PERSECUTED BY FATE Vasily Bazhenov

PERSECUTED BY FATE Vasily Bazhenov is an outstanding Russian architect of the 18th century. The architect's surname is thought to be derived from the Russian for "desired child," but if this nickname was given to one of his ancestors there was something in the life of Vasily that seemed to prevent him from living up to it and fully achieving success. Vasily Bazhenov was born on March 12, 1737, to the family of a clergyman at one of Moscow's Kremlin churches. What a fine place to start an architectural career! At an early age, Vasily loved to draw pictures of buildings in the city. An architect noticed the boy's talent and invited him to study at his school. However, Moscow, no longer Russia's capital at the time, experienced a period of stagnation. In 1758, Bazhenov went on from school to the Imperial Academy of the Arts in St. Petersburg. His knowledge in architecture was so extensive that he was appointed architect in the construction of St. Nicholas' Naval Cathedral. In 1759, as the most promising student, he was sent to Paris to complete his studies. Under Professor Duval he made scale models of architectural elements and buildings. He made a complete model of the Louvre. Travelling to Italy, he constructed a model of St. Peter's in Rome. His attention was also drawn to the work of the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius, who had such an important impact on Renaissance and subsequent architecture in Europe. Having gained full theoretical knowledge in the field of architecture, Bazhenov actively began a career as practicing architect.
One of his first designs was the facade of the Academy of the Arts building on the Neva River, inaugurated in 1765. He went on to design the Palace in Yekaterinhof Park to obtain the degree of professor of the Academy of the Arts. Although the design was accepted, Bazhenov did not receive the degree. This unfair decision forced him to leave the Academy and enter the service of Prince Grigory Orlov's artillery department as chief architect with the rank of captain. A new stage began in Bazhenov's architectural career. He designed and built one fine edifice after another. In Moscow he was responsible for constructing the Kremlin embankment, which was to replace the huge city dump on the banks of the Moskva River. The dump, however, remained in place.
In St Petersburg he designed the Arsenal building. In Moscow, in the 1770s, Bazhenov a mansion for his father-in-law now standing at 18 Prospekt Mira. Unfortunately, the second floor of the mansion was dismantled in the 1840s. Another mansion he designed for a merchant at 21 Bolshaya ordynka was also rebuilt in the 19 century. The architect's most outstanding masterpiece was the palace known as Pashkov House named after the first owner, a descendant of Peter the Great's batman. This splendid monument stands on a hill towering over Mokhovaya Street across from the Kremlin. It is regarded as Moscow's most beautiful secular building. In the 19 century it housed the Rumyantsev Museum which had, among other things, Russia's best library. Like the British Museum, it was known to all the educated people in the country. While Karl Marx studied at the British Museum, Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the Soviet regime in early years, pored over books in the Rumyantsev Museum plotting the overthrow of the Tzar. This seems to be the reason why, under the Soviets, the museum was named the Lenin Library. Today the library no longer bears Lenin's name, but the ungainly new building library to Bazhenov's masterpiece, whose condition leaves much to be desired. In particular, the statue that used to crown the building is no longer there, lending it an unfinished appearance, Moreover, sloping away from the building there used to be a park with ponds, and the whole formed a unique ensemble Today Pashkov House stands above an endless stream of traffic that makes Moscow one of the most polluted cities in the world