The most famous building of the architect Bazhenov became. Russian architect Vasily Ivanovich Bazhenov: the best works and interesting facts. Construction of a residence in Tsaritsyn

Vasily Ivanovich Bazhenov (March 1 (12), 1738 - August 2 (13), 1799) - artist, architect, teacher, founder of Russian pseudo-Gothic, the brightest representative of classicism, freemason, and also since 1784 a member of the Russian Academy, full state councilor, Vice President of the Academy of Arts.

early years

Vasily Ivanovich was born into the family of Ivan Fedorovich Bazhenov, a sexton of the Kremlin court church. The artistic abilities he discovered in early childhood drew the attention of the architect D.V. to little Bazhenov. Ukhtomsky, who in 1754 was the chief architect at Moscow University. It was on his recommendation that Vasily Ivanovich in 1754 was enrolled in the art class of the gymnasium of Moscow University.

As a result of his studies in 1756, Bazhenov was among the top nine graduates of the class and was transferred to the St. Petersburg gymnasium, and after the Academy of Arts was opened in 1758, he was enrolled in it.

Very quickly, the talent of the future famous architect was revealed to such an extent that the teacher S.I.Chevakinsky attracted Bazhenov to work on the construction of the St. Nicholas Naval Cathedral, and in September 1760, together with A.P. Losenko, Vasily Ivanovich was sent to Paris to improve his talents.

Completed projects

In France, under the guidance of Professor Charles Devaille, Bazhenov studied engraving, and also made copies of such famous structures as the Louvre Gallery and St. Peter's Cathedral from cork and wood.

Returning to Moscow, Bazhenov became one of the best practicing builders. His works were distinguished by their graceful forms and skillful layout. The so-called French taste clearly expressed it in a building called Pashkov's house.

Figure 2. Pashkov's house. copies of famous structures. Author24 - online exchange of student papers

Without waiting for the position of "professor of the complex of entertainment facilities" from Empress Catherine, Bazhenov left the academic service. Soon, Prince G. G. Orlov appointed Bazhenov to the Artillery Department and gave him the rank of captain. It was at that time that the Pashkov house was built in Moscow, and in its vicinity - the Tsaritsyno palace complex. In the same place, in the Tsaritsyno estate, Bazhenov is building an elegant bridge over the ravine.

Bazhenov is trying to organize his own academy and recruit students into it, but unfortunately, as Vasily Ivanovich himself said: "there are many obstacles to my intention."

A freemason, a member of the Latona lodge, as well as a member of the Deucalion lodge, was left without a livelihood, but still began to engage in private buildings.

In 1792, Vasily Ivanovich was again accepted into service in the Admiralty in St. Petersburg.

Remark 1

After Paul I ascended the throne, Bazhenov was appointed vice president of the Academy of Arts. In his post, Bazhenov, on behalf of the emperor, prepared a collection of drawings of Russian buildings for further research of the architecture of the Fatherland.

Unrealized projects

Vasily Ivanovich planned to implement a grandiose project on the site of the fortress walls of the Moscow Kremlin from the side of the Moskva River. The complex was called the Grand Kremlin Palace on Borovitsky Hill or "Forum great empire". It was supposed to be made in the form of a public center with a square to which all the streets of the Kremlin were to be pulled together. There was also a grand theater in the building. Perhaps the project would have been implemented if, during the dismantling of the Kremlin walls, cracks did not appear on the walls of the ancient temples. Construction was postponed, and then, in 1775, it was stopped for good.

The same fate befell the architectural ensemble in Tsaritsyno, which was a combination of the Gothic decor of Western Europe and the Naryshkin Baroque of the late 17th century. This combination was not tested by Bazhenov for the first time: he used it back in 1775, collaborating with M.F. Kazakov over the entertainment pavilions on the Khodynskoye field, on the occasion of the conclusion of peace with the Turks.

Most likely, Bazhenov has nothing to do with the attributed to him and the lost monument in St. Petersburg - the Old Arsenal on Liteynaya Street. The palace on Kamenny Island (Kamennoostrovsky Palace) and the Gatchina Palace are also unprovenly ranked among the works of Vasily Ivanovich. The documents confirmed the participation of Vasily Ivanovich in the design of the Mikhailovsky Castle. The project was edited several times by various architects, but the last version was built under the editorship of V. Brenn.

Remark 2

Vasily Ivanovich Bazhenov died and was buried in St. Petersburg, but in 1800 his remains were transferred to his homeland, to the village of Glazovo, in the Tula region.

The most famous creations of the architect

V.I.Bazhenov's projects:

• Mikhailovsky Castle - 1792, with further processing by V. Brenna;
• Khodynskoe field - 1775, decoration for the holiday in honor of peace in the Russian-Turkish war;
• Several buildings not demolished by Catherine II in the Tsaritsyno Ensemble - 1776-1786;
• Pashkov House - 1784-1786, controversial with the architect Legrand;
• Yushkov's house - 1780s - possibly Bazhenov's work;
• Kamennostrovsky Palace - presumably, construction was carried out under the leadership of Quarenghi and Felten;
• Arsenal building (St. Petersburg) - unlikely authorship of Bazhenov;
• House of L.I.Dolgov;
• Ermolov's estate - the village of Krasnoe -1780 - the possible authorship of Bazhenov;
• Estate of Tutolomin-Yaroshenko - 1788-1901 - together with Kazakov;
• Works in Pavlovsk and Gatchina palaces - 1793-1796 - are not confirmed;
• The Sorrowful Church on Bolshaya Ordynka - 1783-1791 - built by Bove;
• Rumyantsev's estate - 1782 - together with Kazakov;
• The estate of I.S. Gendrikov - 1775, together with Legrand;
• Church of the Vladimir Mother of God - 1789

The architect Vasily Ivanovich Bazhenov was born in 1737 on March 1 in the Kaluga province (according to other sources - in 1738 in the city of Moscow). He comes from the family of a psalmist, who was transferred to the Mother See after the birth of his son.

