| The Fountain House | |
|---|---|
Фонтанный дом | |
 Front view, 2012 | |
 | |
| General information | |
| Architectural style | Baroque, eclectism |
| Completed | 1712 |
The Fountain House is a palace in Russia built by the Sheremetev family, named after the nearby Fontanka river. Since its erection in 1712 the building was reconstructed several times by famous architects G. Dmitryev, Savva Chevakinsky, Fyodor Argunov, and Ivan Starov. [1] [2] It is also known as the Sheremetev Palace.
The land was granted by Peter the Great to Boris Sheremetev in 1712 with an order to build a European-style palace. At the time the main city residence of the Sheremetevs was situated at the Spit of Vasilyevsky Island, so the land near the bank of Fontanka was used as a country estate. [1]
In 1719 Pyotr Borisovich inherited the estate. In late 1730s, when in the close vicinity Bartolomeo Rastrelli built gorgeous residences for the Empress Elizabeth, he invited an architect Dmitriev to build here a one-store stone palace. Twenty years later the building was reconstructed by Savva Chevakinsky and Fyodor Argunov and decorated to suit the nearby palaces, presumably on the basis of Rastrelli's schemes. [2] [3]
In 1788, the palace was refurbished by Ivan Starov. [4] Apart from the luxurious interiors, the palace contained an extraordinary collection of arts — paintings of Raphael, Antonio da Correggio, Paolo Veronese, Rembrandt, etc. [3]
After the October revolution, the palace was nationalized and used as a location for different organisations throughout the 20th century. From 1918 to 1931 there was a Museum of Noble Household, based on private collections of art, accumulated by the Sheremetevs in 200 years. Later the collection was moved to the Winter Palace and the Fountain house was remodeled into а research institute, all the historical interiors were destroyed. In 1990 the palace was given to the Museum of Theatre and Music, since late 1980s started the restoration. [5]
It is a branch of the State Museum of Music and Theater Art .Opened in 1990, nowadays the Museum offers its visitors a vast collection of more than 3000 musical instruments, one of the five biggest in the world and the best in Russia. [5]
In 2014 ‘Monte Generoso’ composition was donated to the museum by the Swiss jeweller Willi Inauen. [6]
The famous Russian poet Anna Akhmatova lived in the Fountain house twice, first in 1918–1920 with her second husband Vladimir Shileyko (in the South garden wing). Later, in 1944-1952 she stayed in the North wing with her spouse Nikolay Punin. The Akhmatova memorial museum works here since 1989. [7]
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 one of the few near Moscow still preserved. Today the estate is the home of the Russian State Museum of Ceramics, and the park is a favourite place of recreation for Muscovites.
Argunov - family of artists and architects, serfs of counts Sheremetev. They worked in Moscow and in Sheremetev's mansions, and also in St.Petersburg.
The Fontanka, a left branch of the river Neva, flows through the whole of Central Saint Petersburg, Russia – from the Summer Garden to Gutuyevsky Island. It is 6.7 kilometres (4.2 mi) long, with a width up to 70 metres (230 ft), and a depth up to 3.5 metres (11 ft). The Moyka River forms a right-bank branch of the Fontanka. Lined along the Fontanka Embankment stand the former private residences of Russian nobility.
Nevsky Prospect is a main street located in the federal city of St. Petersburg in Russia. Its name comes from the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, the monastery which stands at the eastern end of the street, and which commemorates the Russian hero Prince Saint Alexander Nevsky (1221–1263). Following his founding of Saint Petersburg in 1703, Tsar Peter I planned the course of the street as the beginning of the road to Novgorod and Moscow. The avenue runs from the Admiralty in the west to the Moscow Railway Station and, after veering slightly southwards at Vosstaniya Square, to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.
