RESIDENCES OF MONARCHS: FILM PORTRAYAL OF PALACES AS CENTERS OF CITY’S

SOFT POWER

Veaceslav MIR
Doctoral School of Administration and Public Policy,
Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
veaceslavmir@gmail.com

Abstract: Residences of the monarchs promote ideas of power and prosperity through architecture,
arts and crafts. Palaces of Versailles and Tsarskoye Selo were centers of Paris and St. Petersburg
soft power during their heydays. That is reflected in the movies filmed in those palaces, especially
when the historical context of their symbolic significance is provided during the plot. As a result of
analyzing historical movies, the conclusion is that historical cinema becomes believable filmed only
in authentic interiors, while credibility is also one of the main factors of soft power.
Keywords: urban history, city’s soft power, Versailles, Tsarskoye Selo, baroque palace

REȘEDINȚE ALE MONARHILOR: PREZENTAREA PALATELOR ÎN CINEMA CA CENTRE

ALE PUTERII INTANGIBILE ALE ORAȘELOR

Abstract: Reședințele regale promovează ideile de putere și prosperitate prin arhitectură, arte și
meșteșuguri. Palatele de la Versailles și Țarskoe Selo au fost centre ale puterii intangibile din Paris și St.
Petersburg în perioada lor de glorie. Acest lucru se reflectă în lungmetraje filmate în acele palate, mai ales
atunci când contextul istoric al semnificației lor simbolice este oferit în timpul povestirii. Ca urmare a
analizei filmelor istorice, concluzia este că cinematograful istoric devine credibil filmat doar în interioare
autentice, întrucât credibilitatea este, de asemenea, unul dintre principalii factori ai puterii intangibile.
Cuvinte cheie: istorie urbană, puterea intangibilă a orașului, Versailles, Țarskoe Selo, palatul baroc

