine and Mikhail, who were engaged in gymnastic and military exercises here. On the top floor of the White Tower was the studio of the court painter Alexander Ivanovich Sauerweid (1783–1844), who taught the imperial children drawing and painting.
In addition, according to the plan of the tutor of the heir Alexander Nikolaevich, the great Russian poet Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky (1783-1852), a bridgehead was erected near the Ruins - an earthen fortress, in terms of repeating the 8-pointed star (based on the fortification teachings of the outstanding French engineer XVII century, Marshal of France Sebastian Vauban).
The White Tower Pavilion is 37.8 meters high. Surrounded by a shallow ditch. Inside the building, one above the other, rooms were arranged: on the first floor - a pantry and a dining room, on the second - a living room, on the third and fourth - an office and a bedroom, on the fifth - a library and a dressing room. The pavilion was completed by an open area, from which a magnificent view of the picturesque surroundings of Tsarskoye Selo opened.
Many famous Petersburg masters took part in the design of the White Tower interiors: the parquet floors were made by the master M. Znamensky, the paintings were performed by V. Brandukov and Giovanni Batista Scotti, the furniture was made by the court suppliers, the Gambs brothers.
The facades of the pavilion were decorated with cast-iron sculptures cast at the Alexandrovsky plant according to the models of one of the brilliant Russian sculptors of the first half of the 19th century, Vasily Ivanovich Demut-Malinovsky (1779–1846). On the terrace were installed 4 cast-iron lions, made according to the model of K. Landini.
The Great Patriotic War did not spare the White Tower. It was almost completely destroyed, only the lower part of the building survived. Restoration work began in the 1990s. At present, the White Tower Pavilion is undergoing a conservation phase.
