Nikolay Aleksandrovich Lvov short biography. Lvov, Nikolai Alexandrovich. I can't stand the whole world -
Unexpectedly we went to Torzhok for 2 days. What do I remember or know from it? I remember that I was there about 2 years ago... in general, a very long time ago, I remember many dilapidated churches and a large boulder bridge. I know that there are many churches and a helicopter museum there. We read, searched, and found out that there is a lot of interesting things there, and it turns out there are about 400 ancient architectural objects - that is, more than in any other city in the Tver region. We realized that we were going right. True, we didn’t go to numerous churches, and we didn’t get to the helicopter museum - it turned out to be very difficult, but we saw a lot of other things, no less interesting.
It turned out that the entire trip was “dedicated” to the work of the architect Nikolai Lvov. He was born on his parents' estate near Torzhok and then built a lot for himself, his relatives and neighbors, so of his numerous buildings the lion's share falls on the outskirts of this city. But at first we didn’t know this, or rather, we didn’t pay attention to the name of Lvov that flashed while reading the descriptions of the estates. But this name sounded more and more often and attracted attention.
What kind of person is this and what trace did he leave on Torzhok, and throughout Russian soil? It turned out - amazing person, he did everything and was talented in everything. He was:
one of the best Russian architects (both theorist and practitioner), builder - innovator, creator of new building materials (earth blocks, roofing felt), artist, innovative graphic artist;
gardener, botanist, master of gardening and landscape art;
a versatile inventor and machine design engineer, as well as a hydraulic engineer, mechanic, innovator and creator of heating and ventilation devices;
geologist (in fact, the founder of the coal and peat industries), research chemist, geographer - ecologist (as we say now);
poet, prose writer, playwright, translator, editor, and everywhere and always he defended and proved the great possibilities and advantages of the Russian language;
author of a number of scientific books and illustrator of publications;
historian, archaeologist, ethnographer, art critic;
composer, musician, music theorist and the first professional collector of folk songs, author - scriptwriter of important celebrations;
diplomat;
teacher.(from the site http://www.liveinternet.ru/users/aramill_stells/post221262243)
His life is amazing. Until the age of 16, he was brought up in Cherenchitsy and was, strictly speaking, a young nobleman. But then he arrived in St. Petersburg to do active service in the Preobrazhensky Regiment and receive a systematic education and, living with his relatives, the Soimonov brothers (one of whom was the founder and first director of the Mining Institute, and the second was engaged in construction and architecture), began to study and work with such energy that after 10 years he became an architect, to whom Ekaterina II ordered the construction of a cathedral in Mogilev in honor of the arrival of the Austrian emperor in the city. In total, more than 80 structures were built according to his designs.
We saw his creations in Torzhok and 4 neighboring estates, there are more of them in this area, but, probably, we saw the most important thing.
Nikolskoye-Cherenchitsy - the estate in which he was born, and then lived with his wife (with whom he was secretly married for 4 years, because her parents did not agree to marry an unknown and poor architect). The estate was beautifully furnished by him, but, unfortunately, little remained: one outbuilding from the palace, a cellar, a church and a forge. The cellar is most striking - it is made in the form of a 3-story pyramid: ice was loaded into the basement (there was a separate entrance), food was stored on the “first” floor, the “second” floor served for ventilation and lighting - rays reflected from the dome and evenly illuminated the room - Lvov also used this “double dome” technique in the construction of churches.
It’s amazing - for such a utilitarian use - such a structure! There are different points of view on the Internet, but perhaps Lvov had something to do with Freemasonry (otherwise, why would Pavel I commissioned him to design the Priory Palace in Gatchina), and the pyramid also appeared in connection with this. Perhaps this form was chosen because During a trip to Italy, Lvov was very impressed by the Pyramid of Cestius. And perhaps Lvov knew about the magical properties of the pyramids, since his wine, aged in the pyramid, was the best in Tver and neighboring provinces, and the seed grain stored there gave greater yields. Now the main reason is unknown, but the main thing is that these strange buildings exist and amaze us. We saw the second pyramid in the Mitino estate, where it is stored under an ugly roofing material, seemingly for safety, but its appearance is terrible and there are no plans to restore it yet.
In Cherenchitsy, the church-tomb of the Lvovs has also been preserved - a wonderful classical rotunda with a double dome, it looks good on the outside, but is collapsing inside, and the tomb of the Lvovs was destroyed in the 1930s.
From big house There was only one outbuilding left, in a terrible state, but it was both very beautiful and very comfortable.CLvov equipped his house with innovations and amenities (" smart home"in our opinion): from a well located inside the building, a water-lifting machine supplied water to the mezzanine, the house was heated using an “air” system, which Lvov designed and described in the book “Pyrostatics of Air Furnaces.” The fireplaces were also of a special design - a kind of air conditioners: through the vents in external wall arrived at home fresh air, passing through the fireplace coil, it heated up, then through the channel it entered into peculiar vases filled with rose water that stood next to the fireplace. Through the grates of the vases, fresh, warm, scented air filled the rooms. (from the site http://deadokey.livejournal.com/118049.html)
On the neighboring estate of his uncles, Arpachevo, Lvov built the Kazan Church with an amazing bell tower, which is very reminiscent of a lighthouse.
Many people write about that. that the bell tower is "falling". In some of our photographs it also turned out to be inclined. So I read that Lvov specially created such an illusion by shifting each tier relative to the central axis, and the tower appears to be falling from any side. I don't know - is this really true?
