This beautiful building flashes in the depths of the courtyard when you drive along Leninsky Prospekt. Luxurious gates with the inscription “Russian Academy of Sciences” block access, and I included the palace in the list, but experts suggested that on weekdays you can safely approach the palace.
The palace has a long and interesting history.
In the middle of the 18th century, the Demidovs acquired land in the area of the Kaluga tract, and in 1756 a palace was erected. In 1804, it was rebuilt by the new owners - the Orlovs, and in 1832 the estate (which covered the lands of the current Gorky Park and Neskuchny Garden) was acquired by the palace department for the imperial family. Nicholas I gave the palace to his wife Alexandra Feodorovna and named it Alexandrinsky. The palace was renovated, and a grand entrance was built from Kaluzhskaya Street to the palace. The entrance to the park is decorated with pylons with allegorical sculptures; According to some sources, they symbolize abundance, according to others - the seasons and were made by Ivan (Giovanni) Vitali.
In the middle of the 19th century, the park was publicly accessible during the absence of the royal family in Moscow. However, in the 1890s, the Moscow Governor-General, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, uncle of Nicholas II, settled in the Alexandrinsky Palace; he closed access to the park.
And after the revolution, a museum of furniture craftsmanship was created in the palace, colorfully described by Ilf and Petrov (the heroes of the immortal novel were looking for chairs here):
These were rooms furnished with Pavlovian Empire style, mahogany and Karelian birch - furniture that was strict, wonderful and warlike. Two square cabinets, the glass doors of which were criss-crossed with spears, stood opposite the desk. The table was vast. Sitting at it was the same as sitting at Theater Square, and the Bolshoi Theater with its colonnade and four bronze horses dragging Apollo to the premiere of “The Red Poppy” would have seemed like an inkstand on the table... On the left hand from the very floor there were low semicircular windows . Through them, under her feet, Lisa saw a huge white two-light hall with columns. There was also furniture in the hall and visitors wandering around.
And in 1934, the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences moved into the palace, which occupies it to this day (not counting the 22-story skyscraper built nearby).
And then the Nikolsky Fountain by Ivan Vitali was moved to the courtyard from Lubyanka Square (from the place where the “Iron Felix” stood for many years): four figures of boys, personifying the Russian rivers Volga, Dnieper, Don and Neva, which supported a large bowl of red granite Vitali worked on the fountain in 1829-1835, so he can rightfully share the glory of the oldest fountain in Moscow with.
I read somewhere that the fountain doesn't work. It's not true, it works, and how...
We pass the fountain and go to the palace.
Oh, what balconies, what bars 
The entrance to the palace is guarded by dogs like these; they, like the fountain, were moved - from the Nizhny Presnensky Pond, which now does not exist (was located in the White House area) 
Buildings preserved from the first half of the 19th century 
Garage Museum of Contemporary Art is a place where people, ideas and art meet to create history! The Garage Museum was founded in 2008 by Daria Zhukova and Roman Abramovich and became the first private philanthropic institution in Russia whose activities are aimed at the development and popularization of contemporary art and culture. One of the main missions of the Garage Museum is to show that contemporary art is a space for dialogue and searching for answers to many questions. It hosts exhibitions of leading Russian and foreign contemporary artists (such as Marina Abramovic, Raymond Pettibon, Mark Rothko, Viktor Pivovarov, Yayoi Kusama), educational programs for adults and children of different ages, as well as film screenings, concerts, performances and much more. Garage guides, drawing on the knowledge and experience of the best art historians and curators, open up the world of contemporary art to visitors every day. The guides will be happy to give you excursions in Russian and English, and will also help the guide with consecutive translation from Russian into the language of the group. The history of the Museum has always been closely connected with architecture. His first “home” was the famous Bakhmetyevsky bus depot in Moscow (in honor of which “Garage” received its name) - a monument of constructivism, designed by the architect Konstantin Melnikov. In 2012, Garage moved to the very heart of the capital - Gorky Park, to a temporary pavilion built according to the design of the Japanese architect Shigeru Ban. In June 2015, the Museum opened its first permanent building on the territory of the Park, which previously housed the “Seasons” restaurant, popular in the 1960s, which became the embodiment of the dream of ideal leisure for Soviet citizens. Today, the building, restored by the world-famous architect Rem Koolhaas and his OMA bureau, has become not just a museum, but also one of the city's main attractions, retaining many elements of its past. One of them is the mosaic that decorates the Atrium of the Museum and depicts a girl surrounded by autumn leaves. It is in the Atrium that every six months - in spring and autumn - a work of art created by artists specifically for Garage appears and is available for free viewing. The rotating installations of the project, called Garage Atrium Commissions, included works by Eric Bulatov, Louise Bourgeois, Rashid Johnson and Irina Korina. A bookstore is open daily at the Museum with the best selection of art books and magazines and Garage souvenirs made in Moscow (note the Made in Moscow label), including products created in collaboration with artists. There is a cozy cafe with original cuisine, a summer veranda and breakfasts that can be enjoyed throughout the day. The heart of the institution and the platform for Garage's exhibition, publishing and research projects is its collection - the world's largest archive on the history of Russian contemporary art since the 1950s. The archive is available to Russian and foreign researchers, and its funds, currently numbering more than 400,000 items, are constantly being replenished. In addition, in the building of the Educational Center of the Museum next to Pionersky Pond, Russia’s first public library on contemporary art operates for everyone. The Garage Museum also became the first museum in Russia to open an inclusive department and adapt exhibition and educational programs for visitors with various forms of disabilities. All Museum buildings are equipped with ramps, and specialists from the inclusive department conduct excursions and special events for deaf and hard of hearing, blind and visually impaired visitors, as well as for people with intellectual disabilities. We don’t know what your plans are, but we definitely have something to offer: exhibitions, lectures, meetings with experts, open-air films in great company, outdoor cocktails, festivals, concerts of famous musicians, performances, discussions, walks in the park and much more. See you at the Garage Museum! Ticket price: 0-300 rubles
The Neskuchnoye estate was located near the Kaluga outpost and covered the area from the Kaluga road to the Moscow River, where part of a high plateau and a deep, unsightly ravine with steep and gentle banks overlooked.
It was not easy for D.I. Ukhtomsky to transform this territory into a ceremonial residence, since the estate had a rather difficult terrain for laying out a park.
