Exhibitions: Model of the Grand Kremlin Palace of the architect Vasili Bazhenov presented in Moscow

June 19, 2012 Shchusev State Museum of Architecture (Moscow) opens a permanent exhibition and presents a model of the Grand Kremlin Palace, created in the 70s of the XVIII century by the Great Russian architect Vasili Bazhenov.

The model is a unique monument of the Classical Period, and one of the most large-scale architectural models in the world. Its establishment is due to the ambitious plans of Catherine II to build the greatest palace on the site of the Kremlin walls, indicating the power and might of the Russian crown.

The implementation plan was entrusted to a young architect Vasili Bazhenov. The developed project fundamentally changed the whole complexion of the Kremlin ensemble and the Red Square. The model perfectly embodies the architect's idea and has a faithful reproduction of all the details. Its central part is made as a dismountable one, so viewers may see the parade halls. This is the first project of classical palaces’ interiors in Russia of such a scale and one of the few extant interiors of Bazhenov.

June 1, 1773 the ceremonial laying of the palace took place, but two years later, the widely deployed construction was stopped by the Empress. Bazhenov’s architectural ensemble was not destined to take place on the Kremlin hill, but the model of the palace remained as the evidence of grandiose projects of the Russian monarchy, the architectural symbol of the Enlightenment in Russia.

In 1936, the model of the Grand Kremlin Palace Museum was transferred to the Museum of Architecture whose staff has worked hard for its reconstruction and restoration. Today, the most surviving fragments of the model are again presented to the visitors of the Shchusev State Museum of Architecture in the mode of constant exposure.