Ivan Starov
Encyclopedia
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 from St. 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...
who devised the master plans for Yaroslavl
Yaroslavl
Yaroslavl is a city and the administrative center of Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, located northeast of Moscow. The historical part of the city, a World Heritage Site, is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Kotorosl Rivers. It is one of the Golden Ring cities, a group of historic cities...
, Voronezh
Voronezh
Voronezh is a city in southwestern Russia, the administrative center of Voronezh Oblast. It is located on both sides of the Voronezh River, away from where it flows into the Don. It is an operating center of the Southeastern Railway , as well as the center of the Don Highway...
, Pskov
Pskov
Pskov is an ancient city and the administrative center of Pskov Oblast, Russia, located in the northwest of Russia about east from the Estonian border, on the Velikaya River. Population: -Early history:...
, Dnipropetrovsk
Dnipropetrovsk
Dnipropetrovsk or Dnepropetrovsk formerly Yekaterinoslav is Ukraine's third largest city with one million inhabitants. It is located southeast of Ukraine's capital Kiev on the Dnieper River, in the south-central region of the country...
, Mykolaiv
Mykolaiv
Mykolaiv , also known as Nikolayev , is a city in southern Ukraine, administrative center of the Mykolaiv Oblast. Mykolaiv is the main ship building center of the Black Sea, and, arguably, the whole Eastern Europe.-Name of city:...
, and many other towns in Russia and Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
. His radial urban master plan for Yaroslavl, cleverly highlighting dozens historic churches and towers, is recognized as one of the World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
s.
Starov was one of the first graduates of the Moscow University College (1755–1758) and of 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...
(1758–1762). He continued his education in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
(1762–1767) and Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
(1767–1768), becoming apprenticed to Charles De Wailly
Charles De Wailly
Charles De Wailly was a French architect and urbanist, and furniture designer, one of the principals in the Neoclassical revival of the Antique. His major work was the Théâtre de l'Odéon for the Comédie-Française...
and other fashionable architects of his day. Back in Russia, he delivered lectures in the Academy of Arts, which nominated him academician (1769) and professor (1785). Starov held the post of the principal architect of St. Petersburg between 1772 and 1774. After that, he worked extensively for Prince Potemkin, helping him to found the major cities of New Russia.
Works
Apart from urban planning, Starov was a leading representative of the early neoclassical architectureNeoclassicism
Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...
in Russia. His major projects chronicle the transition of national architecture
Russian architecture
Russian architecture follows a tradition whose roots were established in the Eastern Slavic state of Kievan Rus'. After the fall of Kiev, Russian architectural history continued in the principalities of Vladimir-Suzdal, Novgorod, the succeeding states of the Tsardom of Russia, the Russian Empire,...
from the late Rinaldiesque baroque of the 1760s to the magnificent Neoclassical palaces of the 1780s:
- 1769—Demidov dachaDachaDacha is a Russian word for seasonal or year-round second homes often located in the exurbs of Soviet and post-Soviet cities. Cottages or shacks serving as family's main or only home are not considered dachas, although many purpose-built dachas are recently being converted for year-round residence...
near Peterhof, commissioned by Starov's brother-in-law, Alexander DemidovDemidovThe Demidov family, also Demidoff, were an influential Russian merchant, industrialist and later chivalry family, possibly second only to the Tsar himself in wealth during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.-History:...
, and destroyed by the Nazis. - 1773—chateauChâteauA château is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor or a country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally—and still most frequently—in French-speaking regions...
and church in BogoroditskBogoroditskBogoroditsk is a town and the administrative center of Bogoroditsky District of Tula Oblast, Russia, located on the Upyorta River, a tributary of the Upa. Population:...
, commissioned by Count Bobrinsky. - 1773—chateau and church in Nikolskoye near MoscowMoscowMoscow 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...
, commissioned by Prince Gagarin. - 1774—chateau, gothic gate and park in Taitsy near GatchinaGatchinaGatchina is a town and the administrative center of Gatchinsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located south of St. Petersburg by the road leading to Pskov...