From childhood he loved to draw. His first works were drawings of temples and churches, tombstones and various buildings that he saw around the house.

The father of the future architect wanted his son to continue his work and assigned him to the Passion Monastery. But the talent and desire could not be appeased: Bazhenov, at the age of 15, managed to persuade a local painter, who was already at a very old age, to take him to study.

Bazhenov, although he studied painting within the walls of the monastery, was still a self-taught painter, who managed to master one of the most complex techniques of pictorial art - etching. Thanks to his talent, he became a painter of the 2nd class at the age of eighteen.

During work on the restoration of Golovin's palace, which was damaged by a fire, the architect noticed Vasily Bazhenov and invited him to the architectural school he created as a free listener. This status helped the young man, who did not have enough funds, to attend only the classes he needed, and the rest of the time to earn extra money. Ukhtomsky himself helped to receive additional earnings, having considered the talent of his student.

In 1755, Vasily Bazhenov entered Moscow University, where he became interested in foreign languages. Directly in art classes, the young man was engaged in painting, sculpture, and architecture.

Under the patronage of I.I. Shuvalov in 1757, the young man was assigned to the Academy of Arts of the city of St. Petersburg, where he was admitted to the course of the architect Savva Ivanovich Chevakinsky. There he fully showed his abilities, and was invited by the teacher assistant to build the Naval Cathedral.

For the successes achieved, in 1759, the Academy of Arts sent Bazhenov to Paris, placing him on full board. There, the young man studied European architecture and in 1760 entered the Paris Academy of Arts, where he studied with Professor Charles Devally, an adherent of the classicism style.

In 1762, Vasily Ivanovich went to Italy, where ancient monuments became the subject of his study.

During this period, the architect Bazhenov was accepted as a member of the Bologna and Florentine academies, and the Academy of St. Luke in the city of Rome presented him with an academician diploma and conferred the title of professor.

The return to Paris took place in 1764.

The architect returned to St. Petersburg in 1765 and received the title of academician in his alma mater. He was supposed to get a professorship, but the changed management at the academy refused him. Other obligations were not fulfilled, after which the architect Vasily Ivanovich Bazhenov resigns from the academic service.

The move to Moscow took place in 1767, where the master was supposed to start construction by the decree of Catherine II. In the period from 1767 to 1773, he created a grandiose project involving the reconstruction of the entire ensemble of the Moscow Kremlin. The project was generally approved, and a groundbreaking ceremony took place in 1773.

In the same year, Bazhenov executed in a tree a model of the Grand Kremlin Palace planned for construction. On 120 sleighs, she was sent to the then capital and exhibited for inspection in the Winter Palace. It is not clear what happened, but the empress did not approve the project of the building (today the model is kept in).

While working in Moscow, the architect also created an entertainment complex, which was erected on Khodynskoye Pole for celebrations marking the anniversary of the signing of the peace treaty between the Russian Empire and Turkey. Churches, palaces, medieval fortresses and castles, executed in different architectural styles (Russian, classical, and also Gothic), were built in the area.

Another commission from Catherine II was the construction of her residence in the Black Gryaz settlement near Moscow (now Tsaritsyno Park). The complex was built in a pseudo-Gothic style and included about 17 buildings, including the Grand Palace, the Bread House and the Opera House. Unfortunately, the place did not become the residence of the Russian queen. In addition, on her behalf, most of the existing buildings were simply razed to the ground.

All these twists and turns, both with the Kremlin Palace and with Black Mud (Tsaritsyno), affected the health of the talented architect and knocked him out of his rut \u200b\u200bfor a long time.

Vasily Ivanovich Bazhenov was born in February 1737 in the family of Ivan Bazhenov, who served in the village of Dolskoye, Maloyaroslavsky district, Kaluga province. When the boy was only three months old, his parents moved to Moscow.

“I dare to mention here that I was born already an artist. I learned to draw on sand, on paper, on walls, - Bazhenov himself told about himself. "By the way, in the winter I made chambers and statues out of snow, which I would like to see now." But the boy was sent to the chanters in the Passionate Monastery: by

oh tradition, he should have followed in his father's footsteps. But Bazhenov desperately wanted to draw: "I thought the saints from the church under the passages on the walls and made my composition, for which they stood me up and whipped me often."

And the boy did achieve his goal - in 1753 Vasily was accepted into the architectural team,

led by Ukhtomsky. Accepted, but not enrolled. He does not appear anywhere in the lists of Ukhtomsky's students. Vasily, apparently, was assigned there as a free listener. Dmitry Vasilievich highly appreciated Bazhenov's abilities, but knowing about his plight, preferred to release his

companion from compulsory classes and often provided him with the opportunity to earn extra money. At the request of state institutions and individuals, he sent Vasily as a gazelle (apprentice) to construction sites to draw up estimates, to inspect buildings in need of rebuilding or repair.

A year later in the fate of Vasya

liya took a new turn: he was admitted to Moscow University. And when “the Academy of Arts was founded in St. Petersburg, and the chief chamberlain Ivan Ivanovich Shuvalov, who was in charge of it, demanded from Moscow University several pupils capable of fine arts, then Bazhenov was named

started first among those and sent to St. Petersburg ", - says the first biographer of Bazhenov E. Bolkhovitinov.

