Power and wealth: the most luxurious palaces in Europe

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Many rulers sought to immortalize the years of their reign in gold and marble. Sculptures, portraits and, of course, personal residences are not only the satisfaction of ambitions, but also a demonstration of power. Only some opened the doors of luxurious apartments for philosophers and artists, while others hid from the world with a handful of courtiers, saving their lives from angry subjects.

We remember when and why the famous European palaces were built and what became of them after the death of their owners

Nero's golden house: all of Rome for one person

Emperor Nero was terribly lucky. To build the palace he dreamed of in the center of Rome, he would have to demolish dozens of statues and temples. However, all the dirty work for him was done by a fire that shook the capital in 64 AD. Rejoicing at the cleared territory, the ruler built a huge palace complex.

According to various sources, the palace occupied from 40 to 120 hectares of land. One thing is certain: Nero's Golden House is still the largest residence in Europe. Why Golden? It's very simple! A huge amount of precious metals and precious stones was spent on its decoration. Only one statue of the emperor himself is worth something: a huge bronze monument, according to the ancient Roman writer and historian Suetonius, reached 36 meters in height.

“The entrance hall in it was so high that it contained a colossal statue of the emperor, 36 meters high; its area was such that the triple portico on the sides was more than 1.5 km long; inside there was a pond like the sea, surrounded by buildings like cities, and then fields full of arable land, pastures, forests and vineyards, and on them were many livestock and wild animals.

In the rest of the chambers everything was covered with gold, adorned with precious stones and pearl shells; dining rooms had piece ceilings, with turntables to scatter flowers, holes to diffuse aromas; the main chamber was round and revolved day and night incessantly after the firmament; salt and sulfur waters flowed in the baths. And when such a palace was finished and consecrated, Nero only said to him in praise that now, finally, he will live like a human being."

Nero did not have to “live like a human being” for long. In 68, the emperor died, the palace was abandoned, then burned down, and the territory was rebuilt. Among other things, the famous Colosseum appeared on the site of the former Golden House. Today, residents and tourists of Rome only have access to the pitiful ruins of a once beautiful residence.

Palazzo Medici Riccardi: cradle of the Renaissance

This palazzo differs from the rest of the residences on our list in that it was built not by the heads of state, but by the family of Medici bankers. However, they held leading positions in the Florentine Republic for a long time and ruled it de facto.

The palace was supposed to emphasize the personal position of Cosimo the Elder after his return from exile - and became the first private building, in the decoration of which flagstone and rustic stones were used simultaneously, before that only public buildings were decorated in this way. Otherwise, the outside of the palazzo looks rather modest by modern standards: Cosimo did not want to arouse the envy of other Florentine families.

However, he did not skimp on the interior decoration. The three-storey rectangular building with an inner garden was decorated with sculptures, including antique ones, and paintings by eminent masters of the era.

“The years went by; Cosimo, the rich, all-powerful, revered, grew old, and the right hand of the Lord struck his family.

He had many children, but only one of them survived him. And so, decrepit and feeble, ordering himself to be carried around the enfilade of huge halls in order to personally inspect all the sculptures, gilding and frescoes of the huge palace, he sadly shook his head, saying:

- Alas! Alas! To build such a house for such a small family!"

Over time, the palace became something of a hobby club for people of art. Cosimo Medici's grandson, Lorenzo the Magnificent, patronized the Careggi Academy and welcomed philosophers, sculptors and painters, including Sandro Botticelli and Michelangelo Buonarroti, to his residence.

Today, the palazzo houses the Riccardian Library, founded by the next owners of the residence after the Medici - the Riccardi family. From 1715 it became public. Some of the premises not occupied by the library are accessible for visiting - there is one of the most famous museums in Florence.

Versailles: the luxurious sun king bunker

I must say, Versailles has a dizzying "career". Not every hunting lodge is destined to become the personal residence of the King of France. The history of the palace began in 1623 under Louis XIII, who simply wanted to relax in a quiet place far enough from Paris to forget about state affairs. After the uprisings of the Fronde, the suspicious Louis XIV felt that it was dangerous for him to live in the capital. Therefore, already in 1661, by his decree, the entire courtyard moved there.

The "Sun King" did not want to be content with modest apartments - and at the end of the 17th century he built such mansions here that all the ruling neighbors envied. And he did it! Louis turned Versailles into one of the most luxurious palaces in Europe.