Introduction greatly reflected in the movies filmed in those

Cinema requires impressive decorations and
staging to keep the viewer's attention on,
especially when it comes to the residences of
monarchs. The luxuriously decorated halls and
ballrooms of the palaces are excellent evidence of
the soft power they contained, although we apply
this concept retroactively. The concept of soft
power, developed in the 1980s by Joseph Nye,
represents a way of influencing and achieving
desired results through voluntary participation,
which can be also summered as non-military
methods of influencing at different levels,
promoting certain ideas and creating a certain
impact on the public (Nye, 2004, 32).
Palaces have always been created not just to
impress citizens and the diplomatic corps; palaces
have always had much broader tasks. The palace
was de facto the capital of the state during the stay
of the monarch, presenting both its own subjects
and foreigners the best examples of national and
foreign art, economic power capable of granting
the opulence of the court.
Palaces of Versailles and Tsarskoye Selo were
centers of the city’s soft power during their
heyday in the 17th and 18th centuries. That is
palaces, especially when the historical context of
their symbolic significance is provided during the
plot. In the case of Versailles its soft power was
concentrated on attracting the best national
craftsmen and artists to create a palace that
embodies the absolute monarch, leading the
venerable Kingdom of France. In the case of
Catherine Palace its soft power was concentrated
on attracting foreign specialists to create a palace
that glorifies the young Russian Empire. Not a
single film about the French or Russian monarchs
who ruled in the 17th and 18th centuries is
complete without filming in the interiors of the
mentioned palaces. Historical cinema becomes
believable filmed only in real interiors, while
credibility is also one of the main factors of soft
power.
The language of cinema and the reflection of
history
The emergence of cinematography was a
turning point for artistic creativity. This synthetic
type of new art made it possible to perpetuate in
an unchanged form and content a look at various
phenomena and events. Not surprisingly, since its
inception, cinema has been used to reflect and
reinvent history. Already at the dawn of
cinematography, directors were attracted by this
new kind of art, capable of capturing or
illustrating any historical events as clearly as
possible. The history of the Palace of Versailles in
cinematography begins as early as 1896, in the
film Fontaines de Versailles (Versailles, 2021, 1).
At the same time, there are many newsreels
depicting various palaces of Russian emperors:
the most famous footage of the chronicle is
associated with the Coronation celebrations of
May 1896 (Reuters / British Pathé, 1896). But the
history of the Catherine Palace in cinematography
begins as early as 1913, in the footage Pathé's
Weekly, No. 46 (IMDB, 1913).
Gradually, a whole language of cinema began
to take shape, a separate type of chronotope
appeared, in which visual aesthetics began to play
a significant role, uniting all other components of
the film. In some ways, cinema became similar to
baroque opera, where the richly decorated scenery
played the role of a link between the viewer, the
plot and the stage, providing an immersive
experience. Cinema had the same role in global
structural transformation of culture, as it had the
invention of opera in the 17th century (Martin,
1997). The most effective way to ensure that the
viewer is immersed in any historical time is to use
authentic interiors that are silent witnesses of
some great historical events. During the film
production, it is almost impossible to reproduce
the costumes of different eras with the historical
accuracy: due to the high cost of such an approach
to creating costumes, as well as sometimes visual
inexpressiveness for the average viewer, as well
as physical inconvenience for the actors
(Weinstein, 2001). The language of cinema
embellishes reality and everyday life. What
cinema cannot embellish are the interiors of the
royal residences. When newsreels were just
emerging as a genre, in order to emphasize the
solemnity of the moment and enhance the
propaganda effect and shape the monarch’s
image, palace interiors were often chosen for
filming. Also, the palace could serve as a
backdrop for a meeting with, for example,
soldiers, as it was often done in the case of
Nicholas II. So even performing simple everyday
actions, a balance between a magnificent autocrat
and a person with his own weaknesses and
interests was still maintained (Wortman, 2013,
97).
The Versailles and the Tsarskoye Selo were
chosen for the study for a reason. It is almost
impossible to surpass the visual luxury of the
chambers of these palaces: it is unthinkable to