Academic students were fully supported by the state. In addition to the arts, the students of the Academy were taught history, anatomy, mythology, mathematics, foreign languages... P

on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, lessons were held in the "drawing room". They were led by the sculptor Gillet, the painter Lélorain, the draftsman Moreau, the engraver Schmidt. They were experienced craftsmen. They helped found the Russian academic school of painting, educated a galaxy of talented artists. Bazhenov was lucky with the teacher

ateliers and architectural sciences. He studied under the guidance of talented architects S.I. Chevakinsky and A.F. Kokorinov.

“Then I was the first to start the Academy of Arts,” Bazhenov said proudly. In the Academy founded in the fall of 1757, he was the eldest of the pupils, who had already mastered a lot,

and for the younger ones he probably became not so much a comrade as the first teacher.

Three years later, Bazhenov goes abroad with the young painter Anton Losenko. The St. Petersburg Academy of Arts has assigned 350 rubles a year to its pensioners. 50-60 francs a month in Paris is not very good

you will take a walk. For the same reason, Bazhenov and Losenko were forced to rent a rather modest room in the outskirts of Paris, in a cheap quarter.

In France, Bazhenov first saw not only in engravings and drawings that new architecture, about which, of course, his academic mentors had already interpreted.

The brilliant architect Charles de Vailly teaches Bazhenov the rules of the new style. “My comrades, young Frenchmen, they stole my projects from me and copied them eagerly,” Bazhenov said later. Apparently, even then he stood out among fellow practitioners with his ingenuity and vivid imagination.

About one and a half

years passed quickly. During this time, the unsightly dwelling of the envoys of the St. Petersburg Academy changed somewhat, it was adorned with numerous drawings, miniature models made by Bazhenov, his sketches, drawings, projects.

The exams at the Paris Academy were more than successful.

Bazhenov, well prepared, dared to go first. He presented to the examiners a model of the Louvre Colonnade, made with great precision. He also presented drawings, drawings, etchings. And he also conquered Parisian celebrities with his erudition and exuberant imagination.

The rumor about the creative successes of Bazhenov and L

osenko, about their academic success reached St. Petersburg. An exam was also arranged there, only in absentia, based on the work sent by pensioners. The ratings were given the highest.

A notice was sent to Paris stating that "Losenko will be in Moscow, and Bazhenov will be in Rome for the winter." Bazhenov received a biennial

first foreign passport, packed his things, said goodbye to teachers and Losenko, and at the end of October 1762 set off on a trip to Italy to further get acquainted with European culture, study architectural styles and architectural monuments of different eras.

But a year and a half in Italy is not easy

they went to the nervous, impressionable Bazhenov. There was not enough money, sparingly and not on time sent from St. Petersburg, he was alone, he was deceived, he was even attacked by robbers ... Bazhenov hardly got to Paris and stayed here until the academy deigned to pay his debts and travel home.

wives returned to their homeland on May 2, 1765. He came to St. Petersburg right for the big celebration in honor of the new charter of the Academy of Arts. But Bazhenov's academy offended. They sewed him a ceremonial uniform, for which they later demanded money, was promoted to academician, but a long-promised professorship, which means

And the salary was not appointed. The bosses who had changed here did not need him. In addition, Bazhenov was given a test, from which other academics were spared, - they offered to create a small project to confirm the high rank ... He carried out it with brilliance and scope, far exceeding the given concealed

my program.

Later, Catherine instructed Bazhenov to develop a project for the Institute for Noble Maidens at the Smolny Monastery. The architect completed this assignment as soon as possible. The majestic and graceful composition amazed many with its architectural ingenuity, an organic combination of diverse traditions

tional forms of Russian architecture. But, unfortunately, the matter was limited to praises. The project remained unfulfilled. After lengthy delays, preference was given to the project of the architect Quarenghi.

The visit to Maly Dvor did not go unnoticed. Fascinated by Bazhenov's stories, Tsarevich Pavel zagorels

i want to build my palace on Stone Island. Bazhenov completed this order rather quickly. The palace was built in the classicism style. It was later rebuilt. But there is testimony from a French traveler who saw the building in its original version: “It is very beautiful, especially good

giving to its location (on the banks of the Neva). The lower floor is raised by several steps. Here we see, firstly, a large hallway, decorated with arabesques, then an oval-shaped hall, which seems a little narrow when it is long; the decorative part is very simple. To the right is the room from which

the door leads to a small theater, quite beautiful ... The facade to the garden is decorated with columns. At the end of the garden there is a small chapel built of bricks: the Gothic style, which they tried to emulate in its construction, has a beautiful effect. "

Finally, Grigory Orlov, commander of artillery and

fortification, invited Bazhenov to his service, asking the empress for the rank of artillery captain, unexpected for the architect. Together with his patron and the entire royal court, Bazhenov left Petersburg and at the beginning of 1767 returned to his native Moscow.

Bazhenov got married shortly after his arrival in Moscow.

His wife was Agrafena Lukinichna Krasukhina, the daughter of a Kashirian nobleman who died early. Meanwhile, Catherine II "got sick" with architecture. Orlov decided to take advantage of this. He made attempts to restore his lost positions at court, to squeeze the active Potemkin. Therefore, Orlov advised

Bazhenov to develop an unusual, daring project, so that then, through him, Orlova, propose to the empress to begin construction of a building that will arouse general interest.

