Among the Italian architects who worked in St. Petersburg, without whose works it is impossible to imagine our northern capital, we should first of all name five: Domenico Andrea Trezzini, Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli, Carlo di Giovanni Rossi and Giacomo Antonio Dominico Cravenghi.

The first of them, at the invitation of Peter I, arrived in Russia in 1703 Domenico Andrea Trezzini (1670 - 1734) , who laid the foundations of European architecture in our country.

Monument to Trezzini in front of his house in St. Petersburg:

Trezzini's architectural style was named "Peter's Baroque" ... His most famous works are Peter and Paul Cathedral , built by him in 1712 - 1733:

The building of the Twelve Collegia (1722 - 1742) ;
the overall project was drawn up by Domenico Trezzini, was completing the construction
German architect Theodor Schwertfeger):

Trezzini House built in 1721 - 1723 ... according to his project
his student architect M.G. Zemtsov on the University Embankment:

Summer Palace of Peter I built by Trezzini in 1710 - 1714 .
in the Summer Garden and matured in its original form until our time:

Most prominent representative "Elizabethan baroque" was Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli (1700 - 1771) ,

whose architectural creations are the real pride of St. Petersburg:

Great Peterhof Palace (1747 - 1756):

Smolny Cathedral (1748 - 1764):

The Great Catherine Palace in Tsarskoe Selo (1752 - 1756):

Winter Palace (1754 - 1762):

Creativity of another Italian architect Carlo di Giovanni (Karl Ivanovich) Rossi (1775 - 1849) submitted already classicism and Empire style .

The most famous works Carlo Rossi:

Mikhailovsky Palace (1819 - 1825),
which houses the main exposition of the Russian Museum:

General Staff Building on Palace Square (1819 - 1829):

The building of the Senate and Synod on Senate Square (1829 - 1834):

Alexandrinsky Theater (1827 - 1832):

Street Architect Rossi (former Teatralnaya), (1827 - 1832):

Almost every Russian emperor, in addition to a huge retinue and other close persons, had his own architect. Remembering the exquisite projects of the court favorites.

Peter I and Domenico Trezzini

Many talented architects came to the future Petersburg to build the new capital at the invitation of Peter I, but the most notable of them was the Swiss architect Domenico Trezzini. He could not find a job at home, so he first went to Denmark, and when he was promised a salary of a thousand rubles a year, he left for Russia. His first and most famous building in St. Petersburg was the Peter and Paul Fortress with a cathedral. Subsequently, he erected the Winter and Summer Palaces of Peter I, the building of the Twelve Collegia. Domenico Trezzini proved himself not only as a talented architect, but also as good teacher: he became the first teacher of architecture in Russia and raised the famous architect Mikhail Zemtsov.

Elizabeth I and Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli

Winter Palace. Architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli. Photo: Florstein

Rastrelli began his journey to the top of the architectural Olympus under Anna Ioannovna - he was a sought-after specialist with an annual salary of 1,200 rubles a year, an office apartment in the Winter Palace, and uninterrupted imperial orders. Under Elizabeth I, his life could have changed dramatically - came to power as a result palace coup new empress planned to get rid of all those close to Anna Ioannovna, including her architect. Rastrelli saved his talent: in Russia no one could build like that in the baroque style beloved by Elizabeth I. So she entrusted him with the construction of her Summer Palace. Subsequently, Rastrelli built the Grand Palace in Peterhof, the Winter Palace and the Smolny Monastery. After the death of Elizabeth Petrovna, Catherine II sent Rastrelli on vacation to Italy to improve his health, and when he returned, it turned out that other architects were already in demand in Russia.

Catherine II and Charles Cameron

Catherine II invited Charles Cameron to Russia after she got acquainted with his architectural work "Baths of the Romans", which was highly valued in Europe. Here Cameron received an apartment, a salary of 1,800 rubles and a contract to create an architectural ensemble in Tsarskoe Selo. He proved himself as a master of landscape architecture: he built the Cold Bath, Agate Rooms, Cameron Gallery, Hanging Garden. In the Alexander Park, he erected a Chinese village and bridges in the oriental style. Also, it was Charles Cameron who helped the architects Adam Menelas and William Geste to get a job in Russia. However, Paul I, ascending the throne, immediately decided to get rid of his mother's beloved architect - Cameron was fired, his house was taken away from him, but at the same time he was forbidden to leave Russia.

