Ostankino Palace
Encyclopedia
Ostankino Palace is a former summer residence and private opera
theater of Sheremetev family
, originally situated several kilometres to the north from Moscow
but now a part of the North-Eastern Administrative Okrug
of Moscow
. Extant historical Ostankino includes the main wooden palace, built in 1792-1798 around a theater hall, with adjacent Egyptian and Italian pavilions, a 17th century Trinity church, and fragments of the old Ostankino park with a replica of Milovzor folly
.
Ostankino Palace is third-largest wooden building in the world after Tōdai-ji
and Old Government Buildings.
granted these lands to the hold of Alexey Satin, relative of statesman Alexey Adashev. Satin, however, was executed by Ivan in 1560, and the lands passed to someone Horn, a German mercenary
, and in 1585 - to notable diak (statesman) Vasily Schelkalov. Under Schelkalov, the unpopulated lands of Ostashkovo developed into a relatively prosperous manor estate with ponds and cedar park. This manor was destroyed by plunder and fire in the Time of Troubles
.
End of hostilities and ascension of the House of Romanov brought the new owners - princes Tcherkassky. They replanted the parks and established a spacious hunting reserve, expanding east to Alekseyevskoye village. A 1677 marriage between Tcherkassky and Odoyevsky families brought in a valuable asset - architect Pavel Potekhin, a slave of Odoyevsky family, who designed and built extant Trinity church (1678–1683, 1691–1692).
In the first half of 18th century Ostankino was gradually converted from a permanent country manor to a temporary retreat with hunt, house theater and other entertainment of the period; empress Elizabeth of Russia herself paid a visit to Ostankino in 1742. Next year, through a marriage between princess Varvara, the sole heir of Tcherkassky fortunes, and Peter Sheremetev, son of field marshal Sheremetev, Ostankino passed to the Sheremetevs and remained their property until 1917.
Throughout the 18th century Sheremetevs lived primarily in Kuskovo
, and Ostankino retained its temporary entertainment atmosphere.
inherited Ostankino upon the death of his father. Well-educated and extremely wealthy, Nikolai Sheremetev was a patron of theater; his extravagant shows earned him nickname Croesus
Junior. In the three following years Sheremetev established house theaters in Kuskovo
, Kitai-gorod
and Markovo. In 1790 he held an architectural contest for a Palace of Arts in Moscow, but eventually preferred to build it in the country, far from city life. Building a new large theater in Kuskovo would have ruined an already completed ensemble, so in the same 1790 Sheremetev finally chose Ostankino.
Sheremetev initially hired someone Casier , a self-proclaimed architect employed by Golitsyn
family. This project did not materialize; by 1792, Sheremetev built only a two-story wooden theater hall, apparently discarding Casier's plans. Then, as Sheremetev recruited services of influential contemporary architects (most notably Francesco Camporesi
, see Attribution dispute section), work accelerated and the wooden palace was structurally in its present shape, including pavilion wings, by the end of 1793. Contemporary witnesses reported that Sheremetev was so confident in perfection of his palace that he set up an unprecedented veil of secrecy around construction site: the manor was closed to any visitors, covered with shrouds, architects worked in parallel unaware of each other's progress.
Interior works took another six years. In 1793 Sheremetev ordered redesign of theater so that the main hall and stage could be transformed at will to a single ballroom. In 1794 he redecorated already finished Italian pavilion and expanded the galleries between pavilions and the palace. Each round of decoration required stripping of earlier finishes. In the same 1794 Sheremetev realized that the palace fails to accommodate all the guests and ordered another round of expansion and remodelling. Giacomo Quarenghi
and Pyotr Argunov presented their ambitious expansion drafts, however, actual expansion carried out by (most likely) Ivan Starov
was quite modest and did not change palace exterior - at least, its southern facade. Subsequent expansion concentrated on the sprawling side wings, most notably the Italian rotunda
(1796) that would become a study of Alexander II
sixty years later.
Major work on the palace was completed by the end of 1798, while lesser decoration and landscaping projects continued until the end of Sheremetev's life. The palace remains the largest extant wooden structure in Moscow (brick
was used locally for fireproofing the ovens).
and Grigory Potyomkin
. The park sprawled over territories of present-day All-Russia Exhibition Centre
, Botanical Garden
, Ostankino Television buildings
and residential blocks around it.