The estate was built in the first half of the 1750s under the influence of the Baroque style, and subsequently became an example of a Russian estate of the mid-18th century.
The Trubetskoy clan - the last clan of pre-Petrine Russia - was in close relations with the Romanovs. Nikita Yuryevich’s aunt, Irina Grigorievna Naryshkina, is the second cousin of Peter I’s mother. Her daughter, cousin of the owner of the estate, A.I. von Hesse-Homburg - wife of Louis-John-Wilhelm of Hesse-Homburg - heir to the German throne of the Land County.
Title page of the album of drawings by D.V. Ukhtomsky estate Neskuchnoye
Perspective of the N.Yu. estate Trubetskoy. From the album D.V. Ukhtomsky
From the street there was a view of the estate, hidden behind a wooden fence consisting of a balustrade, above which towered sculptures and vases of flowers. The entrance gates were decorated with wooden carvings and paintings. Shells and busts were located in the niches of the pylons, and luxurious garlands were hung on the sides, which completed the baroque attire of the gate. There were guardhouses at the gates.
Behind the gate there is a formal garden. Green spaces taller than human height were divided into separate rooms - blocks - in the form of squares or rectangles.
The space of the garden was strictly organized: there were zones of greenery, main and economic pavilions, for example, a poultry house.
Across the entire park from the gate to the main house there was a central alley with trees, the crowns of which were trimmed in a spherical shape.
Several wooden gates in the regular part of the park led from one part of the park to another. Also, wooden gates were the entrance to the neighborhoods. The statues located at the intersections of the alleys gave the garden solemnity and illusion.
Ukhtomsky adapted the ravine as a menagerie - menagerie. The introduced gloss of regularity was adjacent to the natural naturalness of the transformed relief. A stream flowed through the ravine, turning closer to the Moscow River into a cascading pond.
Between the house, surrounded by four symmetrically placed wings, and the river, there was a labyrinth - a ground floor and greenhouses.
The facade of the main house is richly decorated with a baroque pediment and sculptural decoration above the roof.
The main house of the Neskuchnoye estate.
The main house is a very typical example of mid-18th century architecture. The first floor was decorated with a colonnade, and on the second floor the most impressive thing was the balcony. The roof of the main house was cut through with lucarnes framed by figured platbands. The decor used cartouches with shells and garlands that decorated the window frames. The pediment of the main house was decorated with reclining female figures and topped with a crown. The cartouche contains the prince's coat of arms, which was supported by figurines of cupids. The house was completed by a carved parapet with vases on pedestals.
The valet's house was also harmoniously combined with the main house - one of the cour d'honneur's service buildings, also decorated with lucarnes and a balustrade.
A small guest house was located closer to the entrance, isolated by a park specifically so that the owners felt calm. And the main house stood far away from the noisy road.
Also to the side stood a house of solitude - closed from prying eyes by the greenery of the quarter, in which, as the name suggests, the owner or his guests could retire.
There was a poultry yard in the park - an aviary for songbirds with an internal bypass gallery.
On the very bank of the Moscow River there was a gallery and a greenhouse.
And the entire perspective of the palace and park ensemble was closed by the Moscow River and the Novodevichy Monastery, visible in the distance.
In 1791, the estate passed from P.N. Trubetskoy - from his son into the hands of Nikita Yuryevich’s brother, Prince D.Yu. Trubetskoy.
In September of the same year, due to dilapidation, the main house, four outbuildings, exit gates, a gallery, three gazebos, a greenhouse and services were dismantled.
Only the so-called hunting lodge has survived to this day.
On the plan this house is designated as “Gallery standing on an island.” During its construction, the project was slightly modified, resulting in the formation of the existing volume. The house still stands on the edge of the cliff.
Hunting lodge
P.S. I also came across an interesting note that I had never seen anywhere before, but it, however, is related to the Neskuchny Garden already from the time of Nicholas I - a description of the church in the Alexandrinsky Palace:
“At the top of the Palace there is a Church. This is a small hall, illuminated from above by a frosted cap, with three semicircular windows from the large front hall. Church in the name of St. Alexandra. The iconostasis is simple, wooden, with images without vestments, but in good Italian writing; on the cornice, above the altar, along the golden field, there is an inscription: “Holy is Thy temple, Diven in righteousness, hear us, O God.” In the altar there is an image of the Savior; a cypress floor-round board is also preserved, on which the face of the Lord is depicted with remarkable artistry in oil paints Sabaoth."
Literature:
1. Monuments of Moscow Architecture. Volume 6
2. Murzin-Gundorov V.V. - Architectural heritage of Russia. Dmitry Ukhtomsky
3. Architect Dmitry Vasilievich Ukhtomsky. 1719 -1774. Catalog
(Russia, Moscow, Leninsky Prospekt, 14-20)
The front part of the estate (the main house with outbuildings) is occupied by the Russian Academy of Sciences. Free access is closed
Since I have not closely studied the history of the Neskuchnoye estate, it would be fair to turn to the materials of art historians I.K. Bakhtina and E.N. Chernyavskaya. In their wonderful book “Country Estates of Moscow” they wrote: “The estate developed in the 1820s-40s as a palace property based on earlier architectural and park complexes. The name Neskuchnoye was given to it by the southernmost estate, created in the middle. XVIII century for Prince N.Yu. Trubetskoy. Nearby in the middle XVIII-early XIX centuries there was an estate of the princes Golitsyn. The northernmost estate in the region. XVIII-early XIX centuries belonged to gr. Orlov and consisted of several sections. The main place here was occupied by the estate, created in the middle. XVIII century P. A. Demidov. In 1796-1808 under A.G. In Orlov-Chesmensky, Demidov’s house was rebuilt, a complex of outbuildings was created, a park was landscaped, in which pavilions, bridges and a grotto appeared. It was this estate that became the basis for the creation of the summer Alexandrinsky Palace, intended for the wife of Emperor Nicholas I, Alexandra Fedorovna.
According to the design of the architect E.D. Tyurin, the buildings were reconstructed, the main entrance to the estate was decorated and a guardhouse was built. Gardener Pelzel supervised the work in the park.
When there was no royal family in the palace, Neskuchny Garden was opened for festivities. In 1928, it became part of the Central Park of Culture and Culture. In the 1920s there was a furniture museum in the palace. Since 1934, the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences has been located there. In the 1940s, the Neskuchny Garden strip along Leninsky Prospekt was built up with residential buildings.