We saw another structure that was especially close to me at the Vasilevo Museum of Wooden Architecture - a huge 100-meter boulder bridge (well, I love bridges, probably this is my grandfather - the designer of railway bridges - coming out in me). A most beautiful and stunning building! Huge boulders are held together only by their own weight without the use of cement or other binding components. (Vasilevo is also the former estate of Lvov’s relatives).
In Torzhok itself we saw the rotunda on the bank of the Tvertsa River and the Borisoglebsky Monastery, where Lvov built a cathedral and a wonderful bell tower.
And the crown of Lvov’s creativity was the Znamenskoye-Raek Estate, which belonged to the nobleman of Catherine’s time F.I. Glebov-Streshnev. Allegedly Catherine II I called this place paradise - doesn’t it remind me of anything? Just 2 weeks ago we were at the Raiki estate near Moscow, about which this legend is also told.
It seems to me that Lvov made this place a paradise, building a wonderful classical palace ensemble and decorating the park with all kinds of dams, grottoes, and bridges. But “others are no longer there, and they are far away...” Much has been lost, the last to perish was the rotunda cellar (built like pyramid cellars).
The Concor company took over the restoration of the estate; they decided to set up a fashionable hotel here; they managed to partially renovate it, but then a crisis struck, and now, it seems, there is not even electricity (at least there wasn’t on our visit).
Beauty will save the world... But, I'm afraid, it won't have time. It seems that the world (society, people) will destroy beauty.
I wish our world looked like this
not like that. 
Go to Torzhok and see Lvov’s creations while they are still alive, and tell your friends about him - this man deserves for people to know about his life and work!
For me personally, it all started with this photo:
The object is old, located in Russia, it would be a sin not to ask “what, where, when.” Well, all sorts of different things turned out. Next I will copy and paste.
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So, first it was revealed to the eyes
For those who didn’t believe their eyes, I’ll repeat it. Moreover, it quite politely turned its back to the forest, and its front to me (although go figure, where is its front?)
In general, everything is true. The pyramid stands in the Tver forests. And he even opens the doors cordially.
Moreover, it even has a reasonable explanation. It was the wonderful Nikolai Aleksandrovich Lvov who frolicked. Clever, witty, architect, lover of science, keen on inventions and improvements. By the way, the great-grandfather of the artist Polenov. He translated into Russian and published the work of Palladio, of whom he was a fan. He promoted calorific heating of his own design. Another idea that Lvov promoted was the construction of earthen buildings, which he considered very practical for our climate. It didn’t take root, but the Priory Palace in Gatchina, built by him from earthen bricks, was preserved.
Nikolai Alexandrovich needed money and earned money as an architect, and found customers nearby, among the neighbors. Thanks to this, the Tver province was decorated with elegant churches and estates with colonnades.
And we arrived at the estate of Lvov itself near Torzhok, with the same intricate name as its buildings, Nikolskoye-Cherenchitsy. And the first thing we see as we approach is just a pyramid. Who, you will laugh, worked as a glacier for Lvov.
It looks unexpected inside too
The inside is a fake vault. Firstly, you don’t expect to meet him in the pyramid at all; secondly, this is Lvov’s favorite technique - a double vault, from the inside creating the illusion of an open light hole. Even the remains of the paintings have been preserved. One of them imitates a lattice balustrade framing the vault.
There is a hole in the middle of the floor, the bottom is also double
There was a glacier below. And where we stand, Lviv, in the summer heat, entertained guests with coolness and treated them to lemonade and ice cream.
If you go outside and go around the pyramid, you will find an underground passage behind
Small, like the rest of the building, but convincing
In fact, this is how ice was put into the glacier.
At the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century, the pyramid, like other Egyptian images, quite clearly indicated a passion for mysticism and Freemasonry. But Nikolai Lvov is not on the list of Russian masons. He was just frolicking architecturally. And the utilitarian purpose of the pyramid could be a subtle mockery of home-grown mystics. There is a well-known parallel to this: an even smaller pyramid in Tsarskoye Selo Park, where Catherine II built a cemetery for her beloved dogs. This pyramid was made while the heir Paul was traveling around Europe and there he joined the Freemasons. He returned - and his loving mother prepared such a mockery for him.
But let's move on, the Rotunda awaits us. Through a spacious wild park, past the remaining wing of the manor house that Lvov built for his family, with the same calorific heating, self-improved ventilation, water supply fed from ponds.
There was a heavy downpour that day, but it only subsided in the evening, although at times it started pouring again. And my God, what mosquitoes there were!!
The rotunda appeared.
Also with ideas. Please note that the colonnade runs like a snail at different distances from the body of the rotunda. On the opposite side the same thing, symmetrically. You can go around it along the colonnade, but in a narrow place you will have to go around the column, dangerously stepping over the edge of the platform. Because the columns framing the entrance are adjacent to the wall.
Let's look inside. We just look in, although the door is open, we cannot enter, there is a locked grill. I took it as it happened, sticking my hand in with the camera.
Well, something like this. It's sad, but not hopeless. The grille has already been installed, and there is a clear intention to restore it someday. In the basement under the rotunda, Lvov built a warm winter church, which is now in operation. Nearby, in the stone outbuilding that remained from the estate, a library was built, and the outbuilding was put in order. The library is staffed by enthusiasts of Torzhok antiquity.
The dome of the rotunda, also Lvov’s favorite double trompe l’oeil. It is, of course, actually protected from rain by a second vault.
Lvov built the rotunda as a family tomb. In the basement there is a spacious vaulted crypt consisting of several rooms. Nikolai Alexandrovich himself, his children, and other members of the family were buried there. After the revolution, the tomb was destroyed and the contents of the sarcophagi were scattered. Now it is empty, and the entrances are also covered with large bars.
