And in general, through the palaces of France, we cannot but look into the most probably famous palace and park complex in France. Let it be known to everyone, you have heard a lot about it, but let's take a virtual look and there for a couple of minutes.

Versailles- this name is associated all over the world with the idea of ​​the most significant and magnificent palace, built by the will of one monarch. The Versailles palace and park ensemble, recognized as a masterpiece of world heritage, is quite young - it is only three and a half centuries old. The Palace and Park of Versailles is one of the outstanding architectural ensembles in the history of world architecture. The layout of the vast park, the territory associated with the Palace of Versailles, is the pinnacle of French park art, and the palace itself is a first-class architectural monument. A galaxy of brilliant masters worked on this ensemble. They created a complex, complete architectural complex, which includes a monumental palace building and a number of park structures of "small forms", and, most importantly, a park that is exceptional in its compositional integrity.

The Versailles Ensemble is an eminently characteristic and striking work of 17th century French classicism. The palace and park ensemble of Versailles is the greatest architectural monument of the 17th century, which had a strong influence on the urban planning thought of the 18th century. Versailles generally became a kind of "ideal city", which the Renaissance authors dreamed and wrote about and which, by the will of Louis XIV, the "sun king", and the art of his architects and gardeners, was realized in reality, and in the immediate vicinity of Paris. But let's talk about everything in more detail ...

The mention of Versailles first appeared in the 1038 charter issued by the abbey of St. Peter. It spoke of a certain lord Hugh of Versailles - the owner of a small castle and adjacent territories. The emergence of the first settlement - a small village around the castle - is usually dated to the middle of the 11th century. Another village soon grew up around the church of St. Julian.

The 13th century (especially the years of the reign of Saint Louis) for Versailles, as well as for the whole of Northern France, became a century of prosperity. However, the 14th century that followed brought with it a terrible plague and the Hundred Years War between England and France. All these misfortunes led Versailles to a very deplorable state: by the end of the 14th century, its population numbered just over 100 people. He began to recover only in the next 15th century.

Versailles as an architectural and park ensemble did not appear immediately, it was not created by one architect like many palaces of the 17th-18th centuries that imitated him. At the end of the 16th century, Versailles was a small village in the forest, where he sometimes hunted Henry IV... Ancient chronicles report that at the beginning of the 17th century, Versailles was a village with a population of about 500 people, a mill stood on the site of the future palace, and fields and endless swamps were spread all around. In 1624 it was built on behalf of Louis XIII, by the architect Philibert Le Roi, a small hunting lodge next to a village called Versailles.

Near it there was a medieval dilapidated castle - the possession of the house of Gondi. Saint-Simon in his memoirs calls this ancient castle of Versailles "house of cards". But soon this castle was rebuilt by the architect Lemercier by order of the king. At the same time, Louis XIII acquired the Gondi plot, along with the dilapidated palace of the archbishop, and demolished it to expand his park. The small castle was located 17 kilometers from Paris. It was a U-shaped structure with a moat. In front of the castle there were four buildings made of stone and brick with metal bars on the balconies. The courtyard of the old castle, which later received the name Marble, has survived to this day. The first gardens of the Versailles Park were laid out by Jacques Boissot and Jacques de Menoir.

In the middle of the 16th century, Martial de Loménie, Minister of Finance under King Charles IX, became the only Versailles lord. Charles granted him the right to hold four annual fairs in Versailles and the opening of a weekly market (on Thursdays). The population of Versailles, which was still a small village, was at this time about 500 people. However, the French religious wars between Catholics and Protestants led to an early change in the seigneurial dynasty. Martial was arrested for his sympathies with the Huguenots (French Protestants) and thrown into prison. Here he was visited by the Duke de Retz, Albert de Gondi, who had long hatched plans to seize the Versailles territories. By means of threats, he forced de Loménie to sign a document according to which the latter would concede Versailles to him at a negligible price.

At the beginning of the 17th century, King Louis XIII began to visit Versailles often, who enjoyed hunting in the local forests. In 1623 he ordered to build a small castle where hunters could stop for a halt. This building became the first royal palace in Versailles. On April 8, 1632, Louis XIII bought the seigneur in full from the last Versailles owner Jean-François de Gondi for 66,000 livres. In the same year, the king appointed his valet, Arno, as administrator of Versailles. In 1634, the architect Philibert le Roy was commissioned to rebuild the old Versailles castle into a royal palace. However, despite the changes taking place, by the end of the reign of Louis XIII, Versailles did not change its appearance much. He, as before, was a small village.

Everything changed with the accession to the throne of the king - the sun, Louis XIV. It was during the reign of this monarch (1643-1715) that Versailles became a city and a favorite royal residence.

In 1662, Versailles began to be built according to the Le Nôtre plan. André Le Nôtre(1613-1700) by this time had already become famous as the builder of country estates with regular parks (in Vaux-le-Vicomte, Sault, Saint-Cloud, etc.). It is interesting that in the years 1655-1661 N. Fouquet, the largest financier of absolutist France, according to the project of the architect Louis le Vaux rebuilt his country castle. The main thing in the palace and park ensemble of Vaux-le-Vicomte was not even the palace itself (at that time quite modest), but the general principle of creating a country residence. All of it was turned into a giant park, skillfully arranged by the architect-gardener André Le Nôtre. The palace Vaux-le-Vicomte demonstrated the new lifestyle of the French aristocrat - in nature, outside the walls of a cramped, crowded city. I liked the palace and the park so much Louis XIV that he could not come to terms with the idea that they were not his property. The French king immediately imprisoned Fouquet, and commissioned the architects Louis le Vaux and André Le Nôtroux to build his palace at Versailles. The architecture of the Fouquet estate was adopted as a model for Versailles. Having preserved the Fuke Palace, the king took out everything that could be removed and taken away from it, right down to the orange trees and the marble statues of the park.

Le Nôtre began with the construction of a city that was to house the courtiers of Louis XIV and a large staff of palace servants and military guards. The city was designed for thirty thousand inhabitants. Its layout was subordinated to three ray highways, which diverged from the central part of the palace in three directions: to Sau, Saint-Cloud, Paris. Despite the direct analogy with the Roman three-ray, the Versailles composition was significantly different from its Italian prototype. In Rome, the streets diverged from the Piazza del Popolo, while in Versailles they rapidly converged to the palace. In Rome, the width of the streets was less than thirty meters, in Versailles - about a hundred. In Rome, the angle formed between the three highways was 24 degrees, and in Versailles, 30 degrees. For the early settlement of the city Louis XIV distributed plots for building to everyone (of course, nobles) for a reasonable price with the only condition to build buildings in the same style and not higher than 18.5 meters, that is, the level of the entrance to the palace.

In 1673, it was decided to demolish the old Versailles buildings, including the church. The new Cathedral of St. Julian was erected in its place in 1681-1682. On May 6, 1682, Louis XIV, along with his entire court, moved from Paris to Versailles. This marked a turning point in the history of the city. By the first quarter of the 18th century (that is, by the end of the reign of Louis), Versailles had become a luxurious royal residence, and its population was 30,000 inhabitants.

As a result of the second construction cycle, Versailles was formed into an integral palace and park ensemble, which is a wonderful example of the synthesis of arts - architecture, sculpture, and landscape gardening art of French classicism of the 17th century. However, after the death of the cardinal Mazarin, Versailles, created by Levo, began to seem not majestic enough to express the idea of ​​an absolute monarchy. Therefore, for the restructuring of Versailles was invited Jules Hardouin Mansart, the largest architect of the end of the century, whose name is associated with the third construction period in the history of the creation of this complex, the great-nephew of the famous François Mansart. Mansart enlarged the palace even more by erecting two wings, each five hundred meters long, at right angles to the southern and northern facades of the palace. In the north wing, he placed a church (1699-1710), the vestibule of which was completed by Robert de Cott. In addition, Mansart added two more floors over the Levo terrace, creating a Mirror Gallery along the western facade, which closes with the rooms of War and Peace (1680-1886).

Adam Frans van der Meulen - Construction of the Château de Versailles

On the axis of the palace in the direction of the entrance on the second floor, Mansart placed the royal bedroom with a view of the city and the equestrian statue of the king, erected later at the vanishing point of the road trident of Versailles. In the northern part of the palace were the chambers of the king, in the southern - the queen. Mansar also built two buildings of Ministers (1671-1681), which formed the third, the so-called "court of Ministers", and connected these buildings with a rich gilded lattice. All this completely changed the appearance of the building, although Mansart left the same height of the building. Gone are contrasts, freedom of imagination, nothing is left, except for the extended horizontal line of the three-storey building, which is the same in the structure of its facades with the basement, front and attic floors. The impression of grandeur that this brilliant architecture produces is achieved by the large scale of the whole, the simple and calm rhythm of the entire composition.

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Mansar knew how to combine various elements into a single artistic whole. He had an amazing sense of ensemble, striving for rigor in decoration. For example, in the Mirror Gallery, he applied a single architectural motive - a uniform alternation of walls with openings. This classic base creates a sense of clear form. Thanks to Mansar, the expansion of the Palace of Versailles acquired a natural character. The annexes received a strong relationship with the central buildings. The ensemble, outstanding for its architectural and artistic qualities, was successfully completed and had a great influence on the development of world architecture.

Each of the inhabitants of the Palace of Versailles left his mark on its architecture and decoration. Louis XV, the great-grandson of Louis XIV, who succeeded to the throne in 1715, only by the end of his reign in 1770 decided to make changes to the architecture of the palace. He ordered to equip separate apartments in order to protect his life from court etiquette. In turn, Louis XV inherited from his great-grandfather a love for the arts, as evidenced by the decoration of his inner chambers; and the penchant for secret political intrigues passed to him from the Italian ancestors of the Medici family and the Savoy dynasty. It was in the Inner Offices, far from the curious courtyard, that the one who was called the "General Favorite" made some of the most important government decisions. At the same time, the king did not neglect either the etiquette established by his predecessor, or the life of the family, which he was reminded of by the queen and especially his beloved daughters.

After the death of the sun king, Philip of Orleans, who became regent under the young Louis XV, decided to move the French court back to Paris. This was a notable blow to Versailles, which immediately lost about half of its inhabitants. However, everything returned to its previous state when in 1722 the matured Louis XV moved to Versailles again. Under his successor, Louis XVI, the city had to go through many dramatic moments. By a whim of fate, this luxurious royal residence was to become the cradle of the Great French Revolution. It was here that the States General gathered in 1789, and here on June 20, 1789, the deputies from the third estate took a solemn oath not to disperse until their demands for political reforms in France were accepted. A crowd of heated revolutionaries arrived here in early October 1789 from Paris, which, having seized the palace, forced the royal family to return to the capital. After that, Versailles again began to rapidly lose population: its number dropped from 50,000 people (in 1789) to 28,000 people (in 1824). During the revolutionary events, almost all the furniture and valuables were removed from the Versailles Palace, but the building itself was not destroyed. During the reign of the Directory, restoration work was carried out in the palace, after which a museum was housed here.