The Summer Garden is a historic public garden that occupies an eponymous island between the Neva, Fontanka, Moika, and the Swan Canal in downtown Saint Petersburg, Russia and shares its name with the adjacent Summer Palace of Peter the Great. Its inception dates back to the early 18th century when Russia took these lands from Sweden in the Great Northern War. Being a monument of landscape architecture featuring original and copied sculptures of classical mythology characters, a former royal palace and a monument to the fable author Ivan Krylov, the garden is now a branch of the Saint Petersburg-based national art treasury Russian Museum.
Vasily Ivanovich Bazhenov was a Russian neoclassical architect, graphic artist, architectural theorist and educator. Bazhenov and his associates Matvey Kazakov and Ivan Starov were the leading local architects of the Russian Enlightenment, a period dominated by foreign architects. According to Dmitry Shvidkovsky, in the 1770s Bazhenov became the first Russian architect to create a national architectural language since the 17th century tradition interrupted by Peter I of Russia.
The House of Shuvalov is the name of a Russian noble family, which was documented since the 16th century. The Shuvalov family rose to distinction during the reign of Empress Elizabeth and was elevated to the rank of count on 5 September 1746.
The Anichkov Palace, a former imperial palace in Saint Petersburg, stands at the intersection of Nevsky Avenue and the Fontanka River.
Ivan Petrovich Argunov was a Russian painter, one of the founders of the Russian school of portrait painting.
Pella Palace was a summer residence built during the reign of Catherine II of Russia for her grandson, future emperor Alexander. It was situated on the left bank of the Neva River, 30 km east of Saint Petersburg, where the town of Otradnoye now stands. If completed, it would have been Russia's largest imperial palace. Pella, partially built in 1785-1789, has been razed to the ground by Catherine's son, Paul I of Russia. Not only the buildings disappeared, but very few images of it survived the Battle of the Palaces: existing knowledge of Pella relies on a few facade elevations and watercolors by Giacomo Quarenghi and an elaborate drawing on Catherine's fan, also based on Quarenghi's drafts.
The appearance of Saint Petersburg includes long, straight boulevards, vast spaces, gardens and parks, decorative wrought-iron fences, monuments and decorative sculptures. The Neva River itself, together with its many canals and their granite embankments and bridges help to give the city its particular ambience.
Jean-Baptiste Michel Vallin de la Mothe was a French architect whose major career was spent in St. Petersburg, where he became court architect to Catherine II. His students were Ivan Starov and Vasily Bazhenov.
The Neva Enfilade of the Winter Palace, St Petersburg, is a series of three large halls arranged in an enfilade along the palace's massive facade facing the River Neva.
Pyotr Borisovich Sheremetev (1713–1788) was a Russian nobleman and courtier, the richest man in Russia aside from the tsar; he was the son of Boris Sheremetev.
The Vorontsov Palace is a Baroque palace compound which occupies a large parcel of land located between Sadovaya Street and the Fontanka River in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
The Anna Akhmatova Literary and Memorial Museum is a literary museum in St Petersburg, Russia, dedicated to the poet Anna Akhmatova (1889–1966). It opened in 1989 on the centennial of Akhmatova's birth.
Savva Ivanovich Chevakinsky was a Russian architect of the Baroque school. He worked in Saint Petersburg and Tsarskoye Selo.
Elizabethan Baroque is a term for the Russian Baroque architectural style, developed during the reign of Elizabeth of Russia between 1741 and 1762. It is also called style Rocaille or Rococo style. The Italian architect Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli is the key figure of this trend, which is still given the name 'Rastrellian Baroque'. The Russian architect Savva Chevakinsky is also a renowned figure representing this style.
The Fontanka Embankment is a street in Saint Petersburg that follows the course of the Fontanka from its origin as it diverges from the Neva River up to its confluence with the Great Neva. In 1762–1769 the general plan of city development was developed by the State Special Committee, headed by Aleksei Kvasov. Following this plan, in the 1780s the shores were embanked in granite by architect Giacomo Quarenghi. The Fontanka Embankment was used as a border of Saint Petersburg central part.