, commissioned by Alexander DemidovDemidovThe Demidov family, also Demidoff, were an influential Russian merchant, industrialist and later chivalry family, possibly second only to the Tsar himself in wealth during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.-History:...
. - 1775—chateau and park pavilions in Suvoritsy near St. Petersburg, commissioned by Pyotr DemidovDemidovThe Demidov family, also Demidoff, were an influential Russian merchant, industrialist and later chivalry family, possibly second only to the Tsar himself in wealth during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.-History:...
. - 1778—Trinity Cathedral of the Alexander Nevsky LavraAlexander Nevsky LavraSaint Alexander Nevsky Lavra or Saint Alexander Nevsky Monastery was founded by Peter I of Russia in 1710 at the eastern end of the Nevsky Prospekt in St. Petersburg supposing that that was the site of the Neva Battle in 1240 when Alexander Nevsky, a prince, defeated the Swedes; however, the battle...
in St. Petersburg, commissioned by the Holy SynodHoly SynodIn several of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches and Eastern Catholic Churches, the patriarch or head bishop is elected by a group of bishops called the Holy Synod...
. - 1783—gate church and iron-cast grille of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, commissioned by the Holy Synod.
- 1783—Tauride PalaceTauride PalaceTauride Palace is one of the largest and most historic palaces in Saint Petersburg, Russia.- Potemkin :...
in St. Petersburg, commissioned by Prince Potemkin. - 1783—chateau in Ostrovki on the Neva RiverNeva RiverThe Neva is a river in northwestern Russia flowing from Lake Ladoga through the western part of Leningrad Oblast to the Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland. Despite its modest length , it is the third largest river in Europe in terms of average discharge .The Neva is the only river flowing from Lake...
, commissioned by Prince Potemkin, currently in ruins from neglect. - 1784—Pella PalacePella PalacePella Palace was a former summer residence built in the reigh of Catherine II of Russia for her grandson, future emperor Alexander. It was situated on the left bank of the Neva River, 30 km east of Saint Petersburg, where the town of Otradnoye now stands. If completed, it would have been Russia's...
on the Neva River, commissioned by Catherine II of RussiaCatherine II of RussiaCatherine II, also known as Catherine the Great , Empress of Russia, was born in Stettin, Pomerania, Prussia on as Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg...
and demolished by her son Paul. - 1784—Lithuanian prison castle at the intersection of the Moyka and the Kryukov Canal in St. Petersburg, demolished after the 1917 fire.
- 1786—Potemkin Palace in Yekaterinoslav, commissioned by Prince Potemkin.
- 1790—Potemkin mansion in Bogoyavlensk-on-the-Bug, commissioned by Prince Potemkin.
- 1790—magistrate and cathedral in Mykolaiv, commissioned by Prince Potemkin.
- 1794—chateau and pavilions in Voznesenskoye on the Neva River, commissioned by Count Sheremetyev.
- 1795—Potemkin mausoleum, commissioned by Potemkin's niece Countess Branicka but never executed.
- 1796—Theotokos Cathedral in KazanKazanKazan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. With a population of 1,143,546 , it is the eighth most populous city in Russia. Kazan lies at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers in European Russia. In April 2009, the Russian Patent Office granted Kazan the...
, commissioned by the Kazan GovernorateKazan GovernorateThe Kazan Governorate or Government of Kazan was a governorate of Imperial Russia from 1708–1920, with the city of Kazan as its capital.-History:...
and destroyed by the Communists.
The Kherson Cathedral
St. Catherine's Cathedral, Kherson
The Cathedral of St. Catherine is a religious building in the fortress of Kherson, Ukraine. Built in 1781-1786, it was one of the earliest churches in New Russia. It is a domed sandstone structure with a Tuscan portico and heavily rusticated walls...
in Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
and the Homel Palace in Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
are also frequently attributed to Starov.
External links
- Ivan Starov: life and works (in Russian)