Paul I and Vincenzo Brenna

Saint Isaac's Cathedral. Architect Auguste Montferrand. Photo: Marina Luchkina

The Italian court architect for Paul I was Vincenzo Brenna. He met the future emperor during the journey of the heir to the throne across Europe. Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich offered him a job on decorating a palace in Pavlovsk - and Brenna ended up in Russia. He also participated in the work on the Gatchina Palace and St. Isaac's Cathedral by Antonio Rinaldi, completed the Mikhailovsky Castle, helped to build the interiors of the Kamennoostrovsky Palace. After the death of Paul I, Brenna first remained in Russia - he was provided with work by the emperor's widow Maria Feodorovna, but later he was forced to return to Europe.

Alexander I and Karl Rossi

Alexandrinsky Theater. Architect Karl Rossi. Photo: Alexxx1979

In the Alexander era, one of the most influential architects of St. Petersburg was the Italian Karl Rossi. His outstanding works were the ensemble of the Mikhailovsky Palace and the square in front of it, the Palace Square with the General Staff building, Senate square with the buildings of the Senate and Synod, as well as the Alexandrinsky Theater with a square in front of it and a street nearby (today it bears the name of the architect Rossi). In the 1820s, Rossi was the highest paid architect in St. Petersburg - he received 15,000 rubles a year. His authority was recognized not only in Russia, but also abroad: in particular, he was invited to teach at the Florentine Academy of Arts. With the death of Alexander I, Rossi's position at court was greatly shaken - he did not get along with the entourage of Nicholas I, in 1832 he resigned, and in 1849 he died practically in poverty.

Nicholas I and Andrei Shtakenshneider

Tsaritsyn pavilion. Architect Andrey Shtakenshneider. Photo: IzoeKriv

Andrei Shtakenschneider began his career as a simple draftsman in the Committee for Structures and Hydraulic Works. He worked under the leadership of Montferrand on the construction of St. Isaac's Cathedral, then received his first order - the reconstruction of Benckendorff's estate near Revel. After that, Stackenschneider was noticed by the emperor's entourage and presented at court. At first, he worked for the Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich on Kamenny Island, later, for Nicholas I, he built His Majesty's Own Dacha, the Farmer's Palace, Tsaritsyn and Holguin pavilions in Peterhof. For the royal family, the architect also erected the Novo-Mikhailovsky and Nikolaevsky palaces, rebuilt the halls of the Winter Palace and the Small Hermitage. Under Nicholas I, Stackenschneider was one of the highest paid and influential architects. His house on Millionnaya Street became peculiar cultural center cities where the intellectual elite gathered - Ivan Turgenev, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Ivan Aivazovsky and others.

Alexander II and Hippolyte Monighetti

Nicholas II and Silvio Danini

Kokorev's mansion. Architect Silvio Danini. Photo: Mossir

Silvio Danini was the last court architect of the imperial family. He became an architect close to Nicholas II after he rebuilt the Znamenskaya Church in Tsarskoe Selo, which attracted attention. Danini's main projects were the reconstruction of the right wing of the Alexander Palace for the chambers of Nicholas II, as well as work on the arrangement of the local park: he erected bridges and decorative garden monuments. However, the architect worked not only at the request of the imperial family: in the same Tsarskoye Selo, Danini built Kokorev's Art Nouveau mansion, a school for nannies, the House of Charity for crippled warriors and other buildings. Danini outlived his patron much - despite his closeness to the royal family, repressions in Soviet time he was not exposed and died in 1942 in

In Muscovy, chambers, temples and monasteries were erected by wandering artels of builders: craftsmen "with comrades." For example, Yakov Grigorievich Bukhvostov erected white-stone churches in Moscow and Ryazan in one season, and in addition, in the Joseph-Volokolamsk Monastery, he managed to raise the walls with tent-roofed towers.

Then, under Peter, the activity of local artels dried up. As if Russian architects disappeared, so skillfully placing the verticals of churches in spatial immensity. As if the skills of their “comrades”, capable of revealing the soul of both wood and stone, were only enough to carry out the “black work”. It becomes eerie from this imperceptible to an indifferent look as if. It tells how, having lost the public demand-order, even highly developed cultures disappear. Disappear! Let's not rush to conclusions, just starting to consider the history of St. Petersburg, which began to call foreign architects. Where and what?