Nikolai Sheremetev initially assigned landscaping to his serf architect, Mironov, but soon deemed Mironov's plan inappropriate. The job passed to Pyotr Argunov, with consultancy by Francis Reid, manager of Tsaritsyno
park project. Reid and his associate, Nikolai Kuverin, worked in Ostankino in 1791-1794. A permanent garden manager, Robert Manners, was hired in 1796 and stayed in Ostankino for thirty years. Reid's input apparently concentrated on the immediate vicinity of the palace; regular English garden
north from the palace was planted in 1797 by Manners.
, who ascended to the throne in November 1796, summoned Nikolai Sheremetev to Saint-Petersburg. As one of the highest statesmen of the reign, Sheremetev now lived mostly in Saint-Petersburg. The splendid theater operated publicly for just one season in spring 1797 - with one show for emperor Paul and one for Stanisław Poniatowski, former king of partitioned Poland
. In 1800 Sheremetev reduced the artistic company - barely sufficient for the private entertainment.
1802 death of Sheremetev's wife, former actress Praskovya Kovaleva-Zhemchugova, spelled the end of the theater. Nikolai Sheremetev disbanded his theater company and abstained from public entertainment till the end of his life (1809). There were accounts of a 1801 show for Alexander I
, however, modern studied deem these reports as incorrect - the show was planned but did not materialize.
. Ground floor rooms were converted to living quarters and redecorated, probably by Mikhail Bykovsky.
Ostankino park fell in neglect in 1830s. In the second part of 19th century parts of the park were sold to dacha
developers and leased to farmers, while the greenhouses concentrated on commercial flower growing.
At the end of 19th century Sheremetev park became a popular picnic destination; Sheremetevs built a temporary summer stage and ballroom. The palace, which went through another round of repairs and alterations in 1870s, was opened for public viewing.
In the Soviet period the nationalized palace operated as a museum of serf art. In 1935 the eastern part of former Ostankino park grounds were allotted to the emerging Agricultural Exhibition
and completely remodelled by 1939. In the same 1939 a part of regular English garden, immediately north from the palace, was replanted; Ostankino park proper shrunk to just one square kilometer as the lands further north became the State Botanical Garden.
Throughout the Soviet period the main theater hall was set up a single ballroom space. Partitions separating stage, orchestra pit and spectator areas were re-introduced during the controversial repairs of 2000s, so the theater can once again be used in its original function.
Of all architects involved in the project, Ivan Starov
's input is least controversial; Starov's trademark palladian windows without impost
columns were unique for the period, his work for Sheremetev in Saint-Petersburg and Moscow was thoroughly documented and studied. Modern studies also attribute specific palace interiors to Vincenzo Brenna
. Shape of southern façade is usually credited to Francesco Camporesi
.
Pyotr Argunov's role as a long-time construction manager is undisputed, but his actual creative input remains unresolved. Karl Blank
, who died in 1793, consulted Sheremetev in the beginning of the project; later stages of construction (1794–1798) were influenced by Giacomo Quarenghi
. Elizvoy Nazarov consulted Sheremetev throughout the project.
Igor Grabar
attributed design of the palace to Vasily Bazhenov; this viewpoint is discarded by modern studies as unsubstantiated.
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
theater of Sheremetev family
Nikolai Sheremetev
Nikolai Petrovich Sheremetev was a Russian count, the son of Petr Borisovich Sheremetev, notable grandee of the epoch of empresses Anna Ivanovna, Elizabeth Petrovna, and Catherine II. He was also the grandson of Boris Petrovich Sheremetev.His father P. B...
, originally situated several kilometres to the north from 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...
but now a part of the North-Eastern Administrative Okrug
North-Eastern Administrative Okrug
North-Eastern Administrative Okrug, or Severo-Vostochny Administrative Okrug is one of the ten administrative okrugs of Moscow, Russia. It was founded in 1991 and has an area of...
of 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...
. Extant historical Ostankino includes the main wooden palace, built in 1792-1798 around a theater hall, with adjacent Egyptian and Italian pavilions, a 17th century Trinity church, and fragments of the old Ostankino park with a replica of Milovzor folly
Folly
In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but either suggesting by its appearance some other purpose, or merely so extravagant that it transcends the normal range of garden ornaments or other class of building to which it belongs...
.
