Historical discourse of Mikhailovsky castle's artistic universe: aspects of power

This article examines the historical discourse of Emperor Paul's representational program of power and personality in the context of the artistic universe of his St. Petersburg residence, the Mikhailovsky Castle. This large-scale project, Paul I embodied not only advanced building and decoration technologies of contemporary palace construction, but also the traditions of the sovereign's power and personality representation inherent in the palace discourse. The Mikhailovsky Castle of Emperor Paul I was both the most “expensive” object of palace construction and the most “conceptual”. His symbolic program absorbed the principles of power representation implemented in the residences of his predecessors. However, at the same time, it was formed personally by the royal customer. Examining the correspondence between the compositional axes of the building to the earthly (south-north) and spiritual (west-east) aspects of existence, the author of the publication reveals the symbolic, gender and historical principles in the composition of the grand enfilades of Paul I (southern and eastern parts of the palace) and Maria Feodorovna (northern and western parts of the palace). The researcher focuses on interpreting the history of Russia and the Sovereign's persona in the setting of the palace's exterior and interiors of the palace. The detailed semiotic analysis of the historical paintings created by J. Atkinson and G. I. Ugryumov on the initiative of Emperor Paul I for the Resurrection Hall of the Palace reveals the concept of power, based on the principles of masculinity, patriotism and sacredness. The gallery of hero rulers (the first of their kind), created by the artists, presented Paul I as one of the royal pioneers – the first ruler to unite not only secular and spiritual power, but also the Eastern and Western Christian churches. The dualism of secular and sacred principles is the leitmotif of the historical discourse of the palace decor, which, in turn, corresponds to the idee fixe of its sovereign master.