Louis XVI, the heir to Louis XV, whose reign was tragically interrupted by the revolution, inherited from his maternal grandfather, the Polish king Augustus of Saxony, an enviable heroic strength; on the other hand, his Bourbon ancestors gave him not only a true passion for hunting, but also a deep interest in science. His wife Marie Antoinette, daughter of the Duke of Lorraine, who later became Emperor of Austria, left a deep mark on the musical life of Versailles thanks to her love of music, inherited from both the Austrian Habsburgs and Louis XIII. Unlike his ancestors, Louis XVI did not have the ambitions of a creator king. Known for the simplicity of his tastes, he lived in a palace out of necessity. During his reign, the interior of the palace was renewed, and, above all, the Queen's Small Offices, which were located parallel to his Large Chambers. During the revolution, all the furniture and decorations of the palace were plundered. Napoleon and then Louis XVIII carried out restoration work at Versailles. After the July Revolution of 1830, the palace was supposed to be demolished. This issue was put to a vote in the Chamber of Deputies. Versailles saved the advantage by one vote. The last of the dynasty, King Louis-Philippe ruled France from 1830 to 1848. In 1830, after the July Revolution, which elevated him to the throne, the House of Representatives passed a law under which Versailles and Trianon came into the possession of the new king. Wasting no time, Louis-Philippe ordered the creation in Versailles of the Museum in honor of the glorious victories of France, which opened on June 1, 1837. This purpose of the castle has survived to this day.

The creators of the palace were not only Louis Le Vaux and Mansart. A significant group of architects worked under their leadership. Lemue, Dorbay, Pierre Guittard, Bruant, Pierre Cottard and Blondel worked with Le Vaux. Mansart's main assistant was his student and relative Robert de Cott, who continued to lead the construction after Mansart's death in 1708. In addition, Charles Daville and Lassurance worked at Versailles. The interiors were made according to drawings by Beren, Vigarani, and also by Lebrun and Mignard. Due to the participation of many masters, the architecture of Versailles is currently of a heterogeneous nature, especially since the construction of Versailles - from the emergence of the hunting castle of Louis XIII and to the construction of the battle gallery of Louis Philippe - lasted about two centuries (1624-1830).

During the Napoleonic Wars, Versailles was captured by Prussian troops twice (in 1814 and in 1815). The Prussian invasion was repeated again during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871. The occupation lasted 174 days. In the Palace of Versailles, chosen by the Prussian king William I as a temporary residence, on January 18, 1871, the creation of the German Empire was announced.

In the 20th century, Versailles also witnessed major international events more than once. It was here in 1919 that the peace treaty was signed, which put an end to the First World War and laid the foundation for the Versailles system of international relations.

Main palace complex(Chateau de Versailles) was built in the 17th century by King Louis XIV, who wanted to move here from the unsafe Paris. The luxurious rooms are richly decorated with marble, velvet and wood carvings. The main attractions here are the Royal Chapel, the Salon of Venus, the Salon of Apollo and the Hall of Mirrors. The decoration of the state rooms was dedicated to the Greek gods. The Salon of Apollo was originally the throne room of Louis. The Hall of Mirrors contains 17 huge mirrors reflecting tall arched windows and crystal chandeliers.

Grand Trianon- a beautiful pink marble palace was built by Louis XIV for his beloved Madame de Maintenon. Here the monarch loved to spend his free time. Later, the palace was home to Napoleon and his second wife.

Little Trianon- another love nest built by King Louis XV for Madame de Pompadour. Later, the Lesser Trianon was occupied by Marie Antoinette, and even later by Napoleon's sister. The nearby Temple of Love is said to have been the favorite venue for Marie Antoinette's parties.

Colonnade- the circle of marble columns and arches, located within the gardens, continues the theme of the gods of Olympus. The place was the king's favorite outdoor dining.

During the Second World War, Versailles was occupied by German troops. In addition, the city had to endure several brutal bombing raids, which killed 300 Versailles. The liberation of Versailles took place on 24 August 1944, and was carried out by French troops under the command of General Leclerc.

On February 25, 1965, a government decree was issued, according to which Versailles was to be turned into the prefecture of the new department of Yvelines, the official creation of which took place on January 1, 1968.

Today the city retains this status. Being one of the most attractive tourist destinations, Versailles is proud of its history and architectural monuments. In 1979, the palace and park of Versailles were officially included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Pierre-Denis Martin - View of Versailles

Versailles gardens with their sculptures, fountains, pools, cascades and grottoes, they soon became an arena for the Parisian nobility for splendid court festivities and baroque entertainments, during which one could enjoy both Lully's operas and plays by Racine and Moliere.

The parks of Versailles spread over an area of ​​101 hectares. There are many viewing platforms, alleys and promenades, there is even its own Grand Canal, or rather, a whole system of canals, which was called "Little Venice". The Palace of Versailles itself is also striking in its size: the length of its park facade is 640 meters, the Mirror Gallery located in the center is 73 meters long.

Versailles is open to visitors

in May - September from Tuesday to Sunday from 9:00 to 17:30.
fountains are open on Saturdays from July 1 to September 30 and on Sundays from early April to early October.

How to get there - Versailles

There are trains (commuter trains) to Versailles from the "Gare Montparnasse" station, the Montparnasse Bienvenue metro station (metro line 12). The entrance to the station is directly from the metro. Follow to the Versailles Chantiers stop. Travel time is 20 minutes. A round trip ticket costs 5.00 euros.

Exit the train station in the direction "Sortie" (exit), then continue straight. The road will lead you to the palace in 10 - 15 minutes.

In the 17th century, a single French state was formed, which became the most powerful power in Western Europe. In the 2nd half of the 17th century, Louis XIV ruled the "sun king", as he was called. This time was the pinnacle of French absolutism, and in Western literature it was called the "great age". Great - first of all for the splendor of the ceremony and all types of arts, in different genres and in different ways, glorifying the person of the king.

In 1671 the Academy of Architecture was founded. With the arrival of Louis IV, all arts are under the absolute control of the king.

Baroque at this time is relegated to the background, and "classicism" officially becomes the leading style of all art. Classicism is based on the traditions of the art of the Renaissance and antiquity. This is the last great style in architecture, sculpture and painting. Art should uplift the heroic, highly civil, it should have taught, praised the dignity of man, condemned vices.

It is noteworthy that during this period, not famous baroque masters, such as Bernini, but French architects, little known by that time, began to be invited for the construction of architectural structures.

So, for the construction of the eastern facade of the Louvre, a project by the French architect Perrault is chosen. The Colonnade of Claude Perrault is a vivid example of classicism: architecture is simple and rational, with a mathematically verified balance of mass, creates a sense of peace and grandeur, which is more consistent with the prevailing ideal of the era.

Gradually, classicism also penetrates into the construction of churches and cathedrals (Arduin Mansart's Cathedral of the Invalides in Paris)

But most of all architects are concerned with the problem of the relationship between the ensemble of the palace and the park. The architects Louis Leveaux and André Le Nôtre first try to solve this problem in the palace and park of Vaux le Vicomte near Melen (1657 - 1661).

The Palace of Vaud is rightly considered the prototype of the main creation of the second half of the 17th century - the Versailles Palace and Park. In a rather desolate area, 18 km from Paris, a fabulous palace (1668-1669) grew, fountains began to flow in a waterless place, and a giant park grew.

The Versailles Royal Palace was built by architects Leveaux (1661 - 1668), F. Orbet (1670 - 1674), and at the last stages of its construction, Arduen Mansart (1678 - 1689) took part.

From the gigantic square in front of the palace there are three avenues, three roads - to Paris, Saint-Cloud and Sau (also the residence of the king).

The palace, the facade of which stretches for half a kilometer, has three floors: the first is the base, heavy, masonry, the second is the main, ceremonial and therefore the highest, and the third, crowning the building and light. The exterior of the building is classically austere, the alternation of windows, pilasters, columns creates a clear, calm rhythm.

All this does not exclude a lush decorative interior decoration. The interiors of the palace consist of a suite of rooms, the top of the luxurious decoration of which was supposed to be the king's bedroom, where his day begins and ends and where audiences take place. The Mirror Gallery (length 73 m, width 10 m, built in 1678-1680) between the "War Hall" and the "Peace Hall", with windows overlooking the garden, on one side, and mirrors in which in the evening in the light of candles multiplied, crushed the reflection of the elegant court crowd - on the other.

The Park of Versailles is, like the entire ensemble, a program piece. It is a regular park that dates back to Vaud, i.e. a park in which everything is verified, which is lined with alleys and where places for fountains and sculptures are determined, where the will and mind of a person affects everything. The total length of the park is about three kilometers; its creator was the architect Le Nôtre.

The decorative work in Versailles was headed by the "first painter of the king", director of the Academy of Painting and Sculpture, director of the tapestry manufactory Charles Lebrun. Lebrun's "language" is a mixture of classic orderliness and majesty with the pathos of the Baroque, with arrogance.

Undoubtedly, Lebrun had a great decorative gift. He also made cardboards for trellises, and drawings for furniture, and altar images. To a large extent, it is Lebrun that French art owes the creation of a single decorative style, from monumental paintings and paintings to carpets and furniture.

Since the second half of the 17th century, France has firmly and for a long time occupied a leading place in the artistic life of Europe. But at the end of the reign of Louis IV, new tendencies, new features appeared in art, and the art of the 18th century had to develop in a different direction.

MAIN STAGES OF A NEW ART

Let's return to French architecture at the end of the 16th century, at the time of the end of the religious wars. Architecture experiences all the vicissitudes of a period of return to peace and prosperity: it is modest and calculating after the wars of the League, wasteful under Richelieu, majestic and solemn to the point of excessiveness under Louis XIV, cold and strict on the eve of the revolution. Let us consider sequentially the means that she used either separately or simultaneously.

FRENCH ARCHITECTURE OF THE XVII CENTURY

Stone and brick architecture and its forms

Combination of brick and stone.- Under Henry IV, decorative effects are often achieved by such constructive techniques, in which color contrasts give, at low cost, facades of a lively and varied appearance; this is the design of the walls in the form of a frame made of hewn stones filled with rough masonry.

The surface of the filling is covered with colored plaster: according to the tradition, coming from the early Renaissance, the framing of the openings is connected through all floors ( rice. 437), forming long white stripes from the basement to the lucarne, which stand out against the red background of the walls and against the blue background of the slate roofs.

Always using simple means, this architecture strives at the same time to color contrasts and to clear contours, to patterned outlines of roofs and lucarnes; she makes little use of profiling and completely avoids small details: here there are only contours and a play of colors.

The earliest monuments of this style include Mayenne palace on rue Saint-Antoine dating back to the era of Henry III.

Then follow: under Henry IV the palace of the cardinal of Bourbon at the abbey of Saint-Germain de Pré, buildings on the Place Dauphin and on the Place des Vosges ( rice. 437); under Louis XIII - the main nucleus of the Palace of Versailles; one of the more recent examples of this style is Mazarin palace(National Library), built by François Mansart in the minority of Louis XIV. To the same architecture belongs Rambouillet palace.

Application in stone architecture of forms that have arisen from a combination of stone and brick.- The previous group, as a derivative of it, includes a whole series of buildings built entirely of stone, but borrowing the decoration from the mixed structure we have just described.

As examples of this peculiar transfer of forms, we cite: under Louis XIII - Sully palace on rue Saint-Antoine built J. Ducereau, Sorbonne and Cardinal palace built Lemercier; at the beginning of the reign of Louis XIV - Palace d "Omon on Rui Street built Fr. Mansar.

Decorating with orders

The brick and stone architecture, clearly imbued with a desire for economy, is best suited for buildings that require nothing but graceful simplicity. For monumental structures, they resort to order decorations, and in France, as in Italy, they hesitate between two decisions: whether to make these decorations in accordance with the scale of the entire facade, or on the scale of only the floor that they decorate. Hence, there are two trends in the order architecture, which we will trace below.

Decorations linked to the scale of the floors.- When the decoration is tied to the scale of the floors, usually different orders are placed on each floor; such are the buildings of Tanle (department of Ionna), erected at the end of the reign of Henry IV.

