NB! · Archive · Architecture · Heritage

All the fireplaces and stoves had to be rebuilt and made anew from the old drawings

All the fireplaces and stoves had to be rebuilt and made anew from the old drawings. In winter the large rooms with their high ceilings were hard to heat, but here a temperature was maintained for the sake of preservation

NB! · Architecture · Museums · Mores

Today Khmelita Has Its Historic Interiors Restored, Furnished with Authentic Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Pieces

Today Khmelita has its historic interiors restored, furnished with authentic eighteenth- and nineteenth-century pieces. This is the lady's bedroom; in the corner, a door to the water closet

A half-open white multi-paned window in a manor interior, framed by pale curtains with tassels and a green houseplant leaf.

NB! · Aristocracy · Architecture · Mores

In the 18th and 19th centuries Khmelita Estate Served Mainly as a Summer Residence

In the 18th and 19th centuries Khmelita was chiefly a summer residence: in winter, both getting there and living in so large a house was harder.

NB! · Architecture · Heritage · Mores

Neither the French nor the Germans merely spared the splendid estate: both meant to keep it for their own use

Neither the French nor the Germans merely spared the splendid estate: both meant to keep it for their own use. Murat and some member of the Wehrmacht's upper echelons wished to retain Khmelita as their own hunting lodge

NB! · Architecture · Observations · Heritage

Khmelita's double-flight grand staircase was also destroyed: it beggars belief that anyone could have razed it to the ground!

Khmelita's double-flight grand staircase was also destroyed: it beggars belief that anyone could have razed it to the ground! But it really does say a great deal about our patriotism

Aristocracy · Architecture · Heritage · Mores

The Khmelita estate after the 1950s fire and its restoration by Viktor Kulakov

An eighteenth-century manor survived Napoleon's invasion, revolution, nationalisation, collectivisation and the Great Patriotic War, but did not survive a drunken peasant. In the 1950s it was burnt down by hard-drinking collective farmers who decided to warm themselves on a cold night within the walls of the

Baroque palace with blue walls, white columns and a green roof under an overcast sky, with a lawn in front.

NB! · Architecture · Observations · Heritage · Reportage

A visit to Khmelita, the Griboyedovs' baroque palace in the Smolensk region

In September I had the good fortune to visit the Khmelita estate. I had long followed the fortunes of the Baroque palace of the Griboyedovs in the Smolensk region, yet I was surprised all the same by its beauty on making its personal acquaintance.

NB! · Architecture · Faith · Moscow

In St Basil's Cathedral there are steps in front of the windows; in fact this is an architects' ruse to increase the insolation of the church interiors: a stepped surface reflects more sunlight

Round miniature of a columned domed interior in a gilded frame, with a nameplate reading J. G. Soufflot below.

NB! · Architecture · Art · Observations · People

Miniatures of the Panthéon in the frame of Louis-Michel van Loo's portrait of Soufflot

A portrait of Soufflot by the Rococo master Louis-Michel van Loo caught my attention for the miniatures set into its frame. They show the façade and the interior of the Panthéon, the architect's principal creation

Portrait of Jacques Germain Soufflot in a red velvet coat at a table with drawings, a reproduction on the left and the framed painting on display on the right.

NB! · Architecture · Paris · People

Jacques Germain Soufflot, architect of the Paris Panthéon and mentor of Bazhenov

The French architect of the eighteenth century Jacques-Germain Soufflot was the author of the Paris Panthéon (the church of Sainte-Geneviève). He interests us because for a time he was the mentor of the Moscow architect Bazhenov

NB! · Architecture · Art

And on the Ceiling, Golden Dragons

A wall of arched wooden panels topped with gilded palm trees with spreading fronds.

NB! · Architecture · Art · Monarchies

The Hall with Palms in Stuttgart's New Palace, Created 150 Years Before Art Deco

The New Palace in Stuttgart, the hall with palms. The interior was created 150 years before the appearance of the Art Deco style