imagine what can replace the original Hall of
Mirrors and the Apollo Salon in Versailles, as
well as the Great Hall and the Amber Room of the
Catherine Palace. These buildings, constructed in
the 17th and the 18th centuries, in the era of the
maximum flourishing of arts and crafts, are the
best scenery for filming movies about the events
that took place in these palaces. The luxury of the
18th century interiors is so impressive that even to
create fantasy royal residences, directors often
turn to historical heritage. The most striking
example of such an approach are the interiors of
the Theed Royal Palace on the planet Naboo from
the Star Wars cinematic universe, which were
filmed in the Palace of Caserta (Bowen, 2005, 8),
probably one of the largest palaces built in Europe
in the 18th century (UNESCO, 1997), which
perfectly matches the megalomanic scale of the
palace of Theed and its symbolic significance of
excellence and greatness of Theed’s civilization.
Palace as a symbol
Although the palace as a phenomenon exists in
some or another form throughout the development
of civilization, in different periods the palaces had
different functions, including symbolic ones. In
the 18th century, the palace finally acquired a
symbolism similar to its original etymological
meaning. The etymology given to the Palatine Hill
in Rome (Chambers, 1874, 359) hints at the
original function of the palace: “a house
eminently splendid”, royal, noble, magnificent
(Johnson, 1766, 270).
Of course, during the Middle Ages and the
Renaissance, various stunning palaces were built.
However, such palaces often had a defensive
function: they were well fortified and could
withstand a siege (Chao, 2019, 39-59). This left a
certain imprint on the architecture of the palaces
and their decoration. In the 18 th century palaces
finally lost their defensive functions and were
built exclusively as residences for the idle life.
One striking example of the partial transformation
of a medieval castle into a Baroque palace is the
Palazzo Madama in Turin, designed by the
architect Filippo Juvarra (Telluccini, 1928, 19). In
addition, palaces became symbols of the
absolutism development as a state doctrine: the
monarch surpasses the church in power, the
secular prevails over the ecclesiastical, indulging
the development of the baroque and rococo art.
Simplicity is completely alien to these styles; they
represent the pinnacle of sophisticated human
genius, decorating the entire space with elaborate
patterns, leaving no free space between the
details. Baroque is easy enough to criticize for
later generations due to a lack of understanding of
this pretentious theatricality, which accompanied
a person in the palace all the time and sunk into
oblivion along with the Old Regime in France,
and then with the subsequent anti-monarchist
revolutions in Europe.
An absolute monarch could not decide the fate
of the state in a stuffy city, still subject to
medieval orders. Paris, with its narrow streets
reminiscent of the horrors of the Fronde, could not
be the home of Louis XIV. “L'état, c'est moi”, so
the construction of a new world of absolutism in
its stunning scenery is possible anywhere the
monarch wishes. Louis XIV chooses the village of
Versailles to build his fabulous palace (Ayers,
2004, 334), and Peter I goes even further and
decides to build a new capital, on the outskirts of
which will be created an initially modest summer
residence, in the village of Sarskaya Myza
(Lemus, 1980, 9-18). During the 18th century, both
capitals and both royal residences will compete in
luxury, being symbols not only of state power and
the power of the monarch, but also symbols of
cultural development and exchange. Each interior
of these palaces will carry a certain symbolism:
wealth, military victories, outstanding discoveries,
absolute power and the ability to rule brilliantly.
Royal residences were supposed to impress the
people, confirming the god-given absolute power
of the monarch, and to capture the imagination of
the nobility and foreigners, demonstrating the
height of artistic and engineering thought. Thus,
the royal palace in the 18 th century became the
center of the soft power of the city, even being at
some distance from it.
Palace as the center of soft power in the city
Despite the fact that the soft power concept
emerged only in the late 1980s, it is perfectly
applicable for the earlier historical periods. The
concept of soft power is a way of influencing and
achieving desired results through voluntary
participation, driven by cooperation, sympathy
and attractiveness, as opposed to hard power,
which implies coercion. The author outlined that
soft power is “getting others to want what you
want – [it] might be called indirect or co-optive
power behavior. It is in contrast to the active
command power behavior of getting others to do
what you want” (Nye, 1990, 30).