Bazhenov did not promise anything, but did not refuse the offer. At that time, the Kremlin was in extreme desolation and decay, and most importantly, its

ancient architecture appeared to the enlightened people of the 18th century as disorderly and formless. Bazhenov dared to offer his own version of the palace. But only on a different scale: from a simple restructuring, he created a gigantic architectural venture, which boiled down to building the entire Kremlin with one continuous palace, inside

three of which were to be found all the Kremlin cathedrals with Ivan the Great. Bazhenov's idea shocked Orlov, but he doubted the reality of such grandiose plans.

By the summer of 1768, Bazhenov finished work on sketches and began the reconstruction project itself, to create a large model of the Kremlin

palace. Preparations for construction began. In July, a special expedition was already established to build the palace. It was headed by Lieutenant General Izmailov. After a thorough examination of the Kremlin buildings and detailed development of construction plans, the members of the expedition began to draw up an estimate.

According to preliminary calculations, twenty or, in extreme cases, thirty million rubles should have been required.

The expedition took place in the Kremlin itself, in a small Amusement Palace. Here was the architect's apartment, where he soon brought his young wife. And a wooden one-floor was hastily built nearby

an impressive building with a vast octahedral hall - the Model House. Later they made a huge wooden model of the future Kremlin. The model, according to Bazhenov, is “half of the practice”, that is, the finished building, which will allow checking the correctness of its composition and proportions.

The model impressed everyone, even l

people who were skeptical or distrustful of Bazhenov's project. Much amazed - both the manufacturing technique and the dimensions of the model. They were such that several people could walk in the courtyards. In its proportions, the model mathematically exactly matched the dimensions of the

the same palace.

The facade of the main building of the palace conceived by Bazhenov had a complex division. The two lower floors were united by a continuous horizontal roof and cornice and served as a kind of pedestal for the two upper ones. All floors were combined with decorative decoration and columns into one whole. Entable

the entrance, decorated with a sculpture, was supported by fourteen columns. On both sides of the central ledge, there are ten columns, followed by two-column ledges. The niches of the walls housed graceful vases. The entire facade of the central building was thus, as it were, the richest and most beautiful architectural decor

tions. The inner facade of the main building, overlooking the courtyard, had almost the same richly decorated design.

The circumference was impressive - a huge semi-caliper with a high four-stage plinth, numerous marble columns. Circumference was connected to the main building, there

there was also an entrance with three beautiful arches. The richly decorated entrance was framed by columns. At the other end, the circumference was connected to the theater. A special effect was produced by its main entrance, from which wide intersecting stairs ran down. The walls of the theater were decorated with Ionic columns.

the interior design was also less impressive, especially the central hall of the palace, which was impressive in its size. They started talking about the model and the unprecedented project with enthusiasm and envy in the European royal courts.

However, in the spring of 1771, work had to be stopped: an epidemic of plague struck Moscow. F

the harsh but ineffective measures of the authorities aroused the discontent of the townspeople. A riot broke out, the severe Moscow Archbishop Ambrose was killed, the crowd destroyed his chambers in the Kremlin, two steps from the Model House. Bazhenov was afraid for the fate of his precious model, built of dry wood. But a riot in two d

i was suppressed, the model survived, but the epidemic subsided only by winter.

The next summer, the holiday began a new stage of work - they dug a foundation pit for the palace foundation, which was laid a year later in an even more solemn atmosphere. But the years passed, and the construction did not rise above the foundation - there were not enough funds.

In the spring of 1775, the Empress ordered to fill up the foundation pit, which meant that work should be stopped. The offended Bazhenov refused to lead the filling of the pit: "I leave it to the one who will be elected for the good."

Meanwhile, he was building outside the city, on the Khodynskoye field, wooden pavilions to celebrate the victory over that

pkami. Whimsical buildings of non-classical, conventionally oriental architecture symbolize Taganrog, Kerch, Azov and other cities that were ceded to Russia after the victory.

Catherine liked the elegant unusual buildings. This is how she wanted to see her new estate - Tsaritsyn just bought near Moscow

about. On the slope of a hill descending to a large pond, Bazhenov placed, seemingly in a free order, many relatively small buildings made of red brick. He wanted to decorate them with colored tiles, in the manner of old Moscow buildings. But the empress rejected this idea, and then the red brick

ich was effectively shaded by inserts of carved white stone.

One could feel in the guise of Tsaritsyn some kind of artificial antiquity, a conventional, almost toy Middle Ages. In those days, all medieval architecture, not yet really distinguishing between epochs and countries, was called "Gothic". The classicists considered her "unprofitable

avilnaya ”, distorted by the ignorance of the former builders, but it still attracted Bazhenov. True, during the construction of Tsaritsyn, he did not adhere to any particular style: he freely combined the lancet windows of Western European Gothic with the patterned brickwork of Russian buildings of the 17th century, used in

white-stone carving of the state symbols - here are the monogram of Catherine, and the two-headed state eagle.

Bazhenov built Tsaritsyno for ten years. Every spring, he moved there with his family from a recently purchased town house to be constantly at work. Here, unlike the Kremlin, he

he did it himself: he managed finances, bought materials in advance, hired workers. Construction grew, and money came from St. Petersburg more and more slowly. Vasily Ivanovich now and then turned out to be guilty. Besides, they were tortured by debts, litigation. He was tired, at forty he felt like an old man. In the cheese of the Queen

the children were not ill, the youngest son died ...

