Zemtsov architect of the 18th century. Abstract: Zemtsov Mikhail Grigorievich

13.12.2023 | Physics

The exact place and date of birth of Mikhail Grigorievich Zemtsov is not known. It is believed that he was born in 1686 or 1688. He probably received his primary education in Moscow at a school at the Armory Chamber.

The first reliable information about Mikhail Zemtsov dates back to 1709, when he studied Italian at the St. Petersburg Provincial Chancellery. In 1710, by decree of Peter I, a capable young man was sent to serve in the Office of City Affairs. The office then supervised the construction of the stone fortress “St. Petersburg” and the construction of the city around it. It was headed by Domenico Trezzini, with this architect Mikhail Zemtsov having the opportunity to learn a lot.

The extraordinary abilities of Mikhail Zemtsov were noticed by Domenico Trezzini, who often even left his student to work with other students. It was Trezzini who recommended Zemtsov for a trip to Moscow when work began in the Moscow Kremlin and Kitay-Gorod in 1718. Mikhail Zemtsov was appointed construction manager.

Domenico Trezzini died in 1734. All his works were transferred to Zemtsov. In 1735, he became the architect of the St. Petersburg Police Chief's Office, thus becoming in fact the chief architect of the city. In 1741, Zemtsov began work on his main project - the stone Trinity Cathedral on Trinity Square. The project was never implemented. At the same time as working on the cathedral project, Zemtsov was also engaged in other matters, for example, housing the Persian embassy.

Under Elizaveta Petrovna, Zemtsov again became a court architect. He was entrusted with the restoration of Moscow palaces before the coronation of Elizabeth. Upon his return to St. Petersburg, Mikhail Grigorievich was entrusted with the construction of the Anichkov Palace. At the same time, the architect developed a plan for the reconstruction of the palace in Tsarskoe Selo.

Despite the enormous employment, Mikhail Zemtsov’s wages were not revised for a long time. By the beginning of the 1740s, he received the same amount as in 1724. Only shortly before his death, the architect received the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Mikhail Grigorievich Zemtsov died on September 28, 1743. Thanks to the master’s high efficiency, after his death there were rumors that his work was distributed among thirteen architects, so there were a lot of these cases.

Mikhail Grigorievich Zemtsov (1688-1743) "- one of the chicks of “Petrov’s nest”, the first Russian architect. Born in Moscow in 1688, he was sent to St. Petersburg among the first settlers of the new capital. In St. Petersburg, at first he was in a school at the city chancellery, and in 1710 he was sent to science by Trezzini with a salary of 5 rubles. His studies with Trezzini were very successful: in 1715 his salary was increased to 10, and the next year to 15 rubles. Soon, however, Zemtsov passed from Trezzini to the architect Michetti, who made him his assistant and sent him to Revel and Catherine to oversee the construction of the palace designed by Michetti. Obviously, here Peter the Great recognizes Zemtsov and draws attention to the talented architect. From this time on, he began to be given a number of assignments. On August 19, 1723, the head of the galley fleet received an order “to send the architectural apprentice Zemtsov to the boat “Elsenfors” to Sweden to hire workers and craftsmen and purchase tools. In the last years of the reign of Peter the Great, Zemtsov also took part in the work of the Peterhof fountains; for example, , he was tasked with “redoing the pyramid, making the pool lower and removing one ustup (ledge) in the Cascades; in the canal along the stairs, on the right side of the chambers, make dolphins, as on the other side"; further, he works in the royal gardens, for example, he makes "a gallery against flower beds or an oak gallery for paintings by old masters." All these works were given to Zemtsov architect's rank (1724), and less than a year later the Senate gave him a salary of 550 rubles.

Under Peter the Great, Zemtsov studied and carried out the work entrusted to him based on the designs of other architects, and since he was also a skilled draftsman, he made those drawings that required elegant finishing and artistry; for example, the “grotto in the Summer Garden” designed by Peter the Great has survived to this day in Zemtsov’s drawings. Next, Zemtsov also performed the duties of a sculptor: he drew up designs for statues that were going to decorate the building under construction for the Cabinet of Curiosities of the Academy of Sciences. Having become an architect, Zemtsov showed such enormous activity over the course of 20 years that nowadays one cannot help but be amazed at how this still far from appreciated first Russian architect could work so hard. From 1725 to 1732, Zemtsov was listed in the office of buildings, i.e., he held a position corresponding to the current position of the architect of the Court; in 1732 he received a special assignment - “assigned to complete the construction of the monastery buildings of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.” The terrible St. Petersburg fires came. We had to rebuild. city. A special commission for the organization of St. Petersburg appeared, and Zemtsov in 1735 was appointed as an architect at the police office. From 1740 to 1743, i.e., the year of his death, Zemtsov again fulfilled a special assignment - supervision of the construction of the Neva Lavra, and at the same time he was entrusted with a number of the most diverse palace buildings.

