One of the amazing architectural creations of the Northern capital is considered the building of the Senate and the Synod. There are many wonderful buildings in St. Petersburg, however, it was this last major project of the famous architect Rossi that became a symbol of late classicism.
Overview
Actually, this is not about one, but about two buildings, which today are united by one name - the building of the Senate and the Synod. In St. Petersburg, these two state administrative bodies of the Russian Empire used to be in the building of the Twelve Colleges. However, after the construction of the Admiralty in 1823, the previous building no longer corresponded to the new look that Senate Square received. The urgent need for its reconstruction is ripe. And therefore, in 1824, a competition was announced for a project according to which it was supposed to build a new building of the Senate and the Synod.
In St. Petersburg on August 24, 1829, the first stone was laid in construction. Initially, they began to build a structure intended for the Senate, and a year later they began to construct the Synod. The construction was completed in 1834. The architect of the Senate and Synod building is Karl Ivanovich Rossi. Construction work on his project was led by Alexander Staubert.
Prehistory
Initially, in the place of the current Senate and Synod, there was a half-timbered house owned by A. Menshikov, and next to it was a mansion owned by the merchant merchant Kusovnikov. When the Most Serene Prince was in disgrace, his property on the Neva Embankment passed into the possession of Vice Chancellor A.I. Osterman. After some time, in 1744, the building was granted by Elizaveta Petrovna to A. Bestuzhev-Rumin. The chancellor reconstructed it, instructing architect A. Whist to build a baroque house.
In 1763, when Catherine II ascended the throne, the building passed to the treasury. The Senate moved to this building almost immediately. From 1780 to 1790 the Bestuzhev-Ryumin baroque building was again reconstructed: the facades received a new architectural treatment typical of Russian classicism.
The name of the last author of the project, by which the building was rebuilt, is not known for certain. However, judging by the drawings of the western facade preserved in the collection of the Museum of the Academy of Arts , the development was carried out by architect I. Starov.
History of creation
When in 1823 the architect Zakharov finished the monumental building of the Admiralty, the need arose to transform the three central squares of the Northern capital: the Senate (the current Decembrists), the Palace and the Admiralty, where the Alexander Garden was laid out at the end of the nineteenth century. The design of the Senate house, which already existed by that time, ceased to correspond to the scale of that time, and the general architecture and ceremoniality of the city center. And therefore he demanded reconstruction.
By order of the emperor, and then on the throne was Nicholas I, he began the construction of a new house for the Senate in a single image and likeness, so that the building of the General Staff, Senate, Synod in St. Petersburg was completed in a single architectural solution. Therefore, for the latter, the house of the merchant Kusovnikova was purchased. And on the site of the house of A. Bestuzhev-Ryumin, they decided to already build the Senate building.
Project selection
In 1828, a competition was announced. It was attended by Vasily Stasov, Paul Jaco, Smaragd Shustov, Vasily Glinka and, of course, Russia. The Senate and Synod building on the drawings of the contestants had a variety of solutions. For example, Jaco proposed building one common building that would resemble the Louvre Gallery, Stasov planned to rebuild only the former house of Bestuzhev-Ryumin. Rossi did the project of two buildings and connected them together with an arched structure. And this is exactly what we see today as the building of the Senate and the Synod.
Architect and sculptor
On February 18, 1829, the Rossi project was approved. The main task of the architect was to give the building a character corresponding to the vast area on which he stood. Already at the end of August, a ceremonial laying of the house took place, in which the Senate was to work. A memorial plaque was laid in the foundation of the building that the drawing of the facade, approved by the highest, belongs to Karl Rossi. The builder was appointed by another famous architect - A. Staubert. Moreover, according to the project, this building very organically included the walls preserved from the house of Bestuzhev-Ryumin. And in August 1830, after it was possible to buy Kusovnikova’s house into the state treasury, the construction of the Synod building began in its place
In July 1831, the project of sculptural decoration was approved by Emperor Nicholas I. At the same time, a separate instruction was given that the figures should not be depicted “in height”, but sessile. In addition, they had to be dressed in antique clothes, for example, togas, and all trophies and inscriptions on the books should be removed.