Under Louis XIII, the tradition of using small orders was continued by S. de Brosse in Luxembourg Palace and on the facade Saint-Gervais.

Using the same method builds Lemercier central pavilion in Louvre courtyard and in the palace Liancourt(rice, 438) - his main work, from which only one drawings have come down to us.

Early reign of Louis XIV Lepotre applies the same decoration method during Beauvais palace(François Miron street); we meet in the same way in the castle Bussy Rabutin(Côte d'Or); the last representative of this system was Fr. Mansar (Castle Mason, pavilion of Gaston d'Orléans in Blois).

The least successful was the small order system in the early 17th century. In the Thorpanne Palace, an attempt was made to find a compromise solution: to preserve the entablature and destroy the pilasters or replace them with pillars.

During the entire reign of Henry IV, we meet only one frank application of the traditional system - the Louvre gallery ( rice. 439). This beautiful composition gives us an idea of ​​the flexibility that art still retained. The lower floor was built earlier (it dates back to the era of Catherine de Medici), and it had to be coordinated with the wing of the palace, the cornice of which was at the M level; this transition is provided by the mezzanine MN.

Now consider the opposite system.

Decorating with a colossal order.- Among the first buildings where several floors were combined into one large order of pilasters, we already called the wing chantilly castle dating back to the era of Henry II.

We provide a fragment of the facade ( rice. 440, C). He clearly shows the difficulties associated with this system. The entablatures reach exorbitant proportions to maintain proportionality with the pilasters; the windows are lost and, as it were, faded away. For the sake of the entablature, they make concessions to classical proportions, but in order not to deprive the windows of their value, they capture a part of the roof with them, turning them into a kind of lucarnes, not connected either with the facade or with the roof; sometimes they even try to cover the windows of two floors with one frame, as if simulating one common opening.

Thanks to all these compromises, the colossal warrant becomes one of the most common elements of French architecture. We meet him during the reign of Henry III. Diane de France palace(Pave Street, in the Marais); under Henry IV it was used in the gallery connecting the Louvre with the Tuileries (Fig. 440, L); built during the time of Louis XIII palace of the duchess of savoy(rue Garancière) is an example of Ionian pilasters drastically going out of scale. Dorian pilasters of more modest size adorn the Palace of Versailles.

By the beginning of the reign of Louis XIV, the tendency towards large orders was becoming more and more decisive. They find in them that greatness that meets the new claims of the monarchy. To the left and Dorbe they are used in the old southern facade of the Louvre, in the castle of Vaud, in the College of the Four Nations (Institute); Lemue uses this ceremonial uniform for d'Avo palace(Temple Street); Fr. Mansart applies it on the main façade monastery of Minims in the Saint Antoine suburb.

Subsequently, Perrault, in 1670, borrowed a colossal order as a theme for his Louvre Colonnade, and in the 18th century. Gabriel will repeat this order in the palaces in the Place de la Concorde.

Processing of facades with rustic materials and panels

Rustic processing.- We have already pointed out the consequences that follow from the use of a colossal order: the need for huge cornices and the need to excessively increase the openings. It is possible to preserve to some extent the grandeur that gives the architectural composition an order that rises from the very base of the building, if you replace the pilasters with rusticated blades. At the same time, costs are reduced, and at the same time, since the order forms become, as it were, implicit, the requirements for proportions become less imperative, which makes it possible to limit both the value of entablatures and the size of the windows.

The division of the facades with rusticated blades instead of pilasters was applied by Lemercier in the reign of Louis XIII century Richelieu castle and at the Cardinal Palace; under Louis XIV, these techniques were used L. Bruan- for processing facades Homes for the disabled, Fr. Mansar - for Val de Grae, Perrault - for the northern ledge of the Louvre.

Decorating by means of panels.“Architecture doesn't stop on this path to simplification. In the end, these rusticated scapulae are also destroyed; the entablature crowning the façade rests on bare walls, barely decorated with frames that outline the boundaries of the intermediate panels.

The courtyard of the House of Invalids is an excellent example of such facades, where only cornice profiles and shoulder blades remained from the orders. In the same spirit, Perrault decorates Observatory, Fr. Blondel is the gate of Saint-Denis, Bullet is the gate of Saint-Martin.

FRENCH ARCHITECTURE OF THE LATE XVII AND XVIII CENTURIES

Official style.- In the last third of the 17th century. the taste begins to deplete, the onset of decline is felt. To prevent it, Colbert founded the Academy of Architecture in 1671 and instructed it to fill in the gaps in craft apprenticeship by teaching theory. He sends architects to Rome to draw inspiration there, orders the publication of works on the monuments of classical antiquity, tries to revive art by elevating the position of its masters. But the decrepit art is powerless to rise and rejuvenate. Generation Lemercier and Fr. Mansara is dying out; the next generation still creates several works worthy of the previous period, but in general the style becomes flabby, the performance is mediocre.

Striving for the false ideal of nobility, they stop, following the example of the Italians, on monotonous facades that repeat the same motives throughout - and this cold symmetry conceals the arrangement of parts of the building so much that chapels and chapels are located behind the same facade. stairs, and even baths; even the roofs are masked. The main desire is not to reveal anything from the outside that would remind of the material needs of life.

It is this kind of architecture, as if created not for mere mortals, that the king likes. Jules Hardouin-Mansart fully applied it to the Palace of Versailles ( rice. 441, A); the façade, which clearly reveals all these tendencies, dates back to 1675. High art traditions and the decline of the 18th century. - The last years of the 17th century. marked by a return to more varied forms; then the style of Hardouin-Mansart acquires great flexibility, this, perhaps, should be attributed to the collaboration with other architects, among whom Saint-Simon names Lassurance.

Be that as it may, but before the death of Hardouin-Mansart (1708), there seems to be some revival: he ends his activity with two masterpieces - the House of
valid and the Versailles Chapel. The calamities of the end of the reign of Louis XIV hold back this revival, and it resolutely resumes only after the establishment of the Regency. From this moment, there are, so to speak, two architectures: one continues the strict traditions of the previous period, the other embarks on the path of refined grace, which very truthfully reflects the sophistication of its contemporary society.

The style of the new school, the "rococo" genre, was established only by 1730 and found the main exponent in the person of Boffran; the style of the classical school has its representatives successively Gabriel, Soufflot, and finally Louis and Antoine.

During the entire second half of the reign of Louis XV, both schools exist completely independently: while the palaces of Nancy are overloaded with Rococo decorations, the Place de la Concorde is distinguished by the majestic dignity and grandeur of its magnificent outlines ( rice. 441, B, 1750) A disorderly school of the middle of the 18th century. fizzles out by the time of Louis XVI: the philosophical movement directs the minds towards antiquity. Tastes completely change, and even the school of Gabriel and Soufflot is trying to surpass in purity of forms. With the approach of the revolution, they fall into dryness, and together with the revolution a crisis of art begins, a way out of which is barely outlined only in our era.

GENERAL STATE OF ARCHITECTURE IN EUROPE IN THE XVII AND XVIII CENTURIES

In the 17th and 18th centuries. Europe is influenced partly by modern Italy, partly by France. In general, French influences predominate; for example, French architects erect most of their palaces for the German princes: in Berlin, Munich, Stuttgart, and Mannheim.

Inigo Jones, from which classical architecture in England begins, apparently developed his own style through direct study of the monuments of Italy and founded a school, which he continued in the 18th century. came Chambers, the builder of Somerset Palace.

Wren (S. Wren), the architect of the Cathedral of St. Paul in London, adjacent to the school that created the House of Invalids in France; the Cathedral of St. Paul, in turn, served as the main model for America in the construction of the Capitol in Washington.

In Russia in the 18th century. mainly Italian influence is manifested - in the palaces of St. Petersburg.

As for the Italian art, the echo of which is represented by all modern architectural schools, its last creations were: Bernini's colonnade on the square of St. Petra, a majestic, but not austere facade, given by the architect Al. Galilee of the Church of San Giovanni in Laterano, and the cold edifices of Vanvitelli in Caserta.

Auguste Choisy. History of architecture. Auguste Choisy. Histoire De L "Architecture

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12-49. French architecture of the 17th century. Urban growth. Gardens and parks. The heyday of classicism. Works by Levo, Mansara. Ensembles of Versailles. Parisian squares.

; font-family: "Arial"; color: # 5e6669; background: #ffffff "> The 17th century is one of the brightest eras in the development of Western European artistic culture. European countries - Italy, Spain, Flanders, Holland, France. I'll tell you about France

; text-decoration: underline; color: # ff0000 "> Urban growth

; font-family: "Arial"; color: # 5e6669; background: #ffffff "> The architecture of French classicism of the 17th century was characterized by consistency and balance of compositions, clarity of straight lines, geometric correctness of plans and strict proportions.

; font-family: "Arial"; color: # 5e6669 "> Construction and control are concentrated in the hands of the state. A new position of" architect of the king "and" first architect "is introduced. Huge funds are spent on construction. Government agencies control construction not only in Paris but also in the provinces. Urban planning is widely spread throughout the country. New cities arise as settlements near the palaces and castles of the kings and rulers of France. In most cases, new cities are designed in the form of a square or rectangle in the plan or in the form of more complex shapes - five, six, eight, etc. squares formed by defensive walls, moats, bastions and towers. Inside them, a strictly regular rectangular or radial ring system of streets with a city square in the center is planned. Examples include the cities of Vitry-le-François, Saarlouis, Anrishmon, Marle, Richelieu, etc.

; font-family: "Arial"; color: # 5e6669 "> Reconstruction of old medieval towns is underway based on new principles of regular planning. Straight highways are being laid, urban ensembles and geometrically correct squares are being erected in place of the disorderly network of medieval streets.

However, during the years of the French Revolution, steps were taken that played a significant role in the history of architecture. In 1794, the Commission of Artists was formed, which was engaged in the improvement of the city, and also planned changes in its appearance. These plans influenced the subsequent urban planning transformations in Paris, implemented already in the Napoleonic era.

; text-decoration: underline; color: # ff0000 "> Parisian squares

; color: # ff0000 "> 1) ; font-family: "Helvetica"; color: # 258fcc "> Place Vendôme

R ; font-family: "Helvetica"; color: # 292929 "> Located in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, the octagonal Place Vendome was named after the son of Henry IV and his favorite Duchess de Beaufort, Duke of Vendome, whose mansion was nearby.

NS ; font-family: "Helvetica"; color: # 292929 "> the horse was designed by an architect; font-family: "Helvetica"; color: # 292929 "> Jules Hardouin-Mansart; font-family: "Helvetica"; color: # 292929 ">; font-family: "Helvetica"; color: # 292929 "> and was built in 1699-1701 according to the classical" royal "scheme: houses with elegant facades form a closed space, in the center of which is an equestrian monument to Louis XIV. Unfortunately, the monument like many other symbols of the monarchy, it was destroyed during the French Revolution.

NS ; font-family: "Helvetica"; color: # 292929 "> During the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte, a bronze column was erected in the center of Place Vendome (1806-1810) by architects Jacques Gondouin and Jean Baptiste Leper. Austrian and Russian cannons, and Trajan's Roman column served as a model for the Vendôme Column.

V ; font-family: "Helvetica"; color: # 292929 "> the Andomian column is adorned with a spiral bas-relief depicting Napoleon's victories, and topped with a statue of the emperor (sculptor Antoine-Denis Chaudet). In 1814, Napoleon's figure was replaced by the white flag of the Bourbon dynasty, and the sculpture itself was later melted down.