The territory of the palace estate, stretched along the Moscow River, is compositionally divided into four historically established sections. From the southern estate that belonged to Trubetskoy, a park area intersected by a ravine with a pond and a stone gazebo (Hunting Lodge) have been preserved.
1.
2.
3. Neskuchnoe estate. Bath
4.
5.
6. Neskuchnoe estate. Gate of the Alexandria Palace (I.P. Vitali). 1846
7-8.
9. Neskuchnoye Estate Summer House
10.
11. Neskuchnoye Estate Alexandria Palace (postcard)
The territory of the Golitsyn estate is determined by the clear layout of the regular park. XVIII century with a multi-row main alley directed towards the Novodevichy Convent. Two sections of the former Orlov estate are connected by bridges across a ravine. The southern plot is occupied by a utility yard and a landscape park with pavilions; the other is the ceremonial palace part; behind it the terraces of the park descend to the river, on which in the middle. XVIII century the famous botanical garden of Prokofy Demidov was located, and now the Green Theater of PKiO.
The Alexandrinsky Palace - a work of architecture of developed classicism - is based on the chambers of the gray. XVIII century, and in the decor - some details of the 1830s. The halls have preserved magnificent decoration and partly palace furniture. The outbuildings and outbuildings have two construction periods (the turn of the 18th-19th centuries and the 1830s) and generally correspond to the classicist forms of the palace. The most significant of the economic buildings, the arena, houses the Mineralogical Museum. The monumental guardhouse and the entrance gate pylons with the “Abundance” sculptures are made in Empire style. A cast-iron fountain of the same time in front of the palace (sculptor I.P. Vitali) was moved here in the 1930s from Lubyanka Square. The Bath and Summer Houses in the park are remarkable for the elegance of their classic forms.”
I would like to note on my own that the Bath House has more than once become an object of concern for specialists and lovers of antiquities; its fate is sad. The pavilion has been disfigured by alterations, painted in a terrible color, but could have become a decoration of the park, a beautiful detail of it. The summer house (10.2012) is under restoration.
Under the current capital authorities, the park makes a pleasant impression; large-scale improvement work is being carried out here. The only inconvenience (for me personally) is the crowd. An excellent place for relaxation and hiking.
Not far from the garden there is the Oktyabrskaya metro station of the Circle and Kaluzhsko-Rizhskaya lines and the Leninsky Prospekt metro station of the Kaluzhsko-Rizhskaya line. The Pushkinsky (Andreevsky) pedestrian bridge was thrown across the Moscow River into the garden. It takes you 10 minutes to walk to the Frunzenskaya metro station on the Sokolnicheskaya line. In the garden there is also a pier for ships plying along the Moscow River. The main entrance and entrances to the main alleys of the Neskuchny Garden, leading to the Pushkinskaya embankment of the Moscow River, the Alexandria Palace, etc., are located in the Leninsky Prospekt area, no. 16, 18, 20. (from Wikipedia)
Literature:
I.K. Bakhtin and E.N. Chernyavskaya “Country estates of Moscow” M., 2002, p. 52-55
- Alexandrinsky Palace
- Cavalry Corps
- Maid of Honor Corps
- Kitchen outbuilding
- Guardhouse
- Manege
- Stable
- Warden's yard
- Greenhouse
- Summer house
- Bath house
- Hunting lodge
- Place of the main house of the Trubetskoy estate
- Location of the main house of the Golitsyn estate
- Main entrance gate
At the beginning of the 19th century, there was no more popular place in Moscow than Neskuchnoye. Count A.G. Orlov-Chesmensky lived here; his receptions, in the summer - illuminations and theatrical performances, his races and carousels, fist fights and pigeons, his untold wealth and the glory of past exploits tirelessly occupied Moscow, from noble boyars to the street crowd...
Even among the gigantic figures of “Catherine’s Eagles,” Orlov-Chesmensky stands out for his amazing power and integrity of nature.
There were five giant brothers, loyal associates of Catherine II. Alexey Orlov was born in 1737; in 1749 he entered the Preobrazhensky regiment as a soldier. The coup of June 28, 1762, which brought Catherine the throne, elevated the Orlovs. Soon Alexey Orlov was promoted to second major, then received the Order of Alexander Nevsky. He was assigned to watch Peter III and was responsible for his death. According to my own explanation, I killed him while playing leapfrog and quarreling...
While the influence of the favorite, Grigory Orlov, lasts, Alexey continues to receive more and more favors: in 1766, he receives full ownership of the villages near Moscow - Ostrov and Besedy and an annual “secret pension” of 25,000 rubles.
In 1767, Orlov went abroad with a secret order to familiarize himself locally with the situation of the Greeks and Slavs under the Turkish yoke. He was granted 200,000 rubles for travel expenses and treatment after his illness.
Orlov then commanded the Russian fleet in the Archipelago and received the title “Chesmensky” for the victory over the Turkish fleet in the Chios Strait. M. M. Kheraskov sang the exploits of Orlov in the long poem “Chesma Battle”:
Everywhere there is noise and groaning, and show-off and the sky is darkened,
And death rushes from ships to others like a whirlwind.
Wherever you turn, you will see hell everywhere;
Lightning flashes everywhere, there is no salvation anywhere,
The whole air has thickened, the earth trembles in the distance,
And in the black whirlwind, death, spinning its scythe, shines...
After the victory, Orlov returned to St. Petersburg. In 1774 he again went to the Archipelago. In Livorno, he treacherously captures the mysterious Princess Tarakanova. But the Orlovs’ star is already setting; Potemkin comes into force, and, returning to St. Petersburg at the end of 1775, the Chesme hero resigns.
Having finished his service, Orlov retired to Moscow and settled at the Kaluga outpost in Neskuchny. Offended by disgrace, he lives quietly in Moscow, not yet enjoying the popularity that later surrounded his name. In 1782, Chesmensky married A. N. Lopukhina. In 1785, his daughter Anna was born, the future heiress of his entire fortune. While in Moscow in 1787, Catherine II visited Orlov in Neskuchny. He was asked to return to service, but he did not want to.
Miss Wilmot, who visited Moscow in 1805-1806, writes that A.G. Orlov “in his wealth surpasses all the rulers of the educated world and is buried in purely Asian luxury.”