In the summer of 1785, the empress finally arrived and visited the almost finished estate, familiar to her only from the drawings. The elegant houses seemed to her small and cramped - on paper everything looked more impressive. Tsaritsyno, she ordered to rebuild and transferred the construction to K

The palace in Tsaritsyn was not destroyed immediately. M.M. Izmailov was trying to find a way out of this situation in order to somehow help Bazhenov. He worried about his friend and Kazakov. Colleagues agreed: Bazhenov, without much permission, will make a new version of the palace and present his earlier

How Kazakov will do it. But nothing came of it, again the work was wasted. Catherine rejected Bazhenov's work, even without getting to know it properly. In February 1786, an order came “on dismantling the main building, which was built in the village of Tsaritsyn, to the ground and on production later

building) according to the newly confirmed plan by the architect Kazakov ”.

Kazakov, in his version of the palace, tried, if possible, to preserve the style of old Russian architecture chosen by Bazhenov. But he was also out of luck. The palace was designed to be three stories high, with an emphasis on the central part of the building.

However, during the construction, a lot had to be redone, as the appropriations were constantly being cut. The result is a big difference between the project and the completed building.

Vasily Ivanovich was practically removed from the Tsaritsyn building. He got a year's leave for sickness

and: eyesight worsened, heart and nerves were naughty. In December 1786, Bazhenov asked Count A.A. Bezborodko, the first secretary of the empress for accepting petitions, to extend the leave with the preservation of salary in order to finally improve his health. In case of refusal, Bazhenov agreed to resign, “but with a pension

it, like all loyal subjects of Her Imperial Majesty, use it, because, as your Excellency is well aware, I do not have as much content for me as for my big family, and moreover, to pay debts. " The petition was granted.

Even before his second, Tsaritsyn, disaster at the architect

new friends appeared who helped to overcome mental confusion and despair. They were Masons. Bazhenov had long been familiar with the heir to the throne, Pavel Petrovich, and when he came to St. Petersburg, he handed him Masonic books printed in Moscow. Suspicious Catherine II accused Freemasons of being x

otyat to "catch" the heir to his sect, to subjugate him. It was a crime against the state. The most affected was Nikolai Novikov, a journalist and publisher who once accepted Bazhenov into the Masonic order. The architect himself was not touched, but the tsarina no longer found work for him.

Of course, Vasily I

vanovich carried out not only tsarist orders, but, unfortunately, much less is known about them: the papers of the architect and most of his customers have not survived. It is reliably known that in the 1780s Bazhenov built a house for the rich man P.E. Pashkov. The palace flaunts on a high hill opposite the Moscow Kremlin - those

pen is the old building of the Russian State Library. Meanwhile, the architect had a difficult task: the site was uneven, steeply sloping downhill on one side, and sharply narrowing on the other. However, Bazhenov managed to turn his inconveniences into advantages: he put an elegant gate at the narrow end, with

through which a view of the house opens, the facade is widespread on the edge of the hill over the garden descending towards the city - a decision that not accidentally echoes the project of rebuilding the Kremlin.

Bazhenov created here, in the literal sense of the word, a fairy tale castle. A great connoisseur and connoisseur of Russian architecture I. Grabar

wrote: "It is difficult to find a more perfect ratio of all parts of a single structure than the one achieved here."

The opinion of Russians and foreigners was unanimous: "Pashkov's House" is a pearl of Russian architecture. Connoisseurs of architecture emphasized that for all the sophistication of compositional techniques,

the artist's imagination is notable for its courage, flight of imagination and, at the same time, for the thoughtfulness of the smallest details. This is equally true both for the composition as a whole and for the interior layout of the premises, and for the external design.

In 1792, Bazhenov had to move to Petersburg, to a modest d

position of an architect at the Admiralty. He was building now, mainly in Kronstadt - barracks, a rusk factory, forest sheds, and often according to the drawings that were used more than once - the state money should be protected most of all, and the artistic qualities of such buildings of Admiralty officials were not at all

interested. That is why they did not accept the last big project of the architect - the reconstruction after the fire of the galley harbor on Vasilievsky Island in St. Petersburg: it was "very vast and magnificent", which means it was expensive ...

In 1796, Catherine II died. Pavel Bazhenov's longtime patron became emperor

ohm. Vasily Ivanovich immediately received an important rank from him and a village with a thousand serfs. Vast creative possibilities opened up for him again ... At the beginning of 1799, the emperor made another gift to the architect: he appointed him vice-president of the Academy of Arts - to a position that was introduced with

specially for Bazhenov. So he returned victorious to his Academy, which rejected him more than thirty years ago.

And the strength returned. The sixty-year-old vice president was eager to renovate the decrepit Academy, educate young artists, and seek out talents. But he has time for that.

it turned out that it was gone. In the summer of 1799, Bazhenov suffered paralysis.

At the end of July, on one of the white nights, Vasily Ivanovich asked the children - Olenka, Nadezhda, Vera, Vladimir, Vsevolod and the eldest of his sons, Konstantin - to gather at his bedside to hold a farewell speech. August 2, the great arch

(February 1737 - 02.08.1799) Architecture style: Classicism. National historicism. Major architectural objects: the project of the palace building in the Yekateringof park; arsenal building on st. Liteiny, Petersburg (now the building of judicial institutions); the building of the arsenal and the senate across Znamenka, Moscow; Pashkov's house (Rumyantsev Museum Library); palace in Tsaritsyn; Petrovsky Palace; Moscow Kremlin reconstruction project; Palace on Kamenny Island, Petersburg. The first "pensioner" of the Academy of Arts. Vice President of the Academy of Arts.

« I dare to mention here that I was born already an artist. I learned to draw on sand, on paper, on walls ... By the way, in the winters I made chambers and statues out of snow, so that now I would like to see something».

The son of a sexton of one of the Kremlin's court churches. He discovered a natural talent for art as a child, sketching all kinds of buildings in the ancient capital.