V ; font-family: "Helvetica"; color: # 292929 "> In 1833, a new statue of Napoleon was erected on top of the column by order of Louis Philippe I. And a little later, by order of Napoleon III, who feared that the statue would suffer from bad weather conditions , in the 1850s, the sculpture was exhibited in the House of Invalides, and on the column it was replaced by a copy.

V ; font-family: "Helvetica"; color: # 292929 "> about the time of the Paris Commune in 1871, the Vendome Column was dismantled - a member of the Central Committee, artist Gustave Courbet, insisted on this. the defeat of the Paris Commune, the Vendome column was restored and crowned with another copy of the statue of Napoleon (Gustave Courbet was obliged to pay all the expenses).

H ; font-family: "Helvetica"; color: # 292929 "> Since the time of the Second Empire, the houses on Place Vendôme are occupied by the most luxurious boutiques and famous jewelry houses, including Chanel and Cartier. the Ritz hotel, the creator of which - Cesar Ritz - offered its guests an interior and comfort worthy of the representatives of royal blood. Scott Fitzgerald and many others.

; font-family: "Helvetica"; color: # 258fcc "> 2) Charles de Gaulle Square or Star Square

O ; font-family: "Helvetica"; color: # 292929 "> the bottom of the busiest squares in the French capital - Place Charles de Gaulle (also called the Place de la Star) - is located in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, on the top of the Chaillot hill.

NS ; font-family: "Helvetica"; color: # 292929 "> The appearance of the square was not included in any urban development project, but the erection of the Tuileries Palace and the garden of the same name required a decent decoration of the residence of the kings. Therefore, the famous landscape architect of the 17th century Andre Le Nôtre right up to the Chaillot hill paved an avenue (now the famous Champs Elysees), which ended in a round square, and 5 new roads diverged from it in different directions - it was from here that the square was originally called the Place of the Stars. more like a fork in the road than a square.

WITH ; font-family: "Helvetica"; color: # 292929 "> In 1836, the square is decorated with the majestic Arc de Triomphe, erected in its very center by order of Napoleon Bonaparte and glorifying the military victories of France.

O ; font-family: "Helvetica"; color: # 292929 "> the final appearance of the square was formed only in 1854, when, according to the plan of the prefect of Paris, Baron Haussmann, 7 more streets were added to the square, and then there were 12 avenues-rays. The most famous and wide of them - the Champs Elysees, connecting the Place de l'Este with the Place de la Concorde.

V ; font-family: "Helvetica"; color: # 292929 "> In 1970, the Place de Zvezda was officially renamed: in honor of the first president of the Fifth Republic, it became known as the Place Charles de Gaulle, but Parisians often continue to use the old name.

; font-family: "Helvetica"; color: # 258fcc "> 3) Concord Square

; font-family: "Helvetica"; color: # 292929 "> The central square of Paris - Place de la Concorde - is a magnificent creation of the era of classicism and is rightfully considered one of the most beautiful in the world.

; font-family: "Helvetica"; color: # 292929 "> The architectural project of the future square, the place for which the square was chosen by Louis XV himself, was completed in 1757. The construction was completed only in 1779, and in the very center of the new square, originally called the Royal, installed an equestrian statue by the sculptors E. Bouchardon and J.-B. Pigalle.

; font-family: "Helvetica"; color: # 292929 "> During the French Revolution, it was decided to rename the square to the Revolution Square, and to demolish the equestrian monument. A guillotine was placed here, on which Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, L A. Saint-Just, C. Corday, J.J. Danton, C. Desmoulins and M. Robespierre More than a thousand executions were carried out.

; font-family: "Helvetica"; color: # 292929 "> In 1795, as a sign of the reconciliation of the estates, after the end of the revolutionary events, the square was renamed again - this time in the Place de la Concorde.

; font-family: "Verdana"; color: # 000000; background: #ffffff "> An ancient Egyptian obelisk (Luxor obelisk), two fountains, equestrian groups and marble statues depicting cities of France appeared under Louis-Philippe. In 1835 the architect Gittorf completed the design of the square, observing the principles of Gabriel's planning: it is not built up around the perimeter of houses, thanks to which wide perspectives open up from any point of the square.

; font-family: "Helvetica"; color: # 258fcc "> 4) Pyramids Square

R ; font-family: "Helvetica"; color: # 292929 "> Placed opposite the entrance to the Tuileries Gardens, the Pyramids Square got its name in memory of Napoleon Bonaparte's expedition to Egypt.

NS ; font-family: "Helvetica"; color: # 292929 "> where the square was occupied by the Equestrian Academy, which was run by the personal groom of three monarchs - Henry III, Henry IV and Louis XIII - Antoine de Pluvenel.

V ; font-family: "Helvetica"; color: # 292929 "> in the center of the square is the equestrian statue of Jeanne D" Arc, made by the sculptor Emmanuel Fremier. The monument was commissioned by the republican government back in 1870 after the fall of the Second Empire and was installed on the square in 1874 - not far from the place where Jeanne D "Arc was wounded in 1429 during the siege of Paris.

More squares of paris:

; font-family: "Arial"; color: # 000000 "> Greve Square

; font-family: "Arial"; color: # 000000 "> Pigalle

; font-family: "Arial"; color: # 000000 "> Place de la Bastille

; font-family: "Arial"; color: # 000000 "> Victory Square

; font-family: "Arial"; color: # 000000 "> Place des Vosges

; font-family: "Arial"; color: # 000000 "> Republic Square

; font-family: "Arial"; color: # 000000 "> Tertre Square

; font-family: "Arial"; color: # 000000 "> Châtelet Square

; font-family: "Arial"; color: # 000000 "> Place Saint-Michel

; font-family: "Arial"; color: # 000000 "> Nation Square

; font-family: "Arial"; color: # 000000 "> Place de Madeleine

; text-decoration: underline; color: # ff0000 "> Rise of classicism. Works by Levo, Mansart. Ensembles of Versailles

; color: # 000000; background: #ffffff "> The deepest reflection of the essential features of the era manifested itself in France in forms and progressive trends - in the art of classicism.

; font-family: "Arial"; color: # 5e6669; background: #ffffff "> Classicism- Stylistic trend in European art, the most important feature of which was the appeal to ancient art as a standard and reliance on the traditions of the High Renaissance.

; font-family: "Arial"; color: # 000000; background: #ffffff "> The second half of the 17th century was the time of the heyday of French classicism architecture.

; font-family: "Arial"; color: # 000000; background: #ffffff "> The organization of the Academy of Architecture, whose director was the prominent architect and theorist François Blondel (1617-1686), had a great influence on the development of architecture. French architects L. Briand, J. Guittard, A. Le Nôtre, L. Levaud, P. Miyan, etc. The task of the Academy was to develop the basic aesthetic norms and criteria of the architecture of classicism, which were to be guided by the architects.; font-family: "Arial"; color: # 000000 "> Features of the architecture of the middle and second half of the 17th century are reflected in the huge volume of construction of large ceremonial ensembles designed to exalt and glorify the ruling classes of the era of absolutism and the powerful monarch - the sun king Louis XIV and in the improvement and development of the artistic principles of classicism.

; font-family: "Arial"; color: # 000000 "> In the second half of the 17th century, a more consistent application of the classical order system is observed: horizontal divisions prevail over vertical ones; high separate roofs constantly disappear and are replaced by a single roof, often masked by a balustrade; volumetric composition the building becomes simpler, more compact, corresponding to the location and size of the interior.

; color: # 000000; background: #ffffff "> Representatives of classicism found the embodiment of their social ideals in Ancient Greece and Republican Rome, just as ancient art was the embodiment of aesthetic norms for them.

; color: # 000000; background: #ffffff "> The main style features of the architecture of classicism on the example of the Palace of Versailles.

; color: # 000000; background: #ffffff "> Only under the conditions of a powerful centralized monarchy was it possible at that time to create huge urban and palace ensembles made according to a single plan, designed to embody the idea of ​​the power of an absolute monarch. It is no coincidence that the flourishing of French architecture Classicism dates back to the second half of the 17th century, when the centralization of absolutist power reached its peak.Progressive tendencies in the architecture of French classicism of the 17th century are fully and comprehensively developed in the ensemble of Versailles (1668-1689), grandiose in scale, boldness and breadth of artistic design.

; font-family: "Arial"; color: # 333333; background: #ffffff "> The peak of development of classicism in French architecture of the 17th century was the Versailles palace and park ensemble - a grandiose ceremonial residence of French kings, erected near Paris. The history of Versailles begins in 1623 from a very modest hunting castle, like a feudal one, built at the request of Louis XIII from brick, stone and roofing slate The second stage of construction (1661-68) is associated with the names of the greatest masters - the architect; font-family: "Arial"; color: # 6699cc; background: #ffffff "> Louis Levo; font-family: "Arial"; color: # 333333; background: #ffffff "> (c. 1612-70) and the famous garden and park decorator; font-family: "Arial"; color: # 6699cc; background: #ffffff "> André Le Nôtre; font-family: "Arial"; color: # 333333; background: #ffffff "> (1613-1700). Modifying and expanding the original modest castle, Levo creates an Imaginative composition with an imposing façade overlooking the park. Le Nôtre works. The colossal order, which has long belonged to the typical and favorite means of Levo, is placed on the ground floor.; font-family: "Arial"; color: # 6699cc; background: #ffffff "> Mirror Gallery; font-family: "Arial"; color: # 333333; background: #ffffff ">. As a result of the second construction cycle, Versailles was formed into an integral palace and park ensemble, which is a wonderful example of the synthesis of arts - architecture, sculpture and garden and park art . In 1678-89 the ensemble of Versailles was rebuilt, under the leadership of the greatest architect of the end of the century; font-family: "Arial"; color: # 6699cc; background: #ffffff "> Jules Hardouin-Mansart; font-family: "Arial"; color: # 333333; background: #ffffff "> (1b4b — 1708). Arduin-Mansart further enlarged the palace by erecting two wings, each five hundred meters long, at right angles to the southern and northern facades Above the Leveaux terrace, Hardouin-Mansart added two more floors, creating the famous; font-family: "Arial"; color: # 6699cc; background: #ffffff "> Mirror Gallery; font-family: "Arial"; color: # 333333; background: #ffffff ">, enclosed by the halls of War and Peace (1680-86). Arduin-Mansart also built two corps of Ministers (1671-81), which formed the so-called "Courtyard of Ministers", and connected these buildings with a rich gilded lattice. All buildings the architect designed in the same style. The facades of the buildings were divided into three tiers. The lower one, after the model of the Italian Renaissance palace-palazzo, is decorated with rustic wood, the middle - the largest - is filled with high arched windows , between which columns and pilasters are located. The upper tier is shortened, it ends with a balustrade (a fence consisting of a row of figured posts connected by handrails) and sculptural groups that create a feeling of lush decoration, although all the facades have a strict appearance. All this completely changed the appearance of the structure , although Arduin-Mansart left the same height of the building. Gone are contrasts, freedom of imagination, nothing remains, except for an extended horizontal line of a three-storey building, united in the structure of its facades hells with a basement, front and attic floors. The impression of grandeur that this brilliant architecture produces is achieved by the large scale of the whole, the simple and calm rhythm of the entire composition. Hardouin-Mansart was able to combine various elements into a single artistic whole. He had an amazing sense of ensemble, striving for rigor in decoration. For example, in; font-family: "Arial"; color: # 6699cc; background: #ffffff "> Mirror Gallery; font-family: "Arial"; color: # 333333; background: #ffffff "> he applied a single architectural motif - a uniform alternation of walls with openings. This classic basis creates a sense of clear form. Thanks to Arduin-Mansard, the expansion of the Palace of Versailles acquired a natural character The annexes received a strong relationship with the central buildings.The ensemble, outstanding for its architectural and artistic qualities, was successfully completed and had a great influence on the development of world architecture.