A slope stretches down from the estate and the park, onto which the windows of the house once looked out and there were ponds. The swamps remained far away from them. And in the center of the frame - do you see something dark under the trees?
It began to rain again, and the valley was covered in fog. This charming either “Neolithic” or “grotto” is a forge hidden by Lvov into the hillside. Several grottoes, connected to each other and isolated. You can walk around them, there’s nothing special inside. Fragments of brick, nettles, niches and small holes in places. All this was built using interesting mixed media.
There is wild stone, and brick, and - tell me, what is the name of this flat stone tile from which the vault is made?
In this valley, decorated with ponds and a romantic forge, Lvov had other useful ideas that have not reached us. Alcove, windmill, barnyard. A path with remains of paving leads down from the estate. While we were looking at the view of the forges from afar (this is the first of the photographs), next to the path we felt with our feet a solid stone slab. It looks like it served as a support for something, a statue or an obelisk, but they are not indicated in the history of the estate. (from here)
Writing about Nikolai Alexandrovich Lvov is fascinating and difficult. Both because he was a large, extraordinary, even if you like, mysterious, multifaceted personality, and each facet of his talent deserves a separate story worthy of attention. This was a man from the breed of Leonardo, Lomonosov - people who do not visit Earth very often, people who are interested in living in this world, for whom enthusiasm, passion for knowledge is the highest passion in life. He was one of those who looked at nature not with the admiring eyes of an observer, but transformed it, caring primarily about the benefit of the fatherland. Such people were inevitably ahead of their time, or at least at the very forefront of it.
It is curious that the old encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron sees Lvov only as a writer and poet of the 18th century, leaving other aspects of his activity without attention or mentioning in passing. The Great Soviet Encyclopedia writes about Lvov primarily as an outstanding architect. Other, special encyclopedias and reference books could focus on something else - and that would also be fair.
Vasilevo, museum of wooden architecture, work of Lvov
According to the most conservative estimates, Lvov designed and, with very few exceptions, built more than thirty buildings for various purposes. All the buildings that have reached us are valued as wonderful architectural monuments of classicism.
He translated Palladio's "Four Books on Architecture" and published the first part, which Pyotr Eropkin did not manage to do half a century before him. Lvov wrote poetry and fables; his poem in the spirit of Russian epics “Dobrynya, the heroic song” was published after the writer’s death. He collaborated in the magazine "Interlocutor of Lovers of the Russian Word." Fascinated by folklore, he collected folk songs and published “Collection of Russian folk songs with their voices” in a musical arrangement by Pracha, which went through several editions. The “meeting” was preceded by a treatise “On Russian Folk Singing”. He wrote the libretto of three comic operas; one of them, “Coachmen on a Stand” by composer E. I. Fomin, was withdrawn soon after the production for its sharp criticism of the morals of the time. While studying history , he published a chronicle of the 16th century, now known as the “Lvov Chronicle.” He was an excellent draftsman and draftsman - his architectural projects and drawings give the right to speak about this. He was an excellent engraver, often engraved his own drawings and was fond of the then new technique of this art. - lavis, tried to combine etching, aquatint and lavis with a needle.
Lvov improved affordable way construction of buildings from earth, a cheap and fire-resistant material, which was important for villages and villages in treeless areas that were always suffering from fires, and also opened a school on his estate, teaching over six years more than eight hundred peasants sent from different provinces to build such houses. He began searching for stone - or, as they said then, earthen coal - on the Valdai Hills, wanting to reduce the felling of precious forests and free the country from fuel imported from England, and discovered a deposit in Borovichi, which began to be developed only in Soviet times. For the same purpose, he explored peat deposits near Moscow. He published the work “On the benefits and use of Russian earthen coal” and in it for the first time pointed out the possibility of producing coke from Borovichi coal. He learned to extract sulfur from this coal, which was also entirely imported from abroad, and a special resin for ship rigging and coating the bottoms of ships. He invented a new building material - "stone cardboard". “From this matter,” Lvov wrote, “you can make not only all sorts of various decorations and bas-reliefs, as timeless as bronze, but even round statues." Cardboard could also be used for the lining of ships. For its production, he designed a special mechanism connected to steam engine. By the way, Lvov’s machine gave impetus to the mechanization of paper production, which until that time had been completely manual. Lvov worked on improving ventilation and heating equipment in homes and published a book in two parts, “Russian pyrostatics, or the use of already tested air stoves and fireplaces...”. He examined mineral springs in the Caucasus and designed water clinics that could compete with foreign ones.
Listing the works and achievements of N.A. Lvov, you are surprised how much he has done in so little in the fifty-two years of his life. But perhaps the most striking thing is that Lvov did not study thoroughly anywhere; Moreover, until the age of eighteen, he was generally a provincial nobleman, who, according to the biographer who knew him personally, “babbled a few words in French, but could hardly write in Russian.” The first bricks for the future Church of Joseph according to Lvov’s design will be laid in Mogilev when the architect turns twenty-nine.
Does this cathedral look like an ordinary church?
Therefore, it took Lvov only ten years to, starting from the basics, through his own efforts reach the level of a highly cultured, erudite person, to become an architect! Is this really possible? For many, this remains a mystery. Until now, art historians do not believe that Lvov did not study with any of famous architects of that time. But they cannot document their doubts.
1780 - the year when the construction of the church in Mogilev began - will open the list of all further works of Lvov. And this list will fill up with incredible speed until last days life. And he had only twenty-three years to live.
