Abram or Avraam Melnikov (Авраам Иванович Мельников; 1784 - 1854) was a Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n Neoclassical

Neoclassical architecture

Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...

 architect associated with the late phase of the Empire style. His teachers at the Imperial Academy of Arts

Imperial Academy of Arts

The Russian Academy of Arts, informally known as the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, was founded in 1757 by Ivan Shuvalov under the name Academy of the Three Noblest Arts. Catherine the Great renamed it the Imperial Academy of Arts and commissioned a new building, completed 25 years later in 1789...

 included Andreyan Zakharov

Andreyan Zakharov

Andreyan Zakharov was a Russian architect and representative of the Empire style. His designs also alternated neoclassicism with eclecticism. He was born to a family that was employed by the Admiralty board, and his greatest work was his renovation and expansion of the Admiralty building...

. He graduated with a gold medal and went to further his studies in Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. Melnikov became de facto Dean of the Academy in 1831 but was not officially appointed until 1843.

Melnikov collaborated with sculptor Ivan Martos

Ivan Martos

Ivan Petrovich Martos was a Russian sculptor and art teacher of Ukrainian origin who helped awaken Russian interest in Neoclassical sculpture....

 on the pedestals for his statues of Minin and Pozharsky

Monument to Minin and Pozharsky

Monument to Minin and Pozharsky is a bronze statue on Red Square of Moscow, Russia in front of Saint Basil's Cathedral. The statue commemorates prince Dmitry Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin, who gathered the all-Russian volunteer army and expelled the forces of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from...

 in Red Square

Red Square

Red Square is a city square in Moscow, Russia. The square separates the Kremlin, the former royal citadel and currently the official residence of the President of Russia, from a historic merchant quarter known as Kitai-gorod...

 and Duc de Richelieu at the top of the Potemkin Stairs

Potemkin Stairs

The Potemkin Stairs , is a giant stairway in Odessa, Ukraine. The stairs are considered a formal entrance into the city from the direction of the sea and are the best known symbol of Odessa....

 in Odessa

Odessa

Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...

. Apart from the Imperial School of Jurisprudence

Imperial School of Jurisprudence

The Imperial School of Jurisprudence was, along with the Page Corps, the most prestigious school for noble boys in Saint Petersburg, the capital of the Russian Empire....

 and the Old Believer Church of St. Nicholas (later converted into the Arctic and Antarctic Museum

Arctic and Antarctic Museum

The Arctic and Antarctic Museum is a museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. It was established in November 1930 as part of the Soviet Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, but was not opened until six years later....

), Melnikov's major buildings are in New Russia and the Volga provinces.

The Saviour Cathedral in Rybinsk

Rybinsk

Rybinsk is the second largest city of Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, which lies at the confluence of the Volga and Sheksna Rivers. Population: It is served by Rybinsk Staroselye airport.-Early history:...

 is based on Melnikov's design that had won the architectural competition for St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg. It was also Melnikov who won the competition for the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

. Neither design was approved by Alexander I of Russia

Alexander I of Russia

Alexander I of Russia , served as Emperor of Russia from 23 March 1801 to 1 December 1825 and the first Russian King of Poland from 1815 to 1825. He was also the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland and Lithuania....

. His successor, Nicholas I

Nicholas I of Russia

Nicholas I , was the Emperor of Russia from 1825 until 1855, known as one of the most reactionary of the Russian monarchs. On the eve of his death, the Russian Empire reached its historical zenith spanning over 20 million square kilometers...

, also preferred the Russo-Byzantine designs of Konstantin Thon

Konstantin Thon

Konstantin Andreyevich Thon, also spelled Ton was an official architect of Imperial Russia during the reign of Nicholas I. His major works include the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, the Grand Kremlin Palace and the Kremlin Armoury in Moscow....

to the supposedly ponderous Late Neoclassical style espoused by Melnikov.