Quarenghi G. (1744-1817), architect

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QUARENGHI Giacomo (1744-1817), architect, representative of Neoclassicism. Native of Italy. From 1761 (according to the other data sources, from 1763) studied painting and architecture in Rome. At the end of 1779, he came to St. Petersburg and became a court architect. In 1814, he was became a member of the Russian nobility. The first significant works of Quarenghi was the English Palace in Peterhof (1781-1794, destroyed in 1942) a classical monumental building with a Corinthian portico. In Tsarskoye Selo, Quarenghi built A.D. Lanskoy mausoleum (Kazan Church, 1785-90), Kitchen Ruins, Concert Hall (1784-86) and Alexandrovsky Palace (1792-96) with a walk-through colonnade, connecting it with the park. Among the buildings created by Quarenghi in St. Petersburg are public buildings: Academy of Sciences, Collegium of Foreign Affairs, the Stock Exchange building (reconstructed by J.F. Thomas de Thomon), the Assignation Bank, the Hermitage Theatre; buildings of beneficent and educational organizations: the Smolny Institute and the Catherine Institute, St. Mary's Hospital; churches: the English Church, the Maltese Chapel; town houses of counts A.A. Bezborodko, F.I. Groten, I.F. Vietinghof. The wooden Narva Triumphal Gate is dedicated to the victory over France. Quarenghi's style is characterised by emphasized continuous laconism, simplicity of space-planning, consummate usage of the order system (the Raphael Loggia, see the Hermitage, Winter Palace Halls). He was a perfect draftsman and left many drawings of Russian architectural monuments. In 1780-1783, he lived at 15 Nevsky Prospect, in 1809-17, at 32 Dvortsovaya Embankment (memorial plaque). He was buried in Volkovskoe Lutheran Cemetery; in 1967 his ashes were transferred to the Necropolis of the 18th century. As of 1923, a side street near Smolny Cathedral bears the name of Quarenghi. The monument to Quarenghi is standing in front of the Assignation Bank (1967, sculptor L.K. Lazarev, architect M.N. Meysel).

Reference: Пилявский В. И. Джакомо Кваренги: Архитектор. Художник. Л., 1981; Коршунова М. Ф. Джакомо Кваренги // Зодчие Санкт-Петербурга, XVIII век. СПб., 1997. С. 719-769; G. Quarenghi: аrchitetto a Pietroburgo: Lettere e altri scritti. Venezia, 1988; Fabbriche e disegni di Giacomo Quarenghi. Bergamo, 1994; Giacomo Quarenghi: Architetture e vedute. Milano, 1994.

V. V. Antonov. Bezborodko Alexander Andreevich
Brenna Vikenty Franzevich (Vicenzo)
Groten Johann Friedrich
Lanskoy Alexander Dmitrievich
Lazarev Levon Konstantinovich
Meysel Mikhail Nikolaevich
Quarenghi Giacomo
Thomas de Thomon Jean-Francois
Vietinghof I.F.
Dvortsovaya Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 32
Nevsky prospect/Saint Petersburg, city, house 15
Quarenghi Lane/Saint Petersburg, city
Пилявский В. И. Джакомо Кваренги: Архитектор. Художник. Л., 1981
Коршунова М. Ф. Джакомо Кваренги // Зодчие Санкт-Петербурга, XVIII век. СПб., 1997
G. Quarenghi: аrchitetto a Pietroburgo: Lettere e altri scritti. Venezia, 1988
Giacomo Quarenghi: Architetture e vedute. Milano, 1994
Fabbriche e disegni di Giacomo Quarenghi. Bergamo, 1994 Alexander Palace (Pushkin)
Hermitage Theatre
Smolny Institute
Mariinskaya Municipal Hospital
English Church of Jesus Christ
Maltese Chapel
Narva Triumphal Arch
Hermitage
Hermitage
Winter Palace
Necropolis of the18th Century