The Golitsyn estate in Znamsky Lane. The old Golitsyn estate. 20th century: Communist Academy and Institute of Philosophy

Since its foundation, the Institute has been located in the former estate of the Golitsyn princes - a building built in the 18th century and survived the fire of 1812. This mansion, under state protection as an architectural monument, is a witness to many events in the history and culture of our country; the most important philosophical and scientific discussions of the last century; Its history includes the names of outstanding Russian thinkers, scientists and public figures, writers and poets, composers and artists. Since the end of the 19th century, the Moscow Conservatory and the Moscow City People's University named after A.L. Shanyavsky, higher and secondary educational institutions, a number of academic institutes, and public associations have operated within its walls. The house on Volkhonka, 14 has become an integral part of the scientific and humanitarian culture of Moscow, a kind of symbol of Russian philosophy.

Volkhonka 14

The estate of the princes Golitsyn of the museum town of the State Museum of Fine Arts named after A.S. Pushkin has changed its appearance several times over the three centuries of its history. The author of the original project was the famous St. Petersburg architect Savva Chevakinsky. In 1774, the estate was rebuilt and became the central part of the Prechistensky Palace, designed by Matvey Kazakov for Catherine II.

The walls of this house have seen many famous people. A.S. appeared at luxurious balls more than once. Pushkin. Alexander Sergeevich was even going to get married to Natalya Goncharova in the house church of Prince Golitsyn, but the wedding ceremony was arranged in the Church of the Ascension of the Lord at the Nikitsky Gate. In 1877, Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky settled in the main house. Here he completed the play “The Last Victim”, wrote “Dowry”, “Heart is not a Stone”, “Talents and Admirers”. In 1885, the neighboring apartment was occupied by Ivan Sergeevich Aksakov, one of the leaders of the Slavophile movement.

In 1865, a free museum consisting of family collections was opened in five halls of the main house of the Golitsyn estate. The museum had three sections: Western European painting, sculpture and decorative arts; ancient monuments; library. The picturesque collection of the owners of the house included works by Bruegel, van Dyck, Veronese, Canaletto, Caravaggio, Perugino, Poussin, and Rembrandt. A year later, due to financial difficulties, the museum’s collection was sold to the Hermitage. After the revolution, in the late 1920s, the main house of the estate became the Communist Academy; it was built on two floors, as a result of which the pediment was lost. The impressive gate, crowned with the princely coat of arms of the Golitsyns, is the only thing that has survived to this day in its original form.

After the reconstruction is completed, the Gallery of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Art will open in the former building of the central building of the Golitsyn estate, which will exhibit works by outstanding masters of the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries: Manet, Monet, Renoir, Degas, Pissarro, Cezanne, Gauguin, van Gogh, Matisse and Fauvists, Picasso and Cubists, originating from the collections of the famous pre-revolutionary Moscow collectors S.I. Shchukin and I.A. Morozova.

The city estate is located on Volkhonka Street, 14, and its main entrance faces Maly Znamensky Lane, 1.

Operating mode:

• Wednesday-Sunday - from 13:00 to 22:00;
• Monday, Tuesday - closed.

“A quarter of an hour later, three trucks drove up to the grille in Vagankovsky, and the entire staff of the branch, headed by the manager, loaded onto them.

As soon as the first truck, swinging through the gate, drove out into the alley, the employees standing on the platform and holding each other by the shoulders opened their mouths, and the entire alley resounded with a popular song. The second truck was picked up, followed by the third.” Employees of the City Entertainment Branch sang “Glorious Sea, Sacred Baikal.” found a remarkable location for the branch in Vagankovsky Lane. According to him, it “was located in a mansion, peeling from time to time, in the depths of the courtyard and was famous for its porphyry columns in the vestibule.”

A stone house and two small outbuildings appeared in the alley in the second half of the 18th century.

At the beginning of the 19th century. The plot was owned by Princess N.I. Golitsyn, sister of Count A. Osterman-Tolstoy and mother of the Decembrist, member of the Northern Society V.M. Golitsyn, who lived here as a child. V.M. Golitsyn is the only representative of the Golitsyn family in the December movement. It was he who was chosen by D. Merezhkovsky as the main character of his novel “Alexander I”.