Ostankino Palace is third-largest wooden building in the world after Tōdai-ji
Todai-ji
, is a Buddhist temple complex located in the city of Nara, Japan. Its Great Buddha Hall , the largest wooden building in the world, houses the world's largest bronze statue of the Buddha Vairocana, known in Japanese simply as Daibutsu . The temple also serves as the Japanese headquarters of the ...
and Old Government Buildings.
16th century to 1787
First documental evidence of Ostankino - then known as Ostashkovo - emerged in the middle of 16th century, when tsar Ivan IV of RussiaIvan IV of Russia
Ivan IV Vasilyevich , known in English as Ivan the Terrible , was Grand Prince of Moscow from 1533 until his death. His long reign saw the conquest of the Khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan, and Siberia, transforming Russia into a multiethnic and multiconfessional state spanning almost one billion acres,...
granted these lands to the hold of Alexey Satin, relative of statesman Alexey Adashev. Satin, however, was executed by Ivan in 1560, and the lands passed to someone Horn, a German mercenary
Mercenary
A mercenary, is a person who takes part in an armed conflict based on the promise of material compensation rather than having a direct interest in, or a legal obligation to, the conflict itself. A non-conscript professional member of a regular army is not considered to be a mercenary although he...
, and in 1585 - to notable diak (statesman) Vasily Schelkalov. Under Schelkalov, the unpopulated lands of Ostashkovo developed into a relatively prosperous manor estate with ponds and cedar park. This manor was destroyed by plunder and fire in the Time of Troubles
Time of Troubles
The Time of Troubles was a period of Russian history comprising the years of interregnum between the death of the last Russian Tsar of the Rurik Dynasty, Feodor Ivanovich, in 1598, and the establishment of the Romanov Dynasty in 1613. In 1601-1603, Russia suffered a famine that killed one-third...
.
End of hostilities and ascension of the House of Romanov brought the new owners - princes Tcherkassky. They replanted the parks and established a spacious hunting reserve, expanding east to Alekseyevskoye village. A 1677 marriage between Tcherkassky and Odoyevsky families brought in a valuable asset - architect Pavel Potekhin, a slave of Odoyevsky family, who designed and built extant Trinity church (1678–1683, 1691–1692).
In the first half of 18th century Ostankino was gradually converted from a permanent country manor to a temporary retreat with hunt, house theater and other entertainment of the period; empress Elizabeth of Russia herself paid a visit to Ostankino in 1742. Next year, through a marriage between princess Varvara, the sole heir of Tcherkassky fortunes, and Peter Sheremetev, son of field marshal Sheremetev, Ostankino passed to the Sheremetevs and remained their property until 1917.
Throughout the 18th century Sheremetevs lived primarily in Kuskovo
Kuskovo
Kuskovo was the summer country house and estate of the Sheremetev family. Built in the mid-18th century, it was originally situated several miles to the east of Moscow but now is part of the East District of the city. It was one of the first great summer country estates of the Russian nobility,...
, and Ostankino retained its temporary entertainment atmosphere.
Construction of the palace
In 1787 Nikolai SheremetevNikolai Sheremetev
Nikolai Petrovich Sheremetev was a Russian count, the son of Petr Borisovich Sheremetev, notable grandee of the epoch of empresses Anna Ivanovna, Elizabeth Petrovna, and Catherine II. He was also the grandson of Boris Petrovich Sheremetev.His father P. B...
inherited Ostankino upon the death of his father. Well-educated and extremely wealthy, Nikolai Sheremetev was a patron of theater; his extravagant shows earned him nickname Croesus
Croesus
Croesus was the king of Lydia from 560 to 547 BC until his defeat by the Persians. The fall of Croesus made a profound impact on the Hellenes, providing a fixed point in their calendar. "By the fifth century at least," J.A.S...
Junior. In the three following years Sheremetev established house theaters in Kuskovo
Kuskovo
Kuskovo was the summer country house and estate of the Sheremetev family. Built in the mid-18th century, it was originally situated several miles to the east of Moscow but now is part of the East District of the city. It was one of the first great summer country estates of the Russian nobility,...
, Kitai-gorod
Kitai-gorod
Kitay-gorod , earlier also known as Great Posad , is a business district within Moscow, Russia, encircled by mostly-reconstructed medieval walls. It is separated from the Moscow Kremlin by Red Square. It does not constitute a district , as there are no resident voters, thus, municipal elections...
and Markovo. In 1790 he held an architectural contest for a Palace of Arts in Moscow, but eventually preferred to build it in the country, far from city life. Building a new large theater in Kuskovo would have ruined an already completed ensemble, so in the same 1790 Sheremetev finally chose Ostankino.