Most of all, this luxury was manifested in the organization of balls, masquerades and dinners, fireworks and festivities in Neskuchny.
“Truly loving everything indigenous to Russia, he decided to leave the splendor of the court and moved to the neighborhood of the ancient sons of the Fatherland. His other most respectable brothers followed him, and a number of their houses formed a whole new street in Moscow, representing a rare combination of taste, wealth and intelligence...” The ability to love “everything Russian” set Chesmensky apart from other Moscow nobles. At the pinnacle of power and wealth, he managed to remain what he was born to be. He was not seduced, like most Russians of the 18th century, by the fashion for Westernism, for flaunting “English doublets and the Parisian dialect.” Orlov was not embraced by culture; he remained a slightly wild man of 18th-century Russia with daring amusements and strong skills. “Breathing, so to speak, Russian, Count Alexei Grigorievich loved all Russian rituals, customs and fun until his old age. Fighters, wrestlers, strong men, singers, dancers, racers and horse riders, in a word, everything that signified the courage, strength, firmness, dignity and art of a Russian, flocked to his house in abundance.”
The fun that Orlov organized on the Kaluga field opposite his house is mentioned by everyone who described Moscow life at the beginning of the 19th century.
“After the race in front of the gazebo, Mr. Orlov's gypsies sang and danced, one of whom was middle-aged, of unusual thickness, danced in a white caftan with gold braids and was noticeably different from the others. ...This fat man seemed to me extremely skillful, even eloquent in his body movements. It was as if he wasn’t dancing... and yet it turned out beautifully: deftly, lively and noble. After the gypsy dance, a fist fight ensued... the rivals first hugged and kissed three times. The winner was the tavern servant from the singing tavern, Gerasim, a Yaroslavl resident, a peasant about 50 years old...
At the end of all these tricks, the count sat down with his daughter in a single-wheeled carriage drawn by four bay horses in a row, deftly picked up the reins and, whooping at the horses, set off at full speed around the racing circle and, having galloped twice, turned sharply onto the road to the house and disappeared like a hurricane."
This was in 1805, three years before Orlov’s death, when he was 70 years old!
Chesmensky went to public festivities in a ceremonial uniform, hung with orders. “His stately horse was in Asian harness; Moreover, the saddle, bridle and saddle cloth were strewn with gold and precious stones. A little distance from the count rode his daughter and several ladies on the most excellent horses, accompanied by noble gentlemen. They were followed by the count's grooms and grooms, numbering at least 40 people, many of whom had a factory horse in luxuriously embroidered blankets... Then followed a row of rich count carriages...”
According to the memoirs of Moscow University professor P.I. Strakhov, a contemporary of Orlov: “And so the rumor runs from lip to lip in a low voice: “He’s going, he’s going, he deigns to go!” All heads turn towards Alexei Grigorievich’s house; many curious spectators of every rank and age throw their hats off their heads at once...”
Orlov was the first to send gypsies from Moldova to Moscow and laid the foundation for lovers of gypsy singing.
In the arena at his house, carousels were often set up, gathering Moscow's high society. Among the lower classes of Moscow, Orlov's fame was supported by the fist fights, goose fights and cock fights he organized. There was, it seems, not a single popular entertainment that Count Orlov did not pay tribute to.
Surrounded by universal admiration, Orlov sometimes behaved rudely, but the rudeness of such a person did not offend anyone and was passed on as a curiosity. Many contemporaries tell how the count sent guests away. “In Neskuchny, once a week a large crowd gathered to see the count. They sang and danced, but at 11 o’clock the horn blew, the count rose from his seat and said “Heraus!” (that is, “Get out!”) and the departure began.”
Under the boundless daring and breadth of nature, Orlov-Chesmensky hid great caution and prudence. “He did a lot of good, both openly and secretly... His kindness was not so much the result of a naturally good heart, but rather the calculation of a strong mind. He was not capable of passion, he was secretive and unfrank, sometimes he treated people coldly and was slow to get along with them...”
His hospitality, his cheerful amusements were a means to support the popularity of his name, created by military exploits, to stand among the first persons of Moscow. Orlov completely succeeded in this: none of the Moscow nobles of the beginning of the century has such enthusiastic and numerous reviews...
One of his panegyrists, N. Strakhov, writes: “In a word, gr. Alexei Grigorievich was not only the most respectable and most amiable Russian boyar, but also the soul that unites the Russian nobles, the heart of national gaiety, morals and customs, the hope of the unfortunate, the purse of the poor, the staff of the lame, the eye of the blind, the resting place of a wounded warrior and the doctor of a sick nobleman.”
We, who have seen his entire life, all the crimes committed by this iron man, seem to have something hidden in his entire life. It seems that it was not for nothing that the fate of his daughter turned out so strangely, all her life she tried to atone for someone’s sins; it is not without reason that the ashes of Orlov himself did not find peace for so long: he was buried in his Ostrovo estate, but in 1831 his daughter transported his ashes to the Novgorod Yuryev Monastery , and only in 1896, on a gun carriage drawn by a train of 6 horses, was transported back to the family tomb in Ostrov!..
A.G. Orlov's heir was his daughter Anna, born in 1785. Contemporaries say that she was beautiful and inherited her powerful nature and athletic build from her father. Life smiled: for eight years she was made a maid of honor, the best suitors in Moscow were at her service; her father left her a colossal fortune. A religious person since childhood, she took a different path. After the death of her father, she went on pilgrimage to Kyiv, then to Rostov. Here she submitted to the influence of the “sepulchral hieromonk” Amphilochius. After his death, her confessor became the monk of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra Photius, a stern ascetic who made a career with the help of Countess Orlova...
When he became a monk of the Novgorod Yuriev Monastery, Countess Orlova bought herself an estate from the monastery and settled in it. She luxuriously decorated the monastery, bequeathed huge sums to it and spent all her days in prayer and in “severe” fasts...
To this day she remains as mysterious as her father. Contemporaries spoke of her love for the cunning ascetic monk Photius, and many epigrams haunted her; even if you believe them, something deeper will still emerge from behind this love: some kind of thirst for repentance, prayer for someone’s sins, some kind of fire of religious fanaticism. It was as if the whole sinful and magnificent life of her father had fallen on her shoulders like a heavy burden. She knew no peace; her life was not the hypocrisy common in noble circles of that time: she left the world, gave all her fortune to churches and monasteries.
