There are lots of people how have helped St. Petersburg to grow into one of the greatest cities in Russia in terms of art, culture, history, and the tourism industry; some of whom were foreign artists, who had come to Russia after Peter the Great had moved the capital to St. Petersburg. Among all of those artists, Italian artists were the first to come and worked with Peter I, to build his significant capital. Lots of people with various skills were invited to Russia, including Italian architects, such as Carlo Rossi, who has been identified as one of the most prominent masters of neoclassicism architecture in St. Petersburg.
Carlo Rossi was one of the most prominent Italian architects in St. Petersburg, who had done several significant tasks in St. Petersburg to form this beautiful city as it is today. He came to Russia during his childhood with his mother, who was one of the famous ballerinas in that time; though he went back to Italy to study architecture, he was taught by Vincenzo Brenna, and also helped him on his most notable construction in St. Petersburg, St. Michael’s Castle. After his return to St. Petersburg, he mostly did several reconstruction works, and only got his first major assignment in 1816, when Alexander I commissioned him to build a summer palace on Yelagin Island for his mother. Following his arrival, he became one of the well-known architects in St. Petersburg who had done several influential projects, such as the Mikhailovsky Palace and Alexanderinsky Theatre. Though he was admired in St. Petersburg by both people and the imperial court, he got into an argument with Emperor Nichols I over his action in Alexanderinsky Theatre, which led to him being disappeared from St. Petersburg. He died in 1849 in St. Petersburg and buried in Volkovskoye Lutheran Cemetery, but his remains were moved to Alexander Nevsky Lavra during the Soviet era. There are several significant works of Carlo Rossi in St. Petersburg Tour, which you can visit if you want during your tour to Russia, but if we want to pick some of our favorites to recommend you visit on your Russia tour, the list would be like following.
Anichkov Palace
Although Francesco Rastrelli was the architect who had designed the Anichkov Palace for Empress Elizabeth of Russia, she gave the completed palace to her informal husband Aleksey Razumovsky; Carlo Rossi’s first commission after his return to St. Petersburg was reconstructing Anichkov Palace; however, Ivan Starov had reconstructed the palace for Grigory Potemkin before him, when Catherine the Great purchased the palace back for his lover. You can visit Anichkov Palace on your trip to St. Petersburg; but, it’s somewhat different from what you would expect from Francesco Rastrelli design since multiple architects have worked on it from the beginning. The Carnival Concert Hall also locates inside the Anichkov Palace complex, which you can visit during your tour to Russia.
Yelagin Palace
Though reconstruction of Anichkov Palace in 1816, and several works in Pavlovsk from 1815 to 1822 were Rossi’s first commissions, his first major assignment was Yelagin Palace on Yelagin Island. The original palace and the entire island belonged to Russian statesman, poet, and historian Ivan Yelagin, but the imperial court had purchased the estate from his heir during Alexander I’s reign. The emperor had ideas to build a summer palace for his mother, Maria Fyodrovna, and he commissioned Carlo Rossi to construct it. The elegant palace on the gorgeous Yelagin Island became Rossi’s first significant practice of the neoclassical architecture of many in St. Petersburg. We at the Star Travel Company suggest touring this palace and island on our tour to St. Petersburg because it’s one of the fascinating places on the Russia tour; however since there are lots of notable attractions in Russia, our tourists usually don’t have enough time on their tour to Russia to visit this place.
Mikhailovsky Palace
Carlo Rossi had created some of the significant places St. Petersburg; from Yelagin Palace to General Staff Building on the Palace Square and Senat and Synod Building, however, the most significant work that he had done in St. Petersburg is Mikhailovsky Palace and its surrounding area, which has housed the Russian State Museum for more than a century. Emperor Paul I had visions to build a palace for his youngest son, Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich, but before the building had begun, Paul I died; however, his son Alexander I, who was the heir to the throne, carried his late father's wishes and commissioned Carlo Rossi, who was the neoclassical architecture master to begin the work on Mikhailovsky Palace. For the first time in his career, a large plot of ground was given to Rossi to work on, which led to designing an architectural masterpiece for St. Petersburg. Besides the palace, Rossi had designed two parks, the streets around the palace, and a square in front of one of the facades. The palace had two magnificent facades, one faced the well-known Field of Mars, and the other had faced to the spot, where now stands Art Square. Rossi had worked with some of the notable sculptures of that time to decorate the interior, which most of them did not survive to this day. Though both interior and exterior of the palace are significant enough for anyone to enjoy a visit to this palace during their tour to Russia, the task he had done to build the complex of the palace, parks, and the streets and square around it, was the leading reason behind his masterwork; even after several years, when Alexander Brullov was commissioned to build Mikhailovsky Theatre alongside Mikhailovsky Palace, he designed his theatre hall in a way to save the character of Mikhailovsky Palace and the surrounding area. Mikhailovsky Palace is one of the significant Russia attractive places, which was built by Rossi that we at the Star Travel Company recommend in our Russia tour program.
Alexanderinsky Theatre
Alexanderinsky Theatre was one of the latest jobs of Italian neoclassical architecture master in St. Petersburg. Although he had done several works, mostly completing other architects’ designs, it was the last major work he had done in the city. Similar to Mikhailovsky Palace, Rossi had the opportunity to create a complex for the Alexandrinsky Theatre as well. Alexandrinsky Theatre is the second-oldest theatre in the city, after Mariinsky Theatre; however, if you count the Bolshoi theatre, which was destroyed more than a century before Alexanderinsky, Alexandinsky was also the second-greatest theatre in the city. We at the Star Travel Company recommend you visit this theatre if you want to see drama, Russian Ballet, or classical musical on your tour to Russia.
Besides all these magnificent jobs in St. Petersburg, Carlo Rossi had done several lesser works as well, such as extending the General Staff Building on the Palace Square; he also did two more similar jobs at Senate Square and Senate and Synod building. His works awarded him the Theatre Street’s name to change to Street of Architect Rossi, in honor of his practice in St. Petersburg. We at the Star Travel Company Recommend our tourists visit our weblog to find out more about Russia tour, how to travel to Russia, and our tips on the top Russia attractive places. You can also learn about the history of significant places in Russia as well as prominent people who had built the Russian history.
