Ippolit Antonovich Monighetti (1819–1878) was a Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n architect of Swiss descent
who worked for the Romanov

Romanov

The House of Romanov was the second and last imperial dynasty to rule over Russia, reigning from 1613 until the February Revolution abolished the crown in 1917...

 family.

Monighetti attended the Stroganov Art School and then studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts

Imperial Academy of Arts

The Russian Academy of Arts, informally known as the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, was founded in 1757 by Ivan Shuvalov under the name Academy of the Three Noblest Arts. Catherine the Great renamed it the Imperial Academy of Arts and commissioned a new building, completed 25 years later in 1789...

 under Alexander Brullov

Alexander Brullov

Alexander Pavlovich Brullov was a Russian artist associated with the latest phase of the Russian Neoclassicism.Alexander Brullov was born in Saint Petersburg into a family of French artists: his great grandfather, his grandfather, his father and his brothers were artists. His first teacher was...

, matriculating in 1839 with a gold medal. His extensive journeys in Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

 and Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 in the 1840s predetermined his interest in revivalist architecture.

Monighetti started his career as a fashionable architect by designing a cluster of villa

Villa

A villa was originally an ancient Roman upper-class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became small farming compounds, which were increasingly fortified in Late Antiquity,...

s in Tsarskoe Selo, notable those for Princess Yusupov

Yusupov

Yusupov or Yusupova is a Russian surname of Tatar origin. It may refer to:*House of Yusupov, noble Russian family**Felix Yusupov , Count Sumarokov-Elston, Russian aristocrat and one of the participants in the murder of Grigori Rasputin**Irina Yusupova , Russian Princess and daughter of Count...

 and Prince Bagration

Bagration

Bagration may refer to* Bagrationi dynasty* Prince Pyotr Bagration , a Russian general in the Napoleonic Wars* The Bagrationi, a royal family of Georgia, from whom the Prince was descended...

. In 1850, he was commissioned by Nicholas I of Russia

Nicholas I of Russia

Nicholas I , was the Emperor of Russia from 1825 until 1855, known as one of the most reactionary of the Russian monarchs. On the eve of his death, the Russian Empire reached its historical zenith spanning over 20 million square kilometers...

 to stylise a Turkish bath in the Catherine Park

Catherine Park

The Catherine Park is a park, located in the town of Tsarskoye Selo , 25 km south-east of St. Petersburg, Russia. It is an integral part of the royal residence in Tsarskoye Selo....

 as a little mosque. In the 1860s, Monighetti was responsible for refurbishing several rooms of the Catherine Palace

Catherine Palace

The Catherine Palace was the Rococo summer residence of the Russian tsars, located in the town of Tsarskoye Selo , 25 km south-east of St. Petersburg, Russia.- History :...

.

On the strength of his success in Tsarskoe Selo, Monighetti was asked by Alexander II

Alexander II of Russia

Alexander II , also known as Alexander the Liberator was the Emperor of the Russian Empire from 3 March 1855 until his assassination in 1881...

 to design his summer residence in Livadiya

Livadiya

Livadiya is small town in Crimea, Ukraine west of Yalta. A minor Crimean Tatar settlement in Middle Ages, Livadiya was named after the ancient Greek entrance into paradise in 1835, when a notable landscape park was laid out here. Livadiya became a summer residence of the Russian tsars in 1861....

, Crimea

Crimea

Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...

. Of his Crimean structures, only the neo-Byzantine church of the Livadia Palace

Livadia Palace

Livadia Palace was a summer retreat of the last Russian tsar, Nicholas II, and his family in Livadiya, Crimea in southern Ukraine. The Yalta Conference was held there in 1945, when the palace housed the apartments of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and other members of the American delegation...

 still stands. He also refurbished the imperial yachts Livadia

Livadia (yacht)

Two royal yachts of the House of Romanov of the Russian Empire were named Livadia, after the Livadia Palace:* Livadia, launched in 1873 and sunk in 1878* Livadia, experimental ship launched in 1880 and retired in 1880...

and Derzhava

Derzhava (yacht)

The Derzhava was a royal yacht of the House of Romanov. It was laid down in 1866 and launched in 1871. The Derzhava and the Livadia were the last wooden paddle steamers built for the Romanovs...

.

In the 1870s, Monighetti designed new interiors for the Skierniewice Palace (near Warsaw

Warsaw

Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...

), Anichkov Palace

Anichkov Palace

Anichkov Palace is a former imperial palace in Saint Petersburg, at the intersection of Nevsky Avenue and the Fontanka.-History:The palace, situated on the plot formerly owned by Antonio de Vieira, takes its name from the nearby Anichkov Bridge across the Fontanka...

 and the Yusupov Palace (both in Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

). At the end of his life, Monighetti became interested in the Russian Revival

Russian Revival

The Russian Revival style is the generic term for a number of different movements within Russian architecture that arose in second quarter of the 19th century and was an eclectic melding of pre-Peterine Russian architecture and elements of Byzantine architecture.The Russian Revival style arose...

. He applied the newly fashionable style to the Polytechnical Museum

Polytechnical Museum

Polytechnical Museum is a science museum in Moscow that emphasizes the progress of Russian and Soviet technology and science, as well as modern inventions and developments. It was founded in 1872 after the first All-Russian Technical Exhibition on the bicentennial anniversary of the birth of Peter...

 in Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

, the Russian church in Vevey

Vevey

Vevey is a town in Switzerland in the canton Vaud, on the north shore of Lake Geneva, near Lausanne.It was the seat of the district of the same name until 2006, and is now part of the Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut District...

, Switzerland, and the sepulchre for Alexander II's illegitimate children in Tsarskoe Selo.