Zemtsov’s first independent building was a wooden hall, approximately where the palace of the Prince of Oldenburg is now located on the Champ de Mars. This hall was built for the wedding of Peter the Great's daughter Anna Petrovna with the Prince of Holstein and, like most buildings of that time, it was built hastily. In Berchholtz’s notes we find an indication that “Prince Menshikov spent last night in new rooms and now intends to spend the night in them in order to have constant supervision over the workers and by all means to hasten them to finish the construction.” Then in the same 1725, with such but, if not with greater speed, he had to rebuild and re-build the Summer Palace for Empress Catherine I and, finally, re-decorate the Italian Palace. All these buildings have not survived: the ceremonial hall stood until 1731, the Summer Palace of Catherine I was replaced first by the Summer Palace of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, built by Count Rastrelli the son, and then by the Mikhailovsky Castle of Emperor Paul and, what is now the Engineering Castle, on the site of the Italian The Gwarengi Palace was built by the Catherine Institute. In addition to these fundamental buildings, Zemtsov had to oversee a number of smaller ones, for example, he completed the lookout palace, built palaces in Yekateringhof and Annenhof, rebuilt the triumphal gates, etc.

During the reign of Empress Anna Ioannovna, Zemtsov’s activities were aimed at organizing St. Petersburg and church construction. Zemtsov took an active part in Zachheim’s drawing up of the first topographic plan of St. Petersburg in 1738. For this purpose, Zemtsov compiled an inventory of philistine houses in St. Petersburg (April 15, 1736). Further, he was responsible for drawing up: 1) regulations on paving work, i.e., on paving streets, and 2) conditions for government contracts. According to his drawings and drawings, all the entrances to the capital, police boxes and, finally, slingshots that were used to close the streets at night were built. As a police architect, Zemtsov also built a building for the main police, which was second along the Moika, from Nevsky Prospekt, behind the Dutch church. It is interesting to note that according to his designs, during the harsh winter of 1739, special heating pads were built on the streets.

As the architect of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, Zemtsov could not prove himself to be anything special, mainly because, despite the very frequent, strict orders from the Highest to complete the construction of the monastery, they did not give enough money. But having accepted this construction, Zemtsov indicated that, in all likelihood, it would be necessary to dismantle the vaults of the cathedral, which were unfinished. This assumption of Zemtsov was justified.

Of the churches built by Zemtsov, two in particular attracted attention - Simeonovskaya and the old Church of the Kazan Mother of God, which was later replaced by the Kazan Voronikhin Cathedral. In church construction, Zemtsov has already shown a certain independence; True, the plan of the Zemtsov churches resembles the plan of the Trezzini churches: the same elongated bell tower placed in front of the church, behind which there is a gallery leading into the church itself, but the details of the construction are no longer Trezinovsky: the bell tower, first of all, is not as simple as Trezzini’s - the influence of the Baroque style is already clear is felt, especially in the upper part of the bell tower, in the round windows of one of the tiers of the bell tower and, finally, in the slightly curved shape of the spitz itself. Then Zemtsov completely changed the shape of the dome: instead of the small Trezzini lantern, a rather significant main dome appeared. Church of St. Simeon and Anna has been preserved in a relatively untouched form. As for the already disappeared Church of the Kazan Mother of God, its plan was similar to Simeonovskaya and, judging by the surviving painting by an unknown master, it had a beautiful colonnade of Corinthian-style columns inside.

A small elegant building - the pavilion-boat of Peter the Great in the Peter and Paul Fortress - should certainly testify, as I. Grabar says, “to the presence of reliable architectural imagination in Zemtsov, who knew how, when opportunity allowed, to create the most charming forms using the simplest means.”