; font-family: "Arial"; color: # 000000 "> One of the works of architecture of the second half of the 17th century, in which the predominance of mature artistic principles of classicism is already clearly felt, is the suburban ensemble of the palace and park of Vaux-le-Vicomte near Melin (1655 -1661).

; font-family: "Arial"; color: # 000000 "> The creators of this outstanding work, built for the Comptroller General of Finance Fouquet, were the architect Louis Leveaux (c. 1612-1670), the master of landscape art André Le Nôtre, who planned the park of the palace , and the painter Charles Lebrun, who took part in the decoration of the interiors of the palace and the painting of the plafonds.

; font-family: "Arial"; color: # 000000 "> In the structure and appearance of the building, as well as in the composition of the ensemble as a whole, there is undoubtedly a more consistent application of classicist architectural principles.

; font-family: "Arial"; color: # 000000 "> This is manifested primarily in the logical and strictly calculated planning solution of the palace and park as a whole. The large oval-shaped salon, which forms the central link of the suite of ceremonial rooms, has become a compositional center not only the palace, but also the ensemble as a whole, since its position at the intersection of the main planning axes of the ensemble (the main park alley going from the palace and the transverse ones coinciding with the longitudinal axis of the building) makes it the "focal point" of the entire complex.

; font-family: "Arial"; color: # 000000 "> Thus, the building of the palace and the park are subject to a strictly centralized compositional principle, which allows bringing various elements of the ensemble to artistic unity and highlighting the palace as the main component of the ensemble.

; font-family: "Arial"; color: # 000000 "> The composition of the palace is characterized by the unity of the interior space and volume of the building, which distinguishes the works of mature classicist architecture. the calmness of the silhouette of the building The introduction of a large order of pilasters, covering two floors above the basement, and a powerful horizontal line of a smooth, straight-line classical entablature, predominance of horizontal divisions over vertical ones is achieved in the facades, the integrity of order facades and volumetric composition is not characteristic of castles of an earlier period. gives the appearance of the palace monumental representativeness and splendor.

3.1. General overview of architectural monuments trends, directions, development

In the formation of French architecture in the 17th century. the following principles, directions and tendencies can be distinguished.

1. Closed, fenced-in castles turn into open, unfortified palaces, which are included in the general structure of the city (and palaces outside the city are connected with a vast park). The form of the palace - a closed square - opens and turns into an "U-shaped" or, as later in Versailles, into an even more open one. The separated parts are transformed into elements of the system.

By order of Richelieu, from 1629, it was forbidden to build defensive structures in the castles of the nobility, moats with water became elements of architecture, walls and fences were of a symbolic nature, and did not perform a defensive function.

2. Orientation to the architecture of Italy (where most of the French architects studied), the desire of the nobility to imitate the nobility of Italy - the capital of the world - brings a significant proportion of the Italian Baroque to French architecture.

However, during the formation of the nation, restoration takes place, attention is paid to their national roots, artistic traditions.

French architects often came from building artels, from the families of hereditary masons, they were more practitioners, technicians than theoreticians.

The pavilion system of castles is popular in medieval France, when the pavilion was being built and the gallery was connected to the rest. Initially, the pavilions could be built at different times and even have little to do with each other in appearance and structure.

The materials and construction techniques also left their imprints on the established traditions: well-processed limestone was used in construction - the nodal points of the building, supporting structures were made from it, and the openings between them were laid with bricks or large "French windows" were made. This led to the fact that the building had a clearly visible frame - paired or even triple columns or pilasters (arranged in "bundles").

Excavations in the south of France provided the craftsmen with magnificent examples of antiquity, with the most common motif being a free-standing column (not a pilaster or a column in a wall).

3. By the end of the XVI century. in construction, magnificent Gothic, late Renaissance features and baroque traditions were intertwined.

Gothic was preserved in the verticalism of the main forms, in the complex lines of the horizon of the building (due to the convex roofs, and each volume was covered with its own roof, numerous pipes and turrets broke through the horizon line), in the loading and complexity of the upper part of the building, in the use of individual Gothic forms.

Late Renaissance features were expressed in clear floor divisions of buildings, in analyticity, clear boundaries between parts.

________________________________________ Lecture 87________________________________________

A representative of the synthesis of different traditions is the "Portico of Delorme" - an architectural element that has been actively used in France since the middle of the 16th century. It is a three-tiered portico with clear horizontal divisions so that the vertical dominates in the total volume, and the horizontal dominates in each of the tiers. The upper tier is heavily loaded with sculpture and decor, the portico is decorated with a pediment. The influence of the Baroque led to the fact that from the end of the 16th century, pediments began to be made curvilinear, with broken lines. The entablature line of the third tier often broke through, creating an upward movement in the upper part of the building. By the middle of the 17th century, the portico of Delorme became more classical, the upper tier was lightened, the lines of the entablature and pediment were aligned.

The Luxembourg Palace in Paris (architect Solomon de Bross, 1611) can be considered a representative of the architecture of the beginning of the century, synthesizing these traditions.

4. Classicism grows on this rich soil of French traditions in architecture.

Classicism of the first half of the century coexists in interaction with Gothic and Baroque features, relies on the specifics of French national culture.

The facades are being freed, cleared of decor, becoming more and more open and clear. The laws, according to which the building is built, are unified: gradually one order appears for all facades, one level of floor divisions for all parts of the building. The upper part of the building becomes lighter, it becomes more constructively constructed - at the bottom there is a heavy basement, covered with large rustication, higher is the lighter main floor (floors), sometimes an attic. The skyline of the building ranges from the almost flat horizontal of the eastern façade of the Louvre to the picturesque line of Maison-Laffitte and Vaux-le-Vicomte.

An example of "pure" classicism, freed from the influences of other styles, is the eastern facade of the Louvre and, after it, the building of the Versailles complex.

However, as a rule, architectural monuments of France of the 17th century. represent an organic living combination of several influences, which allows us to speak of the originality of French classicism of the era in question.

5. Among the secular palaces and castles, two areas can be distinguished:

1) the castles of the nobility, the new bourgeois, they represented freedom, the strength of the human person;

2) the official, representative direction, visualizing the ideas of absolutism.

The second direction was just beginning to emerge in the first half of the century (Palais Royal, the Versailles complex of Louis XIII), but it was formed and fully manifested in the creations of mature absolutism of the second half of the century. It is with this direction that __________________________ Lecture 87________________________________________

the formation of official imperial classicism (this is primarily the eastern facade of the Louvre and the Palace of Versailles).

The first direction was implemented mainly in the first half of the century (which corresponded to a different situation in the state), François Mansart (1598 - 1666) became the leading architect.

6. The most striking example of a group of castles of the first direction is the Maison-Laffitte Palace near Paris (architect François Mansart, 1642-1651). It was built for the President of the Paris Parliament, Rene de Langeuil, near Paris, on the high bank of the Seine. The building is no longer a closed square, but a U-shaped structure in the plan (three pavilions are connected by galleries). The facades have clear floor divisions and are divided into separate volumes. Traditionally, each volume is covered with its own roof, the skyline of the building becomes very picturesque, it is complicated by pipes. The line separating the main volume of the building from the roof is also quite complex and picturesque (while the divisions between the floors of the building are very clear, clear, straight and never break through, not distorted). The facade as a whole has a planar character, however, the depth of the facade of the central and side projections is quite large, the order then leans against the wall with thin pilasters, then recedes from it in columns - depth appears, the facade becomes open.

The building opens up to the outside world and begins to interact with it - it is visually connected with the surrounding space of the “regular park”. However, the interaction between the building and the surrounding space is different from how it was implemented in Italy in the Baroque monuments. In French castles, a space arose around the building, subordinated to architecture, it was not a synthesis, but rather a system in which the main element and subordinates were clearly distinguished. The park was located in accordance with the axis of symmetry of the building, elements closer to the palace repeated the geometric shapes of the palace (parterres and pools had clear geometric shapes). Thus, nature seemed to be subordinate to the building (man).

The center of the façade is marked by the portico of Delorma, which combines Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque traditions, but compared to earlier buildings, the upper tier is not so heavily loaded. The building has a distinctly Gothic vertical and an aspiration to the sky, but it is already balanced and dissected by clear horizontal lines. It can be seen how horizontal and analyticism dominate in the lower part of the building, geometrism, clarity and tranquility of forms, simplicity of boundaries, but the higher, the more complicated the boundaries are, verticals begin to dominate.

The work is a model of a strong person: at the level of earthly affairs, he is strong in reason, rationalistic, strives to be clear, subordinates nature to himself, sets models and forms, but in his faith he is emotional, irrational, sublime. A skillful combination of these characteristics is characteristic of the work of François Mansart and the masters of the first half of the century.

________________________________________ Lecture 87________________________________________

The Maison-Laffitte castle played an important role in the development of the type of small "intimate palaces", including the small palaces of Versailles.

An interesting landscape ensemble of Vaux-le-Vicomte (author Louis Levo, Jules Hardouin Mansart, 1656 - 1661). It is the culmination of the line of palaces of the second direction and the basis for the creation of a masterpiece of French architecture - the garden and park ensemble of Versailles.

Louis XIV appreciated the created creation and took a team of craftsmen for the construction of the suburban royal residence of Versailles. However, what they did on his order, collects both the experience of Vaux-le-Vicomte and the built eastern facade of the Louvre (a separate section will be devoted to the Versailles ensemble).

The ensemble is built like a large regular space dominated by a palace. The building was built in the traditions of the first half of the century - high roofs over each volume (even a "blown roof" over the central projection), clear-cut floor divisions in the lower part of the building and the complexity of the upper structure. The palace contrasts with the surrounding space (even separated by a moat with water), it is not merged with the world into a single organism, as was done in Versailles.

The regular park is a composition of water and grass parterres strung on an axis; the sculptural image of Hercules, standing on a dais, closes the axis. The apparent limitation, the "finiteness" of the park (and, in this sense, the finiteness of the power of the palace and its owner) was also overcome at Versailles. In this sense, Vaux-le-Vicomte continues the second direction - the visualization of the strength of the human personality, which interacts with the world as a hero (opposing the world and subjugating it with a visible effort). Versailles, on the other hand, synthesizes the experience of both directions.

7. Second half of c. gave development to the second direction - buildings that visualize the idea of ​​absolutism. First of all, this manifested itself in the construction of the Louvre ensemble.

By the end of the 16th century, the ensemble contained the Tuileries palaces (Renaissance buildings with clear floor divisions, with Gothic high roofs, broken pipes) and a small part of the southwestern building, created by the architect Pierre Lescaut.

Jacques Lemercier repeats the image of Leveaux in the northwestern building, and between them sets the Pavilion of the Clock (1624).

The western façade is characterized by baroque dynamics, culminating in the blown roof of the Clock Pavilion. The building has a loaded high upper tier, a triple pediment. On the façade, the porticoes of Delorme are repeated several times.

In the second half of the XVI century. in France, very little was built (due to the civil wars), by and large the western facade is one of the first large buildings after a long break. In a sense, the western façade solved the problem of reconstruction, restoration of what had been developed by French architects and renovation using new material from the 17th century.

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In 1661, Louis Leveaux began to complete the complex and by 1664 he completed the Louvre square. The southern and northern facades repeat the southern one. The project of the eastern facade was suspended and a competition was announced, participation in which was actively offered to Italian architects, in particular, the famous Bernini (one of his projects has survived to this day).

