There are lots of foreign artists who have helped St. Petersburg to become one of the greatest attractive cities in Russia, including some of the most prominent French architects. They have worked in St. Petersburg, both as architects and professors, who have designed some of the major attractions in St. Petersburg and taught the young minds of future Russian artists. Among those architects, we can point out to one of the most significant people who had contributed a lot to St. Petersburg society, Jean-Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe.
Jean-Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe was born in 1729 in Angouleme, France. He spent around 15 years in St. Petersburg, during which he had designed some of the most significant attractions of St. Petersburg, including Bolshoi Gostiny Dvor, Yusupov Palace, Academy of Art, and the famous neoclassical arch in New Holland. He was first invited to Russia by Ivan Shuvalov to teach at the Academy of Art. While his first major works in St. Petersburg was Bolshoi Gostiny Dvor, he was also responsible for designing some other projects, including the Church of Catherine and Count Razumovskiy's Palace. Vallin de la Mothe had never built his designs. That's the reason why most of his works are considered as a collaboration with other architects. Vallin de la Mothe was also an expert interior designer, and he had designed some of the significant interiors in St. Petersburg, such as interior in Winter Palace, which he was commissioned by Catherine the Great. Alongside his designing project, Vallin de la Mothe was also a professor at the Academy of Art, in which Ivan Starov and Vasily Bazhenov were among his students. He returned to Angouleme in 1775 and spent the rest of his life there until 1800 when he died almost anonymous to the world.
Great Gostiny Dvor
Great Gostiny Dvor is the oldest and one of the largest department stores in St. Petersburg. It's also one of the most famous historical sites in St. Petersburg, which has been around in Nevsky Prospect from 250 years ago. The Bolshoi Gostiny Dvor was the idea of Empress Elizabeth because she had plans to build a single place for all the merchants to gather and trade in St. Petersburg. Many architects have presented their design for the new trading center in the capital of Russia, including Antonio Rinaldi and Francesco Rastrelli, both were members of the most prominent Italian architects in St. Petersburg. But the early-neoclassical design of French architect Jean Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe got approved by both the imperial court and the merchants who were patrons of the project. He designed the Bolshoi Gostiny Dvor building similar to easter bazaars, and the project started in 1761. The construction took more than twenty years to be completed, and Bolshoi Gostiny Dvor was officially opened in 1785. The two-story arcade design of De la Mothe, which surrounds an inner courtyard, was simple and without any decoration, partly because of the financial problems. Later, Nikolay Benois had added several decorations and a dome on the central porch; however, it got removed after the second world war reconstruction of the building. Bolshoi Gostiny Dvor is still one of the top shopping centers of St. Petersburg and one of the major attractions of St. Petersburg during the Russia Tour. We at the Star Travel Company recommend visiting this shopping center to both groups of people who want to shop during their tour to Russia and people who only want to enjoy the architecture of the place on their St. Petersburg tour.
Academy of Art
During Elizabeth's reign, an imperial decree issued for establishing an academy of art in St. Petersburg. Still, it was during Catherine the Great's reign that the Academy of Art got its building. Ivan Shuvalov (founder of the academy of art) invited several foreign artists, including Jean-Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe, to teach at the academy of art, which was housed in his mansion on Sadovaya Ulitsa at first. Catherine the Great believed that the imperial academy of art should have its building, and laid the foundation of it herself. Shuvalov had commissioned Jean-Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe to construct the building alongside Yuri Felten and Alexander Kokorinov, who were the first Russian professors at the Academy of Art. The Academy of Art building was one of the first early neoclassical architecture in St. Petersburg that De la Mothe had designed. One of the features of the building that Catherine the Great insist on having was the inner courtyard, which was supposed to be the exact dimensions and size of the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral in Rome. The building completed in 1788 and has a stylish façade as well as rich decoration and interior design. You can visit this magnificent structure on your tour to Russia.
New Holland
New Holland is an artificial island that has been around since the beginning of the 18th century when Peter the Great took the opportunity to established Russia's first marine port. This unusual historic landmark in St. Petersburg did not get its current look until Jean-Baptiste de la Mothe built the most well-known structure on the island. The neoclassical arch that linked the Moika River with the private pool inside New Holland took around nine years from 1770 to be constructed, and with the number of granite blocks that used to build it, they brought its weight to about 4 tons. This magnificent 23-meter-tall arch is the first thing that tourists would see when they want to enter New Holland on their tour to Russia.
Yusupov Palace
Yusupov Palace is one of the still-standing urban palaces of St. Petersburg, which Jean-Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe had designed for Count Peter Shuvalov. Yusupov Palace locates near the Mariinsky Theatre is more famous because it was the site of Grigory Rasputin's murder. However, it's also admired because most of its interior has preserved perfectly among other noble houses in St. Petersburg. While the simple neoclassical architecture of Yusupov Palace has blent perfectly in the neighborhood, Vallin de la Mothe had designed the interior as luxury as he could, which you will notice the moment you step foot inside the palace. Yusupov Palace is one of the major attractions of St. Petersburg in Russia tour, as well as one of the most significant works of Jean-Baptiste de la Mothe in St. Petersburg among Academy of Art and Bolshoi Gostiny Dvor. We at the Star Travel Company would recommend visiting Yusupov Palace on our Russia Tour program, both because of the architecture and interior and also because of the museum that holds inside this palace.
While Italian architects get more credits because of their works in St. Petersburg, French architects, such as Jean-Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe, had also contributed a lot to the city and the culture of St. Petersburg. Both by designing some of the major attractions of St. Petersburg in Russia tour and tutoring some of the most prominent future Russian architects in St. Petersburg. One of the best ways to pay respect to those people is visiting their works in St. Petersburg and knowing their history. We at the Star Travel Company also recommend our tourists visiting our weblog to learn more about these sorts of history and top Russia attractive places in Russia tour. They can also learn about our tips and pieces of advice on how to travel to Russia.
