Works by Beauvais. Shopping arcades, Theater Square, Bolshoi Theater

O sip Bove became the chief architect of Moscow after the fire of 1812: he restored Red Square, Trading Rows, built the Alexander Garden, and participated in the design of the Bolshoi Theater and Theater Square. The architect also left his students a voluminous theoretical work - “Album of Exemplary Projects”: in it, Bove collected samples of buildings and recommendations for their construction.

Chief architect of the “facade part”

Osip Bova was born on November 4, 1784 in St. Petersburg, in the family of Vincenzo Bova, a Neapolitan carver. Bova arrived in St. Petersburg in 1782, and soon after the birth of his son, the family moved to Moscow.

In 1802, Osip Bove entered the architectural school of the Kremlin Construction Expedition. His first teacher was the architect Franz Comporesi. Thanks to his lectures, Beauvais learned the basics of his future profession. Later, the young architect worked as an assistant to Matvey Kazakov on the construction of the Golitsyn Hospital. In 1809–1810, he and the young architect Carl Rossi went to Tver to build a palace for the Governor-General of the Tver, Yaroslavl and Novgorod provinces, Prince George of Oldenburg.

Arc de Triomphe in Moscow. Architect Osip Bove. Sculptors: Ivan Timofeev and Ivan Vitali. 1827-1834. Photo: Georgy Zobkov / Lori Photobank

Intercession Church. Architect Osip Bove. 1825-1833. Photo: Dmitry Neumoin / Lori Photobank

Osip Bove quickly moved along career ladder- From a clerk to a provincial secretary, he grew up in four years.

After the Moscow fire of 1812, a special construction commission was created in the city. Osip Bove also entered it. For convenience, the Commission divided the city into four sectors, and assigned an architect and assistants to each sector. Bove became the architect of the central region of Moscow and was responsible for the Tverskaya, Arbatskaya, Presnenskaya, Novinskaya and Gorodskaya parts. In one day, the commission received up to 100 requests for the construction of new buildings. Bove corrected projects, planned new ones architectural ensembles, supervised the renovation of the Kremlin towers and walls.

In 1814, Beauvais was appointed chief architect of the “facade part”. According to his plan, Moscow was to acquire a unified stylistic appearance and become a monumental city. Beauvais's first work was related to the reconstruction of Red Square, which was badly damaged during the fire. Before the events of 1812, the square was built up trading shops. Beauvais decided to shift the emphasis in the appearance of the city's main square - from domestic and commercial to cultural. The architect included the Kremlin wall with the Spassky and Nikolsky towers and the Intercession Cathedral (St. Basil's Cathedral) into the ensemble. Under his leadership, public places, the Resurrection Gate, the building of the City Duma and the magistrate were restored.

Shopping arcades, Theater Square, Bolshoi Theater

In the center of Moscow, Osip Bove also rebuilt the Trading Rows: in his design he retained the character of the old building, but gave it majesty. Beauvais decorated the corners of the building that overlooked Ilyinka with porticoes and columns, friezes and stucco moldings. Semicircular elevations with colonnades appeared on the corners on the Varvarka side. The architect completed work on the Upper and Middle shopping rows in 1816. After reconstruction, Red Square became the most large area Moscow.

Bove also planned to build the Lower Trading Rows in order to connect the square with China Town into a single ensemble. This idea was implemented after the death of the architect, in the second half of the 19th century.

Bolshoi Theater. Architect Osip Bove. 1821-1824. Photo: Gennady Soloviev / Lori Photobank

Manege. Architect Osip Bove. 1824-1825. Photo: Natalia Popova / Lori Photobank

It is amazing why a street named after the architect Osip Bove never appeared in Moscow. And it’s not even that he built for us the Manege, the Bolshoi Theater, the Alexander Garden, the Arc de Triomphe and much more. After all, it is to him that the capital owes its modern look- it was he who restored it after the fire of 1812. MOSLENTA decided to recall the life story of the great architect and tell more about his monumental work.

Biography

The architect was born in St. Petersburg (in 1784) in the family of the Neapolitan artist Vincenzo Giovanni Bova. A couple of years later, the family with their little son Giuseppe moved to Moscow. When the boy grew up, he was assigned to the architectural school at the Kremlin Building Expedition, which, during the course of his studies, was transformed into the Architectural School.

The founding father of the school was Matvey Fedorovich Kazakov, and direct management Francesco Camporese taught classes at this time. Bove considered these two masters to be his teachers. Great influence The young architect was also influenced by Carl Rossi, with whom he worked immediately after graduating from college. Rossi was only ten years older than Beauvais, but by this time he was already considered a serious master.