Palace as the “center of gravity” of a city, can
attract curious visitors or qualified professionals
just through its image (Van der Borg, Russo,
2005). According to the author of the concept, soft
power is based on culture and diplomacy (Nye,
2011), where the paramount importance has a
special place, attractive for living and creation.
Notwithstanding the possibility of obtaining
the necessary funding and other necessary
conditions, artists dreamed of getting a job in the
palace to perpetuate their art. Baroque vanity
played an important role in the palace as the
center of the city's soft power: both Versailles and
Tsarskoye Selo were full of talented people, but
only a few were successful. Over the centuries,
apparently, nothing has changed. Emotional
intelligence and the ability to be at the right time
in the right place gave rise to great artists: André
Le Nôtre, Jules Hardouin-Mansart, Bartolomeo
Francesco Rastrelli, Antonio Rinaldi and many
others who shaped Versailles and Tsarskoye Selo
as we see them now.
Palace has become as well the center of
diplomacy at all levels: international, regional and
urban. As a “capital” within a capital, the palace
promoted its agenda of cultural diplomacy:
cultural values and cultural diversity, sometimes
including the linguistic diversity, its image, as
well as the export or import of educational
services. Of course, Versailles pursued a policy of
the superiority of all French, it was difficult to
imagine conversations at court in a language other
than French. Preference has always been given to
artists, architects, composers and craftsmen from
France, to preserve and develop traditions, and
even create new crafts. Thanks to this approach,
we owe Versailles the creation of the Sevres
porcelain manufactories, the development of lace
production in Chantilly and the formation of the
French art school. At the same time, the exact
opposite approach reigned in Tsarskoye Selo:
Western-style artists simply did not exist in the
Russian Empire, so the country's elites actively
imported both talented artists, architects,
composers and craftsmen, as well as art objects.
At Russian court nobility preferred to speak
French, German, Dutch, everything foreign was
only welcomed and actively promoted by Peter I,
both to old-fashioned nobility, who advocated the
preservation of traditions, and to peasants (for
example, a decree to shave beards in a European
manner (Complete collection of laws of the
Russian Empire, 1830, 282).
All of these processes are constantly reflected
in cinema in one way or another. Not a single film
about the French or Russian monarchs who ruled
in the 17th and 18th centuries is complete without
filming in the interiors of the mentioned palaces.
Historical movie becomes believable only when it
is filmed in authentic interiors, while credibility is
also one of the main factors of the soft power.
Palace of Versailles: cinema reflects history
 The Palace of Versailles boasts one of the most
impressive filmography of any royal residence in
Europe, with over 200 films. According to the
official website of Versailles, the first film in the
palace was filmed as early as 1896: “Fontaines de
Versailles” (Versailles, 2021, 1). We are talking
about a film shot by Gaumont, which pictures the
Bassin de Latone fountain. It's more of a sketch
than a movie, testing new technology in the
gardens of the palace. The next important
milestone in the cinematic life of Versailles comes
in 1913, when the interiors of the palace were
filmed in the film Vues cinématographiques
(Versailles, 2021, 3). In this case, we are talking
more about a documentary than a feature film.   Antoinette has become almost synonymous with
The genuine history of cinematography at the
Palace of Versailles begins with the 1923 film
L’enfant-roi by Jean Kremm (Versailles, 2021, 4).
The film tells us about the dramatic events
associated with the French Revolution and the
capture of the young Dauphin of France in the
Temple (de Bourmont-Coucy, 1953, 13). Director
decided to shoot those full of tragic events on the
Queen's Stairs and in the courtyard of the palace.
These recognizable interiors enhanced the
dramatic effect of the exalted acting manner that
was demanded in the silent films of the 1920s.
The cinematography of the 1930s was rich in
historical films and even led to a new wave of
tourism to Europe. Hollywood became the
epicenter of historical cinema dramas. Romeo and
Juliet premiered in 1936, starring Norma Shearer
and Leslie Howard, caused a flow of tourists in
Verona. Almost 90 years after the premiere, the
film is sustaining a completely made-up story of
Juliet’s house (D’Anniballe, 2010, 92) and
especially the never-existed balcony (Marini,
2003) as center of Verona’s soft power.
In the history of cinema, there are two wildly
successful films associated with Versailles and