Sheremetev initially hired someone Casier , a self-proclaimed architect employed by Golitsyn
Galitzine
For Orthodox clergyman and theologian, see Alexander Golitzin.The Galitzines are one of the largest and noblest princely houses of Russia. Since the extinction of the Korecki family in the 17th century, the Golitsyns have claimed dynastic seniority in the House of Gediminas...
family. This project did not materialize; by 1792, Sheremetev built only a two-story wooden theater hall, apparently discarding Casier's plans. Then, as Sheremetev recruited services of influential contemporary architects (most notably Francesco Camporesi
Francesco Camporesi
Francesco Camporesi was an Italian architect, painter, engraver and educator who worked in Moscow in 1780s-1820s. Most of his architectural work perished in the Fire of 1812, was severely altered, demolished or otherwise lost....
, see Attribution dispute section), work accelerated and the wooden palace was structurally in its present shape, including pavilion wings, by the end of 1793. Contemporary witnesses reported that Sheremetev was so confident in perfection of his palace that he set up an unprecedented veil of secrecy around construction site: the manor was closed to any visitors, covered with shrouds, architects worked in parallel unaware of each other's progress.
Interior works took another six years. In 1793 Sheremetev ordered redesign of theater so that the main hall and stage could be transformed at will to a single ballroom. In 1794 he redecorated already finished Italian pavilion and expanded the galleries between pavilions and the palace. Each round of decoration required stripping of earlier finishes. In the same 1794 Sheremetev realized that the palace fails to accommodate all the guests and ordered another round of expansion and remodelling. Giacomo Quarenghi
Giacomo Quarenghi
Giacomo Quarenghi was the foremost and most prolific practitioner of Palladian architecture in Imperial Russia, particularly in Saint Petersburg.- Career in Italy :...
and Pyotr Argunov presented their ambitious expansion drafts, however, actual expansion carried out by (most likely) Ivan Starov
Ivan Starov
Ivan Yegorovich Starov was a Russian architect from St. Petersburg who devised the master plans for Yaroslavl, Voronezh, Pskov, Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv, and many other towns in Russia and Ukraine...
was quite modest and did not change palace exterior - at least, its southern facade. Subsequent expansion concentrated on the sprawling side wings, most notably the Italian rotunda
Rotunda (architecture)
A rotunda is any building with a circular ground plan, sometimes covered by a dome. It can also refer to a round room within a building . The Pantheon in Rome is a famous rotunda. A Band Rotunda is a circular bandstand, usually with a dome...
(1796) that would become a study of Alexander II
Alexander II of Russia
Alexander II , also known as Alexander the Liberator was the Emperor of the Russian Empire from 3 March 1855 until his assassination in 1881...
sixty years later.
Major work on the palace was completed by the end of 1798, while lesser decoration and landscaping projects continued until the end of Sheremetev's life. The palace remains the largest extant wooden structure in Moscow (brick
Brick
A brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using various kinds of mortar. It has been regarded as one of the longest lasting and strongest building materials used throughout history.-History:...
was used locally for fireproofing the ovens).
Park
In 1761 Sheremetevs hired a garden manager, Johann Manstadt, who supervised expansion of the park and its conversion to a commercial enterprise. Under Manstadt, Ostankino garden became an important supply of exotic plants for wealthy Moscow families; customers included Catherine IICatherine II of Russia
Catherine II, also known as Catherine the Great , Empress of Russia, was born in Stettin, Pomerania, Prussia on as Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg...
and Grigory Potyomkin
Grigori Alexandrovich Potemkin
Prince Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin-Tavricheski was a Russian military leader, statesman, nobleman and favorite of Catherine the Great. He died during negotiations over the Treaty of Jassy, which ended a war with the Ottoman Empire that he had overseen....
. The park sprawled over territories of present-day All-Russia Exhibition Centre
All-Russia Exhibition Centre
All-Russia Exhibition Centre is a permanent general-purpose trade show in Moscow, Russia....