In one of the churches of the Novgorod Yuriev Monastery there are two simple tombs: on one of them there is an inscription: “Archimandrite Photius”, on the other - “Countess A. A. Orlova-Chesmenskaya”. And this church was built in the name of the martyrs Photius and Anna...
Having settled in Moscow, Orlov built himself a luxurious estate near the Kaluga outpost, which he called “Neskuchnoe”. This name is still preserved by the Neskuchny Garden at the Alexandria Palace, which was transferred to the treasury from Orlov’s heirs. The location of Neskuchny is very beautiful: it is located on the high bank of the Moscow River. The magnificent park is spread across the mountains, along the slopes of deep ravines, forming thousands of picturesque corners.
Orlov built a house in Neskuchny, now rebuilt into a palace, and a whole series of pavilions, gazebos and bridges in the park. For his festivities, he built an “aerial”, that is, open, theater, where patriotic allegories were given against the backdrop of natural scenery. In accordance with the whole character of Orlov, these were noisy warlike performances glorifying Peter I, Catherine the Great, her glorious associates and among them, of course, Orlov-Chesmensky himself...
When creating his luxurious Moscow region, Orlov always remembered his victories and state merits, and every pavilion, every building was erected to commemorate some event in his life. Time has taken away these memories, and only beautiful gazebos and bridges remain for us!
In addition to garden buildings, Orlov surrounded his estate with extensive services, stables, built an arena and greenhouses. The arena hosted carousels, that is, costumed horse processions, one of the favorite entertainments of the Moscow nobility of the early 19th century.
Everyone who mentions Neskuchny notes the luxury of Olov’s life, describes the beautiful “English garden” and the entertainment organized by the count, but is silent about the artistic appearance of the estate; and it is unlikely that the noisy, headstrong Orlov appreciated art and had sufficient culture to obey the artists.
The Englishman Cox, who visited Moscow in the last decade of the 18th century, describes Neskuchnoye this way: “The house is located on the edge of the city, on an elevated place; It has a very good view of Moscow and the surrounding area. There are many separate buildings around it. The servants' quarters, stables, groom's school and other buildings were built of cobblestones; the foundation and lower floor of the count’s mansion are also made of cobblestones, while the top is wooden and painted green.”
This extraordinary green dwelling of Orlov, with its inappropriate modesty, caused complaints from Empress Catherine, who visited Count Orlov in Neskuchny in 1787.
At the beginning of the 19th century, two manor houses were already mentioned in Neskuchny: the old one, in which Count Orlov usually lived, which was allegedly later used as a city hospital, and the new one, which was later rebuilt as the Alexandria Palace.
“Air” theater - a covered gallery in a semicircle; the stage was adapted so that the scenery was replaced by trees and bushes."
This amphitheater existed back in the 1830s, when the management of the Imperial Theaters staged performances there twice a week. In 1830, “by the Highest command, it was ordered” to the architect Mironovsky “to allocate to the Moscow Theater Directorate... buildings in Neskuchny Garden for the construction of a summer theater.”
Every autumn, with the end of the performances, the theater was handed over back to the Palace Department. According to the inventory of 1830: “A summer wooden theater, uncovered, 35 fathoms long, 19 fathoms wide at the front end, 21 fathoms wide at the rear, lined with narrow planks, painted with white and wild colors.” Finally, in 1835, the summer theater was sold for scrap “so that the place was completely cleared.”
Under Count Orlov, Neskuchny’s garden was dotted with gazebos, “grotesques,” bridges, artificial cliffs, temples, etc. Some of the buildings were lined with birch bark. With Neskuchny's transfer to the Palace Department, all these gardening ventures began to collapse. In 1827, “two wooden gazebos with columns were broken due to disrepair”*. In 1835, the gazebo on the Chinese Bridge and the Egyptian gazebo were broken.
After the death of A.G. Orlov in 1807, Neskuchnoye, abandoned by his heir, died out and became empty. In 1812 it was not damaged, but in the 1820s it had already lost its former grandeur. Noble Moscow transferred its sympathies to Petrovsky Park, and the former favorite place for walks, Neskuchnoe, at the end of the 20s began to enjoy a bad reputation in noble circles and served for walks of “merchant sons in long frock coats and shawl vests and Zamoskvoretsky dandies in Hungarians”; here strolled “not very dexterous, but extremely cheeky young ladies in Kunavin shawls draped over one shoulder... There was a smell of punch around the tavern, the clicking of roasted nuts, laughter, loud conversations, of course in Russian, but with an admixture of French words, could be heard along the alleys Nizhny Novgorod dialect..."
Gypsy camps also stopped here. Soon after his accession to the throne, Nicholas I began to arrange summer housing in Moscow for his wife Alexandra Feodorovna. It was based on Neskuchnoye, purchased from A. A. Orlova-Chesmenskaya for 800,000 rubles. A number of neighboring properties were annexed to it, and thus a huge area was formed, now occupied by the Alexandria Palace and Neskuchny Garden.
In 1828, the property of Prince Lev Alexandrovich Shakhovsky was purchased. In 1842, a plot of land was purchased “between Neskuchny and Alexandria Gardens” from Prince Golitsyn.
With the acquisition of Neskuchny, extensive reconstruction began in the treasury, led by architects Mironovsky and Tyurin.
These reconstructions cannot be called distortions: they did not violate the style of the estate, but gave it a too strict, official appearance. The palace and the surrounding area suffered especially: the decline in artistic taste that marked the era of Nicholas I was greatly affected here. The idyllic estate, “a haven of muses and graces,” although this name is hardly applicable to the noisy home of Orlov-Chesmensky, became a ceremonial, ceremonial palace, and the greatness of court etiquette drove out everything dreamy and poetic from Neskuchny.
A guardhouse was built near the palace, and there were chains on poles everywhere, marking the courtyard and paths. And the contrast between the palace and the estate is especially felt if you move from the courtyard in front of the palace to the far part of the park, which has retained its estate character!..
The current Alexandria Palace was created as a result of reconstruction of the Oryol house. The forms of the palace were noticeably affected by the decline in taste that marked the Nicholas era. Its paired columns, supporting neither a pediment nor an attic, but rather steeply carved arches, are quite unusual.
