Leon or Leonty Nikolayevich Benois (; – 8 February 1928)
was a Russian architect from the
Benois family.
Biography
He was the son of architect
Nicholas Benois, the brother of artists
Alexandre Benois and
Albert Benois. He built the
Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
cathedral of Notre-Dame in
St Petersburg
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
, the
mausoleum of the Grand Dukes of Russia in the
Peter and Paul Fortress, the
Russian Chapel in Darmstadt, and the
Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Warsaw, among many other works. Benois served as Dean of the
Imperial Academy of Arts (1903–06, 1911–17) and edited the architecture magazine ''
Zodchii''. He gave his name to
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested o ...
's painting ''
Benois Madonna'' which he inherited from his father-in-law and presented to the
Hermitage Museum
The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and holds the large ...
. The painter
Nadia Benois was his daughter,
and the actor
Sir Peter Ustinov was his grandson.
See also
*
Benois family
References
External links
Cathedral of Notre-Dame de St PetersburgThe Grove Dictionary of Art
{{DEFAULTSORT:Benois
Russian architects
1856 births
1928 deaths
Leon
Russian people of French descent
Full Members of the Imperial Academy of Arts