, Botanical Garden
Moscow Botanical Garden of Academy of Sciences
Tsytsin Main Moscow Botanical Garden of Academy of Sciences, founded in April 1945, is the largest in Europe. It covers a territory of approximately 3.61 km², bordering the All-Russian Exhibition Center, and contains a live exhibition of more than twenty thousand different species of plants...
, Ostankino Television buildings
Ostankino Tower
Ostankino Tower is a free-standing television and radio tower in Moscow, Russia. Standing tall, Ostankino was designed by Nikolai Nikitin. It is a member of the World Federation of Great Towers, currently the tallest in Europe and 4th tallest in the world. The tower was the first free-standing...
and residential blocks around it.
Nikolai Sheremetev initially assigned landscaping to his serf architect, Mironov, but soon deemed Mironov's plan inappropriate. The job passed to Pyotr Argunov, with consultancy by Francis Reid, manager of Tsaritsyno
Tsaritsyno
Tsaritsyno is a Moscow Metro station in Tsaritsyno District, Southern Administrative Okrug, Moscow. It is on the Zamoskvoretskaya Line, between Kantemirovskaya and Orekhovo stations....
park project. Reid and his associate, Nikolai Kuverin, worked in Ostankino in 1791-1794. A permanent garden manager, Robert Manners, was hired in 1796 and stayed in Ostankino for thirty years. Reid's input apparently concentrated on the immediate vicinity of the palace; regular English garden
English garden
The English garden, also called English landscape park , is a style of Landscape garden which emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, replacing the more formal, symmetrical Garden à la française of the 17th century as the principal gardening style of Europe. The...
north from the palace was planted in 1797 by Manners.
Two seasons of the theater
The theater opened in summer of 1795, amazing the guests with unprecedented stage effects. Paul IPaul I of Russia
Paul I was the Emperor of Russia between 1796 and 1801. He also was the 72nd Prince and Grand Master of the Order of Malta .-Childhood:...
, who ascended to the throne in November 1796, summoned Nikolai Sheremetev to Saint-Petersburg. As one of the highest statesmen of the reign, Sheremetev now lived mostly in Saint-Petersburg. The splendid theater operated publicly for just one season in spring 1797 - with one show for emperor Paul and one for Stanisław Poniatowski, former king of partitioned Poland
Partitions of Poland
The Partitions of Poland or Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in the second half of the 18th century and ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland for 123 years...
. In 1800 Sheremetev reduced the artistic company - barely sufficient for the private entertainment.
1802 death of Sheremetev's wife, former actress Praskovya Kovaleva-Zhemchugova, spelled the end of the theater. Nikolai Sheremetev disbanded his theater company and abstained from public entertainment till the end of his life (1809). There were accounts of a 1801 show for Alexander I
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....
, however, modern studied deem these reports as incorrect - the show was planned but did not materialize.
19th to 21 centuries
Sheremetev's heirs barely maintained the palace; in 1830s they demolished the old living quarters dating back to 17th century, and some of the free-standing service buildings. The palace revived for a short time in 1856, when Alexander II chose Ostankino as his temporary residence during his coronationCoronation
A coronation is a ceremony marking the formal investiture of a monarch and/or their consort with regal power, usually involving the placement of a crown upon their head and the presentation of other items of regalia...
. Ground floor rooms were converted to living quarters and redecorated, probably by Mikhail Bykovsky.
Ostankino park fell in neglect in 1830s. In the second part of 19th century parts of the park were sold to dacha
Dacha
Dacha is a Russian word for seasonal or year-round second homes often located in the exurbs of Soviet and post-Soviet cities. Cottages or shacks serving as family's main or only home are not considered dachas, although many purpose-built dachas are recently being converted for year-round residence...
developers and leased to farmers, while the greenhouses concentrated on commercial flower growing.
At the end of 19th century Sheremetev park became a popular picnic destination; Sheremetevs built a temporary summer stage and ballroom. The palace, which went through another round of repairs and alterations in 1870s, was opened for public viewing.
In the Soviet period the nationalized palace operated as a museum of serf art. In 1935 the eastern part of former Ostankino park grounds were allotted to the emerging Agricultural Exhibition
All-Russia Exhibition Centre
All-Russia Exhibition Centre is a permanent general-purpose trade show in Moscow, Russia....
and completely remodelled by 1939. In the same 1939 a part of regular English garden, immediately north from the palace, was replanted; Ostankino park proper shrunk to just one square kilometer as the lands further north became the State Botanical Garden.
