The Gruzino estate near

Chudovo Chudovo (russian: Чудово) is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia. ;Urban localities *Chudovo, Chudovsky District, Novgorod Oblast, a town of district significance in Chudovsky District of Novgorod Oblast ;Rural localities * ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

, was constructed by a team of Neoclassical

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

s under Vasily Petrovich Stasov for Count

Alexey Arakcheyev Count Alexey Andreyevich Arakcheyev or Arakcheev (russian: граф Алексе́й Андре́евич Аракче́ев) ( – ) was an Imperial Russian general and statesman during the reign of Tsar Alexander I. He served under Tsars Paul ...

in the 1810s. Count Arakcheyev chose Gruzino as an imperial gift from Emperor Paul when Arakcheyev was appointed Commandant of St. Petersburg, though the area was in disrepair. He was given the land despite prior claim to it by the governor of the Novgorod and

Tver Tver ( rus, Тверь, p=tvʲerʲ) is a city and the administrative centre of Tver Oblast, Russia. It is northwest of Moscow. Population: Tver was formerly the capital of a powerful medieval state and a model provincial town in the Russian ...

provinces. Using serf labor, Arakcheyev built Gruzino to one of the most up-to-date estates in Russia at the time. The celebrated sculptor

Ivan Martos Ivan Petrovich Martos (russian: Иван Петрович Мартос; uk, Іван Петрович Мартос; 1754 — 5 April 1835) was Ukrainian and Russian sculptor and art teacher who helped awaken Russian interest in Neoclassical ...

contributed a statue of

Emperor Paul Paul I (russian: Па́вел I Петро́вич ; – ) was Emperor of Russia from 1796 until his assassination. Officially, he was the only son of Peter III and Catherine the Great, although Catherine hinted that he was fathered by her l ...

. Two months after Arakcheyev's death, Emperor Nicholas gave the estate to the

Novgorod Veliky Novgorod ( rus, links=no, Великий Новгород, t=Great Newtown, p=vʲɪˈlʲikʲɪj ˈnovɡərət), also known as just Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the ol ...

Cadet Corps. Although it is stated officially that the manor was destroyed by the

Nazi German Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

troops during the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

other sources
maintain that the estate was wiped out in the 1930s, during

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...

industrialisation Industrialisation ( alternatively spelled industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive re-organisation of an econo ...

process. The statues of lions formerly adorning the porch are all that remains from this Neoclassical ensemble. They were transported and mounted for display in the

Novgorod Kremlin The Novgorod Detinets (russian: Новгородский детинец, Novgorodskiy detinets), also known as the Novgorod Kremlin (, ''Novgorodskiy kreml' ''), is a fortified complex ( detinets) in Veliky Novgorod, Russia. It stands on the l ...

External links

Article in Russian

References

*Jenkins, Michael. (1969) ''Arakcheev: Grand Vizier of the Russian Empire''.

The Dial Press The Dial Press was a publishing house founded in 1923 by Lincoln MacVeagh. The Dial Press shared a building with ''The Dial'' and Scofield Thayer worked with both. The first imprint was issued in 1924. Authors included Elizabeth Bowen, W. R. Bu ...

, Inc. Buildings and structures in Novgorod Oblast Neoclassical architecture in Russia Vasily Stasov buildings and structures Cultural heritage monuments in Novgorod Oblast Objects of cultural heritage of Russia of regional significance {{NovgorodOblast-geo-stub