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PLEASANCE PALACE
1652
This interesting specimen of seventeenth-century civic architecture was built as a mansion for the boyar llya Miloslavsky, Tsar Alexis's father-in-law. After the owner's death the mansion went to the treasury and began to be used for court entertainments, for the amusement of the Tsar's family and the courtiers, which explains its name. Here the private performances of the first Russian court theatre were held, in which members of the Tsar's family took part.
Pleasance Palace
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In 1679 Tsar Theodore, the elder brother of Peter the Great, rebuilt the palace and added chambers for his sisters. These chambers are known to have had splendid wall paintings. The extremely complex composition, consisting of different sized sections of three, four and five storeys, is most picturesque and best seen from the courtyard. Asym-metrical in plan the complex of buildings is richly decorated: the windows have sumptuous portals with carvings of birds, lions and typical foliate ornament. The south facade still retains a ceremonial porch with pitcher-shaped columns which led to the first floor. However, the main entrance to the courtyard, the so-called Lion Gate with three hanging arches and carved lion masks of white stone, was pulled down in the last century during rebuilding work.
The frequently altered Pleas-ance Palace has much in common with the Terem Palace: a tiered construction, the combination of a private church and living chambers, certain planning features and similar rich decorative details.
The unusual facade facing the street has a relatively large cantilever supporting a rectangular section which contained the sanctuary of the church in the upper tier. Because living quarters were not allowed under a sanctuary, the latter was built out over the street on powerful brackets. The three semicircular apertures for the windows remind one of huge machicolations of a fortified wall. Also of note on this facade are the carved window surrounds with triangular pediments and the splendid white-stone portal covered with lacy foliate ornament with a typical hanging pendant in the centre. This portal originally adorned the palace entrance from the courtyard and was transferred to the street facade when the palace was rebuilt over a century ago.
Above the refectory church in the upper tier of the palace is a small tower on four posts. It was used as a bell-tower and watch-tower.
In spite of later alterations the Pleasance Palace is a valuable specimen of Russian civic architecture which greatly influenced the development of stone residential building in Old Russia.
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