In the capital, he settled on the 11th line of Vasilyevsky Island, with the Soimonov brothers, his close relatives. This was a highly cultured family, known in St. Petersburg for its patriotic spirit. Father - Fyodor Ivanovich Soimonov - the first Russian hydrograph, cartographer, compiler of a map of the Caspian Sea, - in last year During the reign of Anna Ioannovna, he was convicted in the Volynsky case for speaking out against Biron and, together with the architect Pyotr Eropkin, was sentenced to quartering. True, he escaped death, was whipped in the square and exiled to Siberia. One of his sons, Mikhail Fedorovich, president of the Berg College of the Mining Department, was the founder of the Mining Institute and its first director. The other, Yuri Fedorovich, was engaged in construction and civil architecture.
The Soimonov brothers, who cared for the young provincial in a kindred way, may have determined the range of his interests: it is unlikely that Lvov would later engage in architecture, construction and mining.
He served diligently in the Izmailovsky Regiment. At that time, a school opened here. Studying at school was taken quite seriously - they taught grammar, geography, French and German languages, mathematics, fortification. The school introduced Lvov to the world of knowledge. As if worried about the years he had wasted in the provinces, he greedily took everything that the school could give him, and, moreover, studied hard himself.
And yet it was not fortification or ballistics that occupied him. I was irresistibly drawn to art. “There was no art to which he was indifferent,” a contemporary wrote about Lvov, “there was no talent to which he did not pave the path; everything occupied him, everything excited his mind and warmed his heart.” Already at the regimental school, a small circle of literature lovers formed around Lvov. In it, young people read and discussed books, publications in magazines, translated Latin authors, tried to write poetry themselves, and published a handwritten journal, “The Works of the Four Intelligent Communists.” In the regiment, Lvov also became friends with Vasily Vasilyevich Kapnist, the future poet and playwright, who later became his close relative.
Once, having read in the magazine “Ode to Taking Turkish fortress Zhurzhi", Lvov wanted to meet the author. This turned out to be not so difficult, because the author of the ode and the future fabulist Ivan Ivanovich Khemnitser worked as a surveyor at the Berg College under M. F. Soimonov. A shy, simple-minded and absent-minded young man, the son of a regimental doctor , who came from Saxony in Peter’s times, Lvov liked Chemnitser. They especially became friends during a long trip to Germany, Holland and France, where M.F. Soimonov took them both with him.
An active, charming man, in the words of a contemporary, “steady in overcoming all kinds of difficulties,” Lvov found people close to him in spirit and aspirations, quickly became friends with them, and many remained faithful to him until his death. He knows Fonvizin and Quarenghi, the famous artist Levitsky is his man. Thanks to Levitsky, we have a great idea of what not only Lvov himself looked like, but also his wife Maria Alekseevna (before Dyakov’s marriage) - the portrait of Dyakova, a masterpiece of 18th-century portraiture, is kept in the Tretyakov Gallery. Lvov “discovered” another remarkable artist of that time - Borovikovsky, who painted for him the Temple of Joseph in the city of Mogilev.
At the end of the 1770s, Lvov met Gavriil Romanovich Derzhavin, who was then an aspiring poet, who worked in the Senate. They met in the building of this highest government office among broken bricks and plaster piled up everywhere - the Senate was being rebuilt and repaired. Derzhavin supervised the work, and Lvov came up with allegorical bas-reliefs that were to be made by the sculptor Rachette to decorate the hall of general meetings. Lvov’s acquaintance with Derzhavin, which very soon turned into friendship and even family relations, significantly influenced the lives of both. And after the death of Lvov and his wife, Derzhavin raised their five children.
All these people were of different positions and of different ages, almost all are older than Lvov - Levitsky is sixteen years old, Derzhavin is eight - but this was not an obstacle in the relationship: they were united by a passionate love for beauty and creativity.
A circle often gathered in Derzhavin’s hospitable house, in which, as Derzhavin himself wrote towards the end of his life, “Literature, Poetry, Painting, Architecture, stucco work and Music settled.” The agile, decisive Kapnist came here; silent Chemnitser sat secluded in a corner; Laughter was heard from the rooms - it was Senate Secretary A.S. Khvostov, more a lover of poetry than a poet, who was joking, shining with wit. He entertained young people - artist A. N. Olenin, later president of the Academy of Arts, composer N. P. Yakhontov and his sister, who skillfully sculpted wax figures. Derzhavin received guests in a loose frock coat...
And not a single meeting was complete without Lvov. A tall, handsome man with delicate features, he was both a favorite and the soul of the circle, and its theoretician. He knew how to get along with everyone, joked, and amused us with funny stories.
Impeccable natural taste and poetic flair, which developed with amazing strength in Lvov, gave him the right to comments and advice. His opinion was valued and listened to. Derzhavin's manuscripts contain many notes and corrections made by Lvov. First of all, Derzhavin showed him his famous ode “Felitsa”. Khemnitzer did not publish any of his fables without Lvov’s approval. He himself, perhaps, did not feel sufficient strength to develop his poetic talent, and perhaps he treated publications with that degree of frivolity that is inherent in many talented and unambitious people: he published some poems under his own name, others - anonymously or even threw them away in a desk drawer; much later, researchers discovered several belonging to Lvov in the collection of Chemnitzer’s fables.
The friendship of four people who left a memory in the history of Russian literature was extremely faithful, touching and generous. Derzhavin himself admitted in his notes that this home circle made him re-evaluate his work. And it was after meetings and disputes with Lvov, Kapnist, Khemnitser that another, real poet Derzhavin, as we know him, appeared.