The boy was sent to the chanters in the Passion Monastery. All the same, he desperately wanted to draw: “ I transferred all the saints from the church with my thoughts under the passages to the walls and made them my composition, for which I was caught and whipped often».

At the age of 15, he found himself a teacher, a seedy painter, who used to paint "instead of his right hand or left leg." Soon, both of them were participants in a huge and hasty state construction - the wooden royal palace in Lefortovo on the outskirts of Moscow at that time burned down, and Empress Elizabeth, who had moved to an uncomfortable small building, ordered the palace to be rebuilt immediately. And he grew up again like in a fairy tale - in a little over a month!

At the construction site, his abilities were noticed. Prince D. V. Ukhtomsky, the chief Moscow architect, began to entrust him with independent work. A year later, a new turn took place in the fate of Bazhenov: he was admitted to Moscow University. Soon University Trustee M.I.Shuvalov demanded to send to Petersburg those who were assigned to study "arts". Apparently, they had already pinned their hopes on Bazhenov: they settled in an elegant Shuvalov palace, introduced them to the Empress herself and sent them to the architect's workshop. S.I. Chevakinsky... Here he showed his ability for architecture to such an extent that the teacher of architecture S.I. Chevakinsky made a talented young man his assistant in the construction of the St. Nicholas Naval Cathedral. He is studying french, mathematics, diligently redraws orders from the book - classical antique columns with their overlaps, the alphabet of the then architecture. And in the summer he works on construction sites, which are led by his energetic mentor in St. Petersburg.

« Then I started the Academy of Arts first", - Bazhenov asserted with pride. In the Academy, founded in the fall of 1757, he was the eldest of the pupils, who had already mastered a lot, and for the younger he probably became not so much a friend as the first teacher. In September 1759 Bazhenov (together with the painter Anton Losenko) was sent to develop his talent in Paris, becoming the first retired of the Academy of Arts sent abroad.

In France, Bazhenov first saw not only in engravings and drawings that new architecture taught by academic mentors - Muscovite A.F.Kokorinov and the Parisian J. B. Wallen-Delamot: smart and at the same time strict buildings of simple rectilinear outlines with uniform, clear rows of slender columns. This style will later be called classicism. The turbulent feeling embodied in the dynamic and complex architecture of the Baroque was replaced by a clear mind and calm harmony, based on ancient traditions. The brilliant architect Charles de Vailly teaches Bazhenov the rules of the new style. " My comrades, young Frenchmen, they stole my projects from me and copied them with greed", - Bazhenov boasted later. Apparently, even then he stood out among fellow practitioners with his ingenuity and vivid imagination.

Having enrolled in the student's professor Duval, Bazhenov started making models of architectural parts from wood and cork and made several models of famous buildings. In Paris, he made, with strict proportionality of parts, a model of the Louvre Gallery, and in Rome - a model of the Cathedral of St. Peter.

Upon his return to Russia, while living in Moscow, Bazhenov compiled a complete translation of all 10 books of Vitruvius architecture, published in 1790-1797. in Petersburg, in the printing house of the Imperial Academy of Arts. Thoroughly familiar with his art theoretically, Bazhenov was one of the best practitioners-builders of his time, distinguished as much by the art of planning as by the elegance of the form of the designed buildings, which he showed when he returned to his homeland, to the triumph of the "inauguration" of the building of the Academy of Arts (29 June 1765). He owned the decoration of the main facade of the building from the Neva. Later, Catherine II instructed Bazhenov to develop project of the Institute for Noble Maidens at the Smolny Monastery... The architect completed this assignment as soon as possible. The majestic and graceful composition amazed many with its architectural ingenuity, an organic combination of diverse traditional forms of Russian architecture. But, unfortunately, the matter was limited to praises. The project remained unfulfilled. After lengthy delays, the preference was given to the project of the architect Quarenghi.

Building project of the current palace in Yekateringofsky park, with greenhouses, menagerie, carousels and other luxury ventures of that time, was composed by Bazhenov according to the academic program, for the degree of professor. The implementation was recognized by the advice of the Academy as quite worthy, but the author of the project was retained with the title of academician, which he received three years earlier, when he was abroad. In addition to damaging self-esteem, such injustice seriously affected the financial situation.

Bazhenov takes dismissal from academic service, and the prince G. G. Orlov appointed him to his artillery department as the chief architect, with the rank of captain. In this position, Bazhenov built in St. Petersburg arsenal building on Liteinaya st. (now the building of judicial institutions), and in Moscow, in the Kremlin, the building of the arsenal and the senate on Znamenka, pashkov's house (Library of the Rumyantsev Museum), and in the vicinity of the capital - palace in Tsaritsyn and Petrovsky Palace, built by Kazakov, - his assistant.