On April 6, 1742, the quartermaster of Empress Elisaveta Petrovna Shargorodsky gives the order to the architect Zemtsov to build the Anichkov Palace, and warns that this construction must be done in a hurry - such is the desire of the empress; she wants a palace to be erected where the prefabricated hut of the Preobrazhensky Regiment stood, from where the Empress - then still Princess Elizabeth - at the head of her life-companions went to gain her father's throne. And the construction of this palace is entrusted not to a foreigner, but to a Russian architect.

Zemtsov showed intense activity: drawing after drawing was produced by a talented architect, and his assistant Dmitriev took these drawings to the empress for approval in Moscow. They started work, beat piles, laid foundations, began to build walls; In order to be closer to the construction, Zemtsov begged himself a plot to build a house almost opposite the palace. And in the midst of this work, Zemtsov dies. A report to the Empress about his death was made on November 29, 1743. The work on finishing the palace was entrusted to Rastrelli, who, not being able to change the general plan, nevertheless had his hand in the details, as a result of which the character of the building turned out to be different from what Zemtsov would have given him .

Zemtsov was certainly distinguished by his enormous energy and ability to work, but having been educated at the school of Trezzini, who was not an architect, but an engineer, Zemtsov, of course, could not develop his great inclinations as an artist. Unfamiliar with either the theory of architecture or the outstanding architectural monuments of Europe (Zemtsov had never been anywhere except Stockholm), our Russian nugget had to figure out everything on his own, discover America everywhere. But Zemtsov could not engage in architecture continuously and systematically due to the conditions of that time: he was constantly torn away from his main occupation, he had to carry out thousands of small assignments, had to be not only a builder, but also a police architect, and at the same time deal with contracts and participate in bidding for various works. It is quite clear that the result was insignificant. Judging by the pavilion-boat, by the bell tower of the Simeon Church, Zemtsov’s talent could unfold, and, perhaps, we could repeat the name of Zemtsov with the same pride as we now repeat the name of the Russian Italian Rastrelli.

Being an active builder, Zemtsov was almost the only leader of that first school of architects in St. Petersburg, which was founded by Leblon; We know very little about it, but from it came those numerous architects who were sent as builders throughout Russia.

Saint Petersburg
Peterhof

Mikhail Grigorievich Zemtsov(1688, Moscow - September 28, 1743, St. Petersburg) - Russian architect, representative of the early Baroque.

Biography

He studied at the Armory Chamber in Moscow. In St. Petersburg since 1709; Studied Italian at the provincial office.

Since 1710, by order of Peter I, he was appointed assistant and student of D. Trezzini.

Since 1719, he supervised the development of Moscow in connection with the lifting of the ban on building stone structures. In 1720 he was transferred from student to Gezel. He was an assistant to Leblond and Michetti.

In 1720-1722 he worked in Reval as N. Michetti’s deputy on the construction of Ekaterinenthal (Kadriorg). Starting from the spring of 1721, the entire construction was carried out by Zemtsov alone, who completed it.

In 1723 he traveled to Stockholm for work.

From 1723 he worked in St. Petersburg on orders from the court.

In 1724 he received the title of architect. He taught architecture to I. Ya. Blanka.

After the execution of P. M. Eropkin in 1740, he was seconded to the “Commission on St. Petersburg Buildings” to edit and complete the treatise “The Position of the Architectural Expedition”, in which he apparently wrote the chapters: “On architecture and architects”, “What to do in buildings”, “About the positions of various arts masters working in buildings”, “About the Academy of Architecture”. From 1741 he served as court architect to Elizabeth Petrovna. The first Russian architect of St. Petersburg, who, along with Trezzini, embodied the main architectural plans of Peter I.

He worked in St. Petersburg, Tsarskoe Selo and Moscow.

In 1742 he received the rank of colonel. Had an architectural "team".

Works

1731-1734. Church of Simeon and Anna in St. Petersburg, consecrated on January 27, 1734. H. van Bolos was invited to build the spire. (preserved, partially rebuilt).