After the death of his mother, the house belonged to his brother V.M. Golitsyn - Leonid.

In the 1860s, the writer A.A. lived in one of the outbuildings. Potekhin.

In 1874, the estate was acquired by the wife of Adjutant General E.L. Ignatieva. In 1876, architect M.A. Zykov rebuilt the house and added wings, connecting them with the main house. A balcony appeared on the façade. Apartments in the outbuildings were also rented. And in the 1880s, the chief conductor of the Bolshoi Theater I.K. rented an apartment here. Altani.

In 1883, the owner of the estate became the hereditary honorary citizen N.I. Pastukhov. “A reporter like no other before him,” wrote about him, who started in his newspaper. N.I. Pastukhov is a journalist, creator and owner of the newspaper Moskovsky Leaflet. He was the most interesting man of his time, who became rich by publishing one of the first tabloid newspapers in Moscow. The newspaper was replete with feuilletons, scandals and was printed on paper suitable for smoking. There was only one condition for working at the newspaper: Pastukhov demanded only the truth from reporters. He bought a house in Starovagankovsky Lane when he was already a well-known rich man.

Pastukhov himself was the publisher and editor of the newspaper Moskovsky Listok; sometimes his duties were performed by his son V.N. Pastukhov, who lived in the same house No. 17, apartment above.

In 1894, a printing house was built on the territory of the estate according to the design of the architect P.M. Samarina. And in 1898, according to his own design, an openwork metal grill with the owner’s initials “NP” on the gates was built on the side of the alley. The grate is supported by cast iron pillars.

The owners continued to rent out apartments, and in 1906–08. The artist of the Art Theater I.M. lived here. Moskvin.

Father and son died in 1911 from a cold. The house was owned by Pastukhov's grandchildren.

The position of editor-in-chief of Moskovsky Leaflet was held until 1918 by M.M. Smirnov. In 1918, the newspaper was closed for counter-revolutionary propaganda. The Red Newspaper and then the Bednota newspaper settled in the editorial office.

It is easy and difficult for me to write about this ancient building at the same time. I worked within its walls for almost 15 years, where it was located until 2015. This house impressed both with its luxurious interiors in the old part and with the repulsive impersonality and dilapidation of the Soviet-era superstructure. Now, after the institute has moved, estate of the princes Golitsyn on Volkhonka became part Museum town. Restoration work will begin in 2017, after which a museum will open within these walls.

The first owner of the estate was a naval commander, President of the Admiralty Collegium, Admiral General Prince Mikhail Mikhailovich Golitsyn Jr.(1684-1764), associate of Peter the Great. For a long time he lived mainly in St. Petersburg, and was able to return to Moscow only during the reign of Anna Ioannovna.

In 1738, he purchased an estate near the Kolymazhny (Konyushenny) yard. In their place, the Museum of Fine Arts was built in 1912, now the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts.

♦ On the history and architecture of this area:

Museum of Fine Arts named after A.S. Pushkin

At that time, a one-story stone house already stood on the estate. Apparently, it was this that was called the “Hay Hut.” In 1759-1766 (according to other sources, in 1756-1761) the house was rebuilt and built on according to the design of the St. Petersburg architect Savva Ivanovich Chevakinsky (1709 or 1713 - between 1772 and 1780) with the participation of I.S. Mergasov and I.P. Zherebtsov . The main house, as in many other Moscow estates of the first half of the 18th century, was located in the depths of the plot. At that time, it was a two-story massive building with risalits on the facade and courtyard.

The elegant entrance gate with wickets on both sides was built in 1768-1770. The gate is crowned with the Golitsyn coat of arms carved from stone with a “perforated” crown above the prince’s shield. A monogram is woven into the gate lattice P.M.G.- “Prince Mikhail Golitsyn.”

Gate of the Golitsyn estate in Maly Znamensky Lane

Outbuildings were built on both sides of the main house, which have survived in a reconstructed form to this day. On the side of Maly Znamensky Lane, the old part of the outbuilding in the transitional style from Baroque to Classicism has been preserved; during the restoration it was highlighted in white.

