Dulbert Palace in Korea

The beginning of the construction of the palace ensemble of Dulbert (translated from Arabic – beautiful, delightful), refers to 1895, when V. kn. Pyotr Nikolaevich decided to build a palace in the oriental style, as well as a complex of service buildings and a park in the Crimean estate, in Miskhor. To carry out all the work was entrusted already known by that time Yalta city architect N.P. Krasnov (1864 – 1939). There were several circumstances that influenced the fact that the creation of the palace and park ensemble Dulbert was entrusted to any of the eminent Moscow architects-academics, and Yaltin Krasnov. During his work as a city architect, Nikolai Petrovich gained rich experience in building houses for various purposes in the conditions of the southern coast of Crimea with its complex terrain, steep descents to the sea, large mobile areas and seismological danger. In addition, the recommendation of the famous art critic, academician M.P. Kondakov, who had the opportunity during a long stay in the Crimea to assess the talent and high moral qualities of the young architect, and, of course, the general passion - and V. Kondakov. Pyotr Nikolaevich, and N.P. Krasnov – studying the traditions of Eastern architecture finally solved the question of the builder of Dulbert. A military engineer, a specialist in fortifications, Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich was seriously interested in civilian architecture, especially eastern. Since childhood, distinguished by poor health, he, on the advice of doctors, often traveled to the countries of the Mediterranean, Maghreb and the Middle East, from where he brought albums with his own sketches of architectural monuments of indigenous peoples, on which he subsequently made several sketches of the future Dulbert. Built in 1895-1897, on a very difficult land plot for large construction, the Dulbert Palace Ensemble, according to researchers, was a significant success in the creative biography of the architect. Academician N.P.Kondakov in an article devoted to Dulbert, praised Krasnov’s work, describing the palace as “a building as successful as it is unusual, in the highest degree truly elegant and expedient.” The ornamentation of Dulbert is very simple and is limited to carved casings of doors and windows, plafonds, balustrades, musharabia, wrote N.P. Kondakov. “The building is as successful as it is unusual, most truly elegant and expedient. The ornamentation of Dulbert is very simple and is limited to carved casings of doors and windows, plafonds, balustrades, musharabians, wrote N.P. Kondakov. “This ornamentation has been executed in strict and, moreover, very practical and cheap ways: carved doors, windows and musharabias are no more expensive than ordinary carpentry. The casting is made of a special composition of plaster. But the most interesting artistic and industrial innovation is the cutting of panels with plaster castings that reproduce faience beyond recognition.” This composition, described further in Kondakov’s article, consisted of the simplest components taken in a certain proportion – gypsum, vaseline and dyes. The castings from this mixture, covered with alcohol varnish, acquired the form of precious oriental faience. This demonstrated Krasnov’s remarkable ability to use new materials that replace previously expensive ones. Considering the stylistic features of the palace, the academician makes a remark: “It was difficult to determine in what style this building was built, since its main parts meet the usual European needs with their floors – its rooms, living quarters are full of all European comfort.” But since the main decorative parts: entrances, terraces, flat roofs, dome coverings, a side tower, the shape of the door and windows, and in general any ornamental part of the palace resembles the Saracen buildings of Egypt and Syria, it would be possible without much error to call the palace "Arabic" or, rather, Saracen. This style has long been the subject of study for the highest owner of Dulbert, as a style unusually original, deep, full of poetic elegance. In this statement Kondakov reflected the search for new approaches to the architecture of the best masters of architecture of the last quarter of the XIX century. Taking as a basis the motto of the Art Nouveau style, which reached its greatest flowering at the beginning of the XX century - "beauty and benefit", each of the architects who erected the fundamental structures, went their own way. So, although the main emphasis of artistic expressiveness Krasnov makes on the front facade, which repeat, according to some researchers, the entrance to the tomb of Cairo Bay, erected in the XV century in the center of Cairo, nevertheless, the other three facades are so picturesque and original that each new viewing angle gives a complete picture of the beautiful palace, as if reproduced according to the fairy tales of Scheherazade. Simultaneously with the building of the palace, a unique park and a small garden were broken down. Trees and shrubs were planted on terraces formed with the help of powerful retaining walls on a steep