Semicircular balconies with cast-iron pillars, dry straight lines of cornices, window layout beyond any artistic calculations - all this heavy legacy of the bad taste of the 1830s makes the Alexandria Palace a building of little artistic merit.
Both Mironovsky and Tyurin worked on the reconstruction of the palace. The first is known as the builder of the Synodal Printing House on Nikolskaya Street and the Nikolskaya Tower, which he restored “in Gothic taste” after 1812. Mironovsky was the first of the Moscow architects of the early 19th century to abandon classicism and began to work in the spirit of Gothic, thinking that by doing this he was returning to the forms of ancient Russian architecture!
Mironovsky was not a major artist, and the unsuccessful construction of the Alexandria Palace does not add or subtract anything from his glory.
E. Tyurin is in a completely different position. A talented follower of D. Gilardi, he is still known for such excellent work as the university church. Tyurin was the last classical architect of Moscow; The Nicholas decline of taste did not affect him, leaving his work at that high level of aesthetic culture to which Bazhenov, Kazakov, Bove, Gilardi taught us. In the same Neskuchny there are several excellent works by Tyurin, which fully support his reputation, hitherto created only by the university church. All the more annoying is the failure with the Alexandria Palace.
In it, however, Tyurin is more responsible than Mironovsky. So, in 1836, according to his drawing, two cast-iron portals were built on the second floor, at the top of the semicircular (side) portals of the Alexandria Palace. There is no doubt that during the reconstruction of the Alexandria Palace, Tyurin’s creativity was greatly constrained by the need to limit himself to small crafts and adapt Orlov’s relatively modest house to the needs of court life.
In general, Neskuchnoe, built mainly by Tyurin, is the largest and best creation of Nikolaev architecture in Moscow. The entrance gate from Kaluzhskaya Street, the guardhouse at the palace, gazebos in the garden, and finally, huge service buildings and stables - all this, built in the 1830s, is the latest embodiment of Moscow classicism.
There are massive gates at the entrance to the palace from Kaluzhskaya Street. They are decorated with two sculptural groups, works by Vitali. Both groups, beautiful in decorative terms, are allegorical in nature. They symbolize abundance; This is indicated by the horns of Fortune. It is quite difficult to understand their allegorical meaning. The fact is that the sculptors of the early 19th century considered it necessary to invest every decorative figure with an allegorical meaning.
On the gates of the Alexandria Palace there is a sacred fire on the altar, and Ceres, or a statue of fertility with a sickle, and a Bacchic figure with a bunch of grapes, but all this has nothing to do with the beautiful decorative composition. Allegorism is a template that sculptors of the early 19th century did not want to get rid of. Sculpting a simple human figure will be beautiful; but to personify in it glory or beauty, or love for the fatherland is already wise, meaningful, and yet the people of that time were great admirers of wisdom!..
I. P. Vitali (1794-1855) worked in Moscow from 1818 to 1841. Much of his work is decorative; these are bas-reliefs on the facades of houses, tombstones, groups on gates.
The gate with sculptural groups, very close to the gate of the Alexandria Palace, was executed by Vitali in the 1820s for the entrance to the Orphanage. There he depicted Mercy and Credit in allegorical figures, the latter because there was a pawnshop in the Orphanage. On the gates of the Alexandria Palace, he apparently wanted to personify abundance, royal luxury, perhaps generosity. Be that as it may, an allegorical meaning from outside is imposed on the beautiful decorative figures.
Vitali worked very unevenly, sometimes descending to the level of craftsmanship, sometimes reaching the best masters of his time. Nevertheless, his work is very easy to recognize: unlike other masters of the classicist era, he loves small and complex details; clarity and majestic simplicity of composition are stubbornly not given to him. However, his decorative works are distinguished by their rhythmic, well-distributed composition and beautiful silhouette. All these properties are also present in the entry groups of the Alexandria Palace, a rather typical work by Vitali...
They date back to the 1840s. In 1846, “figures were made of baked clay, cast iron peaks and bars in the lattice fence at the front entrance...”.
Behind these heavy gates you can see the palace at the end of the linden alley. In front of its façade is a vast round courtyard, furnished with dull cast-iron pedestals connected by chains - as if endless shackles were hung around the courtyard!
To the right of the palace there is a small guardhouse. All its forms are heavy and severe. This is the spirit of the best, most expressive architectural works of the era of Nicholas I. This is the style of the era, superbly expressed by architecture.
If Alexander's architecture, covered with tenderness and harmonious beauty, was created for a cozy idyllic home, then the architects of Nicholas I, it seems, always thought about barracks, guardhouses and in their work reflected the fanaticism of the external order and despotism that created military settlements and other phenomena of that same varieties!
Massive, heavy columns, staunchly supporting a huge attic, almost equal in height to the columns, perfectly express the demands of state power and official coldness that were presented to the builders of the Nicholas reign. It is absolutely impossible to imagine in these forms a cozy house in the park, a dreamy gazebo by the pond! The entire decorative treatment of the guardhouse of the Alexandria Palace is saturated with the same spirit of dispassionate, official grandeur, excluding everything elegant and lyrical. The lines are solid, as if all the forms are cast from unyielding metal. The walls are devoid of decoration; the windows are outlined in harsh geometric semicircles. Above them, on the smooth field of the attic, round wreaths are sparsely planted - stern ceremonial decorations, needed like decorations on a military outfit. Finally, at the top is the state eagle, and in the corners is a rarely used decorative emblem - classic helmets.
This guardhouse is one of the most perfect expressions of the spirit of Nikolaev construction. The self-designation of the building successfully emphasizes that this last era of Russian classicism served the construction of barracks, government offices, guardhouses and temples, erected for official reasons, due to the need for religion in a Christian state.
Dead despotism, the personification of power, which Nikolaev architecture served, of course, cannot captivate and excite, but such masterpieces of their kind as the guardhouse of the Alexandria Palace are charming for their historical indicativeness: they provide more for understanding the era than many literary sources!..
Despite its harsh purpose, the guardhouse is full of exquisite architectural beauty. The stinginess and originality of the decorations - round wreaths on the attic, the state coat of arms and classic helmets in the corners - speak of the school of Gilardi, the most prudent of Moscow masters. But its forms are even simpler, even more severe, than Gilardi’s. Apparently, the guardhouse was designed and built by Tyurin, although its elegance somewhat distinguishes it from Tyurin’s other works in Neskuchny.