V late XVII centuries the cities of Italy finally lost their former power: the time of their earthly glory has expired. Italian artists were faced with the need to look for orders at other courts in Europe. The beginning of the 18th century for France also did not promise the creation of new Versailles: a long "golden age" Louis XIV was in decline, the country was exhausted by wars, burdened with debts.

Peter I understood that "many artisans will seek fortune in other states." And the Russian tsar ordered his messengers to find architects in European capitals that they could build a city for him no worse than that of “foreign kings”.

On April 1, 1703, Andrei Izmailov, Russian ambassador to the court of the Danish king Frederick IV, signed an agreement on service in Russia with ten Italians in Copenhagen. The agreement turned out to be successful: Domenico Trezzini was listed among the signers of the agreement, which, starting from the Kronshlot hut tower, would embody the brightest feelings of the first Petersburgers in stone.

Trezzini was born in 1670 in the so-called Italian Switzerland. Belonged to an old noble family. Educated at the local art and craft school. I came to St. Petersburg to work, not knowing exactly what orders. Fate commanded, and he became a “master of fortification and civil construction”, at the end of his life he rose to the rank of “colonel-architect” - not a “general”. The first architect of St. Petersburg, died in 1734, giving the Northern capital 30 years of his life. Much should be told about this wonderful man, but everything is in its own turn.

The researchers found out, together with Trezzini, another Italian architect, Mario Giovanni Fontana, who came from the same Tessino canton, came to St. Petersburg in 1703. Representatives of the Fontana family have long been involved in architecture and sculpture. The most famous among them is Carlo Fontana, who worked in Rome, a student of Bernini himself, the greatest sculptor of the Italian Baroque era. Mario Giovanni was educated at the local art and craft school-workshop. The first years, together with Trezzini, worked in Denmark. Then both left for Russia. First - to Arkhangelsk. Then - to Moscow, where until 1710 Fontana was at the disposal of the Armory, renewing the buildings burned down on the territory of the Kremlin. Simultaneously and immediately he began to fulfill Menshikov's orders. Completing the construction of the church of the Archangel Gabriel, “on the Chisty Pond”, begun by Ivan Zarudny. The people called the church "Menshikov Tower" and there was a reason: it betrayed the intentions of the Most Serene Highness to establish the glory of his name in Moscow by erecting a temple that would surpass the height of "Ivan the Great" himself. Fontana rebuilt the Franz Lefort palace donated to Menshikov by Peter, which was erected in the tradition of the Moscow baroque "stone works by the artist" Dmitry Aksamitov. He also had his own Moscow works: ceremonial palaces for General Admiral Apraksin and Prince Gagarin. All other buildings - for Menshikov, but already in St. Petersburg, Oranienbaum, Kronstadt. It is not known what happened to the "princely architect" after the fall of the Most Serene One.

During the "wooden" and "hut" periods in the history of St. Petersburg Trezzini was the first and only architect of the new capital. Foreign architects began to arrive in Russia only after 1709, marked by the victory at Poltava, which, according to Peter, laid "a stone in the foundation of St. Petersburg ... with the help of God."

In 1713, in Hamburg, a contract was signed for the construction of palaces for Prince Menshikov with another "master of ward and plaster business" - Schedel Johann Gottfried. Schedel was born in 1680. Professional education received among German architects and builders who worked in the style of the Schlüter school - the largest master of the so-called Northern Baroque. He was engaged in the construction of palaces for the Most Serene One from 1713 to 1726. After Menshikov's disgrace, he was on the staff of the Chancellery from buildings for two years. Then, by

1. Plan of fortifications about. Kotlin,
   approved by Peter I in 1721
   regular city with harbors and
   the docks behind the fortress walls;
   three coastal citadels:
   fdva sea fort.

Architects: Trezzini, Leblon,
Brownstein, Michetti ...

2. Mazankovaya tower "Kronshlot"
Architect Trezzini. 1704 g.

1731, together with Rastrelli-ssh, he erected the Annenhof Palace in Moscow. The rest of his life he worked in Kiev, where the bell tower of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra became his most significant creation. Shedel died in 1752, giving Russia 39 years of his life.