The mirror gallery, where before the revolution there was pure silver furniture, and the Ambassadors 'Staircase, unfortunately, dismantled by the successor of Louis XIV in order to expand the daughters' quarters, magnificent plafonds, stucco moldings and other decorations did not leave hope for the good taste of the French king, but made people admire his wealth.

For the main construction of Versailles 10, 5 thousand tons of silver was spent, however, this money was sorely lacking. It got to the point that the fountains of the park were turned on in turn, as the king went out for a walk and approached this or that place. As soon as the vain Louis turned away, the fountains were turned off in order to save money.

Versailles amazed many with its grandeur and unrestrained, unjustified luxury. In the 20th century, Stefan Zweig wrote about the palace in his novel Marie Antoinette:

“Even now, Versailles is a grandiose, majestic symbol of autocracy. Away from the capital, on an artificial hill, without any connection with the surrounding nature, dominating the plain, a huge castle rises. With hundreds of windows, he looks into the void over the artificially laid canals, artificially planted gardens. Not a river nearby, along which villages could stretch, or branched roads; an accidental whim of the sovereign, embodied in stone - this is what this palace with all its reckless splendor appears to the astonished gaze.

This is exactly what the Caesarist will of Louis XIV wanted - to erect a shining altar to his ambition, his desire for self-deification. Versailles was built in order to clearly prove to France: the people are nothing, the king is everything."

In 1995, Versailles, which survived two world wars and restorations, received the status of a museum and became a national treasure.

Winter Palace: and we are no worse

The Russian rulers did not want to yield to the French in luxury, and therefore more than invested in the Winter Palace. However, its construction took place gradually. There were five palaces in the history of St. Petersburg. Two of Peter's were low-rise and modest. The third was the residence of Anna Ioannovna, for the sake of which four noble houses were demolished.

The fourth is the temporary palace of Elizabeth Petrovna. It was in it that she waited for the completion of the construction of the fifth - Winter, created on the site of the chambers of Anna Ioannovna.

Elizabeth did not live to see the completion of the work, and Catherine II inherited the luxurious building. The palace building has 1084 rooms, 1476 windows, 117 stairs. The first thing the young empress did was to remove from the work of the architect Bartholomew (Bartolomeo) Rastrelli, an adherent of the already unfashionable Baroque.

However, in the work on the fifth version of the royal residence, the Italian architect managed to do a lot, and the harmonious facade of the building is entirely his work. For her palace, Catherine bought 317 valuable paintings from the private collection of paintings by Johann Ernst Gotzkowski and laid the foundation for the Hermitage collection. The hero of Nikolai Gogol, the blacksmith Vakula, saw the residence of the Russian empress this way:

“The carriages stopped in front of the palace. The Cossacks went out, entered the magnificent entrance and began to climb the brilliantly lighted staircase.

- What a ladder! - the blacksmith whispered to himself, - it's a pity to stomp with your feet. What decorations! Here, they say, fairy tales lie! What the hell are they lying! oh my god, what a railing! What job! here one iron for fifty rubles went!

Having already climbed the stairs, the Cossacks went through the first hall. The blacksmith timidly followed them, fearing to slip on the floor at every step. Three halls passed, the blacksmith was still amazed. Entering the fourth, he involuntarily approached the picture hanging on the wall. It was a most pure virgin with a baby in her arms. “What a picture! what a wonderful painting! - he reasoned, - here, it seems, he speaks! seems alive! but a holy child! and the handles are pressed! and grins, poor! and the paints! oh my god, what colors! here vokhry, I think, and didn’t go for a penny, all the rage and the bungalow; and the blue one is still burning! important work! the ground must have been blasted. No matter how amazing these glints, however, this brass handle, - he continued, going up to the door and feeling the lock, - is even more worthy of surprise. What a clean dressing! all this, I think, was done by German blacksmiths for the most expensive prices …"

Catherine was often reproached for blindly imitating the West. They say that both the interiors of the palace and the paintings are just a pursuit of luxury. However, the collection of paintings created by the empress was replenished by the rest of the Romanovs, and today, despite the terrible fire of 1837 and the revolution of 1917, there is a museum on the territory of Russia that is equal to the best European collections.