To the left of the palace, service buildings stretch for a huge distance, an entire stone city. There is an arena, stables, and greenhouses, established by Orlov.
Among them, the stables deserve attention. What's interesting about them is not only their colossal size. The buildings of the stables, together with the arena, surround a special courtyard. Their main building, with a dome in the middle and two side wings, is also architecturally interesting. The builder understood them with that sensitivity that distinguishes the masters of the era of classicism, that for stables the usual forms of manor houses and city palaces are not suitable: something less elegant is needed here, impressing with its majestic simplicity.
It would seem that persistent adherence to the classical canon narrows the builder’s capabilities and deprives his creativity of flexibility; but we see, however, that the resources of the classics are endless, that where elegance is inappropriate, they create monumental forms and thus cope with the most prosaic and utilitarian tasks without compromising their art. The Neskuchny stables are beautiful with the proportions of their rusticated walls, alien to any decorations, and the grandeur of the entire vast composition.
When Neskuchny transferred to the treasury, Orlov's services and stables were located here. Beginning in 1834, the architect Tyurin rebuilt them and over the course of several years brought them to their present form. In 1834, part of the Oryol services was adapted to accommodate a cavalry squadron and transferred to the Stable Department. These restructurings dragged on for several years; in 1838 Tyurin is still working on the “Stable Yard”.
The stables and services of the Alexandria Palace are his largest work. They convince more than all his other works that he was an artist who fully preserved the high architectural culture of his predecessors. While building stables, he managed to remain an artist. He thoughtfully approached the difficult task and found restrained and majestic forms that perfectly match the long, lifeless bodies. There are many beautiful pieces of architecture here. In addition to the above-mentioned central building with a dome and massive rusticated walls, it is necessary to point out the long buildings bordering the road to Neskuchny Garden. The perspective of walls with semi-columns and niches stretching into the distance on both sides is one of the best creations of Moscow classicism. Moscow artists, accustomed to building cozy mansions and estates, rarely had tasks of such a colossal scale!
Neskuchny Park is the best near Moscow. It occupies a huge space on the steep bank of the Moscow River, and its very location on an uneven, stepped surface provides rich decorative possibilities. The park is closed to the public and deserted; This is his special charm; it is inhabited only by memories, only shadows of the past. Since the end of the 18th century, Neskuchnoye has played a prominent role in Moscow life: Orlov’s festivals, theatrical performances, then a favorite place for Muscovites to celebrate, a shelter for gypsies and cheerful Muscovites, and, finally, a historical place surrounded by attention and care...
The park's paths span ravines, go around hills, and offer picturesque views of the Moscow River, the palace, and the pavilions brightening among the greenery. Neskuchny Park is an “English garden” that came into fashion in Moscow in the last years of the 18th century: the charm of untouched wild nature is artificially created; deliberately dug depressions look like natural ravines, earth-filled hills take on the appearance of natural elevations; ponds resemble natural reservoirs, and among this untouched nature, the beauty of architectural decorations is especially captivating.
The part of the park adjacent to the Alexandria Palace was built “in the English style” by the gardener Pelzel in 1834. “Grotesque bridges” with cast-iron gratings are thrown over the artificial chasms in Neskuchny Garden. They were built in 1834 by the same E. Tyurin.
In the park, very little has been preserved of the numerous decorations that were once there under Orlov. Its paths under overhanging maples and old linden trees wind like snakes, now descending into ravines, now skirting the hills and emerging into a bright expanse, from where you can see the gray Moscow River, the clay fields behind it and the city disappearing in the gray darkness. Through the network of branches the city shines through as the edge of another, rough world. Deserted paths strewn with sand wind through corridors made of maple branches, and only occasionally the columns in front suddenly turn white and a yellow and white classical pavilion appears...
On a high hill above the Moscow River stands a small “Summer House”, one of those charming architectural toys that decorated the parks of old estates. The “Summer House” is architecturally magnificent. The cozy balconies behind the columns, stretching along both facades, are very nice. In front of the house there are two cast iron flower vases.
The light walls of this small, joyful home irresistibly attract with their amazing clarity, lightness, and purity of proportions! As if not from stone, but from thickened air, white columns and superbly measured windows grew...
The “summer house” was hardly built by Tyurin. His forms suggest an earlier artist; It is very likely that the house was built under the previous owners, at the very beginning of the 19th century.
At the descent from this hill, near an artificial reservoir, touching the steps of the stairs to the water itself, there is a small gazebo with a semicircular colonnade and a high dome. This is "Bath"; the pond located in front of it is called “Elizavetinsky”. Its walls were surrounded by overhanging maples. The white columns are beautifully reflected in the overgrown pond, and the green slopes of the ravine go up all around, forming a picturesque corner, a poetic motif of noble antiquity...
The “Bathroom” in Neskuchny Garden is mentioned by those who described the estate back in the possession of A.G. Orlov. However, the shapes of the now existing “Bathtub” are very close to Tyurin’s creations. There are also documentary indications that in 1834 Tyurin made a terrace with ramps, trellises, benches, etc. “for the stone gazebo in Neskuchny Garden.” This is the same exemplary work of classical architecture as the “Summer House,” but much more original. The central semicircular colonnade with a high dome was masterfully composed. For a building located in a ravine, at the foot of green slopes, it is necessary to have just such an elongation, such a height that frees a small building from being crushed...
“Summer House” and “Bathtub”, surrounded by greenery, are beautiful idyllic pearls of Neskuchny. The sounds of the city cannot be heard here. Trees separated them from the rest of the world like fortress walls.
In the deserted park, as if in a sleepy kingdom, frozen, fragile, like a musical melody, images of the past, images of eternal beauty, for which there is neither past nor future!
Date of construction: 1796
Architect: E. D. Tyurin
Date of restoration: 1978 – 1979, 2012 – 2013
Author of the restoration project: N. I. Danilenko (RBOO TsTRK "Preobrazhenskoe")
The first estate on the territory of the future Neskuchny Garden was created in 1756 by P. A. Demidov, heir to six iron smelters and a famous philanthropist.
For the amphitheater-shaped park, the bank of the Moscow River was leveled over the course of two years. About 2,000 rare plants were planted there.