both are about Marie-Antoinette. The first of these
was filmed in 1938 in Hollywood, there also
starred MGM superstar Norma Shearer. Of
course, the film was filmed entirely in the sets,
and not in the original interiors of Versailles.
However, the great designer Adrian Adolph
Greenburg, also known as just Adrian, approached
the process of creating costumes very responsibly,
going to study the original dresses and portraits of
Marie-Antoinette in Versailles and Schönbrunn.
More than 2,500 costumes featured in the film
were inspired by the original 18th century
embroideries. At the same time, Adrian adapted
Marie-Antoinette's dresses to 1930s fashion in
order to fully show Norma Shearer’s beauty to the
audience (Los Angeles County Museum of Art,
1987, 5). For creating 98 sets, the art department
documented 11,000 photographs sent from
Versailles, collected 2,500 books and visual
elements and bought rooms full of 18th century
furniture (Berry, 2002, 77). This approach cost
MGM a lot of money, but the film became truly
iconic, marking the beginning of the creation of
the world-famous mythologized image of the
Queen of France Marie-Antoinette. Of course, that
image had little in common with the genuine
historical figure, just like the interiors of the
Palace of Versailles, created by MGM artists.
However, it was the Austrian Marie-Antoinette
who became the hallmark of France in popular
culture, eclipsing Louis XIV himself. Marie-
Versailles thanks to the cinematic myth. Such a
strong associative array is an excellent example of
the consolidation of the soft power of the city
around the royal residence as its center.
In the next decade, French filmmakers also
decided to resort to the theme of the reign of
Marie-Antoinette and her life in Versailles. In
1946, the film L'affaire du collier de la reine,
directed by Marcel L'herbier, was released.
Although there is a clear visual homage to the
1938 film, the scenes in the palace were filmed in
the original interiors of Versailles and Trianon.
The film became the classic of French cinema.
An important milestone for the image of
Versailles in cinema was the film Si Versailles
m'était conté directed by Sacha Guitry. First of all,
this film highlights an innovative approach:
Versailles becomes the main character, against
which the characters of Louis XIV, Louis XV and
Louis XVI are only allowed to develop, with their
families, favorites, intrigues and fate that haunts
the inhabitants of the palace. The stunning visuals
reveal a new side of Versailles to the viewer: a
golden cage from which it is impossible to get out
alive. Each of the inhabitants of the palace is
unhappy in its own way, but this is compensated
by the surrounding luxury. The rich colours
inherent in the films of the 1950s due to the
specifics of color grading only further emphasize
the contrast between the grandeur of the palace
and the people who inhabit it, even if they are
members of one of the greatest dynasties of
Europe.
After the Si Versailles m'était conté, the palace
again becomes just a backdrop for events in
various films, and the paradigm of the image of
the palace shifts towards an attractive and
adventurous, dangerous place where no one can
be trusted.
In 1965, appeared the film Angélique et le Roy,
directed by Bernard Borderie, just one of many
movies about Angélique. The adventurous film
about the Marquis of the Angels and her romance
with Louis XIV clearly illustrates that Versailles
is the center of attraction for the nobility from all
over Europe due to its luxury, created by the best
artists of France. However, in the film, Versailles
appears at the same time as a place full of danger
and treachery.
In 1988, two masterpieces of world
cinematography were filmed in Versailles, based
on the Choderlos de Laclos novel. In both Vatel
directed by Milos Forman and Dangereous
liaisons directed by Stephen Frears interiors play
an important role, emphasizing the pretentious
naivety of the gallant age, which is not at all as
simple as it seems. The interiors of Versailles
make a special impression in the film Dangerous
liaisons, where the outfits of the main character
Marquise de Merteuil, played by Glenn Close,
exactly repeat the outfits of the Marquise de
Pompadour from the paintings by Francois
Boucher, some of which are also kept in
Versailles. This subtle parallel between the main
intriguer of France of the Louis XV era and the
fictional marquise is only emphasized by the
impeccability of the original decoration of the
chambers of the Palace of Versailles, designed in
the rococo style. The interiors of the palace help
to create the illusion of an easy existence in
luxury, hiding the soul-corroding boredom of the
inhabitants of the nobility palaces.
Versailles again plays the role of a luxurious
backdrop in the film Marie-Antoinette directed by
Sofia Coppola. Compared to the 1938 film, this