1733-1737. Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in St. Petersburg. The church has not survived; Zemtsov’s authorship is questionable.
1734-1739. Management of the construction of a church for hospitals on the Vyborg side (project by D. Trezzini, accepted for execution in connection with the death of the author) in St. Petersburg. The building was brought to the architrave, construction was stopped due to the exhaustion of the estimate. Until the end of the 18th century, the church stood unfinished; in 1771 it was decided to abandon the previous plan; the unfinished church building was later adapted as an auditorium for the Military Medical Academy.
The Lookout Palace of Peter I (completion of construction and decoration; project author S. van Zwieten; lost)
Project of the Hermitage pavilion in Catherine Park (Tsarskoye Selo)
Cavalry and craftsman's yards in Peterhof (1732)
Cascade "Golden Mountain" (Lower Park of Peterhof), together with Michetti
Reconstruction of the ruin cascade (Lower Park of Peterhof)
Anichkov Palace Project
House for Peter the Great's boat in the Peter and Paul Fortress;
1743-1754. Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral in St. Petersburg. The temple was built from 1743 to 1754. Mikhail Zemtsov did not live to see the completion of construction; after his death, the work was led by the architect Pietro Antonio Trezzini, who slightly changed the project. The temple has not survived - it was completely rebuilt after the fire of 1825 by the architect V.P. Stasov.

Literature

Pilyavsky V.I., Slavina T.A., Tits A.A. and others. History of Russian architecture. - M: Architecture-S, 2004. - ISBN 5-274-01659-6. - ISBN 5-9647-0014-4.
Johansen M. V. Mikhail Zemtsov (series: Architects of our city). - L: Lenizdat, 1975.

Zemtsov Mikhail Grigorievich
1688 – 1743

A remarkable Russian architect, a representative of the early Baroque, one of the first architects of St. Petersburg. Born in Moscow in 1688 (the exact date of birth is unknown). He studied at the art school at the printing house of the Armory Chamber in Moscow. From 1709 he worked in St. Petersburg, initially under the leadership of D. Trezzini. Since the 1720s. gg. took part in the implementation of the layout of the Summer Garden and in the creation of the palace and park ensemble in Peterhof. He received the title of architect in 1724. Since 1737, one of the leaders of the Commission on St. Petersburg buildings. Together with I.K. Korobov, he completed the work on drawing up the Russian Architectural Code (1741), begun by P.M. Eropkin. From 1741 he supervised construction at the Police Chief's Office.

At the end of 1742 or at the beginning of 1743, M. Zemtsov developed a broad program for the reconstruction of the Tsarskoe Selo palace ensemble, the implementation of which was to transform the modest Tsarskoe Selo with the small palace of Catherine I into a grandiose ensemble. However, when it came to construction, Elizabeth changed the original decision and approved a new project, the author of which was the architect, Zemtsov’s student, Andrei Kvasov.

The architect had so many responsibilities that it gave rise to an anecdotal story that after his death, 13 people allegedly had to be appointed to cope with the tasks that he alone performed. And for all this colossal work, which he meekly performed for almost 20 years, M. Zemtsov continued to receive the same 550 rubles assigned to him in 1724. If in the first years the salary may have been enough (then the architect was single), then in the 1730s, when he had a family, and also had to build a stone house “at his own expense,” the income was clearly not enough. Three times he turned to Empress Anna Ioannovna, and then to Empress Elizabeth, asking to be awarded “rank.” In August 1742, he outlined in detail on several sheets all his merits for 32 years of service. The architect wrote that “he corrected the architecture’s work, first according to the Chancellery from buildings during the St. Petersburg fortification, also holy churches and during the construction of the houses of your Imperial Majesty of St. Petersburg, Strelinsky and Revelsky, while at the same time cleaning up lusthauses, grottoes, fountains in the gardens, cascade and so on.” He further indicated: “In addition to these my works, I corrected all sorts of differences and dimensions of places, the establishment of streets and squares, the inspection and construction of philistine houses and the certificate and assessment of them for the Main Police Chief Office, as well as for the established Commission on St. Petersburg buildings. The creation of major projects with drawings and writing for public and private buildings, about everything that related to the decoration of the city, was carried out from the teams for the benefit of the whole people, in which he dealt with difficult matters more than all my peers.” This is what the architect wrote about his difficult working life. He also mentions his students, many of whom “were promoted to Gezel for the benefit of the state, and Ivan Blank is already an architect.” And for all this he asks to be rewarded with “rank and patent and for food ... an additional salary.” Only six months later a decree appeared conferring on him the rank of lieutenant colonel “for his long service and zeal for other architects.”

