Non-capital possessions of the Yusupov princes. Koreiz

On January 16 at 14.00 in the Upper Hall of the Colonnade the first exhibition from the series “Non-capital possessions of the Yusupov princes” opens, dedicated to the Crimean estate located in the village of Koreiz.

In 1882, after the marriage of Felix Feliksovich Sumarokov-Elston to Zinaida Nikolaevna Yusupova, Koreiz became one of the main family residences, where the princely family often visited in the fall, during the velvet season. Frequent guests of the estate were representatives of the highest aristocracy and the imperial family, whose numerous palaces and dachas were located nearby - in Gaspra, Miskhor, Alupka, Livadia. It was in the Korean palace in 1912 that the engagement of Felix Feliksovich Jr. to the princess of imperial blood Irina Alexandrovna Romanova took place. It was in Koreiz that the Yusupovs spent a significant part of the period 1917–1919 before being forced to emigrate.

After reconstruction at the beginning of the twentieth century by architect Nikolai Krasnov, the modest villa almost doubled in size, and the estate itself became more monumental and integral. The Yusupovs ordered professional photographers - O. Renard, V. N. Sokornov and others - a series of photographs documenting the park, the palace and its interiors, and the landscapes surrounding the estate. Some of these series are presented at the exhibition.

Despite the sharp reduction in the territory of the estate during the Soviet period, it still remains one of the best architectural and park ensembles of the Southern Coast of Crimea. By comparing photographs taken before and after reconstruction, visitors will be able to see these changes - an increase in the size of the palace, a change from eclectic interiors to more stylistically homogeneous ones. One of the objectives of the exhibition is to convey the comfort and charm of a place that attracted many contemporaries and played an important role in the history of the family.

A separate story is the economic life of the estate, which was the center of a rather large winery. From the first owner of the estate, Anna Sergeevna Golitsyna (1779–1838), subsequent owners inherited a large wine cellar, and in the village of Koreiz there was a wine shop owned by the Yusupovs. The exhibition features a rare exhibit - an advertisement for wines from “the cellars of the Koreiz estate of Prince F. F. Sumarokov-Elston.”

The post-revolutionary history of the estate began at the end of 1920, after the final establishment of Soviet power in Crimea: the nationalization of the estate and its transfer to the jurisdiction of the South Coast Soviet farms; then the allocation of the palace with the adjacent territory for the creation of a GPU holiday home, in which, as is commonly believed, F. E. Dzerzhinsky vacationed twice, and the transformation of the coastal part of the estate into a publicly accessible city embankment.

The difficult period of the Great Patriotic War and the use of the palace as the residence of the Soviet delegation during the Yalta Conference of the Heads of the Three Powers in February 1945 became the most striking page in the history of the estate during this period. The palace turned out to be as convenient as possible from a security point of view - there were no remote points from which it was possible to control the movement of delegation members and personnel, as well as conduct sniper fire. The underground and stone-lined wine cellar was probably converted into a bunker for J.V. Stalin. Several official meetings of the foreign ministers of the USSR, USA and Great Britain were held in the palace (a group photograph taken on the palace balcony has been preserved), and on the evening of February 7, Stalin hosted an official reception in the palace in honor of US President F. D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister W. Churchill.

Soon after the war, the palace and the surrounding area were converted into a closed holiday home for the party and state elite.

Until now, many plots of the Soviet and post-Soviet history of the Yusupov estate in Koreiz have not been presented in a complete and systematized form in any publication. The exhibits and annotations to them presented at the exhibition will give visitors a clear, detailed and multifaceted picture of the history of the Yusupov estate. As for the pre-revolutionary period, the visitor, even the most knowledgeable, will be able to obtain several important clarifications on the history of the estate.

In addition to photographs, the exhibition features porcelain plates ordered by the Yusupovs in Meissen at the beginning of the 20th century. They depict the outbuilding where F.N. Sumarokov-Elston’s adoptive mother Ekaterina Fedorovna Tizenhausen (1803–1888) lived; Z. N. Yusupova with her sisters-in-law in Tatar costumes, as well as Felix Jr. and his wife Irina on a walk. In total, more than forty items can be seen at the exhibition, a significant part of which is being exhibited for the first time.

The exhibition will run until March 20, 2024.

Entrance is provided by tickets to the Colonnade “Temporary Exhibition” and also includes a visit to the multimedia exhibition “Territory of Impressions” in the lower hall.

Convenient entrance and parking – checkpoint No. 3 (“Holy Gate”).