In the same year, 1713, Theodor Schwertfeger arrived in St. Petersburg. They say that he “was actually a goldsmith, he drew well and made models” ... One of them - the Holy Trinity Cathedral made in nature, came into disrepair after a while, because architecture differs from jewelry not only in size.

The search for specialists was helped by two major changes of reigns that took place at that time in Europe. In 1713, the Prussian king Frederick I died. In 1715 - “King of the Sun” of France, Louis XIV. Each time Peter succeeded, to the advantage of the "Great Enterprise" he had started, to take advantage of the inevitable changes in aesthetic preferences at the courts. First, the Russian Tsar got Schlüter himself. Three years later, Rastrelli was at his disposal - the most famous sculptor, who was also engaged in architectural practice.

Andreas Schlüter (1664 or 1665 - 1714) was born in Danzig (?). He studied architecture there, then worked in Warsaw for a long time. The glory of the largest European architect and the sculptor came to him at the court of the Prussian king Frederick I. One of Schluter's first works was an equestrian monument to the great elector. Later he erects the building of the Zeichhaus (arsenal) in Berlin, rebuilds the royal castle in Charlottenburg and the Great Royal Palace in Berlin. The living quarters and state rooms of this palace were considered, until their destruction in 1945, the most magnificent interiors of the Northern Baroque. It was for the palace that Schlüter made the drawings and drawings of the panels for the wall cladding of the Amber Office. The idea was partially implemented, but intrigues between the court of the king and the queen (each court has its own chief architect) prevented the completion of the work. Helped to resolve the conflict "diplomatic case" - the search for architects for Peter I where not everything is calm ...

Upon learning of the death of Frederick I, Jacob Bruce arrived in Berlin and in May 1713 signed a contract with Schlüter, who was invited to the post of “general architect” of St. Petersburg. The Tsar, as a sign of the highest courtesy, provided the European celebrity with several rooms for work and living on the ground floor of his Summer Palace. Undoubtedly, Schlüter told Peter about his hopes and failures with the "Cabinet" and a thirst in the heart of the Russian tsar, having got the author, to acquire an amber miracle.

On July 4, 1714, Andreas Schlüter died. Some researchers say - from the plague. Others say - the age was old (is it 49 years old?). The main thing is different - Schlüter died without securing the glory of his name on the Neva banks. Why, after all, from May 1713 to July 1714, much could have been done? Let's postpone the answer to a very serious question for later, but we will not have a reason to return to the history of the "Amber Cabinet" in the future ...

In 1716, on his second trip abroad, Peter met the new king of Prussia, Frederick William I, who was notable for his parsimony well-known in Europe. According to etiquette, such tall persons, when they met, had to give each other memorable gifts. The Prussian king found how to get out of the predicament. He presented the "Amber Cabinet", which requires large expenditures for finishing work, and a pleasure yacht "Liburnika" with luxurious interiors requiring high maintenance costs. Peter, did not remain in debt: he sent the king on his return "a cup of his own handmade" and "fifty-five people of great grenadiers." I also didn't spend too much: Russia has always been rich in people.

The amber panels were mounted in the “lower hall” of the two-storey “Human chambers” that stood opposite the Summer Palace in the Summer Garden. "Humanity" that secularity. The chambers were not intended for servants, as is commonly believed, but for the spiritual development of transformed Russians. So Shluterov "Cabinet" took a worthy place in the history of the palaces of Russian emperors, turning in 1945 into a loss, which does not allow Russians to forget about themselves.

Why seek if architecture is a "mute witness of the past"? It is necessary to find, "speaking", architecture reveals amazing secrets... However, we continue to recount the foreign architects who worked in Petrovsky grad ...

Johann Braunstein arrived in St. Petersburg with Schlüter, his teacher. He began his own practice in 1714, after the death of Schlüter. Many orders of Tsar Peter - on the account of Braunstein, only ... Witnesses captured not the best properties of the architect's nature, forcing historians to attribute him to foreigners who came to Russia for easy money. It is known that Braunstein considered it a burden to have students from the Russians, and therefore, instead of teaching them anything, he used them as a domestic servant. It is known that Braunstein faced considerable difficulties with everything that he built in Peterhof. Fortunately, other architects have always stood next to him ...

In 1714, Georg Johann Mattarnovi appeared in the northern capital. Everything seemed to coincide: both talent and efficiency. A sad case intervened. Mattarnovi died in 1719 in another smallpox epidemic that methodically claimed the lives of many people in Petrov's "Paradise".