Lvov constantly lobbied with his patrons, either for Derzhavin, or for Kapnist, or for Khemnitser.
Neither military service, nor matters of the heart prevented Lvov from studying. His sharp, tenacious mind allowed him to grasp and assimilate knowledge many times faster than others could. “It seemed that time could not keep up with him: so quickly he conquered rough nature and overcame the labors necessary on the way to acquiring this knowledge,” a contemporary wrote about him. Lvov studied wherever he could: both in Derzhavin’s circle and communicating with artists, but most of all he learned from books - he read a lot, constantly, with a pencil in his hands, even on the road, which in those days was not an easy task.
Foreign trips were also enriching to a large extent, especially the first one with Soimonov and Chemnitser. Back then young people had no responsibilities. They went to theaters, museums, visited the sights of cities, and the buildings of great architects. According to the biographer, Lvov “saw everything, noticed, wrote down, drew.” The future architect developed clear aesthetic positions, perhaps different from those generally accepted then, but his own. He admired Raphael, Titian, Velazquez, passed over Rembrandt in silence and did not accept Rubens.
His idol was Rousseau; he shared Diderot's aesthetic views. In general, Lvov had a sharply negative attitude towards the dying baroque, which characterizes his views that were advanced at that time. It is no coincidence that he undertook to translate Palladio, a champion of simplicity and strict lines in architecture. In the preface to the translation, he wrote: “In my fatherland let there be the taste of Palladium, French curls and English subtlety and without us they have enough imitators." In his architectural projects, he strictly followed these principles.
After a trip to Europe, Lvov never returned to the regiment, but began serving in the Collegium of Foreign Affairs. P.V. Bakunin became his boss and patron, and then another nobleman - Count Alexander Andreevich Bezborodko, personal secretary of Catherine II and de facto minister of foreign affairs, at the end of his life - chancellor.
A prominent diplomat, an intelligent and capable man, Bezborodko appreciated art (he had the richest collection of paintings and art products) and patronized artists, writers, and musicians. When the postal department was separated from the Collegium of Foreign Affairs, Bezborodko was appointed postal director general. He immediately took Lvov with him to the new department - for special assignments. ()
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This is a park building in the Palace Park of the city of Gatchina Leningrad region. Officially built in the 1790s according to the design of N. A. Lvov simultaneously with the Naumakhia pool.
The amphitheater is located in the depths of the Palace Park, in the Orangery Garden, on level ground, approximately halfway between the Grand Palace and Silvia.
It is a circular earthen wall with a height of about 3.5 meters and a diameter of about 65 meters, inside of which there is a round arena. The width of the shaft was related to the overall diameter of the structure as 1:6, and this ratio gave the entire composition impressiveness and monumentality. For this reason, the Amphitheater is called the Fortress or Earthen Fortress.
The walls of the rampart are cut through by four symmetrical passages, or more precisely, passages, the retaining walls of which are lined with Pudost stone; in these passages the loops of the gates are preserved.
Another building in Gatchina: a swimming pool on the banks of the Kolpanki River on the northern border of Sylvia Park. The building was built at the end of the 18th century, also according to the design of Nikolai Lvov.
When conducting construction work on the banks of the Kolpanka River at the end of the 18th century (Farm and Poultry House), N. Lvov drew attention to the spring with crystal water, located near the “Cascade with a sluice” being built. The architect planned to build here in miniature a similarity to “Naumachia” in Syracuse.
N. Lvov gave his Naumakhia the character of an ancient ruin - a frequent decoration of landscape parks of the second half of the 18th century. The source was decorated with a granite frame, to which a stone staircase with fragments of marble columns led, reminiscent of an ancient ruin. (from here)
And this, if you please, is the “Birdhouse” in the same park:
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St. Petersburg, Nevsky district. Church of the Life-Giving Trinity (Kulich and Easter)
date of construction: Between 1785 and 1787.
Verguny village, church
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The Znamenskoye-Raek estate is perhaps the most famous architectural masterpiece of N.A. Lvov
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Arpachevsky Mayak (bell tower of the Kazan Church)
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This is the Peter and Paul Church, in the godforsaken village of Pereslegino - a copy of the famous St. Joseph's Cathedral in Mogilev
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There are crumbling monuments in our God-protected country that stand far from the places where students live. There (it happens) there is not even wi-fi, and there are no planes or trains flying there. And for these monuments there is usually no documentation appropriate to their status. There are no measurements, no restoration project. But there is no restoration itself, and there never will be. Therefore, these monuments are doomed and sadly live out their already long life.
It would be possible to use student potential to produce measurements, models, and projects for those monuments for which professional restoration is still not possible. But this is a whole matter, comparable to the labors of Hercules - how to get students there, where to settle them, who to lead them, and even so that a brick does not fall on anyone’s head. Utopia, that is, in current conditions. Although sometimes some heroes still go out for measurements. But, if the measurements don’t work out, then, as a compromise, a surrogate product arises - graphics based on photographs and a plan.
This is the case we are in the past academic year pulled off with the dying ruins of the Vladimir Church in the Gornitsa estate in the Kuvshinovsky district of the Tver region. This is the creation of Nikolai Lvov, which remains today in an extinct village, three kilometers from the nearest settlement with a road. Walk towards her literally through the forest. We went in 2010 and brought filming. The plan of the monument was in the passport.