Osip Bove (1784 - 1834)

Together with Rossi, still in the position of assistant architect, Bove worked on the reconstruction and restructuring of Tverskoy travel palace, for which he was even awarded an imperial gold watch. Later, Bova had to restore, and actually rebuild, the dilapidated Vodovzvodnaya tower of the Kremlin. This work had to be repeated: the tower was blown up by the French.

Before the start of the Patriotic War, Bove managed to receive the rank of titular councilor (the civilian equivalent of an army staff captain), and was twice presented with a gold watch and even a diamond ring. At the same time, the architect changed his surname to Beauvais, which is more familiar to our ears, and the name Giuseppe to the Russian Osip.

When Napoleon's army invaded Russia, Osip Bove enlisted in the Moscow Hussar Regiment, which was formed with his own money by Count Pyotr Saltykov, a retired officer, the son of the Moscow governor, Field Marshal Ivan Saltykov. According to its formal status, the regiment was militia, but in uniform it was regular. Bove served there with Alexander Griboyedov, Alexander Albiev, Nikolai Tolstoy - the father of Leo Tolstoy, as well as the Sheremetyevs, Golitsyns and other noble citizens.

By the time they left Moscow, the regiment was not yet fully equipped and armed; its further formation took place in Kazan. There Saltykov contracted nervous fever from the wounded and died, and the regiment was merged with the Irkutsk Dragoons, bloodless in battle, and renamed the 16th Irkutsk Hussar Regiment. Under this name, Bove participated in the liberation of the country and foreign campaigns.

An officer of the hussar regiment in which Osip Bove served. 1812

The future urban planner got married long after the war, and this wedding caused a serious scandal in Moscow. His chosen one was Princess Avdotya Trubetskaya, the heiress of a huge fortune and the mistress of several estates near Moscow. Avdotya Semenovna came from a highly respected family of academician Semyon Emelyanovich Guryev, a professor at the St. Petersburg School of Naval Architecture, the author of the first textbook on higher mathematics in Russia. And she received the title after her wedding with Prince Alexei Ivanovich Trubetskoy. In 1813, a guards officer died in the Battle of the Nations near Leipzig, and three years later a young widow (she was not yet thirty) married the architect Beauvais.

The high society did not accept this union: “Moscow is crazy: an artist, an architect, a valet - everything is suitable, just to get married,” wrote Princess Turkestanova, a sharp-tongued gossip. But love turned out to be stronger than secular gossip: the beautiful Trubetskoy sacrificed her title and became an official of the seventh grade of Beauvais. By the way, by this time Avdotya Semyonovna had five children, and she gave birth to four more in her marriage to Osip Ivanovich.

But before that, Bova still had to become the main urban planner of the devastated capital. So let’s go back to the moment when he arrived from military campaigns and immediately became involved in the work of the “Commission for the Construction of Moscow,” created under the Moscow Commander-in-Chief Fyodor Rostopchin. We entered there famous masters: Vasily Stasov, Domenico Gilardi, Fedor Sokolov, Afanasy Grigoriev and Vasily Balashov and others.

On the ashes

According to official data, of the 9,158 houses that existed before the fire (2,567 stone and 6,591 wooden), 6,532 (2,041 stone and 4,491 wooden) burned down. Of the 387 government and public buildings 192 were destroyed. The center burned out by about 90 percent, Prechistenskaya, Yakimanskaya, Sretenskaya and Kitai-Gorod parts almost disappeared, Tverskaya and Myasnitskaya suffered slightly less damage.

The French are in Moscow. 1812

Bova was first entrusted with the central section, which included Kitay-Gorod and the present-day Red Square - before the war it was a chaotic jumble of trading shops and was separated from the Kremlin and St. Basil's Cathedral. The master decided to connect them into a single ensemble, building a new building of the Trading Rows opposite the Kremlin wall in the form of a 12-column portico with a dome (now there is a GUM department store there).

The portico echoed the contours and dome of the Senate, and St. Basil's Cathedral and the Resurrection (Iveron) Gate closed the huge free space. The Alevizov ditch, which ran along the Kremlin wall, was filled in and the bridgeheads were demolished. Also, on the initiative of Beauvais, a monument to Minin and Pozharsky was erected on the square - at first they were placed with their backs to the shopping rows, but then they were moved so as not to interfere with the demonstrations.

Chief of facades

Since May 1814, Osip Bove was appointed head of the “facade part” of the city, “so that he is in charge of all state, public and public buildings being built or restored to their former or best condition, had direct supervision." Essentially, this is the post of chief architect. He also actually began developing a general plan for the development of Moscow, which was initially entrusted to the Scottish specialist William Gesta, but in 1813 failed to be approved by the commission, and Emperor Alexander I invited the craftsmen to act independently.