Outbuildings of the Golitsyn estate

Initially, the estate was surrounded by a blank fence, which was replaced by an elegant forged one at the end of the 19th century.

Prechistensky Palace and the secret marriage of Catherine the Great

The new stage of construction is associated with the stay of Empress Catherine the Great in Moscow in 1775 on the occasion of the conclusion of the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi Peace Treaty with Turkey. The Empress did not want to stop in the Kremlin, and therefore in 1774 she made a request to Mikhail Mikhailovich Golitsyn(1731-1804, son of M.M. Golitsyn) with a request to find her housing near the Kremlin:

... is there a stone or wooden house in the city in which I could fit in and the yard accessories could be placed near the house ... or ... is it possible to whip up a wooden one somewhere?

Naturally, Golitsyn offered her his own house, which was rebuilt especially for these purposes by the architect Matvey Fedorovich Kazakov. In general, Kazakov retained the original volume of the house, expanding only one of the courtyard projections, which faced Volkhonka, and adding mezzanines.

The facades were decorated in a classical style. The center of the building was highlighted by a six-pilaster portico of the Corinthian order, with a smoothly plastered flat pediment. The three middle windows were large in size; on the second floor there was a balcony with graceful parapets. A similar one, but smaller, was located on the western, courtyard façade. Between the portico and the risalits there were entrances, the main one at that time being the right one.

The Golitsyn estate from the courtyard

From the entrance one could get into the main vestibule, which has survived to this day. Unfortunately, the magnificent oval main staircase has not survived. Only in the institute library could one see the elegant vault that was once located above the stairs.

Ceiling in the Library of the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences

The courtyard in front of the main manor house was solemnly decorated, with a large flower bed arranged in the center of it.

Flowerbed in the center of the manor yard

Since Volkhonka Street was called Prechistenka at that time, the palace was named Prechistensky. In addition to the Golitsyn house, it included neighboring estates: the Lopukhins (Maly Znamensky lane, 3/5 building 4), the Golitsyns-Vyazemsky-Dolgorukys (Maly Znamensky lane, 3/5, building 1), the Dolgorukys (Volkhonka street, 16). All these houses were connected by wooden walkways.

The French envoy Marie Daniel Bourret de Corberon (1748-1810) left the following description of the Prechistensky Palace:

The present palace, recently built, is a collection of many separate, wooden and stone houses, very skillfully connected. The entrance is decorated with columns; the entrance hall is followed by a large hall, and after this another, where Her Majesty receives foreign ambassadors. Then follows an even larger hall, occupying the entire width of the building and divided by columns into two parts: in one they dance, in the other they play cards.

The Empress's state chambers were located in Golitsyn's house. From there, a warm staircase led to a large wooden building where the Throne Room, Ballroom, Living Room and Church were located. A covered entrance with ramps led here from the street.

Plan of the Prechistensky Palace. Drawing from 1774-1775, a copy of the 19th century. Source: Architectural Monuments of Moscow. White City

The construction of the Prechistensky Palace, where “thousands of hands” worked under the leadership of Kazakov, lasted 4 months. The Empress herself spoke about her new palace as follows:

... Finding oneself in this labyrinth is a difficult task: two hours passed before I found out the way to my office, constantly ending up at the wrong door. There are many exit doors, I have never seen so many of them in my life. Half a dozen were sealed according to my instructions...

Nevertheless, Catherine was satisfied with the work of the architect, entrusting Kazakov with the construction of the Petrovsky Palace and the Senate building in the Kremlin.

A very romantic story is connected with the Prechistensky Palace. The neighboring manor house originally belonged to the Lopukhins, relatives of Evdokia Lopukhina, the first wife of Peter I. It was then donated to the mother of Prince Grigory Potemkin. In fact, the prince himself lived there, the secret husband of Empress Catherine the Great. A separate door led from the Golitsyn house to the Lopukhins’ house.