film is visually more believable due to the use of
original interiors. At the same time, the sad story
of the queen itself has again shifted towards a love
triangle to please the viewer. For the younger
generation, it was this film that became an iconic
one and removed the film with Norma Shearer
from the pedestal. Kirsten Dunst has forever
become the personification of Marie-Antoinette,
bored and rebellious in Versailles, trying on
countless shoes and dresses, taking a break to eat
cakes. Despite the stereotypical depiction of the
Queen, the Palace of Versailles was given proper
reverence in the film, becoming the epicenter of
events.
The series Versailles completes the analysis of
the palace filmography. The first season, directed
by Jalil Lespert and Christoph Schrewe, was
filmed in 2014 and the final third season was
filmed in 2017. In the series, Versailles appears as
the main idea of demonstrating royal power.
Through the construction of the palace, the young
Louis XIV proves to himself and to everyone
around him that he is the state himself, and the
palace is the personification of his will to rule.
Almost all the actions in the series develop in the
palace interiors. The culmination is the opening of
the Hall of Mirrors as a symbol of the apogee of
absolute power. The palace again becomes the
central character, and not the backdrop for the
narrative, proving that the embodiment of the
fantasy of the Baroque era is an act of
consolidating soft power that can elevate the ruler
to an unattainable height.
Catherine Palace: cinema reflects history
Like the Versailles, the Catherine Palace has
often appeared in films. However, no detailed
statistics on the number of films shot in its
interiors could be found. In particular, it is known
that in the archives can be found the footage of the
Catherine Palace in the issue of Pathé's Weekly,
№46 from 1913 (IMDB, 2017) showing the
military parade in Tsarskoye Selo. The parade was
personally received by Emperor Nicholas II
accompanied by Tsarevich Alexei. Just as in the
case of the first films shot in Versailles, here we
are talking more about a historical newsreel rather
than a feature film.
The first genuine movie, which was shot in
Tsarskoye Selo in 1938, was Man with a Gun
directed by Sergei Yutkevich. The film has a
pronounced revolutionary propaganda character
and is dedicated to the events of the October
Revolution of 1917. The palace has been given a
secondary role as a lair for ideologically alien
elements that cling to the remnants of the former
greatness of the Russian Empire.
From the point of view of the period we are
considering, the Catherine Palace and Tsarskoye
Selo become the filming locations for movies
about the empresses of Russia, who ruled in the
18th century, only in the 1990s, after the fall of
the USSR. This phenomenon can be explained
from an ideological point of view, as well as by
the fact that most of the interiors of the Catherine
Palace were destroyed during the Second World
War (Morgan, Orlova, 2005, 74) and it was
simply impossible to shoot there because of the
lengthy restoration work that continues to this day
(Platova, 2021, 36-43). But in the 1990s, along
with the flourishing of interest in the Russian
Imperial Family and the pre-revolutionary history
of Russia, the palace became a very popular
filming location among filmmakers.
An important milestone among the historical
films shot in Tsarskoye Selo is the series of films
about gardes-marines. In particular, we are talking
about the second film Vivat, gardes-marines!
from the series, filmed in 1990 by director
Svetlana Druzhinina. The film tells about the
arrival of the poor Anhalt-Zerbst princess Sophia-
Augusta-Frederika to the Russian Empire to marry
the future Emperor Peter III. Young princess is
struck by the wealth of the palace and court of
Empress Elizabeth Petrovna: she understands that
a bright future awaits her, but she finds herself
involved in a number of complex political and
love intrigues. The magnificent halls of the palace
simultaneously emphasize the greatness of the
country where the young princess arrived, and her
loneliness in the new homeland, where she is
easily lost against the experienced courtiers.
In the same 1990, another film was released,
also dedicated to Catherine II: The Royal Hunt
directed by Vitaly Melnikov. Here we already see
Catherine, nicknamed the Great. And everything
in the film is meant to convey her greatness: from
the outfits to the interiors of the palace and the
scope of her deeds. The Pugachev's Rebellion has
already been suppressed, but a new adventurer has
arisen before the Empress - Princess Tarakanova,
posing as the daughter of Empress Elizabeth
Petrovna and claiming the throne of the Russian
Empire. While watching the film, it becomes quite
obvious that the director was inspired by the great
Visconti films shot in historical interiors.