Zemtsov completed the design of the Anichkov Palace with a large, elegant regular garden in the summer of 1741. By August 15, a list of materials necessary for construction work was presented. Since he himself was not able to carry out their implementation due to his long stay in Moscow, the supervision of driving piles and laying ditches under the foundations was carried out by the “Gesel architecture” and his closest assistants S. Chevakinsky, I. Slyadnev and G. Dmitriev. The work did not move too quickly. In 1742 and 1743, the laying of the foundation and walls had not yet begun.

Subsequently, when, after Zemtsov’s death, Dmitriev became the head of the creation of the ensemble, the construction of the palace was still carried out according to Zemtsov’s drawings. The actual building differed from his project only in that it was made “against the design of the architect Zemtsov... above the chamber, for the reason that it was ordered to use ready-made window frames transported from Courland.” In addition, instead of the “finiments” he proposed - a complex baroque composition - that ended the palace, F.B. Rastrelli later created domes over the side projections. The prototype for them was the completion of the Tsarskoye Selo palace church created by S.I. Chevakinsky. That is why the copy of the drawing of the facade of the Anichkov Palace, executed by G. Dmitriev, who reproduced the plan of M. Zemtsov, does not have this completion. It appears in a drawing by M. Makhaev, made from life in 1750. The gallery in front of the palace shown in the figure was also built according to Zemtsov’s design.

For a long time, the exact date of Zemtsov’s death was not known, and everyone who wrote about him limited himself to indicating that it happened in the fall of 1743. In one of the minutes of the Chancellery from the buildings, we managed to find the following entry: “... the architecture of Gezel Ivan Slyadnev and Grigory Dmitriev announced by submitting a report that the commands of this Chancellery, Lieutenant Colonel and architect Mikhailo Zemtsov, died last September 28 by the will of God.” This is how the date of death of M. Zemtsov is established - September 28, 1743.

OBJECTS OF CREATIVITY:

Church of the Righteous Simeon the God-Receiver and Anna the Prophetess (46 Mokhovaya St.)

Transfiguration Cathedral (rebuilt)

Fairy tale roomRed living room

"Anichkov Palace in the history of the Russian state"

nrgo

Winter Garden

Main buildingService building

“Anichkov Palace in photos and paintings”

http://anichkov.ru/Pictures/big78223611712268.jpg http://anichkov.ru/Pictures/big4345281171281.jpg

Zemtsov Mikhail Grigorievich
1688 – 1743

The architect had so many responsibilities that it gave rise to an anecdotal story that after his death, 13 people allegedly had to be appointed to cope with the tasks that he alone performed. And for all this colossal work, which he meekly performed for almost 20 years, M. Zemtsov continued to receive the same 550 rubles assigned to him in 1724. If in the first years the salary may have been enough (then the architect was single), then in the 1730s, when he had a family, and also had to build a stone house “at his own expense,” the income was clearly not enough. Three times he turned to Empress Anna Ioannovna, and then to Empress Elizabeth, asking to be awarded “rank.” In August 1742, he outlined in detail on several sheets all his merits for 32 years of service. The architect wrote that “he corrected the architecture’s work, first according to the Chancellery from buildings during the St. Petersburg fortification, also holy churches and during the construction of the houses of your Imperial Majesty of St. Petersburg, Strelinsky and Revelsky, while at the same time cleaning up lusthauses, grottoes, fountains in the gardens, cascade and so on.” He further indicated: “In addition to these my works, I corrected for the Main Police Chief Office, also for the established Commission on the St. Petersburg Building, all sorts of layouts and dimensions of places, the establishment of streets and squares, the inspection and construction of philistine houses and their certificates and assessments. The creation of major projects with drawings and writing for public and private buildings, about everything that related to the decoration of the city, was carried out from the teams for the benefit of the whole people, in which he dealt with difficult matters more than all my peers.” This is what the architect wrote about his difficult working life. He also mentions his students, many of whom “were promoted to Gezel for the benefit of the state, and Ivan Blank is already an architect.” And for all this he asks to be rewarded with “rank and patent and for food ... an additional salary.” Only six months later a decree appeared conferring on him the rank of lieutenant colonel “for his long service and zeal for other architects.”

OBJECTS OF CREATIVITY:

Church of the Righteous Simeon the God-Receiver and Anna the Prophetess (46 Mokhovaya St.)

Transfiguration Cathedral (rebuilt)