The new concept was ready in 1817. According to it, Moscow has retained the concentric character with radial highways that has developed over centuries. Boulevard and Garden Ring in place of outdated fortifications they became city arteries, gates and outposts turned into squares. The center of Moscow was cleared of irregular development, the streets were straightened, widened and landscaped as much as possible.

Through the efforts of engineer Yegor Cheliev, the Neglinka River was removed into a pipe, which freed up new areas for development. A chain of spacious squares was created around the Kremlin and Kitay-Gorod - Red, Manezhnaya, Voskresenskaya (now Revolution Square), Lubyanskaya, Staraya and Novaya, etc. Trubnaya and Petrovka streets, Kuznetsky Most were transformed, Theater Square and Alexander Garden. They tried to subordinate all the facades to a single style, even the color of the buildings was regulated.

Lubyanskaya Square. 1899

Along the fortress wall of the ancient Kremlin, where the Neglinka used to flow, Beauvais proposed to lay out gardens and created the project himself. The Kremlin, and later the Alexander Garden, very quickly became a favorite walking place for the Moscow public. By the way, to decorate the famous Grotto Ruins under the Middle Arsenal Tower, fragments of decorative decorations from buildings that perished in the fire were used.

Manege appeared nearby - a building where an entire regiment could hold a parade at the same time. The need for it appeared in 1817, when the fifth anniversary of the victory over Napoleon was celebrated. The engineering plan for the largest building in the world at that time without internal supports was created by engineer Augustin Bentacur, and the classic one that is familiar to us today appearance Beauvais gave the building. True, then Bentacur’s innovative creation had to be modified and repaired, which Beauvais took up again.

Architect for an encore

Of course, Osip Ivanovich was helped in developing the concept, but certain territories were purely his work. For example, Theater Square. It was clear that it was necessary to restore the Petrovsky Palace from ruins; otherwise, the architects received complete freedom thanks to the drainage of the Neglinka bank. Bove proposed a project for a vast square with the main city theater, and the Maly Theater, Senate Printing House and residential buildings were to be maintained in uniform style with him. The center of the square was decorated with a fountain.

Initially, it was planned to restore the Petrovsky Theater, which then stood on the square, according to the project of the professor, and later the rector Imperial Academy art of Andrei Mikhailov. But it did not fit into the plan of the square created by Beauvais. So the chief city planner himself had to design the already relatively familiar building of the Bolshoi Theater with a chariot above the entrance.

"On grand opening the public called not the actors, but the architect. Before the overture there was a terrible noise. They began to call out to the builder: “Bove, Bove!” He appeared in the director’s box, and was drowned out by applause...,” writes Moskovskie Vedomosti of January 6, 1825.

Petrovsky Theater.

Unfortunately, the Mikhailov-Beauvais Theater burned down in 1853. The architect who restored it, Albert Kavos, slightly changed the proportions, and it is not a fact that this benefited the building.

Gateway to Eternity

Perhaps the most monumental building in Beauvais was the Arc de Triomphe - a symbol of the victory over the Napoleonic army and the post-war restoration of the city.

The inscription on its pediment reads: “To the blessed memory of Alexander I, who raised this capital city from the ashes and adorned it with many monuments of paternal care during the invasion of the Gauls and with them twenty languages, in the summer of 1812 it was dedicated to the fire. 1826"

By the way, Alexander I quite soberly perceived his modest role in military successes and, in order to avoid any ambiguity, refused to build such structures. But after it mysterious disappearance The idea was revived, and Nicholas I, who replaced his brother, approved it. The construction of the arch was officially announced during the coronation events in early 1826.

Triumphal Gate. 1920s

The symbolic gate was supposed to stand at the entrance to Moscow from St. Petersburg - at Tverskaya Zastava Square, where the Belorussky railway station is now located. Bove drew a solemn, monumental, but at the same time light arch and richly decorated it decorative elements, which were made by sculptors Ivan Vitali and Ivan Timofeev based on his sketches. This classic example Russian Empire style.

At the same time, Beauvais tried to rework the area surrounding the arch as organically as possible, so that the monument would not stand out from general view. The facades of the surrounding houses were brought into line with the arch style. From the side of the Kremlin, the arch was visible from a distance across the absolutely straight Tverskaya Street in this place, the houses of which seemed to be lined up in ceremonial ranks. WITH opposite side the arch was visible from the Petrovsky Palace, and parks and squares were laid out along the road.

The ceremonial laying of the Triumphal Gate took place in 1829, but it was opened only in 1834 - due to lack of funds, the work was delayed for five years. many years. Unfortunately, Beauvais did not see the grand opening; he died a few months earlier.

Unfortunately, the original Arc de Triomphe stood for just over a hundred years - in 1936 it began to interfere with the development of the city, and it was demolished. Thirty years later they came to their senses and restored it, fortunately the exact drawings were preserved. Now it stands on Kutuzovsky Prospekt, next to the panorama of the Battle of Borodino and Poklonnaya Hill.