Sketch of the project of the Vladimir Church in Gornitsy, from the album of N.A. Lvov
Church in Gornitsy in the 1970s, still quite prosperous
Today the condition of the monument is deplorable
The temple is generally tricky, with a lot of oddities. This is the side, northern facade. Treated as the main one, once looked at the Beklemishev manor house
But the architecture of the Upper Room Church “in its purest form”
Catherine's Church in the Vorontsov estate Murino. Photos from the early 20th century
Drawing from the times of Lvov
The architecture of the St. Petersburg Trinity Church, which is popularly called “Kulich and Easter,” is amazing. She is uncharacteristic for Orthodox tradition. The temple is in the form of a rotunda, the bell tower is a pyramid. Some kind of Freemasonry!
It turns out that this church was built according to the design of the outstanding Russian architect of the 18th century Nikolai Aleksandrovich Lvov, who was really associated with Freemasonry.
And I think it’s no coincidence that he built several pyramids in his “small homeland” - in the Tver province. Obviously, he knew about some of the magical properties of such buildings.
There are three known pyramids built by N.A. Lvov in the Tver province: on his own estate Nikolskoye-Cherenchitsy, on the estate of his relative in the village of Mitino and the estate of F.I. Glebova-Streshneva Znamenskoye-Raek. The latter has not survived to this day.
But the eleven-meter pyramid in the Lvov family estate turned out to be the most durable building. It has been standing for more than 100 years, however, to the surprise of the specialists who examined it, no cracks or traces of corrosion appeared on its edges. They decided that it was all about the material, skillfully selected by the architect.
In terms of their proportions, the Tver buildings are similar to the Tsarskoye Selo “Egyptian Pyramid”, rebuilt by Charles Cameron in 1783. Lvov could become familiar with it in detail when he participated in the construction of the St. Sophia Cathedral, the main architect of which was Cameron.
Freemasons Laboratory
All three Tver pyramids were used as cellars for storing wine and food. However, some researchers believe that their purpose was somewhat different, especially the main one, located on the Nikolskoye-Cherenchitsy estate.
Perhaps this pyramid was a secret laboratory in which Russian Freemasons carried out their experiments. Judging by the surviving records of N.A. Lvov, they tried to control the flows of some invisible energy.
It was believed that 13 members of the lodge, casting special spells during a ritual inside the pyramid, could influence the consciousness of people no less. It is difficult to say how successful these experiments were, but the architect himself enjoyed considerable authority in the Masonic community. It is not for nothing that it was he who was entrusted by the most mystical of the Russian crown bearers, Paul I, with the task of erecting a palace in Gatchina for the prior of the Order of Malta.
Mysterious epigram
However, Nikolai Alexandrovich’s attitude towards the secret mysteries was quite contradictory. A mysterious epigram was found in his archive:
“Despite reason and offend eternity,
And the smart ones laugh
Built it - so that it will not be forgotten -
A pyramid made of dust."
It is dedicated, perhaps, to the same Cameron and his “Egyptian Pyramid”. Why such disrespect for your patron? It is possible that Lvov learned the secret identity of Cameron, who, as has now been proven, spent his entire life pretending to be another person, and his true origin is still a matter of debate.
But why was this building erected “to offend eternity”? Perhaps he knew that the plan of part of the Tsarskoe Selo parks in the area of the Chinese village, drawn by Cameron, is a map of the starry sky, and “ Egyptian pyramid" takes the place of Sirius in it - the alpha of the constellation Canis Major.
But ironically (or the empress herself), this structure was intended for the burial of Catherine II’s favorite dogs. It seems that Lvov knew a lot - much more than he said. And his attitude towards Freemasonry was a mixture of respect and irony.
Three-tier pyramid
So, most likely, the pyramids built by Lvov had primarily a utilitarian purpose: they were used as cellars in which wine and food could be stored. Their design itself speaks to this.
The author of this article had a chance to visit Nikolsky-Cherenchitsy and get inside the pyramid. It stands on a slight slope and is partially submerged in the ground. In the underground part of the pyramid there is a glacier into which ice cut from the river was loaded before spring. This room is entered from the utility yard. It has a fortified vault made of cobblestones.
Having passed through a small passage into the lower ice storage, you can see in the ceiling, right in the center, round hole through which light penetrates. And the wine cellar and food warehouse were located higher, in the central part of the pyramid. Another entrance leads there, located on the opposite side of the pyramid.
This room has a hemispherical shape. In the ceiling of the central part of the pyramid there is also a cylindrical hole, which has a larger diameter than the hole in the floor. There is the upper, third cavity of the pyramid, which allows, on the one hand, to provide proper ventilation(the four faces of the pyramid in the upper tier are made ventilation holes), and also organize natural light: Light entering through the holes reflects off the dome and casts an even, dim light on the central part of the vault. Essentially, there is twilight here, but there is still enough lighting to notice the hole in the floor and not fall into the glacier.
By the way, Nikolai Alexandrovich also used this method of lighting in churches. The double dome is a kind of “ business card"architect.
The magical properties of the pyramids
Everything suggests that N.A. Lvov was well aware of the magical properties of the pyramids and skillfully applied them in practice. For example, his wines, aged and stored in a cellar inside the pyramid, were famous for their excellent quality not only in Tverskaya, but also in neighboring provinces.
Already today, scientists have proven that dry wines aged in a pyramid (9-12%), especially red ones, have medicinal properties: they have a beneficial effect on the immune system and the condition of the walls of blood vessels, improving blood circulation and restoring biorhythms vascular system. When exposed to a pyramid of strong alcoholic drinks, the effect of fusel oils is neutralized, and people who consume them do not experience a hangover.
