Menelas A.A. (1753-1834), architect

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MENELAS Adam Adamovich (1753-1831, Tsarskoe Selo), architect, landscape designer, representative of the late Neoclassicism. Native of Scotland. From 1785, resided in Russia, worked as a mason in the workshop of N.A. Lvov in Torzhok and Mogilev. From 1800, was employed as an architect by the Counts Razumovsky, from 1813, Counts Stroganov. In 1813-31, was a member of the Building Committee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. From the early 1810s, Menelas worked in Tsarskoe Selo, where he laid out Alexandrovsky park and erected the pavilions there: the Arsenal (1819-34), the Chapel (1825-28) and the White Tower (1821-27), whose outlook is marked by the English Neo-Gothic architecture influence. In Peterhof, Menelas created the landscape park Alexandria, with a small Palace Cottage in the centre (1826-29), also representative of the English style (its decoration was completed by prominent masters). He erected the Farm Palace on the park premises (1828-30; later re-built). The cast iron gates of Ekaterininsky and Alexandrovsky parks in Tsarskoe Selo are done in the Empire style. The massive Kusminsky (Egyptian) Gates (1829-32) at the gateway of St. Petersburg, adorned with reliefs by V.I. Demut-Malinovsky are especially expressive. Menelas' last work is the Church of St. Alexander Nevsky in Alexandria, in Neo-Gothic style (1831-34; project of the German architect K. Schinkel, with a contribution of I.I. Charlemagne, sculptor Demut-Malinovsky).

Reference: Кузнецов С. О. Адам Менелас // Зодчие Санкт-Петербурга, ХIХ - начало ХХ века. СПб., 1998. С. 80-89.

V. V. Antonov. Charlemagne Iosif Iosifovich
Demut-Malinovsky Vasily Ivanovich
Lvov Nikolay Alexandrovich
Menelas Adam Adamovich
Schinkel Karl Friedrich
the Razumovskys
the Stroganovs
Кузнецов С. О. Адам Менелас // Зодчие Санкт-Петербурга, ХIХ - начало ХХ века. СПб., 1998