An outstanding architect Carlo Rossi dreamed to make the other Rome out of St. Petersburg”

December 29, 2017, marks the 242th anniversary of the birth of an outstanding architect, one of the creators of the unique image of St. Petersburg Carlo Ivanovich Rossi.

The historical building of the Most Holy Governing Synod accommodates the premises of the Presidential Library, which was built upon the project of this master. A portrait of the architect meets visitors, greeting them on the first floor of the building, in where they can also see the layouts of the facade renderings of the Holy Synod and the Governing Senate buildings, the project of which was approved on July 5, 1832. In addition, multimedia exhibition describes the complex is in detail from a screen.

The Presidential Library has a variety of materials related to Carlo Rossi. These are books dedicated to his life and achievements, the digital copies of historical documents, and taken in different periods of time images of architectural masterpieces of an artist, and many others.

I. Grabar in Volume 3 of his work entitled The History of Russian Art, focused on the architecture of St. Petersburg of the XVIII and XIX centuries, recounts: “What a scale, what an amplitude of architectural ideas! This man was eager to build the entire squares and streets, not just the freestanding buildings. The Romans — that who were his teachers, and that some with what he wanted to catch up in his planning. The grandeur and luxury of the Roman buildings of the times of Agrippa, Adrian and Caracalla attracted his imagination, and he had a strong mind to create another Rome out of St. Petersburg.”

The very scale of the accomplishments of Carlo Rossi is too difficult to underestimate: the ensemble of the Mikhailovsky Palace (the Russian Museum) with the adjacent garden and square, the ensemble of Alexandrinsky Square with the buildings of the Alexandrinsky Theater, the new building of the Imperial Public Library and two identical long buildings on Teatralnaya Street (currently Rossi St.).

Particularly noteworthy is the architectural adornment of the heart of St. Petersburg: the ensemble of the Palace Square with the General Staff building with the triumphal arch. “He decided the simplest — the right semi-circle for a square, with cut into the center monumental arch for the passage to Morskaya Street, — I. Grabar writes. — In here, in that solution on this arch Rossi proved himself to be a genius of architecture, which should not built the houses, but the streets and the entire cities. Here, when he feels that his task is well-deserved him, he develops his strengths to their very limit.” Large-scale plans required non-trivial solutions: “Since the Morskaya Street approaches the Palace Square abnormally, at an angle, Rossi threw over not one but two arches. This bold solution only increased the beauty of the entire structure.”

The arch became a distinctive feature of another Rossi’s building — the complex of buildings of the Senate and the Synod, which currently accommodate the premises of the Constitutional Court and the Presidential Library, respectively. The architect adhered himself: “This is also almost an entire block with a colossal arch that opens the way to Galernaya Street. Rossi again cannot limit himself by erecting one or two buildings for two institutions. He is willing to create much more — he needs to build cities, — I. Grabar says. — He so successfully used the idea of an independence of the Senate and the Synod, which both at the same time make up one whole, and designs two identical corps — one for the Senate, the other for the Synod. These two fasaids he virtuously connects to the one with very impressive and very luxurious arch, bridged over Galernaya Street. A ceremonial architecture with four pairs of Corinthian columns crowned with bronze angels, and a luxurious attic crowned with a bronze statue of Themis, constitute the center of this composition.”

The readers of the Presidential Library may learn more about Rossi’s creation even from home. The documentary 3 Senatskaya Square is available on the library website, which, apart from telling a history of the building, also tells about the work of the Presidential Library as the major scientific, educational, outreach and awareness raising cluster. The Electronic Fund of the Presidential Library constantly grows, numbering today about 600,000 items of storage. In the building on the Senate Square is a constant home for the exhibitions, public video lecturing and other events dedicated to a diverse history of our country with its culture, including the distinguished architect Karl Ivanovich Rossi.