Palace of the Rumyantsevs and Paskeviches

History of creation.

The palace was built on the site of a wooden castle, which was built by the last Gomel headman, Mikhail Frederic Czartoryski, from the Czartoryski family. On July 10, 1775, Catherine the Great granted the Gomel eldership to Count Pyotr Aleksandrovich Rumyantsev and allocated money from the treasury for the construction of the count's palace in Gomel. Work on the palace project began in 1777, construction began in 1785 and was completed in 1794.

One of the sources of inspiration for the architects was the Villa Rotonda of the famous Italian architect Andrea Palladio. The completed palace became one of the early examples of Russian Palladianism. It was a compact two-story building on a high base, completed in the center with a cube-like belvedere. The compositional center of the palace was a square hall with a dome. The external decor of the palace was entirely made in the style of early classicism. The main decoration of the facades were porticoes of the Corinthian order - a four-column front porch and a six-column park one. Along the entire perimeter of the building, rectangular window openings, placed in two rows, alternated with pilasters, which gave the palace a majestic monumentality. On the high ground floor there were exclusively ceremonial premises, on the second there were living rooms, and the basement was used for household needs and accommodation of servants.

In 1834, the palace was bought by the famous Russian commander I. F. Paskevich. Under him, in 1837-1851, under the leadership of the Polish architect Adam Idzkowski, the palace was reconstructed and a magnificent park was laid out.

Museum.

The palace, damaged during the Great Patriotic War, was restored after the victory, and it housed a museum and the Palace of Pioneers. In the second half of the 1990s, it was completely transferred to the museum. In 1995, a decision was made to carry out restoration work, as a result of which the interiors of the rooms of the palace of the 18th-19th centuries were recreated.

The collection of the Gomel Palace and Park Ensemble Museum is one of the richest in the Republic of Belarus. The collection was based on memorial items from the collections of the Rumyantsevs and Paskeviches. Despite the fact that this collection is small, it is the most significant in the republic, as it gives an idea of the decoration of rich noble estates of the late 19th century. The most interesting collections of the museum's funds: memorial items of the Paskevich family; archaeological and numismatic collections; collection of handwritten and early printed books; ethnographic; icon painting and religious objects; marine organisms. A worthy place in the exhibitions and collections of the museum is occupied by materials about outstanding statesmen, military leaders, representatives of science, culture, education, whose life and work were connected with the history of the region, as well as a collection of paintings by Gomel artists.