Several artists engaged in sculptural design at once - S. Pimenov, V. Demut-Malinovsky with P. Sokolov, who were assisted by N. Tokarev, as well as P. Svintsov and others. The sculptor Ustinov created the statue “Faith” located in the first niche on the left. Sokolov sculpted "Piety", and Pimenov - "Law" and "Justice".
Capitals and lion masks, as well as other decorative details, are made by Toricelli's hand. The sculptural composition located on the attic, as well as the "Geniuses" with books of laws of work of Demut-Malinovsky, was cast from copper at the Byrd factory.
Construction
The task assigned to the architect and builders to give the Senate building a character corresponding to the grandeur of the Senate Square was solved by them with great skill and with an accurate sense of scale. The rather large length of the facade made the author of the Rossi project to increase the height of the structure to eight and a half fathoms. I must say that the neighboring building of the Admiralty is significantly lower than the Senate building - by two hundred and ten centimeters. At the beginning of October 1832, construction work was curtailed, and the interior decoration of both buildings immediately began. In February of the following year, the emperor personally inspected the sites. And already in 1934 the construction was finally completed.
Features
Rossi decided to make a spectacular arch, thrown over Galernaya street, as the center of the facade composition, which decorates the Senate Square, grandiose in scale and significance. It connects both buildings into a single architectural complex. For its design, Karl Ivanovich used one of the previously invented, but not implemented versions of the arch provided for the General Staff Building. This architectural solution was redesigned by the architect, taking into account the significantly smaller width at the driveway. At the same time, the architect's inherent triumphal character was completely preserved.
Arch
It combines the buildings of the Senate and the Synod and ends with a sculptural composition located on a multi-stage attic. “Justice and piety,” the work of the masters S. Pimenov, V. Demut-Malinovsky, and P. Sokolov, is called the symbol of the unity of two authorities - church and secular. Sculptors worked on this composition for about a year. In addition to her, above the arch there are also figures allegorically meaning "geniuses who keep the law."
On the attic itself there are three bas-reliefs - “Civil Law”, “God's Law”, as well as “Natural Law”. Their location is very interesting. In the center, directly above the arch, a comparatively larger bas-relief, entitled “Civil Law,” flaunts. Among the images on it, the busts of Peter the Great and Catherine II are striking.
Description
The architect of the Senate and Synod building - Rossi - provided for the plan of three-story rectangular buildings and courtyards. The unusually beautiful and wide staircases with ramps made of granite form the entrance. A surprisingly rich light and shadow effect is created due to the alternation of protruding parts on the facades of buildings and niches. Numerous stucco decorations also contribute to this.
The facade of the Synod building faces both the Promenade des Anglais and the former Senate Square. In general, experts consider the architectural solution of this part of the structure to be very interesting. Its angle is rounded. It is decorated with a monumental colonnade, raised above the ground floor and assembled from eight columns from the Corinthian order, the soft bend of which is completed, according to the plan of the author of the project, a stepped attic. This architectural solution surprisingly enriches the line of the Promenade des Anglais, giving it a rich look.
No less interesting for its design is the former Conference Room in the Senate building, the walls of which are decorated with caryatids and pilasters from the stucco, as well as a ceiling painted by the artist B. Medici. In the middle was a throne studded with bright raspberry velvet.
After the revolution
In 1919, the Senate and the Synod were abolished. Since 1925, the building housed the Central Historical Archive. In 1936, the building of the Senate and the Synod began to be restored, the facades and sculptures were restored, and a year later they began to update the painting of the main stairs. During the war years, both buildings were badly damaged. They hit several artillery shells that inflicted heavy damage on buildings. The Synodal Church was almost completely destroyed.
The restoration work began in the summer of 1944, even before the end of the war. In 2006, the Historical Archive moved, and the building of the Senate and Synod was transferred to the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation. Today, the Presidential Library is located there .
It is interesting
Judging by the preserved documents, the purchase of the mansion of the merchant merchant Kusovnikova cost the royal treasury an unprecedented amount of six hundred thousand rubles, although in 1796 the plot was estimated at only seven and a half thousand. The landlady, having learned that the Synod building was being built on the site of her house, decided to raise the price, and bribes to many officials were also included in the total amount.
While working on the composition “Justice and Piety”, the sculptor of the Senate and Synod Pimenov died. His work was completed by his son.