Kichkine Palace looks like a
miniature precious casket surrounded by mountains and sea surface. He belonged
to the grandson of Nicholas I, Grand Duke Dmitry Konstantinovich Romanov. This
miniature palace contains a huge number of stories: both family-joyful and
destructive-mournful.
What kind of work did the builders do to build the architectural caprice
of Dmitry Konstantinovich in an unruly mountainous area? Why do some Crimeans
and tourists find Kichkine's resemblance to the famous Swallow's Nest located
nearby? How is the miniature
grand duke's palace now used?
The main
building of the hotel "Kichkine":
The Grand Duke
wanted a small, unusual house-palace near the house, a small garden, and all these buildings and
services had to become comfortable not only for him, but also for his nephews.
Dmitry Konstantinovich himself wished to choose a place for the future estate.
He was offered two plots in an ideal and safe place to live. However, he
categorically rejected these options and instructed his assistant to buy back a
small plot on the site of the former Ai-Nicola, located on the slope of a steep
cliff.
This decision caused a lot of discussions. In
society, it was rumored that the eccentric prince wanted to build a palace that
would eclipse the castle of Baron Steingel called "Swallow's Nest."
To translate his ideas into reality, Dmitry Konstantinovich turned to the
company of Yalta brothers-architects Tarasov. In March 1912 the Tarasovs
presented the Grand Duke with a project of a house-palace, a guest house,
outbuildings, a garage and retaining walls. Dmitry Konstantinovich wished to
complete the project: he wanted to have a small house in the manor complex only
for him, connected to the main house by a transition in the form of a gallery.
The most important wish of Dmitry Konstantinovich for interiors was the number
of rooms - it is necessary that they are enough for all family members of his
brother, Konstantin Konstantinovich
The management of the construction work was
undertaken by Vasily Georgievich Tarasov, Nikolai Georgievich Tarasov drafted
the palace complex, and Alexander Georgievich Tarasov was engaged in the
decoration of the premises.
Considering the fact that the palace and other
buildings were located almost at the edge of the cliff, the architects paid
special attention to safety. The walls of the castle were decided to be made of
a width of arshin, the ceilings and floors of the castle were constructed of
reinforced concrete structures, and beneath the floors the architects built an
additional protection - a broad concrete foundation.
The history of the interiors of the palace is
noteworthy. The estate of Dmitry Konstantinovich included family interior items
from various palaces and estates: from Oreanda and even Strelna Palace. Thanks
to the abundance of furniture that had been taken out of the burning Oreanda,
the grand lounge Kichkine was called the "Aureanda drawing-room".
Another peculiarity of Kichkine's interior design was a mixture of styles: the
lobby was dominated by the Arabian style, in the living rooms - Empire.
From the very beginning of the project, the
architects realized that it would not be possible to break a full-fledged
garden next to the palace. However, the Grand Duke's residence with the absence
of any gardening seemed to all sides of the project a real oxymoron. As a
result, the garden was divided into isolated curtains, constructed a system of
ornate paths and planted beautiful flowering shrubs. These techniques helped
create a feeling of fullness of the space of the palace complex with greenery
and plants.
Now the territory of the Kichkine estate is in
close proximity to the sanatorium of the same name, and in the palace itself a
museum exposition dedicated to Dmitry Romanov was recently opened.
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