The seed grain stored in the pyramid gave excellent harvests: 30-70% more than grain stored in conventional barns. However, limited area The warehouse did not allow a lot of grain to be poured there; besides, Lvov, a man far from agriculture, did not strive for this, focusing his main attention on winemaking, which brought in good income.
It must also be said that inside the pyramid, vegetables and fruits were not only perfectly preserved, but also acquired special qualities. The energy fields of the pyramid improved the structure of products, making them more useful and digestible for the body, and also giving them additional medicinal properties.
Pyramid in Catherine Park. Pushkin
And now pyramids are starting to be built for completely utilitarian purposes - storing and “synchronizing” food. Bioenergy rhythms of food products play a huge role in the proper functioning of the body. Maximum benefit the body, especially the child, is brought vegetables and fruits grown in the area where he was born and raised or lives long time Human.
The bioenergy rhythms of such products are synchronized with the bioenergy rhythms local residents. And vegetables and fruits grown in other countries have different energy characteristics. Therefore, they should be exhibited in a pyramid to synchronize their bioenergy rhythms with the energy rhythms of the area of the Earth on which we live, and the bioenergy rhythms of our body.
In addition, the pyramids have a structuring field that has a beneficial effect on natural objects located outside it. For example, fruit trees in the Lviv garden produced consistently high yields. Even grapes ripened on his estate, which were used to make wine.
Near the pyramid, even people who do not have psychic abilities, feel a special aura. It is not known whether medical experiments were carried out in Nikolskoye-Cherenchitsy, but in some Russian medical institutions placing patients in the pyramid field had a positive effect in the treatment of ulcers, gastritis and other diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and genitourinary system, and promoted wound healing.
In general, the range of possible uses of pyramids in national economy quite extensive. And it is gratifying that their magical properties are increasingly being used by science to serve people.
Nikolai Aleksandrovich Lvov was born on March 4, 1751 in the Tver province on the Cherenchitsy estate, into an impoverished noble family. Even as a child, he was enrolled in the Izmailovsky Guards Regiment. After turning eighteen, the young man headed to St. Petersburg for military service.
The Izmailovsky Regiment had a regimental school that trained officers for the army. At this school, Nikolai Lvov became interested in literature. A circle even formed around him where the works of Russian and foreign authors were discussed. During his studies, the talented young man acquired the skills of a poet, draftsman, and engraver. But his favorite subject was architecture. The first St. Petersburg address of Nikolai Lvov is the 11th line of Vasilyevsky Island, the house of the Soimonov brothers, his close relatives.
After leaving service in the Izmailovsky Regiment, Nikolai Lvov moved to the Collegium of Foreign Affairs. Thanks to this, the architect began to often travel abroad: to Germany, France, Italy, Spain. During these trips, in addition to performing his official duties, he became acquainted with European architecture.
Nikolai Lvov's first independent work as an architect was the design of St. Joseph's Cathedral in Mogilev. For this important project, a competition was organized in 1780, which Count A. A. Bezborodko, who knew the architect’s talents, helped Lvov win. In addition, success was accompanied by the desire of Empress Catherine II to promote new trends in architecture. After the project was approved, Lvov was instructed to arrange the entire area around the cathedral.
Also in 1780, Nikolai Lvov created a project for the Neva Gate in the Peter and Paul Fortress. Almost immediately he began work on the building of the St. Petersburg Post Office. The architect's work was highly appreciated. In 1783 he was elected to the Russian Academy, and two years later Lvov became an honorary member of the Academy of Arts.
The architect spent his time mainly on other, non-architectural tasks. Nikolai Lvov continued to serve in the Collegium of Foreign Affairs and travel abroad. He was appointed advisor to the postal department by Count Bezborodko. Due to the busyness of Lvov, the post office building was completed by J. Schneider. Lvov lived in one of the apartments built in this building for ten years.
In the 1780s, Nikolai Lvov actively built private mansions. Among all the private orders in the 1780s was the construction of the Holy Trinity Church, which was popularly nicknamed “Kulich and Easter”. This temple became one of the most notable works of the architect. In the village of Murino, Lvov built the building of the Church of the Great Martyr Catherine. The most significant project of the architect was the Cathedral of the Boris and Gleb Monastery in Torzhok, very close to the Motherland of Lvov. In 1791-1793, Nikolai Lvov built a mansion for G.R. Derzhavin (118 Fontanka River embankment), which now houses the Museum of Derzhavin and Russian literature of his time.
The result of Nikolai Lvov’s experiments with new building materials was the earthen castle of Priorat in Gatchina. The Priory Palace became a unique structure, built literally from the ground. It was built in just three months. Lvov founded a school where earth building was taught. However, this method of construction did not take root in Russia. At the same time, the earthen Priory Palace survived even during the Great Patriotic War.
Contemporaries often compared Nikolai Lvov to Leonardo da Vinci. Like the famous Italian, Lvov had many professions: engineer, inventor, geologist, botanist, historian, archaeologist, poet, playwright, prose writer, translator, master of drawing and architect.
Nikolai Alexandrovich was married to Maria Alekseevna (nee Dyakova). They had six children: three sons - Leonid, Alexander and Vasily and three daughters - Elizaveta, Vera and Praskovya.
In 1799, a criminal case was opened against Lvov regarding expenses for earthworks. This undermined the architect's health. On January 3, 1803, after a series of illnesses, Nikolai Alexandrovich Lvov died.
Lvov Nikolai Alexandrovich (1751-1803/04), Russian writer, musicologist, scientist and inventor, architect and graphic artist, one of the most versatile talents of the Russian “age of Enlightenment”.