Count Orlov advised Bazhenov to develop an unusual, daring project, so that, through him, Orlov, he could propose to the empress to begin construction of a building that would arouse general interest. Bazhenov did not promise anything, but did not refuse the offer. While Kremlin was in extreme desolation and decay, and most importantly, its ancient architecture seemed to the enlightened people of the 18th century as disorderly and formless. Bazhenov dared to offer his own version of the palace. But only on a different scale: "... from a simple restructuring, he created a gigantic architectural venture, which boiled down to building the entire Kremlin into one continuous palace, inside which all the Kremlin cathedrals with Ivan the Great were supposed to be." Bazhenov's idea shocked Orlov, but he doubted the reality of such grandiose plans. By the summer of 1768, Bazhenov finished work on the sketches, began the reconstruction project itself, to create a large model of the Kremlin Palace. Preparations for construction began. In July, a special expedition was already established to build the palace. It was headed by Lieutenant General Izmailov. After a thorough examination of the Kremlin buildings and detailed development of construction plans, the members of the expedition began to draw up an estimate. According to preliminary calculations, twenty or, in extreme cases, thirty million rubles should have been required. The expedition took place in the Kremlin itself, in a small Amusement Palace. Here was the architect's apartment, where he soon brought his young wife. A wooden one-story building with a vast octahedral hall - the Model House - was hastily erected nearby. Then they made a huge wooden model of the future Kremlin ... The model, according to Bazhenov, is “half of the practice”, that is, the finished building, which will allow checking the correctness of its composition and proportions. The model impressed everyone, even people who were skeptical or distrustful of Bazhenov's project. Much amazed. And the manufacturing technique, and the dimensions of the model themselves. They were such that several people could walk in the courtyards. In its proportions, the model mathematically exactly matched the dimensions of the future palace. The facade of the main building of the palace conceived by Bazhenov had a complex division: the two lower floors are united by a continuous horizontal rustication and cornice. They separate the upper floors. The first two floors are a kind of pedestal for the upper two. They are united by decoration and columns into a single whole. The entablature is decorated with sculpture. It is supported by fourteen columns. There are ten columns on both sides of the central ledge. Behind them are two-column projections. There are graceful vases in the niches of the walls. The entire facade of the central building was a vivid image, as it were, the richest and most beautiful architectural decoration. The inner facade of the main building, overlooking the courtyard, had almost the same richly decorated design. The circumference was impressive - a huge semi-caliper with a high four-stage plinth, numerous marble columns. Circumference was connected to the main building. In this place there is an entrance with three beautiful arches. The richly decorated entrance was framed by columns. At the other end, the circumference was connected to the theater. A special effect was produced by its main entrance, from which wide intersecting stairs ran down. The walls of the theater are decorated with Ionic columns. The interior design is no less impressive, especially the central hall of the palace, which is impressive in its size. They started talking about the model and the unprecedented project with enthusiasm and envy in the European royal courts. However, in the spring of 1771, work had to be stopped: an epidemic of plague struck Moscow. The harsh but ineffective measures of the authorities caused discontent among the townspeople. A riot broke out, the Moscow Archbishop Ambrose was killed, the crowd destroyed his chambers in the Kremlin, two steps from the Model House. Bazhenov was afraid for the fate of his precious model, built of dry wood. But the riot in two days was suppressed, the model survived, and the epidemic subsided only by winter. The next summer, a new stage of work began - they dug a foundation pit for the palace foundation, which was laid a year later in an even more solemn atmosphere. But the years passed, and the construction did not rise above the foundation - there were not enough funds. In the spring of 1775, the Empress ordered to fill up the foundation pit, which meant that work should be stopped. The offended Bazhenov refused to lead the filling of the pit: "I leave it to the one who will be elected for the good." Meanwhile, he was building outside the city, on the Khodynskoye field, wooden pavilions to celebrate the victory over the Turks. Whimsical buildings of non-classical, conventionally oriental architecture symbolize Taganrog, Kerch, Azov and other cities that were ceded to Russia after the victory. Catherine liked the elegant unusual buildings. This is how she wanted to see her new estate - Tsaritsyno just bought near Moscow

By designing Tsaritsyno palace on the slope of a hill descending to a large pond, Bazhenov placed, seemingly, in a free order, many relatively small buildings of red brick. He wanted to decorate them with colored tiles, in the manner of old Moscow buildings. But the empress rejected this idea, and then the red brick was effectively shaded by inserts of carved white stone. One could feel in the guise of Tsaritsyn some kind of artificial antiquity, a conventional, almost toy-like Middle Ages. In those days, all medieval architecture, not yet really distinguishing between epochs and countries, was called "Gothic". The classicists considered it "wrong", distorted by the ignorance of the former builders, but it still attracted Bazhenov. True, during the construction of Tsaritsyn, he did not adhere to any specific style: he freely combined the lancet windows of Western European Gothic with the patterned brickwork of Russian buildings of the 17th century, used state symbols in white-stone carving - here both the monogram of Catherine and the two-headed state eagle. Bazhenov built Tsaritsyno for ten years. Every spring, he moved there with his family from a recently purchased town house to be constantly at work. Here, unlike the Kremlin, he did everything himself: he managed the finances, bought materials in advance, hired workers. Construction grew, and money came from St. Petersburg more and more slowly. Vasily Ivanovich now and then turned out to be guilty. Besides, they were tortured by debts and litigation. He was tired, at forty he felt like an old man. In the damp Tsaritsyno, children were sick, the youngest son died ... In the summer of 1785, the empress finally arrived and visited the almost finished estate, familiar to her only from the drawings. The elegant houses seemed to her small and cramped - on paper everything looked more impressive. She ordered to rebuild Tsaritsyno and handed over the construction to Kazakov. The palace in Tsaritsyn was not destroyed immediately. M.M. Izmailov tried to find a way out of this situation, to somehow help Bazhenov. He worried about his friend and Kazakov. Colleagues agreed: Bazhenov, without special permission, will make a new version of the palace and present his own earlier than he does Kazakov... But nothing came of it, again the work was wasted. Ekaterina rejected Bazhenov's work. In February 1786, an order was received "to dismantle the main building, which was built in the village of Tsaritsyn, to the ground, and to produce later (a new building) according to the plan again confirmed by the architect Kazakov." Kazakov, in his version of the palace, tried, if possible, to preserve the style of old Russian architecture chosen by Bazhenov. But he was also out of luck. The palace was designed on three floors, with an emphasis on the central part of the building. However, during the construction, a lot had to be redone, as the appropriations were constantly being cut. The result is a big difference between the project and the completed building.