Unknown creations

Everyone knows about the monumental creations of Osip Bove, which stand in full view of all tourists and are included in all guidebooks to Moscow. But few people know that the architect actively built and restored churches, and this part of his heritage has been preserved much better than the “textbook” sights.

Bove created the St. Nicholas Church on Kotelnicheskaya Embankment, the church Life-Giving Trinity in the Danilov Monastery, rebuilt the Church of the Intercession Holy Mother of God in Krasnoye Selo (Lower Krasnoselskaya Street), restored and rebuilt the Church of All Who Sorrow Joy on Ordynka by Vasily Bazhenov.

St. Nicholas Church, 1882.

But, perhaps, one of the most striking temples designed by Bove is located not even in the capital, but in the village of Arkhangelskoye near Moscow. This is the Church of the Archangel Michael, which he built on the estate of his wife Avdotya Semyonovna and where they all lived together, built as a gift. This is an amazing temple - harmonious, beautiful and very homely. And, perhaps, this is a rare case when a master did not think about urban planning proportions and simply created from the bottom of his heart.

Georgy Oltarzhevsky

Years of life: 1784-1834

Biography

Osip Ivanovich Bove was born in 1784. in St. Petersburg, in the family of the Italian painter Vincenzo Giovanni Bova, and received the name Joseph, later changed in the Russian manner to Osipa. After him, two more sons were born into the Bov family - Mikhail and Alexander, also future architects and assistants to Osip. Soon after the birth of their eldest son, the family moved to Moscow.

Osip Bove's studies as an architect began in 1802. at the architectural school of the Kremlin Building Expedition, with F. Camporesi. Ten years later, even before the Moscow fire, the young specialist was already listed as an architect’s assistant. Start creative activity young architect passed under the guidance M.F. Kazakova and K.I. Rossi in Moscow and Tver. During the war, Beauvais joins the militia. In 1813 To restore burned Moscow, a special Commission was created to help residents, provide them with building materials, and supervise the quality of construction. For the convenience of the Commission’s work, Moscow was divided into four sectors, the work of which was supervised by an architect and assistants. Bove was appointed architect for the fourth section, which included the central districts of the city: Tverskaya, Arbatskaya, Presnenskaya, Novinskaya and Gorodskaya parts. Beauvais and his assistants had to draw up designs for residential buildings and monitor their implementation; in addition, it was necessary to design retail shops throughout the city, the construction of which was given priority by the Commission great value. The best shops were recognized as those on Red Square and around the walls of Kitay-Gorod. It was necessary to pay special attention decoration of the facades of government and public buildings, and it was decided to entrust the responsibility for supervising their development and decoration to Beauvais. In this part of the work, Osip Ivanovich was helped by his younger brothers.

In February 1816 Osip Bove receives the title of architect from the council of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. In the same year he marries Princess Avdotya Semyonovna Trubetskoy, a widow. For some time the couple lived in the architect's house on Malaya Dmitrovka, then Beauvais built new home on his wife’s estate in Petrovsky Lane (formerly Bogoslovsky), now this building is listed as No. 9.

By this time, the architect had extensive experience in the construction of significant buildings both in Moscow and in the Moscow region. In 1817 a new master plan for the development of Moscow was approved, and Beauvais and new strength gets to work. He begins with the reconstruction of Red Square, which was badly damaged during the fire of Moscow. The earthen fortifications were demolished and the ditch that ran along the Kremlin wall was filled in, a boulevard was laid out in their place, and then a ramp was made to the Moscow River. The shopping arcades overlooking Red Square were rebuilt by Beauvais in the classicist style - in the style in which the architect worked all his life.

In 1816-1819 Osip Ivanovich also worked on the design new square-Teatralnaya, which would be connected to Red Square through Voskresenskaya Square (now Revolution Square). The site was being prepared for construction: the old neighborhoods on Petrovka around the old Petrovsky Theater were demolished, the Neglinka River was drained into a pipe to avoid flooding and swamping of the area. In 1819 Beauvais submitted the design of the square with the buildings surrounding it to the Commission to begin development. Five years later, in 1824, the first performance was given at the Maly Theater.