On July 12, 1775, in the Golitsyn house, 46-year-old Ekaterina gave birth to a daughter, who was named Elizaveta Temkina and was given to be raised in the family of Count Samoilov, Potemkin’s nephew.

For Tsarevich Pavel Petrovich, premises were allocated in the Dolgoruky estate; from 1819 to 1918 - First men's gymnasium (First city/provincial gymnasium).

Former Dolgoruky estate - First men's gymnasium

Catherine did not like Moscow, and soon after the end of the celebrations she left the Mother See. In 1779, the wooden building was dismantled and moved to Vorobyovy Gory, where it was reassembled on the foundation of the old palace built by Vasily III. The Empress had never been there. In the Golitsyn estate, an outbuilding in the classical style was built in its place, which has survived to this day.

The Golitsyn house was remodeled again at the end of the 18th century according to the design of the architect Rodion Rodionovich Kazakov (the namesake of the famous architect). In this form, it was included in the album of the best buildings of the city.

Fire of 1812: noble Caulaincourt

The next bright page of the Golitsyn estate on Volkhonka is connected with the Patriotic War of 1812. At that time, its owner was Prince Sergei Mikhailovich Golitsyn (1774-1859).

During the months of the French stay in Moscow, the headquarters was located in the estate Armand Louis de Caulaincourt(1773-1827), French diplomat, ambassador to Russia in 1807-1811, who did a lot in trying to prevent a military conflict between Russia and France. He accompanied Napoleon on his military campaign, and then fled with him from Moscow.

During the famous Moscow fire of 1812, Caulaincourt behaved in the most noble manner. When the Kolymazhny Yard broke out, Caulaincourt rushed to save it, and largely thanks to his actions we can now admire the beautiful carriages of the Russian tsars, which are stored in the Armory Chamber, and also see the estates of the Lopukhins and Golitsyns-Vyazemsky-Dolgoruky.

I went to the palace stables (Kolymazhny Yard), where some of the emperor’s horses stood and where the kings’ coronation carriages were located. It took all the energy and all the courage of the grooms and grooms to save them; Some of the grooms climbed onto the roofs and threw down burning brands, others worked with two pumps, which, by my order, were repaired during the day, since they were also damaged. It can be said without exaggeration that we stood there under a fiery vault. With the help of the same people, I also managed to save the beautiful Golitsyn palace and two adjacent houses, one of which had already caught fire... The emperor’s people were zealously helped by the servants of Prince Golitsyn, who showed great affection for their master.

80 fire victims were housed in the Golitsyn house. Among them was “the master of horse of Emperor Alexander Zagryazhsky, who remained in Moscow, hoping to save his home, the care of which was the meaning of his whole life”.

XIX - early XX centuries: Pushkin, Moscow Hermitage and apartments

After the War of 1812, a new stage in the life of the estate began. Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin attended balls here several times. In the manor church, which was located in the northern wing of the second floor, he planned to marry Natalya Goncharova. Only because of a ban from church authorities, the wedding ceremony had to be moved to the bride’s parish church - the Church of the Ascension at the Nikitsky Gate (“Big Ascension”; Bolshaya Nikitskaya St., 36, building 1).

House church in the Golitsyn estate. Photo from the archive of the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences

In 1834, A.I. Herzen visited the estate, whose business was led by Sergei Mikhailovich Golitsyn, who at that time held the position of trustee of the Moscow educational district.

After the death of the childless Sergei Mikhailovich Golitsyn in 1859, his fortune passed to his nephew Mikhail Alexandrovich (1804-1960), who, as a diplomat, lived mostly abroad and, according to rumors, converted to Catholicism. After his death, ownership of the estate passed to his son, “a friend of horses, not books,” Sergei Mikhailovich Golitsyn (1843-1915).

In 1865, the Golitsyn House turned into the “Moscow Hermitage” for 20 years, where everyone could visit once a week. About 200 paintings by Western European artists were exhibited here, as well as books and rarities collected mainly by Mikhail Aleksandrovich Golitsyn: Bruegel, Van Dyck, Veronese, Canaletto, Caravaggio, Correggio, Perugino, Poussin, Rembrandt, Robert, Rubens, Titian...

