History and transformation of Preobrazhenskoye estate: dynamics of the “estate topos” in the novel by A.N. Tolstoy Peter the Great

Abstract

In the historical novel by A.N. Tolstoy Peter the Great, which was written between 1929 and 1945, shows a number of grand ducal and later royal residences. The mention of the Vorobyovo estate, Kolomenskoye, Vozdvizhenskoye and Pushkino estate is connected with the need to characterize the era and popular sentiments as well as describe in great detail the events. In the details and relying on historical sources, the author recreated the history of the residence and the royal court in Preobrazhenskoye estate, its heyday under Alexei Mikhailovich, desolation and showed the new life of the royal court and the construction of a funny fortress in Preobrazhenskoye estate under Peter. The fate of the Preobrazhenskoye Palace which was once the hunting residence of the young tsar’s father turns out to be closely connected with Peter’s himself transformations and innovations, which, on the one hand, contradict the traditional way of life, on the other, are the reconstruction and development of Alexei Mikhailovich’s ideas, forming a separate plot of the gradual, slow development of the royal court, its heyday during the period of maturation and training of young Peter and again fading away due to the development of new loci.