Other names in the authorship of individual buildings also flicker: Nikolaus Gerbel, Gaetano Chiaveri. The latter did not particularly recommend himself: he worked as stipulated under the contract and left. More recently, researchers have discovered that, judging by further practice, Gaetano Chiaveri was a genius. So, not everyone liked St. Petersburg. And he was not merciful to everyone.

In 1716, after the death of Louis XIV, two very different people with very different fates - Rastrelli and Leblon ...

The first to appear was Bartolomeo-Carlo Rastrelli. He was born in 1675 in Florence into a family proud of their belonging to an ancient aristocratic family. Got versatile art education... In 1700, twenty-five-year-old Rastrelli and his wife moved to Paris, where in the same year they had a son, Francesco-Bartolomeo. In France, recognition came to Rastrelli the elder, but with the death of Louis XTV he faced the need to look for a new place to apply creativity... In March 1716, he signed an agreement to work in Russia and arrived in St. Petersburg to live there for 28 years.

During the St. Petersburg period of his life, Rastrelli Sr. created works that speak of his amazing versatility: the first sculptural portrait in Russia (Peter the Great, Menshikov and his own); the first equestrian monument (monument to Peter the Great); the first sculptural group ("Samson tearing apart the mouth of a lion", for the Grand Cascade in Peterhof and "Anna Ioannovna with a little arapcheon"); the first allegorical bas-reliefs on a historical theme (decorations for the Grand Cascade and ships built at the Admiralty Shipyard ...). In addition to sculptural work, Rastrelli carried out many orders for the decor of palace interiors. Even for the solution of the most difficult task - the planning of Strelna Park, Rastrelli was taken ...

And one more thing: he raised Rastrelli the elder among the great works of his son, Rastrelli Jr., who gave the Northern capital a splendor, which captures the glory of Russia transformed by Peter.

3. Tower-lighthouse in Kronstadt. The author of the project is Nicolo Michetti. 1721-1722 Facade, section.

In June 1716, a few months after Rastrelli, Jean-Battiste Alexander arrived in St. Petersburg, invited by the tsar himself to the post of the second, after Schluter, "general-architect" of St. Petersburg. We will not repeat the story of Leblond's tragedy. A meeting with his time-saved works is ahead.

The appearance of the third "general-architect" of St. Petersburg, Nikolo Michetti, is interesting. This event is connected with the construction of a "water city" on the Strelna manor. Leblond, as one would expect, retained little of what Rastrelli had proposed. Essentially, he developed his own plan. Both projects were sent abroad for "the highest testing" to Peter I. Having considered the message, the Tsar decided: "to do everything according to Leblonov's project," however ... Seeing the palace and park ensembles of the French kings, Pyotr Alekseevich began to regret the hastily given approval, because "there should be a lot of transportation."

Yuri Kologrivov entered the business, observing the behavior of "Peter's pensioners" abroad, and at the same time acquiring statues and paintings for the tsar. He showed the Leblon project with rivers and lakes in the vicinity of Strelna marked on it to Italian specialists, including the Pope's architect Nicolo Michetti. Preserved detailed story about this episode ...

Kologrivov, in a letter from Rome sent in March 1718, that is, even during Leblond's lifetime, informs Peter: “I showed him (Michetti), which Leblon drew ... and he said that I would not conceive from one drawing to build and do it after arriving three or four and I don’t regret the papers, although I’m scrubbing a lot so that the best one can create a cascade or a fountain ... and hearing from me about the satisfaction of the water, he says that it’s pretty good to make something out of such water. in the world ... and he says that first you must see that mountain, where the chambers will be and the cascades belonging to it. "

And so it was: Michetti, having signed the treaty, arrived in St. Petersburg in June 1718 and for five years, before leaving for his homeland in 1723, diligently ruled everything that his predecessors did both in Strelna and in Peterhof. Did you do it badly? It is not at all necessary: ​​all architects everywhere and always rule the result before them, because ...

The Becoming of the Beautiful is a creative process
with an endless striving for the Ideal in Time.

The main works of Michetti are the project of the palace in Strelna and the multi-tiered tower-lighthouse for the fortress city "Kronstadt" (see fig. 3). In 1722, the construction of a vertical at sea began, which was supposed to compete with the Pharos lighthouse - one of the seven wonders of the world. Then the construction was suspended. Later, what they started was dismantled. You noticed?..