However, as in the case of the film Vivat, gardes-
marines!, the luxury of palace interiors only
emphasizes the economic state of the country and
cinema industry after the collapse of the USSR.
There can be easily observed the poverty and
awkwardness of the costumes, contrasting with
the splendor of palace interiors.
A completely different approach is
demonstrated in Michael Anderson's two-part film
Young Catherine, released in 1991. The film
covers the periods from Catherine's youth to her
accession to the throne. The scenes of the film,
filmed in the Catherine Palace, turned out to be
incredibly spectacular. The procession scene in
the Great Hall of the Catherine Palace impresses
the viewer with its scale and genuine luxury of the
Russian Baroque. The double-height hall with 13
windows on each side, with an area of about 1000
square meters, occupies the entire width of the
palace. Permeated with sunlight, playing on the
gilding and mirrors, the hall is the personification
of the artistic genius of Rastrelli. The architect
created the illusion of boundless space: the
alternation of large windows with mirrors visually
expands the boundaries of the gallery, the painting
of the plafond, depicting a colonnade along the
perimeter, over which figures soar, reveals the
space in height (Snazina, 2010, 239-242). The
plafond by the Venetian decorator Valeriani,
consisting of three independent compositions,
personifying the “Allegory of Russia”, “Allegory
of Peace” and “Allegory of Victory”, only
enhances the impression of the endless space of
the hall (Roosevelt, 1994, 8-12). Against this
background, Elizabeth Petrovna, dressed in
brocade robe à la française, represents her newly
born grandson Pavel Petrovich to the courtiers as
the symbol of Russia’s bright future. The financial
possibilities of Hollywood made it possible to
create very believable costumes that made the
right impression in palace interiors. In the Young
Catherine, the Catherine Palace plays an
important role, being a reflection and even an
allegory of the empire, great and alluring.
Surprisingly, the most successful Russian TV
series about Catherine the Great, Catherine,
premiered in 2014, was not filmed at all in the
interiors of Tsarskoye Selo. This certainly
affected the visual quality of the material, the
series lacks credibility due to the apparent
inconsistency of the interiors with the time and
events described. In addition, the main poster of
the series depicts Catherine in the palace,
however, we see the extremely popular image of
the Diana Gallery in the Palace of Venaria Reale
in Turin. This type of Baroque has practically
nothing to do with the intricate and over-
decorated Elizabethan Baroque that reigned in the
architecture and arts and crafts of Russia when the
future Empress Catherine II arrived there. This
once again proves how important it is to use
original interiors to create a coherent and
believable image of a historical character in a
movie.
Conclusions
Historical movies are an important part of the
cinematography that can popularize history as a
science by awakening curiosity in certain
historical events and personalities. However, for
such an awakening it is important that the cinema
more or less accurately reflects historical facts and
be believable. Of course, the dramaturgy of
cinema requires certain concessions to historical
truth for a more expressive visual range. That is
why great palaces are relatively little associated
with their creators, reflecting only the essence of
the ruler. In cinema, Versailles is associated with
the story of Marie Antoinette, not Louis XIV, just
as the Catherine Palace is associated with the
story of Catherine II, not Elizabeth Petrovna.
From this point of view, the image of the
palaces of the monarchs perfectly complements
the portraits of the rulers, since the palace carries
a symbolic meaning. This is not only a symbol of
power, but also a reflection of the aesthetic tastes
of the monarch, which tells a lot about her or his
personality. The palace in the 18th century was the
center of the city's soft power, attracting a wide
variety of individuals. The palace is teeming with
courtiers, adventurers, conspirators and the lust
for power. At the same time, the baroque palace is
the concentration of the best craftsmen of
decorative and applied arts, artists, architects,
musicians who create this amazing space,
reflecting the greatness of the ruler. The palace is
to some extent a magnetic entity, attracting only
the best and most interesting to adorn itself.
Cinematography very clearly reflects these
processes of the soft power consolidation in the
palace. In order to create a better and more
believable visual range, outstanding interiors that
really witnessed the events described, created by
outstanding artists of their time, are needed to
reflect the greatness of human thought and human
power.