The Bolshoi Theater, the grandiose work that brought Beauvais his greatest fame, was commissioned from him as “the most skillful of architects.” Petrovsky theater XVIII century almost completely burned down in 1805, and the troupe was left without its building for years. The theater project created by Bove was personally approved by Alexander I and accepted for execution. The colossal building was decorated with a majestic portico of eight columns with a pediment and a sculpture of Apollo in a chariot. Auditorium It was striking in its size - a huge spacious parterre with an amphitheater and five tiers - and could accommodate up to three thousand spectators. The famous engineer Davis helped in designing the technical side of the theater. The first performance in the new theater took place on January 6, 1825. At the grand opening, the public called not the actors, but the architect. According to the memoirs of a contemporary, “a terrible noise arose before the overture; they began to call out to the builder: Beauvais, Beauvais! He appeared in the director’s box and was drowned out by applause, and “bravos” flew around the hall!..” 30 years later, after the fire, the Bolshoi Theater was rebuilt by the architect Kavos, who made serious changes and distortions to the original appearance.

At the same time as working on Theater Square and the Bolshoi Theater project, Bove was engaged in the construction of the new Kremlin Garden (now Alexandrovsky). The architect had a plan to create a park near the walls of the Kremlin on the site of the Neglinka that flowed here with ruins in a romantic spirit, with a variety of bushes and trees, with flower beds and a grotto that has survived to this day. From the side of the Moscow River, the garden was limited by the Trinity Bridge with semicircular ramps. At the same time, Beauvais is also engaged in the reconstruction of the Manege, planning the interior decoration and exterior decoration of the building.

Post-war Moscow was rebuilt with many residential buildings, and Bove constantly received orders from private individuals - both nobles, merchants and townspeople. The architect is responsible for the creation of a new project for a merchant’s house - with retail shops below and living rooms for the owners and tenants upstairs. Bove also created and new type a city mansion with wings opening onto the street and a front yard reduced to the size of a front garden. Such, for example, was the mansion of N.S. Gagarin (later the Book Chamber) on Novinsky Boulevard, destroyed during the Great Patriotic War.

Beauvais paid less attention to temple architecture, but all his works in this area can be called outstanding. In 1821 at the expense of the book. S.M. Golitsyn, he erected the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Kotelniki (1st Kotelnichesky lane, 8-10) - a small slender building in the classicism style, with a two-tier bell tower, a high dome topped with a spire.

In 1822 Beauvais is building a new Church of the Archangel Michael in estate near Moscow wife, Arkhangelsk. Osip Ivanovich generally paid a lot of attention to the country estate, and the brick rotundal church can rightfully be considered one of the best examples of the Empire style. The “twin sister” of this temple was built in 1825-1828. in the village of Pehra-Pokrovskoye (Balashikha district) at the expense of parishioners for the same project. Later the refectory was rebuilt.

In addition, Beauvais built two house churches in city hospitals. Work on the design and construction of new large city hospitals occupied most of the architect's time in the second half of the 1820s. Since 1825 The conversion of the Gagarins' house at the Petrovsky Gate into the Catherine Hospital (now the 24th City Clinical Hospital) began. At the same time, Bove was developing a project for the Gradskaya Hospital on Bolshaya Kaluzhskaya Street (now known as 1st Gradskaya on Leninsky Prospekt). This project was approved only in 1828, and large-scale construction work began. Beauvais, back in the 1810s. who worked with M.F. Kazakov on the construction of the neighboring Golitsyn hospital, made new complex partly similar to it, but “opened” the building even more to the street, extending the main building. The facade of the hospital was decorated with a monumental portico with columns and a wide the main staircase. Both the Gradskaya and Catherine's hospitals were opened almost simultaneously - in 1833.

In addition to hospitals, in 1826-1828. Beauvais managed to create a project for the Arc de Triomphe at Tverskaya in honor of the victory over Napoleon. It is a tall, single-bay arch of white stone, with six pairs of Corinthian cast-iron columns, surmounted by sculptural group"Glory" - a victorious figure on a chariot. The entire arch is decorated with sculptures: allegorical images of courage, hardness, etc., warriors in ancient Russian armor. The sculptures were made by I.P. Vitali and I.T. Timofeev based on drawings by Beauvais. In 1936 the arch was dismantled during the reconstruction of Tverskaya Street and restored only in 1968. on Kutuzovsky Prospekt.

Few people know that Osip Bove also built a new church of the Life-Giving Trinity in the Moscow Danilovsky Monastery. For a long time Tyurin was considered the architect of the temple, but latest research discovered the real author.

One of Bove’s last outstanding works is the Church of All Who Sorrow Joy on Bolshaya Ordynka. And here the architect turned out to be a “co-author” of his mentor Bazhenov, who rebuilt the western part of the temple 40 years earlier. Beauvais re-designed the eastern half of the church, which was badly damaged during the war, creating a unique building that will adorn the entire Zamoskvorechye region. Osip Ivanovich did not have time to complete the construction - he died on June 15, 1834. and was buried in the Donskoy Monastery cemetery.

List of structures

Giuseppe Bova (real name) - famous Russian architect who played huge role in shaping the architectural appearance of the central part of Moscow. And now historical center The city, in its main features, looks the same as Beauvais designed and built it. Most of the works of this architect are made in the style of classicism.