However, the competition was won by the project of Claude Perrault. The project is surprisingly surprising - it does not follow from the development of the other three buildings. The eastern façade of the Louvre is considered an example of the 17th century official, absolutist classicism.

A sample was selected - paired Corinthian columns, which are drawn along the entire facade with variations: on the galleries, the columns are far from the wall, rich chiaroscuro appears, the facade is open, transparent. On the central risalit, the columns are close to the wall and slightly parted on the main axis; on the side risalits, the columns turn into pilasters.

The building is extremely analytical - clear, easily identifiable volumes, straight boundaries between parts. The building is built clearly - from one point you can see the structure of the entire facade. Dominated by the horizontal roof.

The Perrault façade has three projections, continuing the logic of the pavilion system. In addition, Perrault's order is not placed in single columns along the facade, as Bernini conceived, but is paired - this is more in line with French national traditions.

Modularity was an important principle of creating the facade - all the main volumes are kept in the proportions of the human body. The facade models a human society, understanding French citizenship as "alignment", subordination to the same laws, which are kept, are set by Louis XIV depicted on the axis of the pediment. The facade of the Louvre, like any masterpiece of art, transforms the person-recipient standing in front of it. Due to the fact that the basis is the proportion of the human body, a person identifies himself with the colonnade in the emerging illusory world and straightens up, as it were, becomes in a row of other citizens, while knowing that the top of everything is the monarch.

It should be noted that in the eastern facade, despite all the severity, there is a lot of Baroque: the depth of the facade changes several times, disappearing towards the side facades; the building is decorated, the columns are very elegant and voluminous and are not evenly spaced, but accented - in pairs. Another feature: Perrault was not very careful about the fact that three buildings have already been built, and its facade is 15 meters longer than necessary to complete the square. As a solution to this problem, a false wall was built along the southern façade, which, like a screen, enclosed the old façade. Thus, the apparent clarity and severity conceals deception, the exterior of the building does not correspond to the interior.

The Louvre ensemble was completed by the building of the College of the Four Nations (architect Louis Levo, 1661 - 1665). On the axis of the Louvre square was a semicircular facade wall, on the axis of which there is a large domed temple and Lecture 87

a portico jutted out towards the palace. Thus, the ensemble visually collects a large space (the Seine flows between the two buildings, there is an embankment, squares).

It should be emphasized that the building of the College itself is located along the Seine and has nothing to do with the semicircular wall - again, the reception of a theatrical screen is repeated, which performs an important symbolic, but not constructive function.

The resulting ensemble collects the history of France - from the Renaissance Tuileries palaces through the architecture of the beginning of the century and to mature classicism. The ensemble also brings together secular France and Catholic, human and natural (river).

8. In 1677, the Academy of Architecture was created, the task was to accumulate the experience of architecture in order to develop "ideal eternal laws of beauty", which had to be followed by all further construction. The Academy criticized the principles of the Baroque, recognizing them as unacceptable for France. The ideals of beauty were based on the image of the eastern facade of the Louvre. The image of the eastern facade with various national treatments was reproduced throughout Europe; the Louvre was for a long time a representative of the city palace of the absolutist monarchy.

9. The artistic culture of France was of a secular nature, so more palaces were built than temples. However, in order to solve the problem of uniting the country and creating an absolute monarchy, it was necessary to involve the church in solving this problem. Cardinal Richelieu, the ideologist of absolutism and counter-reformation, was especially attentive to the construction of churches.

Small churches were built throughout the country, and a number of large religious buildings were created in Paris: the Sorbonne Church (architect Lemercier, 1635 - 1642), the cathedral of the Val-de-Gras convent (architect François Mansart, Jacques Lemercier), 1645 - 1665 ). In these churches, magnificent baroque motifs are clearly manifested, but still the general structure of architecture is far from the baroque of Italy. The scheme of the Sorbonne church later became traditional: the main volume is cruciform in plan, columnar porticoes with pediments at the ends of the branches of the cross, a dome on a drum above the cross. Lemercier introduced the Gothic flying buttresses into the construction of the church, giving them the appearance of small volutes. The domes of the temples of the first half of the century are grandiose, have a significant diameter, and are loaded with decor. The architects of the first half of the century were looking for a measure between the grandeur and scale of the dome and the balance of the building.

Of the later religious buildings, the Cathedral of the Invalides (architect J.A. Mansart, 1676 - 1708), attached to the House of Invalids, a strict military structure, should be noted. This building has become one of the verticals of Paris; it is a representative of the classicism style in religious buildings. The building is a grandiose rotunda, each of the entrances is designated by a two-tiered portico with a triangular pediment.

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The building is extremely symmetrical (square in plan, three identical porticos on the sides, round dome). The inner space is based on a circle, it is emphasized by the fact that the floor in the center of the hall is lowered by 1 meter. The cathedral has three domes - the outer gilded dome "works" for the city, the inner one is broken through and in its center one can see the middle - parabolic dome. The cathedral has yellow windows, as a result of which there is always sunlight in the room (symbolizing the Sun King).

The cathedral interestingly combines the tradition of building churches that arose in France (dominant dome, flying buttans in the dome in the form of volutes, etc.) and strict classicism. The cathedral almost did not perform the function of a temple; it soon became a secular building. Apparently, this is due to the fact that it was built not for reasons of ensuring the Catholic cult, but as an iconic building - a reference point of the grandiose ensemble of the left bank of the Seine, symbolizing the power of the Sun King.

Around the House and the Cathedral of the Invalids, a large regular space was built, subordinate to the cathedral. The cathedral is the focal point that collects Paris.

10. Restructuring of Paris

Paris developed rapidly and became the largest city in Europe at that time. This presented city planners with difficult tasks: it was necessary to streamline the tangled, spontaneously formed network of streets, provide the city with water and dispose of waste, build a lot of new housing, build clear landmarks and dominants that will mark the new capital of the world.

It would seem that to solve these problems it is necessary to rebuild the city. But even rich France cannot do it. City planners have found great ways to cope with the difficulties that have arisen.

This was solved by including in the cobweb of medieval streets of individual large buildings and squares, building a large space around them in a regular manner. These are, first of all, the large ensemble of the Louvre (which has gathered around itself "palace Paris"), the Palais Royal, the ensemble of the Invalides Cathedral. The main verticals of Paris were built - the domed churches of the Sorbonne, Val de Grae, the Invalides. They set landmarks in the city, making it clear (although, in fact, huge areas continued to be a network of tangled streets, by setting a coordinate system, a sense of clarity of a huge city arises). In some parts of the city, straight avenues were built (rebuilt), opening a view of the named landmarks.

Squares were an important means of ordering the city. They locally set the order of the space, often hiding the chaos of residential areas behind the building facades. Representative of the square of the beginning of the century - Place des Vosges (1605 - 1612), the second half of the century - Place Vendôme (1685 - 1701).

Place Vendôme (J.A. Mansart, 1685 - 1701) is a square with cut corners. The square is built up with a united front of buildings Lecture 87

palace type (mature classicism) with porticoes. In the center stood an equestrian statue of Louis XIV by Girardon. The entire square was created as a decoration for the statue of the king, which explains its closed nature. Two short streets open onto the square, overlooking the image of the king and obscuring other points of view.

It was strictly forbidden in Paris to have large private land plots and, especially, vegetable gardens. This led to the fact that monasteries for the most part were taken out of the city, hotels from small castles turned into city houses with small courtyards.

But the famous Parisian boulevards were built - places that combined drive-through streets and green paths for walking. The boulevards were built in such a way as to offer a view of one of the iconic points of absolutist Paris.

The entrances to the city were ordered and marked with triumphal arches (Saint-Denis, architect F. Blondel, 1672). The entrance to Paris from the west was supposed to correspond to the entrance to Versailles, the Champs Elysees were built in the design of the Parisian part - an avenue with symmetrical front buildings. The nearest suburbs were annexed to Paris and in each of them either a view of the vertical landmarks of the city was provided through several open streets, or its own iconic point (square, small ensemble) was built, symbolizing the united France and the power of the Sun King.

11. The problem of creating new housing was solved by creating a new type of hotel that dominated French architecture for two centuries. The hotel was located inside the courtyard (in contrast to the bourgeois mansion, which was built along the street). The courtyard, bounded by the services, faced the street, and the residential building was located in the back, separating the courtyard from a small garden. This principle was laid down by the architect Lescaut back in the 16th century, and was reproduced by the masters of the 17th century: Hotel Carnavale (architect F. Mansart rebuilt Lescaut's creation in 1636), Hotel Sully (architect Andrue-Duceseau, 1600-1620) , Hotel Tübeuf (architect Plemue, 1600 - 1620), and others.

This layout had an inconvenience: the only courtyard was both ceremonial and economic. In the further development of this type, the residential and economic parts of the house are differentiated. In front of the windows of the residential building there is a front yard, and on the side of it there is a second, utility one: Hotel Liancourt (architect Plemue, 1620 - 1640).

François Mansart built many hotels, introducing many improvements: a clearer layout of the premises, low stone fences from the street side, the assignment of services to the sides of the courtyard. Trying to minimize the number of walk-throughs, Mansart introduces a large number of stairs. The lobby and the main staircase become a must-have part of the hotel. Hotel Batsinier (architect F. Mansart, first half of the 17th century), Hotel Carnavale (1655 - 1666).

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Along with the reconstruction of the structure, the facades and roofs of hotels also change: the roofs become not so high due to the broken shape (the living quarters in the attics were called mansards), the separate overlap of each part of the house is replaced by a common one, the porch and protruding porticos remain only in hotels in the squares. There is a tendency towards flattening of roofs.

Thus, the hotel is being transformed from a small analogue of a country palace into a new type of urban dwelling.

12. Paris of the 17th century. is a school for architects in Europe. If until the middle of the 17th century. Most of the architects went to study in Italy, then since the 60s, when Perrault won the competition from Bernini himself, Paris could present to architects around the world magnificent examples of architecture of various types of buildings, the principles of urban planning.

Works for review

The Luxembourg Palace in Paris (architect Solomon de Bross, 1611);

Palais Royal (architect Jacques Lemercier, 1624);

Sorbonne Church (architect Jacques Lemercier, 1629);

Orleans building of the castle in Blois (architect Francois Mansart, 1635 - 1638);

Maison-Laffite Palace near Paris (architect Francois Mansart, 16421651);

Val de Grae Church (architect Francois Mansart, Jacques Lemercier), 1645 -

College of the Four Nations (architect Louis Levo, 1661 - 1665);

House and Cathedral of the Invalides (architect Liberal Bruant, Jules Hardouin Mansart, 1671 - 1708);

Ensemble of the Louvre:

Southwest building (architect Lesko, 16th century);

Western building (the building of architect Lescaut is continued, designed by architect Jacques Lemercier, 1624);

Clock Pavilion (architect Jacques Lemercier, 1624);

North and South buildings (architect Louis Levo, 1664);

East building (architect Claude Perrot, 1664);

Place des Vosges (1605 - 1612), Place Vendôme (architect Jules Hardouin Mansart, 1685 - 1701).

Hotels: Hotel Carnavale (architect F. Mansart rebuilt Lescaut's creation in 1636), Hotel Sully (architect Andrue-Dyceseau, 1600-1620), Hotel Tübeuf (architect P. Lemue, 1600-1620), Hotel Liancourt ( architect P. Lemue, 1620 - 1640), Hotel Batsinier (architect F. Mansart, first half of the 17th century);

Arc de Triomphe Saint-Denis (architect F. Blondel, 1672);

Palace and park ensemble Vaux-le-Vicomte (author Louis Levo, Jules Hardouin Mansart, 1656 - 1661);

Palace and park ensemble of Versailles (author Louis Levo, Jules Hardouin Mansart, André Le Nôtre, beginning in 1664).