Courtyard of the Golitsyn estate and the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts

In 1885, due to financial difficulties, Sergei Mikhailovich Golitsyn was forced to sell the art part of the collection to the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. The first floor of the main house has been rented out to tenants since the 1770s. Many famous personalities lived here: the writer Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky, the Slavophile philosopher Ivan Sergeevich Aksakov, the Westernizer Boris Nikolaevich Chicherin...

There is an unusual story connected with Ostrovsky’s move here. Having lived all his life on Vorontsovo Field in Moscow, he said: “I won’t move anywhere. Will they offer me to live in the office of Prince Sergei Mikhailovich Golitsyn?. And so it happened...

At the end of the 19th century, the left wing of the estate was rebuilt according to the design of the architect Vasily Zagorsky (who later built the Conservatory). It housed the “Prince’s Court” - furnished rooms. Nowadays, it houses the Gallery of European and American Art of the 19th-20th centuries at the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. Pushkin.

Golitsyn Estate and Gallery of European and American Art of the 19th-20th Centuries

In 1903, Sergei Mikhailovich sold the estate to the Moscow Art Society. The estate wings overlooking Volkhonka were rebuilt into apartments. Among the famous guests of the “Princely Court” were the artist Vasily Ivanovich Surikov, the composer Alexander Nikolaevich Scriabin, the artist Ilya Efimovich Repin and many other celebrities. In 1911, Boris Leonidovich Pasternak and his family settled in an apartment in one of the outbuildings and lived here for a quarter of a century.

20th century: Communist Academy and Institute of Philosophy

In 1918, within the walls of the former estate was located Socialist Academy of Social Sciences, which in 1924 was renamed Communist Academy. It was conceived as a world center of socialist thought. In 1936, the institutions of the Communist Academy were transferred to the USSR Academy of Sciences, since the parallel existence of the Academy of Sciences and the Communist Academy was considered inappropriate.

In 1919–1921, the Golitsyn estate on Volkhonka also housed a group headed by Kandinsky. Museum of Pictorial Culture.

Golitsyn estate after the revolution

In 1925, next to the former Golitsyn estate in the former First Men's Gymnasium (Volkhonka St., building 16) it was located Communist Workers' University of China, which existed in Moscow until 1930 and trained personnel for the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China.

The main building of the former Golitsyn estate was built on two floors in 1928-1930, as a result of which the pediment crowning the portico was destroyed. Located here Institute of Philosophy of the USSR Academy of Sciences, part of the Communist Academy. Many rooms inside have lost their original decoration.

The already built-on building of the former Golitsyn estate and the estate wings along Volkhonka that have not yet been demolished. Photo from the archive of the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences

The not yet demolished outbuildings along Volkhonka, the Communist Academy and the Museum of Fine Arts. Photo from the Cathedral of Christ the Savior

The building of the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences shortly after reconstruction. Photo from the archive of the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences

The building of the Institute of Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences on Volkhonka at the time of moving

Corner in the former Golitsyn estate

Nearby on Volkhonka Street, behind the left wing, a gas station was built in the early 1930s, which was to become part of the grand complex of the Palace of the Soviets on the site of the destroyed Cathedral of Christ the Savior. The outbuildings facing Volkhonka were demolished, but the red line of the street is still clearly visible.

21st century: museum or institute?

In 1990-2000, the mansion on Volkhonka was still owned by the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Some rooms on the second floor were restored and housed the Library, the Red Hall, and premises of the scientific sectors. The fourth and fifth floors were occupied by scientific sectors and other departments of the institute. The first and fifth floors also housed classrooms for the State Academic University of Humanities (GAUGN).

These walls remember heated philosophical debates, speeches by famous scientists, religious and political figures. “Our philosophical house,” this is what this mansion on Volkhonka was called for more than 80 years.

However, at the end of the 2000s, the question arose about transferring the former Golitsyn estate to the ownership of the Pushkin Museum, which was sorely lacking in premises to house its collections.