In St. Petersburg, at the time of his childhood,
when the most important thing in any life is laid,
All three of his "general-architects" -
And Schluter, and Leblon, and Michetti,
all of them were not employed at work in the city:
by the will of the king, who does not accept their decisions;
not without the participation of fate, unexpectedly ending their lives.

If so, a question that needs to be answered inevitably arises - why Petersburg, despite the circumstances that did not give great hopes, still managed to become a Wonderful City? I hear an answer that takes us out of the cramped world of everyday realities ...

Three forces participated in the birth of the Beautiful City:
Time, Space and only then Person.

Time required continuous change
beckoning with the opportunity to achieve Perfection.
What to do: Stop for Time is death.

Space gave birth to the haze of the Neva
visible images of Perfection, often unattainable.
What to do: The real is not ideal.

Only he became a creative person
who heard the calls: both Time and Space.

Tsar Peter undoubtedly heard the calls of Time,
believing that the new is certainly the best.
Why the best? Because the new ...

Tsar Peter undoubtedly heard the calls of Space,
making the Dream of an ideal City come true ...

Forcing Whom? Judging by the above list, outstanding architects did not take part in the birth of St. Petersburg. The story tells ...

The king made his dream come true
Domenico Trezzini, the only architect
that he stayed in the service all these years
at the Russian time, at the Petersburg space,
Peter I, who actually carried out only that
what will be required - will be allowed by the great Universal forces ...

Don't believe me? And you will compare with each other two plans of St. Petersburg (see fig. 5.6). The first of them is the ideal plan of Peter-Trezzini, drawn up by the Tsar and his architect in 1716-1717, full of hope for "Venice-Amsterdam", which will suddenly take so easily and appear here, on the banks of the Neva. The second is an almost real plan for St. Petersburg in 1725, summing up the immediate Peter's deeds. Look closely, everything that was fixed in the future of the Beautiful City was forced to do by the Neva - the Great River of Time ...

Maps, facts show:
St. Petersburg, in its artistic foundations,
undoubtedly a fantastic city ...

4. Master plan St. Petersburg 1716-1717 Authors: Peter I, D. Trezzini.
5. Plan of St. Petersburg. "A drawing about the actual position before 1725."

Petersburg. History and modernity. Selected Essays Margolis Alexander Davidovich

Peter the Great - the first architect of Petreburg

Traditionally, it is considered to be the first architect of St. Petersburg from the Tessinist Domenico Trezzini, who in Russia, who became his second homeland, began to be called Andrei Yakimovich. Far from trying to play down huge contribution of this fortifier and architect in the construction of St. Petersburg in the first third of the 18th century, we recall that the ship on board which Trezzini arrived in Russia dropped anchor in the Arkhangelsk port on July 27, 1703, that is, more than two months after the foundation of the St. Petersburg fortress. Trezzini first appeared on the banks of the Neva in February of the following year, 1704, when the construction of a tree-earthen fort on Hare Island was already fully completed. Trezzini's first work in Russia - the construction of Fort Kronslot - was carried out according to a model delivered from Voronezh.

It is tempting to transfer the palm to the French engineer-general Lambert de Guerin, who executed the initial drawing of the Peter and Paul Fortress, for which he was awarded the order St. Andrew the First-Called. However, let's not rush.

Academician M. P. Pogodin, characterizing the grandeur and comprehensiveness of the reforms of Peter the Great, wrote: “Place in the system of European states, administration, division, legal proceedings, the rights of the estates, Table of ranks, army, navy, taxes, revisions, recruitment sets, factories, factories, canals, roads, post offices, agriculture, forestry, cattle breeding, mining, horticulture, winemaking, domestic and foreign trade, clothing, exterior, pharmacies, hospitals, medicines, chronology, language, printing, printing houses, military schools, academies - the essence of the monuments his tireless work and his genius. " To this impressive list of Peter's deeds and innovations should be added St. Petersburg - the new capital of the transformed Russia.