Beauvais was born on October 24 (November 4), 1784 in St. Petersburg, in the family of the Neapolitan artist Vincenzo Giovanni Bova (Beauvais - French version pronunciation), who came to Russia in 1782 to work in the Hermitage. Mother - Ekaterina Knappe, daughter of the artist Karl Knappe. Since the family remained to live in Russia, the boy gradually began to be called in the local manner - Joseph or Osip, and for the patronymic, the name of his father Giovanni was changed to Ivan. Soon after Osip’s birth, the family moved from the capital to Moscow, and here the couple had two more sons: Mikhail and Alexander, who later also became architects.

At the age of 18, Osip Bove entered the architectural school of the Kremlin building expedition. Francesco Comporesi became Bove's mentor. Already at the school, Beauvais showed himself to be a promising specialist; he quickly climbed the career ladder and rose in rank. Beauvais entered the service in 1801. In 1803 he was a clerk and collegiate registrar, in 1806 - a provincial secretary, and in 1809-1812 Osip was already one of the architectural assistants on the Expedition, participating in the restoration of the Kremlin and the improvement of Moscow and Tver. By that time, the young architect had worked under the guidance of such masters as M.F. Kazakov and K.I. Rossi, that was very good school, and a rewarding experience.

During the war with Napoleon, Beauvais fought in the militia, and after the victory he returned to service. In 1816, Bove received the title of architect from the council of the Imperial Academy of Arts, and also converted to Orthodoxy and married the widow Princess Avdotya Semyonovna Trubetskoy (nee Guryeva). At first, the young family lived in the Bove house on Malaya Dmitrovka, and then Osip built a new house on his wife’s estate in Petrovsky Lane (formerly Bogoslovsky).

At the same time, work was underway to restore Moscow. The city, burned by Napoleon's troops, needed a radical renovation. For this purpose, a “Commission on the Structure of Moscow” was created, and Bove was appointed chief architect of the “facade part”, overseeing the projects and their “production exactly according to the projected lines, as well as the issued plans and facades.” The architect was responsible for shaping the architectural appearance of the center of Moscow: Arbat, Novinskaya, Presnenskaya and Tverskaya and City parts. It was thanks to Osip Bova that this sector of Moscow was rebuilt on a large scale and had a unified stylistic plan. And to this day we can see the main attractions of Moscow in the form in which Beauvais built them.

In 1817, a new master plan for the development of Moscow was approved, and Osip Bove was faced with several grandiose tasks, which he began to solve with great enthusiasm.

Beauvais began his work with the reconstruction of Red Square, which was badly damaged during the fire. After the capital was transferred to St. Petersburg, the main square of Moscow lost its significance and was a space randomly built up with shopping shops. Beauvais filled up the protective ditch and demolished the earthen fortifications surrounding the Kremlin wall. In place of the ditch, a boulevard was built, and a ramp to the Moscow River embankment appeared. The remains of the shops were demolished, and the square opened beautiful view to St. Basil's Cathedral. In addition, the Kremlin's Nikolskaya Tower with the Resurrection Gate was restored and the Trading Rows building was rebuilt, where trade was moved. In 1818, a monument to Minin and Pozharsky was erected on the square. Later, in 1888, a new building of the Trading Rows (GUM) was built on Red Square, and the monument to Minin and Pozharsky was moved to St. Basil's Cathedral.

Another creation of Beauvais is Theater Square. To design it, the old neighborhoods surrounding the old Petrovsky Theater were demolished. To protect the area from flooding and waterlogging, the Neglinnaya River was hidden in a pipe. Bove also developed a project for framing the square with symmetrically located buildings. The main task During the design of the square, there was construction of a new building for the theater. The building project was developed by St. Petersburg architect Andrei Mikhailov. However, the commission recognized the project as too expensive and cumbersome. As a result, it was modified by Osip Bove. He reduced the scale of the building and reduced the cost of construction, although the main outlines and composition were preserved.

Another of his works is the Alexander Garden. They decided to add greenery under the walls of the Kremlin. According to Bove's idea, the territory was designed as a regular garden with picturesque man-made ruins and small cozy pavilions. An Italian grotto, located near the Memorial to the Unknown Soldier, has survived to this day. The Neglinnaya riverbed had to be diverted to the side. Initially, it was planned to create a system of ponds in the park, but this plan was not implemented.

Near the Alexander Garden, the Manege building was built according to the design of the architect Betancourt. Osip Bove was responsible for its decoration and sculptural decoration. True, his idea was not fully realized. It was assumed that the wall would be decorated with military armor, symbolizing victory, power and greatness of the state. The building was decorated with stucco, elements of legionary paraphernalia were attached to the walls, but the cast-iron high reliefs that Bove had planned were never cast.