Hall of the Academic Council of the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences on the 5th floor

Bas-reliefs in the Red Hall

Ceiling in the Red Hall

Ceiling in the Red Hall

Lamp in the Red Hall

Ceiling in one of the halls on the second floor

The original "Museum City" project, designed by British architect Sir Norman Foster, caused many scandals. Urban defenders feared that many historical estates here would be rebuilt, and parts of them that interfered with the new look of the quarter would be completely demolished. Due to a misunderstanding or someone’s malicious intent, the interests of the museum and the employees of the Institute of Philosophy were opposed; this conflict continued for several years.

Our sector of Eastern philosophies on moving day

However, in 2015, the Institute of Philosophy moved to a huge mansion on Taganka (Goncharnaya Street, 12с1), and the main house of the Golitsyn estate housed the exhibition “House of Impressions. Walk with a troubadour. Improvisation. Sound".

City estate of the Golitsyns. First floor plan.

A. V. Sazanov, Doctor of Historical Sciences

The museum quarter on Volkhonka, which is occupied by the famous Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, includes several buildings known as the Golitsyn estate: the main house (1759), the service building (1778) and two wings of the 19th century, residential and service.

The history of the estate can be traced back to the 17th century. In 1638, another census of Moscow households was carried out. Its original, “Martynov’s manuscript,” is kept in the Moscow Armory Chamber. Among the persons who owned lands on Volkhonka, Pimen Yushkov was mentioned, who had a yard near the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Turygin. Almost 80 years later, a new census names the owner of the plot as “the deceased boyar Boris Gavrilovich Yushkov.” He is also mentioned in the “Books on the collection of bridge money from the Belago city of 1718–1723.”

Boris Gavrilovich’s heir, Lieutenant Sovet Ivanovich Yushkov, in 1724 sold Prince Mikhail Mikhailovich Golitsyn an estate that included two courtyards: “porozhiy” (empty) and “with all kinds of stone chamber and wooden buildings.” A record of the transaction was preserved in the following lines of the Moscow register books: “May 15th day.” Kopor[sky] Inf[ort] Regiment Lieutenant. Council Ivanov son [son] Yushkov sold the navy to lieutenant [prince] Mikhail Mikhailovich Golitsyn a courtyard in the Near [city], in the parish [of] St. Nicholas the Miracle [creator], which is in Turygin , on the white land... and these yards went to him after his grandfather - boyar Boris Gavrilovich, and uncle - okolnichy Timofey Borisovich Yushkov, and aunt Praskovya Borisovna st[ol]n[ika] Dmitivskaya wife] Nikitich Golovin and his sister Marya Dmitrievna, Prince. Mikhailovskaya wife of Mikhailovich Golitsyn, for 1000 rubles.” (4, p. 346).

Moscow census books of 1738–1742 record the transfer of ownership from father to son - Mikhail Mikhailovich Golitsyn Jr. and talk about his neighbors: “... adjoining on one side is the courtyard of Ober-Ster-Kriegs-Commissar Fedor Abramov, son of Lopukhin, and on the other side of General Agrafena Vasilyeva’s daughter Panina.”

In June 1759, the owners petitioned for permission for new construction: “The court of His Imperial Highness the Blessed Sovereign Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich, the chamber cadet Prince Mikhail Mikhailovich and his wife Princess Anna Alexandrovna Golitsyn, is being beaten by minister Andrei Kozhevnikov.

1. The said Mr. My parent was granted his Excellency Admiral General, Actual Privy Councilor, Senator and Knight of the Admiralty Collegium, President Prince Mikhail Mikhailovich Golitsyn, his Moscow yard with a stone built-up house standing on Prechistoya Street in the 3rd command in the parish of the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, which in Turygin.

2. And this built-up house, and two small newly added wings to it, my Mr. ordered to be rebuilt this summer, for the sake of which the courtyard with the former stone structure and the newly assigned outbuildings received a proper plan, which is located at the Moscow Police Chief's office for the architect by Mr. Mergasov, by which I apply his hand to this request of mine” (5).

The resolution read: “Decision to commit.”

The plan of the estate, signed “for the architect” by Ivan Mergasov, has been preserved (2, l. 199).

