Pella, a palace ensemble

Subject / Architecture/Palaces
Pella is a palace ensemble (now within the precincts of the town of Otradnoye of the Kirovsk District). It was created by the order of Empress Katherine II on the left bank of the Neva River at the Ivanovsky rapids in the lands bought in 1784 from the entrepreneur S.Ya. Yakovlev. According to the degree of Katherine II of 31 March 1785 the new palace estate was called Pella (like the capital of ancient Macedonia - the Motherland of Alexander Macedonian) in honour of her grandson Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich (the future Emperor Alexander I). Pella became one of the favourite places of rest of the Empress. In 1785 by the architect I.Ye. Starov's project in Pella the construction of an emperor palace was started, in 1789 the building was completed. The main front of the ensemble in strong classicism style was faced to the Neva; wide flight of stone stairs went up to the palace from a spacious river pier. The central 3-storeyed front building was flanked with two symmetric 2-storeyed buildings pulled forward and covered with cupolas. Buildings were linked with the central building with galleries. Monumentality of the ensemble was intensified with its size (the northen front's length is about 200m, the length of the southern front from the direction of Shlisselburg Road is about 500 m). In 1796 after the death of Katherine II, works were stopped and a short time later, in according to the order of Emperor Paul I the unfinished palace was demolished, building materials were removed into St Petersburg and used for the building of Mikhaylovsky Castle. Only buildings of the Post Office (see: Post Offices) and stables were spared (now the office of the factory "Pella" is placed there). This name is used for the Railway Station Pella in railway line St Petersburg - Volkhovstroy. Margolis, Aleksandr Davidovich
Alexander I, Emperor
Alexander of Macedon
Catherine II, Empress
Paul I, Emperor
Starov, Ivan Yegorovich
Yakovlev (Sobakin), Savva Yakovlevich
Topographical landmarks/Neva River, the
Leningrad Oblast, the/Kirovsk District/Otradnoye Town
Topographical landmarks/Pella, Railway Station
Столпянский П.Н. Вверх по Неве от Санкт-Петербурха до Шлюшина: Путеводитель. – Пг.: Гос. изд-во, 1922.
Кючарианц Д.А. Иван Старов. Л., 1982., С. 103-120.
Post stations