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3.2. Analysis of the masterpiece of French architecture of the 17th century. Garden and park ensemble of Versailles

The garden and park ensemble of Versailles is a grandiose structure, a representative of the art of the 17th century. The consistency of the ensemble, its grandeur and structure allows to reveal its essence through the concept of an artistic model. It will be shown below how this monument functions as an artistic model.

Cognition with the help of a model is based on the replacement of the object of modeling by another object, isomorphic to the one being investigated in terms of a number of relevant properties. Due to the fact that the model is more accessible to research than the cognized object, it allows you to discover new properties and essential connections. The results obtained in the study of the model are extrapolated to the cognizable object.

The operability of the model makes it possible to perform certain actions with it, build experiments in which the essential properties of the model and, therefore, the object under study are manifested. Effective schemes of action can be transferred to the study of the cognizable object. The model concentrates in itself the essential properties of the object under study and has a large information capacity.

Model substitution is based on the isomorphism (correspondence) between the cognized object and the model, therefore the knowledge obtained in the process of modeling is true in the classical sense of correspondence to the object under study.

A work of art meets all the principles of the general scientific method of modeling and, therefore, is a model. The specific features of a work of art as a model and the process of artistic modeling itself include the following:

The master, acting as a researcher, models extremely complex objects that reveal the meaning of human existence; he necessarily builds an isomorphism between obviously non-isomorphic structures;

The property of visualization acquires an attributive character in artistic models;

Due to the high status of visibility in artistic models, ontology increases (identification of the model with the object under study, model interaction with a real relationship);

A work of art realizes its cognitive essence through a special skill. The tempting beginning of the artistic model unfolds in relation to the artist and the artistic material, giving rise to a new quality in the form of a sensually manifested essence. The viewer, in the process of an ideal relationship with a work of art, discovers new knowledge about himself and the world.

The creation and action of an artistic model are carried out only in relation to when the subject is not eliminated from the relation, but remains Lecture 87

a necessary element of it. Therefore, the attitude becomes an attributive quality of the artistic model and the modeling process.

The garden and park ensemble of Versailles is a system of artistic elements.

The construction of the Versailles ensemble began in 1661, the main buildings were erected during the 17th century, but the transformations continued throughout the next century. The garden and park ensemble of Versailles is a gigantic complex of various structures, built on the outskirts of the small town of Versailles, 24 kilometers from Paris. The complex is located along a single axis and includes sequentially:

1) access roads to the city of Versailles,

2) the square in front of the palace,

3) the Grand Palace itself with many pavilions,

4) water and herbal parterres,

5) Main alley,

6) The Grand Canal,

7) many bosquets,

8) various fountains and grottoes,

9) regular park and irregular,

10) two other palaces - the Grand and the Small Trianons.

The described set of buildings obeys a strict hierarchy and forms a clear system: the main element of the composition is the King's Large Bedroom, further, by the degree of distance from the center, the building of the new palace, a regular park, an irregular park and access roads to the city of Versailles. Each of the named components of the ensemble is a complex system and, on the one hand, is uniquely different from other components, on the other hand, it is included in an integral system and implements the laws and rules common to the entire ensemble.

1. The king's large bedroom is located in the building of an old palace from the time of Louis XIII, it is highlighted from the outside by the "Delorme portico", a balcony and an elaborate pediment. The entire ensemble is systematically organized and subordinated to the Large bedroom, this is provided in several ways.

Firstly, it was in the King's Great Bedroom and the rooms surrounding it that the main official life of Louis XIV proceeded - the bedroom was the most significant place in the life of the French court. Second, it is located on the symmetry axis of the ensemble. Thirdly, the figurative symmetry of the facade of the old palace breaks down into submission to mirror symmetry, further emphasizing the elements of the axis. Fourth, a fragment of the old palace, in which the bedroom is located, is surrounded by the main building of the palace as a protective wall, it seems to be guarded by the main building as something most sacred, like an altar (which is emphasized by the location of the ensemble relative to the cardinal points). Fifth, the specific architecture of the first half of the 17th century. contrasts with the new building and other parts of the ensemble: the old building has high roofs with lucarnes, curved Lecture 87

pretentious pediment, vertical clearly dominates - in contrast to the classicism of the rest of the ensemble. The axis of symmetry above the king's bedroom is marked by the highest point of the pediment.

2. The new palace was built in the style of classicism. It has three floors (rusticated basement, a large main floor and an attic), arched windows on the first and second floors and rectangular windows on the third, classical Ionic porticoes, on which instead of the pediment there are sculptures, the flat roof is also decorated with sculptures. The building has a clear structure, geometric shapes, clear divisions, powerful figurative and mirror symmetry, a clear dominant of the horizontal, it adheres to the principle of modularity and antique proportions. At all times, the palace was painted in a yellow, sunny color. On the side of the park facade, on the axis of symmetry, there is the Mirror Gallery - one of the main diplomatic rooms of the king.

The new palace plays its part in a holistic composition. First, it surrounds the old building with the main element - the King's Great Bedroom, designating it as the central, dominant element. The new palace is located on the axis of symmetry of the ensemble. Secondly, the building of the palace in the clearest, most concentrated way sets the main standards of the ensemble - geometric forms, clarity of structure, clarity of articulations, modularity, hierarchy, "sunshine". The palace displays samples to which all other elements of the ensemble correspond to one degree or another. Thirdly, the new palace has a great length, thanks to which it is visible from many points of the park.

3. The regular park is located near the palace in accordance with the same main axis of the ensemble. It combines in itself, on the one hand, the liveliness and organic nature of nature, on the other hand, the geometry and clarity of the building. Thus, the regular park is correlated with the main element of the system, obeying it in form and structure, but at the same time filled with a different - natural - content. Many researchers reflect this in the metaphor of "living architecture".

The regular park, like all elements of the structure, obeys the main axis of the ensemble. In the park, the axis is distinguished by the Main Alley, which then turns into the Grand Canal. On the Main alley, fountains are sequentially located, also emphasizing and highlighting the main axis.

The regular park is divided into two parts according to the distance from the palace and the erosion of the patterns set by the main building - these are parterres and bosquets.

Water and grass parterres are located in the immediate vicinity of the palace and follow its shape. Water fills rectangular pools, doubling the image of the palace and creating another line of symmetry between the water and the sky. Grass, flowers, shrubs - everything is planted and trimmed in accordance with the forms of classical geometry - rectangle, cone, circle. The parterres as a whole obey the axis of symmetry of the palace. The space of the parterres is open, its structure is clearly readable.

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The atmosphere of sunshine is preserved. As well as the building of the palace, the strict geometric straight borders of the parterres are decorated with sculpture.

On the sides of the main axis are the so-called bosquettes (baskets) - this is a small open area surrounded by trees. There are sculptures and fountains on the bosquets. The bosquets are no longer symmetrical to the single axis of the palace and are extremely diverse, the space of the bosquets is less clear. However, they all have internal symmetry (usually central) and a ray structure. In the direction of one of the alleys emanating from the bosquet, the palace is definitely visible. The bosquets as an element of the system are subordinated to the palace in a different way than the parterres - exemplary forms are less clearly read, although the general principles are still preserved.

The main alley turns into the Grand Canal. Water spaces are built in the same way as vegetation: water spaces of a clear geometric shape are located on the axis and near the palace, and distant pools have a more free shape, less clear and open structure.

There are many alleys between the bosquets, but only one of them - the Main Alley-Canal - has no visible end - it seems to dissolve in a haze due to its great length. All other alleys end with a grotto, a fountain or just a platform, once again emphasizing the uniqueness - one-man command - of the Main Axis.

4. The so-called irregular park differs from the rest of the really "irregular" curved alleys, asymmetrical plantings and free, uncut, seemingly unkempt, untouched greenery. However, in fact, and it is extremely thoughtfully connected with the whole ensemble, obeying the same rational, but more hidden laws. Firstly, the main axis is never crossed by plantings or buildings - it remains free. Secondly, small architectural forms clearly repeat the motives of the palace. Thirdly, so-called "ah-ah-gaps" are made in the foliage, through which the palace is visible even at a great distance. Fourthly, fountains, grottoes and small sculptural groups are linked by a single theme and style with each other and with the corresponding elements of the regular park. Fifth, the connection with the whole is established by maintaining the solar open atmosphere.

5. The entrance to the residence is a system of three highways that converge in front of the main palace on Arms Square at the point of the sculptural image of the monarch. The highways lead to Paris (central), as well as to Saint-Cloud and Sau, where in the 17th century. were the residences of Louis and from where there were direct exits to the main European states.

Access roads to the ensemble are also an element of the system, since they obey its basic rules. All three highways have buildings that are symmetrical about their axes. The symmetry of the main axis (going to Paris) is especially emphasized: on the sides of it are the stables of the royal musketeers and other service buildings, identical in Lecture 87

both sides of the highway. The three axes converge in front of the balcony of the Great King's Bedroom. Thus, even a space of several kilometers around the ensemble turns out to be subordinate to the system-forming element of the model.

Moreover, the ensemble is built into a large supersystem - Paris and France. Arable land and vineyards (about 20 km) were located from Versailles to Paris in the middle of the 17th century, and it was simply impossible to build the Versailles-Paris link directly. The task of including the model in the supersystem was skillfully solved due to the appearance at the exit from Paris of the Champs Elysees - a ceremonial avenue with symmetrical buildings, repeating the structure of the central access highway in Versailles.

So, the garden and park ensemble of Versailles is a strict hierarchical system in which all elements are subject to a single rule, but at the same time they have their own unique feature. This means that the Versailles ensemble can claim to be a model, since any model is a well-thought-out system of elements. However, to reveal the modeling essence of the chosen work, this fact is not enough; it is also necessary to show that the Versailles ensemble serves as a means of cognition, replacing a certain object under study.

Further, the Versailles ensemble is analyzed as an actual model that implements cognitive functions. To do this, it is necessary to show that the work replaces (models) a certain object, the study of which was relevant for the authors of the model. The creators of this model are several masters at once. Initially, in 1661, Louis Leveaux (architect) and André Le Nôtre (master of park art) were involved in the project. Then the circle of authors expanded - Charles Lebrun (interiors, fine arts), Jules Hardouin-Mansart (architect) began to work. The sculptors Kuazevox, Toubi, Leongre, Mazelin, Juvane, Kuazvo and many others participated in the creation of various elements of the complex.

Traditionally, in the art studies of Versailles, one of the main authors of the ensemble, Louis XIV, remains on the sidelines. It is known that the king was not only the customer for the construction of the complex, but also the main ideologist. Louis XIV was well versed in architecture and considered architecture an extremely important symbolic part of state power. He professionally read the drawings and carefully, repeatedly discussed with the craftsmen the construction of all his residences.

The Versailles ensemble was deliberately built by masters (including Louis XIV, the architect) as the main official royal residence, so it is natural to assume that the French statehood or some of its aspects became the object of modeling. The creation of the Versailles complex helped its authors understand how a united powerful France can be arranged, how it is possible to assemble the disparate parts of the country into a single whole, how to unite the nation, Lecture 87

what is the role of the king in creating and maintaining a powerful nation state, etc.

The proof of this statement will be carried out in several stages.

1. The Versailles ensemble is a model of the King of France.

in several ways. First, by placing the King's Bedroom in the center of the ensemble.