“No. 1 – the courtyard and garden of his Prince Golitsyn;

No. 2 – again wants to add two outbuildings to the old chambers;

No. 3 – well;

No. 4 – courtyard stone building of general and cavalier Fyodor Avramovich Lopukhin;

No. 5 – his own Golitsyn stone living chambers;

No. 6 – Prechistenka street;

No. 7 – roadway lane.”

L.V. Tydman managed to clarify the history of the development. In 1758, M. M. Golitsyn Sr. transferred to his son a courtyard on Prechistenka with an unfinished one-story “built-up stone house.” According to the researcher, at this stage there were serious changes in the overall plan: “It was decided to build a second floor and add two symmetrical wings on the sides.” Naturally, changes were required in the layout, the facades and interiors were transformed. The house, built in 1760, took another six years to finish (6, p. 103, 281). In 1768–1770, stone outbuildings along the sides of the front yard, services and a fence were erected. The work was carried out by I. P. Zherebtsov according to the project of S. I. Chevakinsky (3, pp. 297–301).

In 1774, the war with Turkey ended triumphantly. The conclusion of the Kyuchuk-Kainardzhi peace was going to be celebrated in St. Petersburg and Moscow. Catherine II intended to arrive at the Mother See at the beginning of next year. In advance, on August 6, 1774, she asked M. M. Golitsyn, “whether there is a stone or wooden house in the city in which I could fit and the yard accessories could be located near the house... or... not Is it possible to quickly build a wooden structure anywhere?” The answer was obvious - of course, her own Golitsyn estate (perhaps the empress’s choice was influenced to some extent by the fact that the mother of her favorite G. A. Potemkin lived next door).

However, in its existing form, the property was absolutely unsuitable for the empress and her luxurious court to stay there. A solution was found quickly. In August 1774, the head of the Kremlin expedition, M. M. Izmailov, issued a lease for three nearby houses and instructed the architect M. F. Kazakov to measure them. Soon two plans landed on the Empress’s table. She didn’t like the first one - it’s just a huge house, it’s not for her. The second, brought by Kazakov himself, was approved.

Thus began the construction of the famous Prechistensky Palace. It was necessary to be in time for the arrival of the Empress, and Matvey Kazakov brought in the work of architects A. Baranov, M. Medvedev, M. Matveev and R. Kazakov. Construction went on all autumn, and just before the New Year, the head of the Kremlin expedition, M. M. Izmailov, reported on its completion.

The Prechistensky Palace has not survived; only archival documents and brief descriptions allow us to imagine its appearance. One of them belongs to the Frenchman C. Carberon: “The external entrance is decorated with columns; behind the hallway is a very large hall, behind which is another, also large, in which the empress receives foreign ministers. Next comes an even more spacious hall, it stretches the length of the entire building and consists of two rooms separated in the middle by columns; in the first the empress plays, and the second is used for dancing.” He also mentions a throne room with tall windows and a throne in the canopy. At the palace, according to the design of M. F. Kazakov, a separate house wooden church of Saints Anthony and Theodosius of the Pechersk, consecrated on December 16, 1774, was built.

It is clear that Kazakov preserved Golitsyn’s house, expanding it towards Volkhonka. What happened as a result caused mixed reactions. The same S. Carberon noted “a very skillful connection of external walls and internal chambers.” The Englishman William Cox, who was in Moscow at that time, appreciated the beauty and convenience of the building, “constructed with lightning speed.” The empress herself, however, did not like the Prechistensky Palace. She complained to Baron Grimm: “... identifying oneself in this labyrinth is a difficult task: two hours passed before I found out the way to my office, constantly ending up at the wrong door. There are many exit doors, I have never seen so many of them in my life. Half a dozen were sealed according to my instructions, and yet there are twice as many of them as needed.”

Apparently, the empress's displeasure led to the dismantling of the wooden part of the palace, which lasted from 1776 to 1779. The disassembled structures were loaded onto barges and floated down the Moscow River from Prechistensky Descent to Vorobyovy Gory. There they were placed on the preserved foundation of the Old Vorobyov Palace, built in the 16th century by Vasily III. The building was named the New Vorobyov Palace and was first noted in the general plan of Moscow in 1789. The iconostasis of the palace church ended up in the Kremlin.