N. M. Karamzin called the transfer of the capital from Moscow to St. Petersburg "a brilliant mistake of Peter the Great." However, after that he admitted: "A great man by the very mistakes proves his greatness: it is difficult or impossible to erase them." Historian S. M. Soloviev objected to his great predecessor: "Since ancient times, we have been transferring capitals from one place to another, from Novgorod to Kiev, from Kiev to Vladimir, from Vladimir to Moscow." The next relocation of the capital "at the beginning of a new Russian history, history predominantly European", Soloviev considered necessary and inevitable. The role of the capital, in his opinion, was given to Petersburg "by the course of history in the same way as Vladimir was raised at the expense of Kiev and Moscow was raised at the expense of Vladimir". And further: “As for the choice of a place for St. Petersburg<…>the choice for which Peter is reproached, then one has only to look at the then map of Eastern Europe in order to understand this choice: the new city was founded where the western sea enters deepest into the great eastern plain and comes closest to the Russian land, to the then Russian possessions. "

In my opinion, the truly first architect of St. Petersburg was its sovereign founder - Peter the Great. Its role does not fit into the traditional scenario of relationships between customers and architects. Peter's choice of the location of the new capital at the mouth of the Neva is a purely personal act. It was his spatial ideas that were embodied by Trezzini, Leblon, Schlüter, Michetti and other pioneers of St. Petersburg. Peter I constantly corrected the projects and designs of his engineers and architects - even the most venerable ones - since he was not only a highly qualified customer, but also a true "general-architect". At the same time, he often accompanied his instructions with graphic explanations in the form of sketches of the layout of a building or a breakdown of a park, drawings of the facade or parquet.

Peter was the author of the town-planning units that formed the basis for the development of the city. He was directly involved in the planning of individual parts of the city, determined the areas of residential development and the location of the most significant structures. The construction of the city was carried out practically under his dictation - on the basis of his personal decrees of the Office of City Affairs.

Traditionally, it was believed that St. Petersburg, in contrast to the ancient Russian cities, was originally built according to a single concept and a single general plan. but real story the development of the city on the Neva is much more difficult. Modern research has proven that the “primary Petersburg” was formed mostly spontaneously, but from the first months of the city's construction, individual complexes and buildings were carried out according to specially developed projects. And almost all of these projects went back to the drawings and instructions of Peter himself: Peter-Pavel's Fortress, Kronverk, Admiralty, Kronshlot, Summer Gardens, Peterhof, Strelna ...

There are a great many examples of design by Peter I in a variety of forms - from drawings to Decrees and the highest resolutions. The tsar personally outlined the layout of the territory in the Pochtovaya Dvor area, the laying of the future Millionnaya and Galernaya streets, development along the Fontanka, on the Vyborg side, etc., etc. The Peter's decrees clearly formulated how to make ceilings, roofs, stoves and pipes how to arrange embankments, what shape should be the slopes to the water, etc.

Peter's participation in the first urban planning design works... Since 1712, when St. Petersburg became the capital of Russia, Peter I made repeated attempts to streamline the spontaneous development of the city. He tried several times to create his own ideal city: Let us recall the project of the capital on Kotlin Island, in the Liteiny Dvor area, on the Vyborg side and, finally, on Vasilievsky Island.

The first unified general plan, compositionally uniting all the territories on which the buildings of early Petersburg were formed spontaneously in many respects, is the unrealized project of Jean-Baptiste Alexander Leblond of 1716-1717. As shown in the works of N.V. Kalyazina, M.V. Iogansen, Yu.M. Ovsyannikov and other researchers, the actual author of the actual city plan was Peter I.

It is worth citing a few examples of the style of work of the august "general-architect". Here is the famous resolution of Peter the Great, superimposed on the project of the facade of the "exemplary" house for building the embankments of Vasilievsky Island, which was developed by Leblond: "... according to Leblon's drawings in all flat buildings, and especially in St. Petersburg houses, the windows are very large, and the spacing between them is small, why tell him for him to make less windows in the living quarters, but in the salah as he wants, we don't have a French climate anyway. " There is a plan of the Summer Gardens with an interesting inscription: "The drawing of the St. Petersburg sovereign to the Summer Garden ... was drawn by the tsarist majesty himself."

It is symptomatic that the collection of Peter the Great's library contains many books and albums on architecture and construction. The historian of St. Petersburg MN Mikishatyev testifies that most of these publications were clearly in work - in their margins there are notes, inscriptions, translations of foreign texts into Russian. Some of the sheets are frayed. The lower corners of even very valuable tomes literally "keep the traces of Peter's hands."

