Russian Academy of Arts changed its name and location several times throughout history. This academy introduced loads of artists and architects to the world since the beginning of its work. The academy is famous for its excellent educational staff and programs, but also it’s a great tourist’s attraction in Vasilyevsky Island because of its architecture and museum.
The Academy of Arts building locates at the east part of the Vasilyevsky Island in the north part of St. Petersburg and has the same amount of history behind it as the city itself. The building is one of the first examples of Neoclassical architecture in St. Petersburg which designed by French architecture, Jean-Baptiste de la Mothe who invited to Russia by Count Shuvalov to teach at the Academy of Art.
Empress Elizabeth ordered to establish an art academy in St. Petersburg by the suggestion of count Alexander Shuvalov in 1957. The first academy was held at the Shuvalov mansion and named the Academy of the three most noble arts. Following Catherine II’s succession of the crown, she ordered to build an appropriate separate building for the academy. She also ordered to change the name of the academy to The Imperial Academy of Art.
De la Mothe who was invited to Russia by Count Alexander Shuvalov to teach at the Academy of art, assigned to design the new building of the academy in Vasilyevsky Island. Catherine the Great appointed an excellent site for the new building near the Neva River and laid the foundation stone of the building herself in 1765.
There were some particular requests in the designing of the building by Catherine the Great such as the circular yard at the center of the academy which was as exact dimensions as the St. Paul’s cathedral’s dome in Rome. De la Mothe appointed Alexander Kokorinov and Yury Felten as his assistants in this project.
Since Catherine the Great was one of the first persons in the Imperial Family who admired the neoclassical architecture, she ordered de la Mothe to design the new academy building following that style. The Imperial Academy of Arts building completed as one of the first neoclassical architecture in St. Petersburg in 1788. There were loads of fine materials and decoration used to design the interior of the building, especially the Entrance Hall, the Titan Hall, and the Raphael Hall.
Alexander Kokorinov built a Minerva statue on top of the building's dome. Minerva was the goddess of Wisdom in Ancient Roma. There were also two 3500 years old Egyptian Sphinxes brought to the academy from France in 1832. Konstantin Ton built a granite pier in front of the academy that housed the Sphinxes. These two statues are one of the most famous statues in St. Petersburg.
The Academy of Arts was famous for many things such as the abroad programs in which they sent promising students to the capitals of the Europa to learn about the ancient and renaissance style of Italy and France. In 1893, the Imperial Academy of Arts divided into two separate sections. One of them dedicated to the artworks of artists in all Russia, and one was only cared about the academic arts.
After the 1917 Revolution, the Imperial Academy of Arts changed its name and location several times such as the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, Petrograd Academy of Arts, Petrograd Svemas. Following the nationalism after the Revolution, the academy of arts turned to a free of tuition fee as they were financed by the Soviet government. There were 25 open seats for each semester in the academy, but thousands of applications formed a brutal competition to enter the academy.
The Academy changed its name for the last time during the Soviet era to The Academy of Arts of USSR and moved its headquarter to Moscow in 1947. The amazing collection of the academy was transported to the Hermitage Museum. The former academy building was turned to the Ilya Repin Leningrad Institute for Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture. The National Academy of Arts remains in Moscow since 1947 and only changed its name to The Russia Academy of Arts in 1991.
The Russia Academy of arts introduced several famous artists to the world in its 250th years of existence such as Valentin Serov, Karl Bryullov, Ilya Repin, Taras Shevchenko, and Leonty Benois. The Russian Academy of Arts is still one of the finest art academies in all Russia.
The Academy’s building is now home of the Museum of Academic Arts which contains several extraordinary pieces of art in its collections. The museum includes five main halls such as the architectural modeling hall, the Entrance Hall, the Titan Hall, The Raphael Hall, and the Academy Arts, and the Casts hall.
The Petersburg in architectural models and drawings from the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries is one of the favorite halls of the museum considering the small size of its collection. The hall which called the pearl of the architectural museum includes several models of famous buildings in St. Petersburg such as Isaac’s Cathedral, and the Novodevichy Monastery.
The Casts Hall is another favorite places in the museum which contains loads of copies of artworks from the masters of the 18th and the 19th centuries. This amazing collection is as old as the academy itself.
Another collection of the museum is the Academic Arts, which contains the artworks and paintings from the great masters who influenced many youth Russian artists throughout the time.
The Raphael Hall which contains the accurate copies of artworks from the Italian Renaissance’s artists and the Titan Hall that includes the copies of artworks from the 16th to 18th century of Italy are the other permanent exhibitions of the museum.
In overall, visiting this building and museum might be in your top attractions’ list of St. Petersburg because of the architecture, the collection, and the history behind it. The Academy Museum is dedicated to the former and current students, the educating staff, and local artists’ artworks which displays in several halls of the museum.
We recommend you to check this museum which locates in Vasilyevsky Island in your travel to St. Petersburg. However, the museum is not normally included in St. Petersburg tour programs, so if you want to check this place out, you should inform your Russia tour agencies beforehand.