Secondly, using as an important element the traditional lily - the oldest symbol of the king. Louis XIV gave new meaning to this ancient symbol. Known for his saying "I will gather France into a fist!" The "lily" sign is located above the entrance to the residence; its stylized image has been repeated many times in various interiors of the palace.

However, the most important thing is that the geometry of the royal symbol “lily” is the basis for the composition of the ensemble. The composition of "lilies" is realized through three highways converging in front of the royal balcony, continuing from the park side with alleys, and the isthmus joining them - the royal part of the palace, including the Great Bedroom of the old castle and the Mirror Gallery of the new building.

Thirdly, the location of the ensemble at the cardinal points and its axial structure give grounds for comparing the complex with a giant, ecumenical Catholic church. The most sacred place of the temple - the altar - corresponds to the Great Royal Bedroom. This correlation is reinforced by the surroundings of the bedroom with more powerful modern structures, the shrine is placed inside and guarded, even somewhat hidden.

Thus, the ensemble simulates the leading role of the king in Versailles and, therefore, in France in the 17th century. According to the constructed model, the role of the king is to resolutely, even if forcibly, pulling together the "stubborn petals" - the provinces and regions of the state. The whole life of the king consists in official service to the state (it is not for nothing that the dominant feature of the ensemble is the bedroom). The king is the absolute ruler, collecting both secular and spiritual power.

2. The Versailles ensemble - a model of France in the second half of the 17th century.

Known thesis of Louis XIV "France is me". According to this

the thesis, the Versailles complex, simulating the king, simultaneously simulates France. The strict systemic and hierarchical nature of the model is extrapolated to the role and place of the king in the French state of the 17th century, but also to France itself of the period under consideration. Everything that has been said above about the king can be extrapolated to France.

The Versailles complex as a model of France makes it possible to find out the main features of the state structure of the country. Above all France - One Lecture 87

a hierarchical system, collected by a single law, rule, will. This unified law is based on the will of the king - Louis XIV, next to whom the world is built and becomes clear, geometrically precise.

This is superbly visualized by the architect L. Levo in the overall compositional structure of the ensemble. The new classicist palace hugs the center - the Grand Royal Bedroom - and sets the standard for clarity and clarity for the entire structure. Near the palace, nature obeys and takes on the forms and patterns of the building (first of all, this is realized in the parterres), then the standards begin to gradually blur, the forms become freer and more diverse (bosquets and an irregular park). However, even in the distant corners (seemingly free from the power of the king), gazebos, rotundas and other small architectural forms with their symmetry and clarity of forms remind of the law to which the whole obeys. In addition, through the “ah-ah-tears” skillfully cut in the foliage, now and then a palace appears in the distance as a symbol of the presence of the law in all of France, wherever its subjects are.

The palace sets the norms for the structure of France as a system (clarity, clarity, hierarchy, the presence of a single law, etc.), showing the most distant elements of the periphery what to strive for. The main building of the palace with a dominant horizontal line, powerful portable symmetry and Ionic porticoes along the entire length of the facade models France as a state relying on its citizens. All citizens are equal to each other and are subject to the main law - the will of King Louis XIV.

The Versailles complex reveals the principles of the structure of an ideal state with a powerful single power.

3. The Versailles Ensemble simulates the role of France as the capital of Europe and the world.

Louis XIV claimed not only to create a powerful unified state, but also to a leading role in Europe at that time. The authors of the ensemble have implemented this idea in various ways, revealing the essence of France - the capital of the world in the process of building a model.

First of all, this is done with the help of the composition "sun", which, by virtue of the well-known metaphor of the "Sun King", draws to the leading role of Louis XIV. The composition "lily" turns into the composition "sun", since the symbolism of the sun has a broader context. We are talking about world domination, because the sun is one for the whole world and shines for everyone. The monument simulates the role of Louis XIV = France as shining to the whole world, revealing light, bringing wisdom and goodness, laws and life. The rays of the "sun" radiate from the center - the Great Royal Bedroom - all over the world.

In addition to the indicated symbolism of the sun, it is additionally emphasized:

By creating a common solar atmosphere of the ensemble - yellow and white in the color of the palace itself, the sun shine of jets of water, Lecture 87

large windows and mirrors in which the sun color multiplies and fills all spaces;

Numerous fountains and sculptural groups correspond to the "solar theme" - ancient heroes of myths associated with the sun god Apollo, allegories of day, night, morning, evening, seasons, etc. For example, the fountain of Apollo, located on the central axis, was read by contemporaries as follows: "The sun god Apollo in a chariot, surrounded by trumpeting newts, jumps out of the water, greeting his elder brother" (Le Tru a);

a variety of solar symbols were used, the corresponding flowers were selected (for example, the most common flowers in the park are jonquil daffodils);

the bosquets are arranged according to the ray structure; the motive of the circle is constantly repeated in the fountains;

The symbol of the sun is located on the altar of the royal chapel, and its ceiling contains the image of the diverging rays of the sun, etc.

In addition to the symbolism of the sun, Versailles modeled the dominant position of France in Europe at that time and with the help of "direct analogy", surpassing all the royal residences of Europe of that time in many parameters.

First of all, the ensemble under consideration had the largest dimensions for similar structures - in area (101 hectares), along the length of the main alleys and canals (up to 10 km), along the length of the palace facade (640 m). Versailles also surpassed all the residences of Europe in the variety, splendor, skill of its elements (each of which was a separate work of art), in their rarity and uniqueness, and in the high cost of materials. The multitude of fountains in the absence of water in most European capitals of the 17th century was “defiant”.

The superiority of the Versailles royal ensemble corresponded to the historical position of France in Europe in the second half of the 17th century: during the time of Louis XIV, the country gradually annexed its border regions, the regions of the Spanish Netherlands, some territories of Spain, Germany, Austria, expanded colonies in America and Africa; Paris was the largest city in Europe at that time; France had the largest army, navy and merchant fleet “surpassing even the English”, the largest industrial growth, the most thoughtful tariff policy, and so on. The superlative degree was applicable to the position of France in the period under review in many respects.

The large area of ​​the park, its "endlessness" created the impression of the unlimited possession of France, the center not even of Europe, but of the world. This simulated quality (to be the capital of the world, to own the world) was enhanced by the considerable length of the main alley of the park (about 10 km together with an irregular part) and the resulting promising optical effect. Since parallel lines converge at infinity, the direct visibility of the convergence of parallel lines. Lecture 87

lines (the boundaries of the alley and the canal) visualizes infinity, makes infinity visible.

The main alley was perfectly visible from the Mirror Gallery, one of the palace's most formal places for diplomatic meetings and processions. We can say that “from the windows of the gallery a view of infinity opened up”, and this infinity of the world belonged to the park, the sovereign, and France. The astronomical discoveries of modern times turned the idea of ​​the structure of the Universe upside down and showed that the world is infinite, and man is just a grain of sand in the boundless space of space. However, the masters (the authors of the ensemble) skillfully “placed infinity within the framework of the royal residence”: yes, the world is infinite, and this whole world is owned by Louis XIV = France. At the same time, the scale of Europe turned out to be insignificant and lost, Versailles became the capital of the world. Extrapolating this statement, any French citizen and representative of another state understood that France is the capital of the world.

The location of the ensemble to the cardinal points ensured the highest actualization of the modeled position at sunset, when it was seen from the windows of the Mirror Gallery that the sun was setting exactly at the infinity point of the park (hence, the world). If we take into account the “Sun King” metaphor, then the extrapolated knowledge about the world turns into the following: the sun at sunset says goodbye to its elder brother and, obeying his will (his rule, his park), sits in the place of the world that is intended for him.

Significant complexity and incredible diversity of the ensemble's components, unprecedented at that time, which included, according to the descriptions of contemporaries, "everything in the world", turned Versailles into a model of the world as a whole.

France's claim to owning the world required modeling everything known to Europeans in the world. In this respect, palm trees are indicative as a model of Africa - a tree outlandish for a northern country and specific precisely for the conquered and annexed “southern end of the world”. The model was integrated into the royal ensemble, thus demonstrating the inclusiveness and subordination of the southern continent of France.

France's leading role in Europe has been modeled and cleverly designed with access roads. L.Levo led to the Marble Courtyard, into which the windows of the Great Royal Bedroom, three highways. The highways led to the main residences of Louis - Paris, Saint-Cloud and Sault, from where the main routes to the main European states went. The main Paris-Versailles highway at the exit from Paris (Champs Elysees) repeated in its structure the entrance to the Versailles ensemble, again subordinating Paris to Versailles, despite the distance of tens of kilometers.

Thus, thanks to the modeling capabilities of the Versailles ensemble, all of Europe converged on the square in front of the palace, visualizing the phrase "All roads lead ... to Paris."

An important aspect of France's international politics was modeled through the Mirror Gallery, which connects two corner pavilions - the Hall of War and the Hall of Peace. Each of the halls is decorated according to the name Lecture 87

and, according to the descriptions of contemporaries, it was even accompanied by appropriate - belligerent or peaceful - music. The reliefs of each of the halls model Louis XIV and France, sometimes as a powerful aggressive force, sometimes as merciful to those who bow to its will.

The situation modeled by the Mirror Gallery corresponded to the complex domestic and foreign policy of the king and the state, which combined a powerful, aggressive military strategy with "cunning", full of intrigues and secret alliances. On the one hand, the country was constantly at war. On the other hand, Louis XIV did not miss a single opportunity to strengthen the influence of France through "peaceful means", starting with claims to the inheritance of his Spanish wife, ending with bringing all legally inaccurate provisions in his direction and organizing multiple secret and explicit alliances.

The plan of the palace reveals a large number of courtyards, the existence of which is impossible to guess, standing in front of the facade of the palace or even walking through its halls. The presence of secret courtyards and passages, false walls and other spaces does not contradict the systematic nature of the work as a whole. On the contrary, in the context of modeling, this fact indicates the real situation in the formation of the French state in the second half of the 17th century: external well-being and clarity of rules, on the one hand, and the presence of secret intrigues and shadow politics, on the other. In the process of creating the most complex system of Versailles, the authors deliberately introduced secret passages and hidden courtyards, thereby revealing and proving the need for state administration of political intrigues and secret conspiracies, unions.

Thus, each element of the ensemble has modeling capabilities, and the entire system of elements as a whole is a model of French statehood, its principles of structure and contradictions.

The authors of the ensemble - Louis XIV, Louis Leveaux, Jules Hardouin-Mansart, André Le Nôtre, Charles Lebrun and others - modeled a powerful absolute monarchy as an ideal state. To do this, they selected old means of artistic modeling, came up with new means or changed existing ones.

Using the experience of modeling the state structure already accumulated in the history of art, the authors acted as users of available artistic models - Ancient Egyptian architectural complexes, Roman forums of the empire period, national palace ensembles of the early 17th century. and others. However, as a result of collective creative activity, the authors of Versailles created a fundamentally new artistic model, which allows the masters to be called the authors of the model.

Architects, artists, masters of interiors, gardens and parks of subsequent generations mastered the methodological and technical principles and techniques created by the authors of the ensemble. Lecture 87 was built throughout Europe in subsequent centuries in the leading European states.

numerous "Versailles" - royal residences, simulating the general principles of the structure of the monarchical state of a particular country. These are garden and park complexes Caserta in Italy, JIa Granja in Spain, Drottningholm in Sweden, Hett Loo in Holland, Hemptoncourt in England, Nymphenburg, Sanssouci, Herrnhausen, Charlottenburg in Germany, Schönbrunn in Sweden, Peterhof in Russia. Each of the creators of such ensembles used certain modeling principles developed by the creators of the Versailles complex.

End of work -

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