REFERENCES /BIBLIOGRAFIE

Papers in periodical journals:

Martin 1997 Martin, G. R., “The Role of Culture in Global Structural Transformation: Opera
and the Baroque Crisis in Seventeenth-Century Europeˮ. In: International Political
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Platova 2021 Platova, I., “Notes on the Reconstruction of the Painted Plafond of the Lyons Hall
of the Catherine Palace at the Tsarskoye Seloˮ. In: Art, T. E. R. R. A. A. R. T. I. S.,
& Journal, D. S. №1.
Snazina 2010 Snazina, V., “Catherine's Palace in Tsarskoye Selo in the perception of Theophile
Gauthierˮ. In: Bulletin of the Moscow State University of Culture and Arts, (5).

Books

Donald (eds) 1874 Donald, J. (eds), Chambers’s Etymological Dictionary of the English Language,
London and Edinburgh, W&R Chambers (1874).
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Johnson 1766 Johnson, S., A dictionary of the English language: in which the words are deduced
from their originals, explained in their different meanings and authorized by the
names of the writers in whose works they are found, London, Printed for A. Millar
(1766). https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofengl02johnuoft/
Telluccini 1928 Telluccini, A., Il Palazzo Madama di Torino, Torino, Pubblicato a cura del
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Nye 1990 Nye, J.S. Jr, Bound to Lead: The Changing Nature of American Power, New York,
Basic Books (1990).
Nye 2011 Nye, J. S. Jr, The Future of Power, New York, Public Affairs (2011).
Berry 2002 Berry, S., Screen Style in 1930s Hollywood. Minneapolis, University of Minnesota
Press (2002).
Bowen 2005 Bowen, J., Anticipation: The Real Life Story of Star Wars: Episode I-The Phantom
Menace. Bloomington, Author Solutions Inc. (2005).
Ayers 2003 Ayers, A., The Architecture of Paris: An Architectural Guide, Fellbach: Edition
Axel Menges (2003).
Lemus 1980 Lemus, V. Pushkin Palaces and parks, Leningrad, Lenizdat (1980).
De Bourmont- De Bourmont-Coucy, M., Louis XVII n'est pas la fausse énigme. Paris, Alphonse
Coucy 1953 Jolly (1953).
D’Anniballe 2010 D’Anniballe, M., Urban Space In Fascist Verona: Contested Grounds For Mass
Spectacle, Tourism, And The Architectural Past. Pittsburgh, University of
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Marini 2003 Marini, P., Medioevo ideale e Medioevo reale nella cultura urbana. Antonio Avena
e la Verona del primo Novecento. Verona, Cierre Edizioni (2003).
Morgan, Orlova Morgan, C., Orlova, I., Saving the Tsar's Palaces. St. Petersburg, Polperro Heritage
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 2005
Nye 2004 Nye, J. S. Jr, Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics. New York,
Public Affairs (2004).

Chapters in books

Roosevelt 1994 Roosevelt, P. “Eighteenth-century Estate Design and Theatrical Illusion”. In:
Norman, J.O. (eds) New Perspectives on Russian and Soviet Artistic Culture.
Palgrave Macmillan, London (1994), p. 7-16. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-
23190-4_2
Wortman 2013 Wortman, R. (2013). “Publicizing the Imperial Image in 1913”. In: Marker, G.
(eds) MarkerVisual Texts, Ceremonial Texts, Texts of Exploration: Collected
Articles on the Representation of Russian Monarchy. Academic Studies Press,
Boston (2013), p. 71-98.
Emperor Peter I Emperor Peter I (1705), “Decree of Emperor Peter I - On shaving beards and
1705 (1830) mustaches of all ranks to people, except for priests and deacons, on taking a fee
from those who do not want to fulfill this, and on issuing signs to those who paid
the fee. 16 (27) January 1705”. In: Complete collection of laws of the Russian
Empire, Volume IV. His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery, St. Petersburg
(1830), p. 282-283.

Unpublished thesis or reports

Van der Borg, Van der Borg, J., Russo, A. P., The Impacts of Culture on the Economic
Russo 2005 Development of Cities, Roterdam (draft by European Institute for Comparative
Urban Research, Erasmus University Rotterdam).
https://www.wien.gv.at/meu/fdb/pdf/intern-vergleichsstudie-ci-959-ma27.pdf
Los Angeles Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Hollywood and History. Costume Design in
County Museum of Film (exhibition catalogue) http://www.lacma.org/sites/default/files/reading_room/
Art 1987 New%20PDF%20from%20Images%20Output-3compressed4.pdf
UNESCO 1997 UNESCO, WHC Nomination Documentation: The 18th Century Royal Palace at
Caserta, with the Park, the Aqueduct of Vanvitelli, and the San Leucio Complex.
(1997). https://whc.unesco.org/uploads/nominations/549rev.pdf
Chao 2019 Chao, K., Montepulciano’s palazzo comunale, 1440 – c.1465: rethinking castellated
civic palaces in florentine architectural and political contexts (unpublished thesis,
University of York). https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/26310/
Versailles Official Versailles Official Website, LISTE DES FILMS TOURNES AU CHATEAU DE
Website 2021 VERSAILLES (official list of films shot in Versailles).
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f
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Reuters 1896 videochronics published in 2018) https://www.britishpathe.com/
video/VLVA7O34U9SDIP6LD9GCP 1138UM9C-1-MAY-1896/
IMDB 1913 IMDB, Pathé's Weekly, No. 46 (archival videochronics from 1913 parade,
published in 2017). https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4540350/