The complex that stands out for expressiveness is the architectural monuments of St. Petersburg, which constitute an exceptional feature of the historical center of the city, despite the fact that it was the youngest capital of the world. St. Petersburg is distinguished by the well-thought-out regularity of the general development, the amazing proportionality of all urban ensembles and the harmony in style polyphony, taking into account the very discreet natural environment. That is why architectural monuments of St. Petersburg are valuable for world art.
Styles and Wizards
Buildings in the city have up to fifteen different architectural styles, the main ones are Baroque - Peter's and Elizabethan, classicism, empire, eclecticism, modernism and constructivism. Italian baroque - the heyday of the time of absolutism - from the 16th to the 18th century. Complex triumph, dynamics, splendor and bizarre triumph here. Architectural monuments of St. Petersburg represent this style is very diverse.
Before Peter the Great, architecture in Russia was called the “Russian pattern-reader” and was most often embodied with the Byzantine tradition in temple construction. Russian Baroque is a merger of these two styles. However, both Moscow and Peter's baroque differ not only from each other, but also to a greater extent - from Western European. If you compare the architectural monuments of St. Petersburg of the Petrine era with the center of any ancient Italian or French city, you can see for yourself.
Peter's Baroque
Tsar Peter the First willingly invited architects from the West, and as a result of German-Dutch-Italian-French joint work, a phenomenon of this Petersburg style arose. The Northern War was underway, residential buildings were almost never under construction, wholly wooden huts were whipped up.
But then already there were buildings that our contemporaries know: a shipyard, port, fortress - with simple, laconic, rational and restrained architecture, created under the significant influence of the Dutch and Germans.
There were no stucco, porticos and colonnades, but the facades often had pediments, volutes, pilasters, and roofs had spiers, which emphasized all the verticals and horizontals. Inside the building most often planned with enfilade. Already then flush toilets and running water were equipped in the buildings.
Examples
The temple and fortification architecture was simple, but elegant: the bell tower of the Peter and Paul Cathedral, the Church of St. Panteleimon, the Peter and Paul Fortress with its Peter Gate, the Summer Palace of Peter the Great, the Menshikov Palace, the Twelve Colleges, the Kikina Chambers, the Kunstkamera, the Alexander Nevsky Lavra Konstantin, the Italian Palace. Architects of the time: M.G. Zemtsov, D. Trezzini, A. Schlüter, J.-B. Leblon, G. Mattarnovi, J.M. Fontana
Elizaveta Petrovna
The daughter of Peter the Great was far from her father's building aspirations, but her whole era applied the ideas of Western European Baroque in its purest form, since the empire under her arm puffed up splendor, grandeur and greatness. The architectural monuments of St. Petersburg of the 18th century most vividly characterize the general style of the city. Large cathedrals, temples, mansions, palaces were erected - more decoratively picturesque and plastic, with wide front staircases inside, with double-light halls and enfilades.
The interiors of that time were fantastically bizarre, with an abundance of sculpting, carved jewelry, with patterned parquet and mirrors. The reinforced baroque color scheme was combined with order inserts. The construction of five-domed churches resumed, the traditions of carved gilded iconostases and Russian temple decorations according to the Byzantine canons returned. And now visitors can join the splendor of the style that is preserved by the architectural monuments of St. Petersburg.
Briefly about craftsmen and buildings
This era, of course, is crowned by B. Rastrelli, but F.S. Argunov, and S.I. Chevakinsky, and A.V. Kvasov, as well as P. Trezzini and A.F. Whist. Twenty years before 1760, Anichkov, Stroganov and Vorontsov palaces, the Smolny Cathedral, the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo, the Winter Palace and the Great Peterhof, the Naval Cathedral and much more were built in the Elizabethan Baroque style.
Catherine the Great
The next twenty years, the construction of St. Petersburg took place under the sign of enlightened absolutism and in the style of early classicism. The buildings turned out harmoniously ordered, with the gradual development of simplicity and greatness at the same time - as a visiting card of an immense country.
External manifestations - antique warrants, monumentality, restraint, all this contain in the classic buildings architectural monuments of St. Petersburg. Photos with a description will help distinguish early classicism from its other varieties.
