Description of the attraction
Big and Small whims are two artificially created embankments with arches over the road, which connect two parks at the beginning and end of the Chinese village. According to legend, the bulk arch-passages were called Small and Big whims due to the fact that when approving estimates for expensive construction work, Empress Catherine II hesitated for a long time, thinking whether to implement her idea or not. But, on reflection, she nevertheless signed them, saying: "To be like this, this is my whim."
There is also another version. In the 18th century. at the Big Caprice there was a guardhouse and a barrier, there was an entrance to the Big Tsarskoye Selo Palace, from here they went to the main Tsarskoye Selo highways, along which the Empress often rode during her stay in her summer residence. It was claimed that, passing by the guardhouse, the empress had a habit of ordering the coachman where to go, and therefore, laughing, she herself called this point “her whim”. They said that it was as if Catherine II (as well as Elizabeth) had never announced her departure from her summer residence in advance and left at the moment when it was least expected.
In business documents of the 18th century. whims meant an architectural or other structure in any park, but made in a special way.
In terms of distance from the Catherine Palace, the Small Caprice was called the First Gate, and the Big Caprice was called the Second.
The architectural concept of whims belongs to V. I. Neelov. Together with the architect and engineer I. Gerard, he erected them in 1772-1774. The embankments for these structures were created from soil excavated during the digging of nearby ponds. The idea of these structures is based on an engraving from the 17th century, which depicts one of such Chinese structures. But V. I. Neelov, in his own original way, solved this topic.
The Big Caprice has a huge arch with a height of more than 7 m and a width of more than 5 m. The second, somewhat smaller arch, was built in an earthen embankment nearby. Sheer arched walls and a cylindrical vault are made of flagstone, which is laid in regular rows. From the facades, the semicircle of the vault and the ends of the retaining walls are faced with blocks of purely hewn Pudost stone.
At the top of the Big Caprice is a Chinese gazebo. It consists of eight columns of pink marble that support a gracefully curved "Chinese" roof, reminiscent of the roofs of the houses of the Chinese village and the Creaky Gazebo, which are located nearby.
During a big thunderstorm on July 8, 1780, lightning hit the Big Caprice, but did not do much harm to the pavilion. After reporting the incident, Catherine II ordered to fix everything that was damaged, and, in order to prevent the repetition of such cases, arrange a lightning rod, passing it underground into a nearby pond.
At the entrance to the Catherine Park at the Big Caprice, near the Rose Field, in 1848, on the site of the former guardhouse, the architect I. P. Monighetti was built a Swiss watchtower lodge.
From under the embankment of the Big Caprice, the services of the Catherine Palace are clearly visible, and earlier a beautiful perspective view opened into the left side passage.
The name “caprice” repeated twice in the complex is very indicative, since it reveals the meaning of the entire ensemble of “Chinese” structures in the Alexander Park: those who came to Tsarskoe Selo first passed the arch of the Big Caprice, passing a dark short tunnel, and a wonderful panorama opened up in front of him quaint houses of the Chinese village, and in front of him was the Little Caprice. This unusual world of "whims", so different from everyday life, was in some way a preparation for the perception of the Grand Palace.
The construction of the Konstantinovsky Palace is connected with the Little Caprice. Initially, this palace was built here in Tsarskoe Selo by the architect D. Quarenghi. The palace was located near the Small Whim. But in 1798, by order of Paul I, the Konstantinovsky Palace was transported to Pavlovsky Park, where it was reassembled.
This palace was intended for the mother of Maria Feodorovna - Duchess Sophia-Dorothea of Wiertemberg-Stuttgart. But that year, when the palace was moved to Pavlovsk, the duchess died, and the building was given to the emperor's son, Konstantin Pavlovich.
The slopes of the mountain, stretching across the territory of the Catherine Park in the direction of the Big Caprice, were hidden by dense bushes and trees. During the war, the trees were cut down, and in 1949 new plantings were made so that the Big Caprice regained its original appearance.