Born in the village of Cherenchitsy (Novotorzhsky district, Tver province) on March 4 (15), 1751 in the family of a retired warrant officer. Arriving in St. Petersburg (most likely in 1769), he joined the bombardment company of the Izmailovsky regiment, but already in the early 1770s he switched to civilian service. In 1771 he published his first poetic experiments in the handwritten journal “Proceedings of Four Communists.” Traveled around Western Europe, having visited, in particular, France and Italy (1777; went to Italy for the second time in 1781). Upon returning to St. Petersburg, he served in the Collegium of Foreign Affairs, and from 1782 in the Postal Department. He lived in St. Petersburg and his family estate Cherenchitsy-Nikolskoye.
For many years he was a member of a poetry circle, whose members also included G.R. Derzhavin, V.V. Kapnist, I.I. Khemnitser, I.I. Dmitriev and others. He wrote epigrams, fables, cantatas, odes, elegies, satires, poems (Russian 1791), including in the genre of scientific poem (Botanical journey to Dudorov Mountain 1792, May 8th). Over time, he moved from sentimentalism (Idyll. Evening of 1780, November 8th) to romanticism (Night in a Chukhonsky hut on a vacant lot, 1797). Published a collection of interlinear translations of Anacreon (1794). The most historically significant are those of it literary works that are thematically or stage-wise related to music (ode to Music, 1780s; unfinished poem Dobrynya, heroic song - published posthumously in 1804).
Being a gifted musician, the soul of home concerts and performances, Lvov (according to Derzhavin) “especially loved Russian natural poetry,” i.e. peasant song. Song folklore with colorful inclusions of folk argot makes up speech basis his comic opera Coachmen on a Stand (music by E.I. Fomin; 1787) - the first choral opera in Russia.
Among other texts by Lvov intended for musical performance, the “heroic game” (or “heroic-comic opera”) of Paris’s Judgment (1796) stands out, combining ancient mythology with features of the Russian “common” pastoral. Great value for folklore studies, he published, together with the Czech composer I. Prach, a Collection of Russian folk songs with their voices set to music by Ivan Prach (1790), accompanied by the Lvov treatise On Russian Folk Singing, where the author first pointed out the polyphonic nature of Russian singing. The melodies of this collection were later reflected in the works of a number of composers, including Beethoven and N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov.
He also published ancient chronicles (Russian Chronicler from the coming of Rurik to the death of Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, 1792; Detailed Chronicle of Russia before the Battle of Poltava, 1798), at the same time he decided to create a Dictionary of Artists and Arts, which would become the first Russian art encyclopedia, but remained simply by design).
A self-taught architect, he made a great contribution to the architecture of Russian classicism. From the time of Lvov’s visits to Italy, the work of A. Palladio had a basic meaning for him; in 1798 he published the first volume of Four Books on Architecture in his own translation and with his own preface and notes. He strove to spread the pristine “Palladian taste” in his buildings, with its harmonious combination of beauty and practical use.
Among his completed projects are the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Mogilev (1781-1797; destroyed in the 1930s), the St. Petersburg post office (1782-1789), the Neva Gate of the Peter and Paul Fortress (1784-1787), the Trinity Church in the village of Aleksandrovskoye, now within the boundaries of St. Petersburg (Kulich and Easter, 1785-1797), Boris and Gleb Cathedral in Torzhok (built by architect F.I. Butsi; 1785-1796), Catherine’s rotunda church in the town of Valdai (1793), estates in Znamensky (“Raek”), Arpachevo , Mitino-Vasilevo, Premukhine in the Tver region, Voronovo and Vvedensky in the Moscow region (all - 1780-1790s; only more or less large fragments of the former ensembles have survived). Residential and outbuildings, as well as a family burial vault in Nikolskoye-Cherenchitsy, date back to 1789-1804. Often standing out - like the Nevsky Gate or "Kulich and Easter" (a temple rotunda with a pyramidal bell tower) - with an original expressiveness of composition and silhouette, Lvov's architectural ideas had at the same time great type-forming significance, primarily in estate architecture. In addition, he constantly combined his buildings with innovative engineering developments (such, in particular, the water supply system in Torzhok, decorated with a rotunda-well on Torgovaya Square, 1802).
He also acted more than once as a park designer: he outlined the principles of constructing a landscape park with elements of a regular layout in numerous notes and drawings in the margins of K. Hirschfeld’s book on gardening (a copy in the Museum’s collection fine arts named after A.S. Pushkin), as well as in an album with projects for a park in the Moscow estate of his patron, Chancellor A.A. Bezborodko (1797-1799).
Having discovered deposits in 1786 in the area of the Valdai Hills and the city of Borovichi coal, actively contributed to its development, simultaneously exploring new possibilities for its heating and industrial applications (for the production of ship tar, sulfur, coke and “rockboard”, i.e. roofing felt). In 1795 he published the treatise Russian Pyrostatics, or the use of already tested air stoves and fireplaces with his own engraved drawings of new heating and ventilation devices (the first work of this kind in Russia), and in 1799 - an essay On the benefits and use of Russian earthen coal.
During the same period, he invented a method of constructing buildings from rammed earth reinforced with lime mortar, and established a school of earthen construction in Nikolskoye. An example of this kind of building was the residence of the Prior of the Order of Malta (Priory) in Gatchina (1798-1799). Since 1799, the center of his experiments was Tyufel's dacha near the Simonov Monastery near Moscow (at that time), which became a kind of technological institute. In 1803 he undertook a local history trip to the southern Russian provinces, the Crimea and the Caucasus.