Throughout the Soviet period the main theater hall was set up a single ballroom space. Partitions separating stage, orchestra pit and spectator areas were re-introduced during the controversial repairs of 2000s, so the theater can once again be used in its original function.
Attribution dispute
Nikolai Sheremetev managed construction himself, hiring architects at will; in addition to original architectural work, he reused drafts of Saint-Petersburg architects. Contemporary academic studies agree on the fact that, while certain parts and details of the palace can be attributed to specific architects (with different degree of probability), the palace as a whole - even its basic layout - has no single author apart from Sheremetev himself.Of all architects involved in the project, Ivan Starov
Ivan Starov
Ivan Yegorovich Starov was a Russian architect from St. Petersburg who devised the master plans for Yaroslavl, Voronezh, Pskov, Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv, and many other towns in Russia and Ukraine...
's input is least controversial; Starov's trademark palladian windows without impost
Impost
Impost may mean:*A type of extra tax*A handicap used in horse racing*Impost : a block or capital on which an arch rests*A tax levied on imports....
columns were unique for the period, his work for Sheremetev in Saint-Petersburg and Moscow was thoroughly documented and studied. Modern studies also attribute specific palace interiors to Vincenzo Brenna
Vincenzo Brenna
Vincenzo Brenna was an Italian architect and painter who was the house architect of Paul I of Russia. Brenna was hired by Paul and his spouse Maria Fyodorovna as interior decorator in 1781 and by the end of 1780s became the couple's leading architect...
. Shape of southern façade is usually credited to Francesco Camporesi
Francesco Camporesi
Francesco Camporesi was an Italian architect, painter, engraver and educator who worked in Moscow in 1780s-1820s. Most of his architectural work perished in the Fire of 1812, was severely altered, demolished or otherwise lost....
.
Pyotr Argunov's role as a long-time construction manager is undisputed, but his actual creative input remains unresolved. Karl Blank
Karl Blank
Karl Blank was a Russian architect, notable as one of the last practitioners of Baroque architecture and the first Moscow architect to build early neoclassical buildings. His surviving, undisputed legacy consists of three baroque churches and Moscow Orphanage...
, who died in 1793, consulted Sheremetev in the beginning of the project; later stages of construction (1794–1798) were influenced by Giacomo Quarenghi
Giacomo Quarenghi
Giacomo Quarenghi was the foremost and most prolific practitioner of Palladian architecture in Imperial Russia, particularly in Saint Petersburg.- Career in Italy :...
. Elizvoy Nazarov consulted Sheremetev throughout the project.
Igor Grabar
Igor Grabar
Igor Emmanuilovich Grabar was a Russian post-impressionist painter, publisher, restorer and historian of art. Grabar, descendant of a wealthy Rusyn family, was trained as a painter by Ilya Repin in Saint Petersburg and by Anton Ažbe in Munich...
attributed design of the palace to Vasily Bazhenov; this viewpoint is discarded by modern studies as unsubstantiated.
See also
- KuskovoKuskovoKuskovo was the summer country house and estate of the Sheremetev family. Built in the mid-18th century, it was originally situated several miles to the east of Moscow but now is part of the East District of the city. It was one of the first great summer country estates of the Russian nobility,...
- Arkhangelskoye EstateArkhangelskoye EstateArkhangelskoye is a historical estate located around 20 kilometers to the west from Moscow. In 1703–1810 Arkhangelskoye belonged to Galitzine, and from 1810–1917, to the Yusupov family. In 1917 the Yusupovs' property was nationalized by the Bolsheviks...
- Tōdai-jiTodai-ji, is a Buddhist temple complex located in the city of Nara, Japan. Its Great Buddha Hall , the largest wooden building in the world, houses the world's largest bronze statue of the Buddha Vairocana, known in Japanese simply as Daibutsu . The temple also serves as the Japanese headquarters of the ...
, largest wooden building in the world - New Zealand Parliament BuildingsNew Zealand Parliament BuildingsThe New Zealand Parliament Buildings house the New Zealand Parliament and are on a 45,000 square metre site at the northern end of Lambton Quay, Wellington...
, Old Government Buildings (Wellington)Old Government Buildings (Wellington)The Government Buildings Historic Reserve, or more commonly referred to as the Old Government Buildings, is situated on Lambton Quay in Wellington...
- second-largest wooden building in the world