If Bove took part in previous projects along with other architects, then the Arc de Triomphe is the author’s project. They decided to install the triumphal gate at the entrance to Moscow from the St. Petersburg direction, near the Tverskaya Zastava. It took two years to develop the drawings, and the final version was approved in 1929. When laying the Triumphal Gate, a handful of silver coins were thrown into the foundation “for good luck” and a commemorative bronze slab was installed. The sketches for the sculptures were developed by Bove himself, and they were made by sculptors Timofeev and Vitali. Due to financial difficulties, the construction of the Arc de Triomphe lasted for 5 years, and the opening took place only in 1834. Unfortunately, the original Triumphal Gate has not survived to this day. In the 1930s, the square was reconstructed and the gates were dismantled. The structure was previously measured, sketched and photographed, so that they could then be restored at the Belorussky railway station. Decorative details were sent to museums for storage. But then the Great began Patriotic War, and the cast iron columns were melted down for the needs of the front - only one survived. What we see now on Kutuzovsky Prospekt is a remake, but it was created from surviving drawings and photographs.

Osip Bove's account includes not only monumental buildings, but also ordinary buildings that are important for any city. This list includes the Gradskaya Hospital in the Kaluga Outpost area; the Gagarins' house, which Beauvais converted for the needs of the Catherine Hospital, as well as residential buildings. As for the latter, Bove, as responsible for the facades of Moscow, paid great attention appearance residential buildings. Under his leadership, the so-called “Albums of Exemplary Projects” were compiled, where recommendations and samples of houses for representatives of various classes were collected. These were original catalogs of projects, and everyone could choose the appropriate home option in accordance with their taste and income. Thanks to Bova, a new type of building appeared - apartment buildings, where the top floor was intended for the residence of the owners of the house, the first floor housed retail premises, and on the remaining floors the apartments were rented. Bove also came up with a new concept for a city mansion: with outbuildings facing the street and a small front courtyard. After the War of 1812, Moscow was actively rebuilt, and Bove worked not only with official government orders, but also with private individuals - he designed houses for townspeople, merchants, and nobles.

The versatile architectural talent of Osip Bove is immortalized in Moscow churches. Among the churches that were built according to Bove’s designs are the Intercession Church, St. Nicholas Church in Kotelniki, the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity on the territory of the Danilovsky Monastery, the temple in honor of the Archangel Michael in Arkhangelskoye, and several churches at hospitals. Last work architect, which he did not have time to finish - the Church of All Who Sorrow Joy on Bolshaya Ordynka. In the past, the western part of this church was rebuilt by Bove's mentor - Bazhenov, and it turned out that the reconstruction of the eastern part went to the student.

Osip Bove was very successful person. During his lifetime he earned universal recognition, was well off and happy in personal life- He and his wife had four sons. The only thing he dreamed of, but never received, was the title of academician of architecture. In 1818, Osip Bove submitted a petition to the Imperial Academy of Arts to award him the title of academician of architecture. Representatives of the Academy set a condition for the architect to receive the title - he had to design a theater building with a capacity of 3,000 people. It was not possible to complete this task, and Beauvais did not become an academician.

Osip Bove lived a very active, but short life. The architect died at the age of 49, on June 15, 1834, a little short of his 50th birthday - according to modern times he was still a very young man. Osip Bove was buried in the cemetery at the Donskoy Monastery.

Historical information:

October 24 (November 4), 1784 - Osip Bove was born in St. Petersburg
1801 – Beauvais entered the service after graduating from architectural school
1809-1812 - Beauvais is one of the architectural assistants on the Expedition, participates in the restoration of the Kremlin and the improvement of Moscow and Tver
1812 – Beauvais participates in the militia
1816 - Bove received the title of architect from the council of the Imperial Academy of Arts, and also converted to Orthodoxy and married the widow Princess Avdotya Semyonovna Trubetskoy
June 15, 1834 – Osip Ivanovich Bove died

We know him as famous architect Osip Ivanovich Bove.

One list of even the surviving creations of Beauvais in Moscow will take up almost the entire newspaper page. Therefore, we have selected several places that should be visited and which have interesting and even scandalous stories associated with them.

Kremlin, Vodovzvodnaya Tower➊.- Solid Italy. It was built by an Italian in Russian service Antonio Gilardi back in the 15th century. By 1805, the tower had become so dilapidated that it was decided to reconstruct it - to sort it out almost entirely and rebuild it. They usually write that “the work was entrusted to an unknown architect, the Italian Beauvais.” The truth here is only in the origin of the restorer. At that time, he was not an architect - just a student at the school of the Kremlin Building Expedition.

