Pavilion of the Three Graces in Pavlovsky Park description and photos - Russia - St. Petersburg: Pavlovsk

Pavilion of the Three Graces in Pavlovsky Park description and photos - Russia - St. Petersburg: Pavlovsk. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photos and a map showing the nearest significant objects.

Photo and description

The Pavilion of the Three Graces is located in the private garden of the Central (Pryvortsovy) district of Pavlovsky Park, right next to the palace. This is the last work in Pavlovsk Park, created by the architect Charles Cameron in 1800.

The Pavilion of the Three Graces looks like an antique portico. The ceiling with large rosettes in the caissons is supported by sixteen slender Ionic columns. The pavilion has a gable roof with gables on both sides. When the Pavilion was being erected, the sculptural compositions in tympans replaced the pediment statues. On the tympanum, from the side of the Private Garden, a relief was installed depicting Apollo with the attributes of the sciences and arts, from the side of Sadovaya Street - a relief depicting Minerva with military attributes. The sculptor Ivan Prokofievich Prokofiev was their author.

October 14, 1802, on her birthday, Maria Feodorovna received a gorgeous gift from her eldest son - the sculpture "Three Graces", representing three girls supporting a vase. 11,000 rubles were paid for it. The author of this group was the Italian sculptor Paolo Triscorni. Made of a single piece of marble.

From the moment this sculptural group was installed (1803) in the Pavilion, its name has changed. Since the mid-19th century, all archival materials refer to the building as the Pavilion of the Three Graces. Graces are goddesses who personify feminine charms, joy and beauty - Thalia (Color), Euphrosine (Joy), Aglaya (Shine). They are the daughters of the god Zeus and the oceanid Eurynoma. Graces were often companions of the gods: Dionysus, Hermes, Aphrodite. Their main responsibility was to deliver to the gods and people everything that makes their life wonderful and happy.

The sculptural ensemble "Three Graces" gave the Pavilion an unusually light, transparent, poetic sound. It is in perfect harmony not only with Cameron's Colonnade, but also with the entire surrounding space.

During the Great Patriotic War, the sculptural group "Three Graces" was hidden, buried in the ground, but the Nazis managed to find it. By a lucky coincidence, they did not have time to take it out.

In 1956-1957, under the leadership of the architect Sofia Vladimirovna Popova-Gunich, the Pavilion of the Three Graces was restored.