Wonderful testimony value orientations Peter is his letter to Ivan Korobov, who studied architecture in Antwerp: “You write to let you go to France and Italy to practice the architecture of civilizations. I myself was in France, where there is no decoration in architecture and they do not like it; but they only build smoothly and simply and very thickly, and everything is made of stone, not brick. I've heard enough about Italy; in addition, we have three Russians who studied there and know deliberately. But in both of these places, the buildings of the local situation have opposite places, and the Dutch ones are more similar. For this, you need to live in Holland, and not in Brabandy and learn the manir of Dutch architecture, but especially the foundations that are needed here; for the same situation is for baseness and water, also for the subtleties of the walls. Besides, vegetable gardens [orchards] are prepared, how to measure and decorate them, both with fishing line and with all sorts of figures; which is nowhere in the world so good as in Holland, and I do not demand anything more than this. Likewise, you must study the sly business, which is absolutely necessary here. For this sake put everything aside, learn this. Peter. On the 7th day of November 1724 ... ".

Let us recall one of Nartov's anecdotes. Moreover, the reliability of Peter's dictum itself is not so important as what contemporaries remembered from it: "If God prolongs life and health, St. Petersburg will be another Amsterdam." Dealing with the construction of the new capital, Peter was guided by his personal taste, which in many respects corresponded to the nature of St. Petersburg nature. There was a lot of water here, and Peter's passion for shipbuilding and navigation is well known. The severity of the climate, the poverty of the soil reminded him of those cities and countries that, even during his first trip to Europe in 1697, made the strongest and most favorable impression on him. He was captivated by Holland with its seaports, river deltas, numerous canals, shipyards, international trade, wealth without luxury, hard work of the population, religious tolerance, simple and clear way of life. It was Holland for him that was the ideal of a prosperous and well-ordered state, and the prototype of the capital - "paradise" - Amsterdam.

However, to some extent, the sources of the formation of St. Petersburg were London, Copenhagen, Riga, and the cities of northern Germany. There is also no denying the strong influence of the great artistic heritage of Italy and France - from antiquity to the Baroque.

The specific conditions for the construction of a city from an almost empty place created completely unusual opportunities for creating grandiose spatial compositions. Indeed, how could early XVIII century in any of the old European capitals to create such extended buildings as the Admiralty or the building of the Twelve Collegia? Or leave in the very center of the city such vast undeveloped spaces as Tsaritsyn Meadow (Field of Mars) and the esplanade around the Admiralty Fortress, which determined the scale of the future central squares?

Did Peter's dream of a new Amsterdam come true on the banks of the Neva? Only partly ...

The concept of "Petrovsky Petersburg" applies to the entire first third of the 18th century, since Peter's ideas remained dominant even after his death, until 1737 - the time of the establishment of the Commission on the St. Petersburg building. Since then, the process of more or less abrupt departure from the idea of ​​the founder of the Northern Capital begins.

What is characteristic of the Peter's period in the development of the city planning structure?

1. The decisive importance of water spaces in the formation of the initial buildings of St. Petersburg. Laying in addition to natural waterways a network of artificial canals.

2. The predominance of the traditional principles of settlement - settlements, which spontaneously took shape on a professional or ethnic basis. At the same time - the emergence and growth of planned regular construction with a very strict regulation.

3. Orientation towards the insular position of the center of the capital, priority development of Vasilievsky Island to the detriment of the left-bank, mainland part.

In the future, there is a gradual loss of the dominant importance of water spaces in the development of the city plan, the transfer of the center of the capital to the left bank of the Neva and its predominant growth in the southern direction - inland, towards Moscow. This "anti-Petrine" tendency reached its climax already in soviet period and was enshrined in the General Plan for the Development of Leningrad in the 1930s. Only at the end of the 20th century, the sea façade of the city began to take shape in the western part of Vasilievsky Island.

However, the irreversibility of Peter's undertakings, Peter's "revolution from above" was revealed at the turn of the 1720s - 1730s, when the capital was returned to Moscow for some time, and it seemed that the prophecy of Queen Avdotya - "Petersburg will be empty" it has already become the "iron bridle" that has raised Russia on its hind legs. But no - the city of Peter was revived and continued its development along the channel laid by the founding king, like an innovator city, like a window to Europe, a window into external world, a window to the future.

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