What to see: Kadriorg Palace, Tallinn

Kadriorg Palace in the Estonian capital Tallinn is an outstanding example of Russian baroque from the era of Emperor Pyotr I (“the Great”). The Emperor had come to like the city of Reval, as it was called then, and was also planning a naval base on the Gulf of Finland. The spot where Kadriorg was built reminded him of Peterhof outside St Petersburg and in 1714 he bought the five estates between the Tartu Road and Narva Road.
For a start the Emperor stayed in a wooden house which had been built before his time (today known as the Peter I Cottage), but this was of course too small and inconvenient. The monarch had the Italian architect Niccolò Michetti (1675-1743) him a palace, starting in 1718, but did not live to see it completed. The Emperor died in 1725, while his widow and successor, Empress Ekaterina I, for whom the Palace was named, died two years later. Michetti had in the meantime returned to Rome, leaving the task of completing the palace to his Russian associate Mikhail Zemtsov, who finished it in 1729.
All the Russian monarchs from Yelizaveta I to Nikolaj II stayed at Kadriorg when they visited Tallinn. Following the downfall of the Russian monarchy in 1917 Tallinn Workers’ and Soldiers’ Council used the palace before it was given to the Tallinn Estonian Museum in 1921.
During Estonia’s brief interwar spell as an independent nation Kadriorg became the official residence of the country’s president and underwent extensive renovation work in 1933-1940. When Estonia once again came under Russian rule the palace was put at the disposal of the Art Museum of Estonia.
At the time Estonia again became independent in 1991 the Palace was so rundown that the art collections had had to be removed not to be damaged. Kadriorg Palace was then renovated with financial assistance from Sweden and in 2000 it could again open as the Kadriorg Art Museum, a branch of the Art Museum of Estonia.
Kadriorg Palace is situated on a semi-artificial terrace, which means that it displays three storeys towards the park, but only two towards the formal garden, as can be seen in the first three photos. Towards the garden are two projecting wings in the French manner, which housed the Emperor’s and Empress’s respective apartments. As well as French ideas there is a significant Italian influence on the palace’s architecture.
The Grand Hall in the fourth picture lies at the very centre of the palace and takes up two floors. Today it is an almost unique example of such large halls in the Italian-inspired Russian baroque of Pyotr I’s reign. In Russia today one can only find smaller rooms in the same style while the grander ones have either been reconstructed or do no longer exist. The fifth picture shows a detail of the Grand Hall’s rich stucco décor – above the bust of Ekaterina I is her monogram.
The sixth photo shows the Banquet Hall, which is of relatively new origins. In 1790 Ekaterina II had expressed a wish to build a large dining room linking the two projecting wings, something which involved demolishing a semicircular veranda towards the formal garden. The plan was however only carried out by the architect Alexander Vladovsky (1876-1950) when Kadriorg became the residence of the President of Estonia in the 1930s. The Estonian President today resides in a neighbouring palace.

Kadriorg’s website:

http://www.ekm.ee/kadriorg/

Notable architects: Carl Ludvig Engel (1778-1840)

Carl Ludvig Engel is best remembered as the creator of Helsinki’s beautiful neoclassical centre. His empire architecture has often been considered a branch of Prussian neoclassicism, but, as the late art historian Nils Erik Wickberg stressed, there is also a significant Russian influence. Engel visited St Petersburg in 1813 and in 1815-1816.
Engel was born and educated in Berlin, but following Prussia’s defeat by Napoléon in 1805/1806 prospects in his native country seemed bleak. Engel therefore went eastwards to try his luck in Tallinn, where he became town architect. A few years later he received some commissions in Turku, the capital of the Grand Duchy of Finland.
In 1812 Emperor Alexander I moved the Grand Duchy’s capital to Helsinki, which had been the victim of a great fire a few years before. In 1814 Engel came into contact with Johan Albrecht Ehrenström, the chairman of the Commission for the Rebuilding of Helsinki, who soon asked Engel to come and use his skills in Helsinki.
Engel arrived in 1816 and stayed until his death in 1840, although he sometimes contemplated going back to Prussia. Ehrenström had planned the new capital; Engel came to build it. He wrote to a friend back in Prussia: “My dearest wish seems to be granted; I get an almost unlimited field on which to use my gifts, something which only a few architects are granted, and I can count myself among those happy, as the luck to build an entire town is something very unusual”.
The first picture shows an evening view of Senate Square, which became the focal point of the new city. At its eastern end is the Senate House (1818-1822), which is still the seat of the Finnish government; at the corner is the Bock House which Engel rebuilt as the residence of the Governor General (1817-1819).
Towering over the Square is the Cathedral (1830-1852), seen in the second picture, which was not completed until after Engel’s death and then altered in a way he would not have approved of.
At the west end of the Senate Square, as a pendant to the Senate House, is the University House (1828-1832), seen in the third picture. In the fourth photo is the Union Street; the University House can be seen on the left, followed by the National Library of Finland (1836-1844) and the buildings of the former Cantonist School (1823-1825), which are now used by the University.
In the fifth picture is the former Society House (1831-1833), now the City Hall. The sixth photo shows the Naval Barracks (1817-1820, last parts built 1986-1989) at Katajanokka (Skatudden in Swedish) which is now the offices of the Foreign Ministry.
The seventh photo is the Othodox church of St Alexandra the Martyr in Turku (Åbo) (1838-1846) and finally a former noble mansion in Tallinn (1809-1814), which is now the office of the Chancellor of Justice.
Among Engel’s many other buildings in Helsinki are the Guards Barracks (1820-1822, now the Ministry of Defence), the Astronomical Observatory (1831-1833), the Old Church (1825-1826) and the Orthodox Church of Holy Trinity (1825-1826).