Nikolai Lvov

State Research Museum of Architecture named after A.V. Shchuseva continues projects dedicated to the work of the architect Nikolai Aleksandrovich Lvov, whose 270th birthday was celebrated in 2023. In the anniversary year, in the architect’s native land in the city of Torzhok, together with the All-Russian historical and ethnographic Museum, the exhibition project “Nikolay Alexandrovich Lvov. Genius of the place."

Today, in the year of its ninetieth anniversary, the Museum of Architecture named after A.V. Shchusev is represented at the exhibition “Nikolai Lvov. Favorites" drawings and engravings of the late 18th century from the creative heritage of the architect of the era of russian classicism Nikolai Aleksandrovich Lvov (1753-1803).

The architectural activity of Lviv is significant and varied, it belongs to both the capitals and the provinces. The architect's legacy includes many projects and structures, theoretical works on the problems of classicism and landscape art. The Museum of Architecture has the honor of storing one of the most significant collections of the architect's graphics. Its value is determined not only by the number of surviving materials (30 drawings and 12 engravings), but also by their highest artistic merit. At the exhibition you can see 28 sheets representing the main works of the master.

The significance and magnificence of Nikolai Lvov’s work inspired the Museum to create not only an exhibition project, but also a jewelry project. The museum’s jewelry partner, Epic Jewelery, created a capsule collection of “Lviv” jewelry. It presents pendants, the creation of which by creative director of Epic Jewelery Anna Minakova and artist Irina Petrakova was inspired by the architectural plan of the park pavilion of the Znamenskoye-Raek Estate in the Torzhok district of the Tver region (1787-1799) by Lvov, stored in the museum’s collection. The jewelry collection includes silver pendants in sizes S, M and L and a special version of the pendant in yellow gold. Silver jewelry will be sold exclusively at Epic Jewelery, the Museum of Architecture. A.V. Shchusev and in the All-Russian Historical and Ethnographic Museum. Gold jewelry - at Epic Jewelery.

The majority of Nikolai Lvov’s collection consists of graphics related to temple construction. The exhibition opens with sheets with a design for the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Mogilev, created in 1780 in order to mark an important diplomatic event for Russia: negotiations between Empress Catherine II and Austrian Emperor Joseph II. That is why already in 1782 a special series of engravings was made from the drawings. The explanatory inscriptions record the architect's architectural program incorporated into this structure.

Viewers of the exhibition will be able to see several graphic works depicting the architect’s largest and most perfect creation – the cathedral of the Boris and Gleb Monastery in Torzhok. Externally, the cathedral is impressive, monumental and strict to the point of asceticism. Inside, it amazes with its solemn beauty and rich play of spaces.

The architecture of manor buildings is represented at the exhibition by several different projects - from a monumental house-palace in Voronov, near Moscow, elegant pavilions in Lyalichi and Znamensky-Raika, to purely utilitarian, but in Lviv carefully thought out drawings of a greenhouse and a wood shed. A striking example of urban construction in the early works of Lvov is the project of the Neva Gate of the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg, dated 1780. At the exhibition you can see a drawing representing the strict and expressive architecture of the front gate of the fortress from the Neva side. This structure still plays a significant role in the coastal panorama of the center of St. Petersburg today.

Not all completed architectural structures presented in the graphics have survived to this day. The cathedral in Mogilev was dismantled, and the house of P.A. does not exist. Soimonova in St. Petersburg, and a summer house in Lyalichi, park pavilions in Znamensky-Raika were lost. This makes drawings and engravings that preserve precious evidence of the creative heritage of Nikolai Aleksandrovich Lvov even more valuable.

Museum of Architecture named after. A.V. Shchuseva will continue joint projects with the All-Russian Historical and Ethnographic Museum, and on May 15, 2024, on the architect’s birthday, in the city of Torzhok she will take part in the “Lviv Day in Raika” events.

Most of the projects of residential mansions, demonstrating the originality of Lviv compositions, are also kept in the Museum’s collection. The architecture of Soimonov’s dacha, which was once located in St. Petersburg surrounded by a vast park on the banks of the Neva, is especially perfect. The façade drawing represents an outstanding example of the “Palladian” theme in the architecture of private houses during classicism.