Worthy of a separate mention Pashkov House in Moscow (1780s). The palace flaunts on a high hill opposite the Moscow Kremlin - now it is the old building of the library of the former Rumyantsev Museum. Meanwhile, the architect had a difficult task: the site was uneven, steeply sloping downhill on one side, and sharply narrowing on the other. However, Bazhenov managed to turn his inconveniences into advantages: he put an elegant gate at the narrow end through which a view of the house opens, while the facade widened on the edge of the hill over the garden descending towards the city - a decision that not accidentally echoes the Kremlin restructuring project. Bazhenov created here in the literal sense of the word a fairy-tale castle. The great connoisseur and connoisseur of Russian architecture I. Grabar wrote: “ It is difficult to find a more perfect ratio of all parts of a single structure, something that is achieved here". The opinion of Russians and foreigners was unanimous. “Pashkov House” is a pearl of Russian architecture. Connoisseurs of architecture emphasized that for all the sophistication of compositional techniques, the artist's plan is notable for its courage, flight of imagination and, at the same time, for the thoughtfulness of the smallest details. This is equally characteristic of the composition as a whole and the interior layout of the premises, as well as the external design.

Bazhenov received no other assignment, and, left without sufficient means of subsistence, opened an art institution and took up private buildings. The change in his career and the disfavor of Catherine the Great is explained by his relations with Novikov's circle, who instructed him to report to the heir to the Tsarevich about his choice as supreme master by the Moscow masons. In these relations with the Tsarevich, Catherine suspected political goals, and her anger at Bazhenov fell earlier than on others, but the matter did not go further than exclusion from service, and in 1792 he was recruited again into the service of the Admiralty College and transferred his activities to Petersburg. Bazhenov built a palace and a church for the heir on Kamenny Island and designed various special buildings for the fleet in Kronstadt.

Palace on Kamenny Island... Bazhenov completed this order rather quickly. The palace was built in the classicism style. It was later rebuilt. But there is testimony from a French traveler who saw the building in its original version: “It is very beautiful, especially due to its location (on the banks of the Neva). The lower floor is raised by several steps. Here we see, firstly, a large hallway, decorated with arabesques, then an oval-shaped hall, which seems a little narrow when it is long; the decorative part is very simple. To the right is a room from which a door leads to a small theater, quite beautiful ... The facade to the garden is decorated with columns. At the end of the garden there is a small chapel built of bricks: the Gothic style, which they tried to emulate during its construction, has a beautiful effect. "

Upon accession to the throne, Paul I appointed him vice-president of the Academy of Arts and instructed him to draw up a project for the Mikhailovsky Castle, prepare a collection of drawings of Russian buildings for the historical study of Russian architecture and, finally, provide an explanation on the question: what should be done to inform the proper course development of talents of Russian artists at the Academy of Arts. Bazhenov eagerly began to fulfill the gracious orders of the monarch, the patron saint of Russian art, and, no doubt, he could have done a lot if death had not stopped him.

Vasily Ivanovich Bazhenov (1737 or 1738-1799), architect.

Born March 12, 1737 or 1738 in the village of Dolskoe near Maloyaroslavets (Kaluga province); according to other sources, in Moscow.

And Bazhenov's youth passed among the ancient buildings of the Moscow Kremlin, where his father served as a deacon in one of the churches. He received the initial one in the "architectural team" of D. V. Ukhtomsky. This was followed by admission to the gymnasium at Moscow University.

In 1758 Bazhenov brilliantly passed the entrance exams to the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg. After completing his studies in 1760, as the best student, he was sent for academic funds to Italy.

Returning to Moscow in 1765, the architect received the title of academician for the project of the "entertainment house in Yekateringof", and two years later he began to create a grandiose project of the Kremlin Palace in Moscow (1767-1775). The complex included the imperial residence, the buildings of the Colleges, the Arsenal, the theater, the main square with an amphitheater for spectators, and the ancient cathedrals of the Kremlin were, as it were, framed by the newest buildings.

The project demanded huge costs, which the country could not afford - the Russian-Turkish war of 1767-1774 was going on. In addition, the dismantling of the Kremlin wall that had begun (which Bazhenov insisted on) provoked a sharp protest from the clergy. Very soon, Catherine II referred to constructive miscalculations and forbade further construction.

Disappointment did not prevent the talented architect from continuing to embody new creative ideas, among which a special place is occupied by the palace and park ensemble in Tsaritsyn near Moscow (1775-1785). Tsaritsyno buildings combined elements of Gothic and Old Russian architecture. The fate of the estate in Tsaritsyn was also sad. Despite the beauty and originality of the architectural solution, Catherine, who came to the inspection of her residence near Moscow, ordered to demolish a number of buildings of the ensemble, and commissioned the construction of the central palace to M.F. Kazakov, saying that Bazhenov's building resembles a prison rather than a palace.

After another failure, the architect plunged into work on the next project - the Pashkov house (1784-1786; now the old building of the Russian State Library). According to Bazhenov's drawings, Dolgov's house on 1st Meshchanskaya Street (1770), now Mira Avenue, the bell tower and the refectory of the Church of All Who Sorrow of Joy on Bolshaya Ordynka and Yushkov's house on Myasnitskaya Street (all 80s of the 18th century) were built. ... In addition, the architect developed a project for the Mikhailovsky (Engineer) Castle in St. Petersburg (1792-1796); it was built in 1797-1800. architects V.F.Brennaya and E.T.Sokolov.