descent to the sea. Unfortunately, during the Great Patriotic War, Dulbert Palace was seriously destroyed by fire. Restoration work was carried out in 1946-1959. However, due to the loss of technology, namely the composition recipe, restorers were unable to reproduce unique castings. Not exactly reproduced ornaments and decorations, which distorted the original plan of the architect. But the remarkable Dulbert Park, cherished by many generations of gardeners, continues to delight and give indescribable joy to all those who come here. During the construction of the palace complex, the Grand Duke and his family were in his south-bank estate. He was so sick that he even refused to serve in the Life Guards sapper regiment, whose chief was. And finally, in the spring of 1898, his wife V. Kn. Militsa Nikolaevna, was expecting the birth of her third child, and the family decided to wait for this event in Crimea. Working in the estate of Pyotr Nikolaevich, N.P. Krasnov faced a problem with which he probably did not meet in his rich practice either before or after Dulbert - a complete lack of funds from the customer. The active and practical General Manager of the Court of His Imperial Highness, Baron A.I. von Stahl, having begun in 1897 to fulfill his duties and having read the monetary documents of Peter Nikolaevich, was horrified: the complete mismanagement that reigned in the Court Office led to a catastrophic financial situation of the Grand Duke’s family. There was nothing to pay the numerous debts, nothing to pay the architect and the workers, and the bills for the ordered materials. In an excerpt from a letter from that period, Baron von Stahl wrote to the Prince: “The money was much and much was gone.” Of course, you have a lot of property, and very valuable, but, unfortunately, does not give interest on which to live, and therefore it should be considered dead capital. There is no money, there are a lot of payments and claims on all sides, and the situation of our day is becoming more and more difficult, because we have to avoid paying under various pretexts. This, in my opinion, is not very beautiful for the court office, and even fails many: Krasnov, Schiffers, who have their own calculations, <...> and are dependent on the working people who can make a scandal and, in the end, all this will respond to you as the owner! In the difficult year of 1897, at the most desperate moment, Baron von Stahl even offered Peter Nikolaevich, if possible, to sell Dulbert for 600,000 rubles to pay off his debts. However, the decisive measures taken by him later (the sale of part of the estate "Znamenka", which the Grand Duke inherited from his grandfather, Nicholas I, the clear organization of the work of the brick factory in Terioki and a number of others) after some time brought their results, and, in the end, N.P. Krasnov paid all his costs for the construction of Dulber. Interesting characteristics were given to the owner of Dulbert by his contemporaries. The exact opposite of his brother, V. Kn. Nikolai Nikolaevich (Supreme Commander-in-Chief in the First World War (from July 1914 to August 1915), a sharp, strong-willed man, Peter Nikolaevich – a quiet and shy man, became a military man only because of the unshakable traditions of the male half of the Romanov dynasty. His serious hobbies were art and collecting ancient manuscripts on history, horse breeding and breeding thoroughbred dogs (mainly dachshund, which, by the way, brought him some income). Apparently, this external “inexpressiveness” of Pyotr Nikolaevich and his inability to control his own property affairs gave rise to the outstanding statesman of Russia Count S.Y. Witte rather unflatteringly characterize this representative of the Romanovs: “Peter Nikolaevich was a very nice guy, as he has remained to the present time, but very limited and from the point of view of business – a person completely insignificant.” But an even sharper response was left by Sergei Yulyevich in his “Memoirs” about the spouses of Grand Dukes Peter and Nicholas – Militsa (1866 – 1951) and Anastasia (1868 – 1835), daughters of Montenegrin Prince Nicholas I Njegosh: “Oh, these Montenegrins, they did the troubles of Russia ...” In order to tell what evils they have done, it is necessary to write a whole history; the Russian people will not remember their memory with kindness. Indeed, these two dark Balkan women, who stood apart among the royal family, aroused the hostility of many – both in aristocratic circles and among the highest intelligentsia. It was they who were blamed for the appearance of Grigory Rasputin at the Court, and huge sums that were sent from the Russian budget to the treasury of Nicholas of Montenegro, and hobbies in the then fashionable spiritualism, which then covered the entire secular society, and much more. In the period 1904-1909 V. Kn. Pyotr Nikolayevich held a rather high position of inspector general for engineering, then was honorary chairman of the Main Military Technical Directorate. During the First World War he was constantly at V. Kn. Nikolai Nikolaevich, carrying out his assignment. In the family of V. K. Peter Nikolaevich and Militsa Nikolaevna there were three children. The stone niche of the fountain in the palace park preserves a half-erased medallion with the historical inscription: "1897, October." Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich, Grand Duchess Militsa Nikolaevna and their children – Princesses of Imperial Blood Marina Petrovna, Nadezhda Petrovna, Prince of Imperial Blood Roman Petrovich were present at the consecration of the Dulber Palace. Above the entrance to the palace there is an Arabic script – a line from the Quran: “May Allah bless him who enters.” This inscription became in a sense prophetic for the Romanovs. Of course, neither the owners nor the creators of the palace could not imagine that 20 years after its consecration, it would be turned into a fortified fortress with machine gun nests installed on the roof and guarded by sailors armed to the teeth of the Sevastopol military garrison. It was here, “until a special order of the Soviet government”, that Grand Dukes Alexander Mikhailovich, Peter Nikolayevich and Nikolay Nikolayevich were kept with their families, as well as the mother of Nicholas II, the Dowager Empress Maria Fedorovna, the Danish princess Dagmara (1847-1928), who had been in the Crimea since the beginning of the civil war (1918). Maria Feodorovna was the wife of the Russian Emperor Alexander III, and was related to many royal houses of Europe, including King George V of Great Britain, whose mother was Queen Alexandra, the sister of Maria Feodorovna. The power in Crimea has changed many times. And only the mighty walls of Dulbert, the dedication of the sailors of the Black Sea Fleet, who guarded the prisoners, and favorable coincidences, saved the so-called Crimean group of Romanovs from terrible reprisals in these troubled years. The prisoners became hostages in the political game waged by the Soviet government with German diplomacy at the conclusion of the Brest-Litovsk Peace. Only the rapid advance of German troops and the occupation of Crimea saved the Tsar's name in 1918 from imminent reprisals. But under the threat of occupying the Crimea by the advancing units of the Red Army, on April 1, 1919, they were still forced to board the British cruiser Marlborough and leave their homeland forever. At the end of the XIX century, outstanding scientists, luminaries of Russian medicine, such as S.P. Botkin, V.N. Dmitriev gave the highest assessment of the resort and climatic features of the South Bank. S.P. Botkin put the south of the peninsula above many popular by that time foreign resorts and predicted the Crimea as a resort a great future. Immediately after the end of the civil war in 1920, the Soviet government issued a decree “On the use of the Crimea for the treatment of workers.” And in January 1921, the All-Crimean Council of Resort Workers was held in Simferopol, at which the organizational structure of the resorts was determined and a plan for the deployment of sanatoriums and rest houses was adopted. Created then in Simferopol, the Central Directorate of resorts of the Crimea (CUCC) was headed by D.I. Ulyanov. In 1923, the nationalization of the palaces and the inventory of the housing stock of the South Bank were completed. The mass reception of tourists required the reconstruction of palaces and villas, the restoration of transport facilities and the road network destroyed by wars. For this purpose, the state allocated significant funds. The resorts began to come to life gradually. In 1921 in Yalta and its surroundings already operated 18 health resorts for 2400 places. One of the first in Miskhor took a resting Sanatorium "Dulber" (1922), (the first was the rest House "Kichkin"). Until 1925, the number of places in the health resorts of Yalta reached 25 thousand. It was from the signing of V.I. Lenin in 1920 of the decree “On the use of Crimea for the treatment of workers” that the Soviet period in the history of Dulber began. It was one of the first Soviet health resorts, designed for 35 seats. At that time, she received political workers and former political prisoners for rehabilitation. Among the tourists there were political emigrants, Spanish children, Chelyuskinians, “as well as workers of other countries who were directed by the International Council of Trade Unions”, that is, the political elite of the time. It is noteworthy that at different times in the health resort rested Clara Zetkin, Dolores Ibaruri, Georgy Dimitrov, Harry Pollit, Ho Chi Minh, Arnold Zweig, Luis Corvalan and other figures of the XX century, many of whom already say almost nothing to a modern young man, but in the Soviet period did not go off the newspaper pages. In the 30s, "Dulber" was renamed into the boarding house "Red Banner". In 1938, according to the project of the repressed architect Boris Ivanovich Belozersky, under the leadership of the architect V. Solyanik, in the same Moorish style as Dulber, a second bedroom building of the health resort was built, above the entrance, into which an inscription from the Stalinist Constitution of 1936 appeared - "Citizens of the USSR have the right to rest", stylized under Arabic script.