Early Classicism Buildings
The current administrative building of the Russian State Pedagogical University on the Moika Embankment is the former palace of Count Razumovsky, which was built by A.F. Kokorinov and Zh.B. Wallen-Delamot, was one of the first early classicist buildings. Its architecture shows elements of Corinthian and Ionian orders, bas-reliefs, arcades, but the influence of Baroque is still noticeable. The main courtyard with monumental gates and a high fence emphasizes the solemnity of the building.
Architectural monuments of St. Petersburg, the list of which is extremely long, are represented by other creations of these talented masters. This is the Repin Institute on Universitetskaya Embankment, house 17, and earlier there was the Imperial Academy of Arts; building of St. Petersburg State University on Universitetskaya Embankment, building 9, previously - a building for playing ball Yusupov Palace. Wallen-Delamot erected the Hanging Garden and the Northern Pavilion of the Small Hermitage. Yuri Felten, a student of Rastrelli, built the School for the bourgeois girls, the Great Hermitage, the Armenian Church, the Lutheran churches on Vasilievsky Island and the church of St. Anne on Kirochnaya, house 8.
Strict classicism
Completely baroque-style buildings built after 1780 also belong to Catherine classicism. They strictly follow the classic orders from Vitruvius or Palladio - with rectangular symmetrical layouts, widespread use of arcades, colonnades, pediments, porticoes. The interiors were decorated with copies of ancient sculptures and many elements of ancient civilizations.
C. Cameron became the pioneer of this Petersburg style, at the same time V.I. Bazhenov, D. Kvarneghi, I.E. Starov, N.A. Lviv In their works - harmony and compositional completeness, laconicism and proportionality of forms. A vivid example is the Tauride Palace.
Pavlovsk classicism
This five-year period until 1801 presents a slightly romantic version of classicist architecture, which was clearly influenced by the Gothic style. This is primarily the Chesme Palace of the architect Yu.M. Felten - triangular in shape with Gothic elements in the form of turrets, lancet windows and serrated parapets.
The architectural monuments of St. Petersburg were replenished with the South European type of Engineering Castle, where pure classicism is the main and southern facades with part of the interiors. The castle looks belligerent, courageous, the heavy cornices of the northern facade resemble knight's helmets.
Alexander classicism
The predecessor of the Russian Empire was Alexander Classicism, which is often identified with the Empire. Alexander the First also often invited foreign architects, especially French.
Therefore, the buildings of this period are distinguished by the strictest Doric or Tuscan warrants and heavy columns. Sphinxes and other elements of the Egyptizing style appear. The severity of lines, majesty, monumentality of the image with simplicity and clarity of the silhouette are preserved.
Examples of the first round of empire
In this style, the architectural monuments of St. Petersburg are represented by the building of the Mining Institute on Vasilyevsky Island, made according to the drawings of A.N. Vorokhnin. The flutes on the Doric columns especially emphasize a style similar to ancient temples, in any case the statues of Antei, Proserpine and Heracles are present there.
An even more famous creation of this master is the Kazan Cathedral. Emperor Paul, who conceived it, wanted to repeat the Vatican Cathedral of St. Peter, and in some details the similarities are visible: in the general layout, in the powerful central dome, in the elongated basilica and in the absence of a bell tower. In any case, this is a real decoration of Nevsky Prospect.
High classicism (late)
Most of all, Tom de Tomon worked in this style: the Bolshoi Theater building (unfortunately, not completely preserved), the house of Countess Laval, the New Exchange and the arrow complex of Vasilyevsky Island (Rostral Columns, too). You can make sure that it is the widely spaced columns of the Exchange building that add space and harmonize the composition with the Neva expanse. Both the building itself and the Rostral columns are decorated with allegorical sculptures.
In the same period, the majestic building of the Admiralty ascended - the symbol of the city on the Neva - architect A.D. Zakharova. It was completed to the previous structure, from which only the central part with the famous spire of the architect I.K. Korobov. The facades turned out to be diverse, but very rhythmic due to the protruding porticoes and Tuscan columns (by the way, in the center of the column they remained ionic). Thus the ensemble was built from the Senate, St. Isaac's and Palace Squares and the Alexander Garden. At the same time, the architect Quarenghi built the Smolny Institute - also in the style of high classicism.