Construction of a classicist estate began on Prechistenka, completed in 1802. The façade of the main house is illustrated by illustrations from the fourth album of Particular Buildings by M. Kazakov.

In the fall of 1812, the Great Army entered Moscow. The mansion was looked after by Golitsyn’s old acquaintance, General Armand de Caulaincourt. He described the Moscow fire in the following lines: “It can be said without exaggeration that we stood there under a fiery arch... I also managed to save the beautiful Golitsyn palace and two adjacent houses, one of which had already caught fire. The emperor’s people were zealously helped by the servants of Prince Golitsyn, who showed great affection for their master.”

However, Caulaincourt’s participation did not save the estate from ruin. The manager of the house office, Alexei Bolshakov, reported to the owner on October 19, 1812: “Our storerooms were all broken and looted in one day, what was left was tidied up. The stone storerooms under the church, with the permission of General Caulaincourt, who lodged in our house, were again filled and plastered. This storeroom contains books, paintings, bronze items, watches, porcelain, dishes and other things, which I don’t remember, because the soldiers who robbed the house did not take many things, but broke them or moved them around, looking for silver, dresses and linen. After the Kremlin was blown up by five mines from the 10th to the 11th of October at two o'clock in the morning, the rooms were strewn with glass that had flown out of the ends, many doors and end frames with logs were torn out of place, which was all tidied up and cleaned by us. Pyotr Ivanovich Zagretsky and retired Major General Karl Karlovich Torkel now live in our house... Ermakov, whom I sent to Her Excellency’s house, said that the main building did not burn, the outbuildings and carriages were all burned, and what was in the whole building was looted, as well as storage rooms. Our house church was also plundered” (1, l. 18–19). After the French left, the estate took a long time to be repaired, about which numerous records from the house office have been preserved.

Two mentions connect the Golitsyn estate with the stay of A.S. Pushkin. The first is V. A. Annenkova’s notes about the ball at Prince Sergei Golitsyn, where she “danced with the poet Pushkin... He told me lovely things... about myself... since, having seen me, it will never be possible to forget me.” The second was left in a letter from Moscow postal director A. Ya. Bulgakov to his brother dated February 18, 1831. It contains the only evidence so far of A. S. Pushkin’s intention to get married in the house church of Prince S. M. Golitsyn: “Today is Pushkin’s wedding at last. On his part, Vyazemsky and gr. Potemkin, and from the bride’s side Iv. Al. Naryshkin and A.P. Malinovskaya. They wanted to marry them in the prince’s house church. Serg. Mich. Golitsyn, but Filaret doesn’t allow it. They were going to beg him; apparently it’s not allowed in brownies, but I remember that Saburov got married at Obolyaninov’s, and that he recently married Vikentyeva.” But they didn’t persuade me. The place of A.S. Pushkin’s wedding was the Church of the Great Ascension at the Nikitsky Gate.

This ends one era in the life of the Golitsyn estate. Ahead were: the Golitsyn Museum, the private school of I. M. Khainovsky, classes of the Moscow Conservatory, Golitsyn Agricultural Courses, the Forestry Institute and Technical School, the Brain Institute, the editorial offices of several magazines, the Communist Academy, the Institute of Philosophy of the USSR Academy of Sciences (RAN) and, finally, the Art Gallery countries of Europe and Asia of the 19th–20th centuries The Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. A. S. Pushkin.

Literature and sources

1. GIM OPI. F. 14. Book. 1. D. 54.

2. GIM OPI. F. 440. Op. 1. D. 944.

3. Kazhdan T. P. Materials for the biography of the architect I.P. Zherebtsov / Russian art of the 18th - first half of the 19th centuries. M, 1971.

4. Moscow. Act books of the 18th century. T. 3. M., 1892. 1724

5. RGADA. F. 931. Op. 2. Unit hr. 2358.

6. Tydman L. V. Hut, house, palace: Residential interior of Russia from 1700 to 1840. M.: Progress - Tradition, 2000.