Kremlin, Vodovzvodnaya Tower Photo: AiF / Valery Khristoforov

But our student cannot be called completely unknown: for several previous works he was awarded by the emperor three times with a gold watch, and for the tower - also with a ring with diamonds.

Napoleonic troops (and again Italians, mercenaries) blew up the tower during their retreat. And - a cruel irony of fate! - after the war, it was restored a second time by the same Osip Bove. Princess Turkestanova, a great gossip of those times, whom we will meet again, slandered: “The tower appeared to Osip Ivanovich in a dream again, so much so that he fell ill.”

Crook or artist?

The next point of the walk is Bolshoi Theater➋, fortunately he is nearby. At that time, out of habit, he was still called Petrovsky. That’s why the estimate was approved as follows: “To allocate 1,200,666 rubles in gold for the construction of the new building of the Petrovsky Theater.” The amount is prohibitive. But so does luxury. Initial draft Andrey Mikhailov has been thoroughly redesigned. For example, the famous quadriga of Apollo was located on the rear façade. Beauvais carried her to the square. Inside, a lot has also changed: “We must do justice to Bove’s new decision - with the most rigorous study, you will see that in this theater there is no place that would be inappropriate and inconvenient” - these are the senator’s memoirs Alexandra Bulgakova. But my colleagues were jealous. Architect Alexander Vitberg wrote this: “The project of the Petrovsky Theater is the work of Bove, who allowed this project to be assigned to him.” Mikhailov was offended and said: “Osip Ivanovich is not independent and takes everything from ready-made samples.” It's not fair. Beauvais was not so much an architect as a planner of the city as such. Nowadays they would say - “urbanist”. Moreover, little has reached us from that theater.

But Theater Square, planned with great grace by Osip Ivanovich, has not gone away. And it is even more interesting to re-read the issue of Moskovskiye Vedomosti dated January 6, 1825: “At the grand opening, the public called not the actors, but the architect. Before the overture there was a terrible noise. They began to call out to the builder: “Bove, Bove!” He appeared in the director’s box and was drowned out by applause...”

The story of the arch's transfer is also funny. By General plan During the reconstruction of Moscow in 1935, the monument was dismantled. It was supposed to be restored, but they could not figure out where exactly. Gradually they completely forgot about him. The ice began to break only after the speech of the first cosmonaut of the Earth at the VIII plenum of the Komsomol Central Committee in December 1965.

Yuri Gagarin stated: “In Moscow, the Arc de Triomphe of 1812 was removed and not restored. I could continue the list of victims of the barbaric attitude towards the monuments of the past. Unfortunately, there are many such examples.” “Gagarin is Gagarin,” replied Leonid Brezhnev.“That’s why the first thing we will do is restore the Arc de Triomphe.”

Unequal marriage

It's worth taking a look at house number 6 in Petrovsky Lane➍. Only the classic facade of post-fire Moscow belongs to the authorship of Beauvais. But if you take the time to walk around the building, it will become clear: it was built back in the 17th century. And it’s true that the customer was Patriarch Adrian back in 1690. After his death, Peter I abolished the patriarchate, and the house changed several owners.

House number 6 in Petrovsky Lane. Photo: AiF / Valery Khristoforov

One of them is Alexey Trubetskoy, married to Avdotya Semyonovna. Why talk about this in such detail? Yes, because she was widowed early - her husband died during the foreign campaign of the Russian army, in the Battle of the Nations near Leipzig in 1813. In the same year, cornet of the Moscow Hussar Regiment Osip Bove retired from the army. And three years later he marries the widow, Princess Avdotya Trubetskoy. He moves into her house and rebuilds it. The scandal was monstrous. She lost princely title: it hurts too much unequal marriage. But gossip and rumors were more severe. Is it ever seen - a noble lady with a decent fortune, a mother of five children, marries the son of a Neapolitan artist of obscure origin!

The same Princess Turke-stanova was sarcastic about this: “Moscow is crazy - an artist, an architect, a valet - everyone is suitable just to get married!” But the marriage still took place. In every sense. The former princess gave birth to four more children to Osip Bova. And exactly in this house. Here the architect created the look of post-fire Moscow. So who is Bove, an independent artist or a talented copyist? Here you need to look for the third answer. And, no matter how blasphemous, remember Andrey Rublev. Once Russian Orthodox Church decided that his icons are an example: “To paint as was customary from Rublev.” It's the same here. Moscow was planned and built according to the words and models of Osip Bove.

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  © Commons.wikimedia.org / Author unknown
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  © Public Domain / Painting “View of the Grand Theater”, Jean-Baptiste Arnoux, 19th century
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  © Public Domain / “Illumination of Theater Square in 1856”, Vasily Sadovnikov
• © Commons.wikimedia.org / Tille & Optiz
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