The next owner of the Demidov estate was Princess E.N. Vyazemskaya, whose father and husband were prosecutor generals. In 1793, Count F. G. Orlov, general-in-chief, brother of Catherine II's favorite, became the new owner. Under him, the main house, arena and stables were rebuilt, and the garden was decorated with numerous buildings - gazebos, grottoes, baths, sculptures. Some of them have survived to this day, including the Summer House. A memorial plaque on the building states that it appeared in the 18th century. In the reference literature you can find two dates of construction - 1796 and 1804 - 1806 (currently the second option is considered more likely).
The building in the classicist style was built on the edge of the coastal slope. Both the front and park facades are decorated with four-column porticoes of the Corinthian order, topped with triangular pediments with semicircular windows. Balconies with openwork iron bars run across the entire second floor; its pattern repeats the fencing of the first floor of the park facade. Initially, the building had no extensions or balconies. It was one-story, with mezzanines. The central part was double-height, without overlap. A valuable design element of the facade from the garden side is the unique “Demidov” cast iron flower vases.
The count received guests in the house, and in winter the stove was heated (the remains of which were preserved in the basement of the building). From the house one could watch the races of Oryol trotters on the ice of the Moscow River. After the count's death, the estate was inherited by his niece Anna.
In 1812, General A.-J.-B. settled in the estate. Lau de Lauriston, who was the French ambassador to the court of Emperor Alexander I, and during the war became Napoleon's adjutant general. During the great Moscow fire, the buildings of Orlov's estate were not damaged.
The ball at the estate of Countess Orlova was called by contemporaries one of the best during the celebration of the coronation of Emperor Nicholas I in 1826.
Perhaps it was then that the emperor took a fancy to the estate on the banks of the Moscow River. In 1832, the Orlovs' estate was purchased by the treasury for one and a half million rubles, and the estates of the Golitsyn princes and the Trubetskoy princes, located to the south of it, were also acquired. The latter bore the name “Neskuchnoye”, which was also given to the garden created by the palace department on the site of three estates. The Emperor presented it as a gift to his wife Alexandra Feodorovna, in whose honor the rebuilt Orlov Palace began to be called Alexandrinsky.
According to the design of the architect E. D. Tyurin, who became famous for the reconstruction of the Grand Kremlin Palace, the Summer House was rebuilt in the 1830s. Floors were made, turning the building into a two-story building, balconies were added (this fact became clear during the latest restoration work). In the Summer House, tea parties were held in the open air for the royal family (the tradition continued until 1917, although both Nicholas, Alexander II and Alexander III visited their residence in Neskuchny Garden infrequently), which is why the house got a second name - Tea House. In those days, from the balconies of the second floor there was a beautiful view of the Sparrow Hills, the Novodevichy Convent and the Kremlin.
In 1928, a Military Camp was opened in the Summer House, where visitors were taught how to handle weapons.
In 1930, the 25th anniversary of the uprising on the battleship Potemkin was celebrated here. Later, the house began to be used for various cultural events of the Gorky Central Park of Culture and Culture; it housed a library with a reading room. To accommodate the library, two wooden side extensions were made. By the end of the 1970s, they fell into disrepair, and during the restoration of the Summer House on the eve of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow they were replaced with brick ones.
By 2012, the need for restoration of a number of objects in Neskuchny Garden, including the Summer House, became obvious. Peeling paint, rotten roofing, crumbling plaster both outside and inside the room, cracks on the walls - all this was already evident.
The two-hundred-year-old building and the cheap linoleum on the floor, modern wallpaper and other elements of inexpensive interior decoration were not painted.
The restoration project provided for the restoration of the historical appearance of the building while preserving elements of the Soviet period (side extensions) as not distorting the appearance. The facades of the Summer House were restored, the foundations and walls were strengthened, and the damaged wooden floors were replaced. Decorative elements made of white stone - front porticoes, columns and platforms - have been restored.
The cast-iron decorative grilles and cast-iron vases in front of the entrance have been restored. Window and door fillings were installed taking into account the historical style of the monument. When restoring the structure of the balconies, the preserved historical color of the building was discovered - grayish (white with a small addition of soot).
In the Summer House of Count Orlov, which has been restored to its historical appearance, there is now a photo studio where you can take pictures in costumes and interiors from different eras.
Literature:
A. Alekseev Moscow, which exists. The best examples of restoration of the 21st century. M., 2013
Neskuchny Garden is located on the right bank of the Moscow River and is the largest park in the historical part of the city.
Neskuchny Garden was formed in the first half of the reign of Nicholas I from noble estates that previously belonged to the Trubetskoys (in the south), the Golitsyns (in the center) and the Orlovs (in the north).
The garden got its name from the Neskuchnoye estate of Nikita Yuryevich Trubetskoy.
On October 18, 1728, the prince bought, in the name of his five-year-old son Peter, from the Archimandrite of the Zaikonospassky School Monastery German (Koptsevich) “a courtyard mansion with trees planted on the banks of the Moscow River.” The site was located near St. Andrew's Monastery.
In the early 1750s, Trubetskoy, on the site of the purchased building, erected an estate - Neskuchny Country House (a two-story house with four wings) according to the design of the architect Ukhtomsky.
Behind the house there was a “labyrinth” and greenhouses, and in the ravine there was a menagerie.
By the beginning of the 19th century, little remained of the Trubetskoy estate. Celebrations and celebrations were held in the park, and in 1805, balloon launches took place.
The only building remaining from the Trubetskoy estate is the Hunting Lodge.
Initially, there was a Stone Gallery in it, hunting rifles and gunpowder were stored, and servants lived. During Soviet times, the Samovarnik tea house was located in the house.
And since 1990, the Hunting Lodge has been a venue for games of the television club “What? Where? When?”
The last owner of the Trubetskoy estate, Prince Shakhovskoy, sold it in November 1826 for two hundred thousand rubles to establish the summer residence of Emperor Nicholas I in Moscow.
After the purchase, the garden was not closed to visitors, and in 1830 a summer aerial theater was opened in it, in the creation of which the architect Osip Ivanovich Bove took part.
The theater could accommodate up to 1,500 spectators and was “like a large covered gallery in a semicircle, and the stage itself was adapted so that trees and bushes replaced the scenery.” The theater immediately became very popular among Muscovites. Performances were given twice a week. Famous Russian actors played here: Shchepkin, Mochalov, Lensky and others. Ticket prices ranged from 15 rubles for boxes to one and a half rubles in the second gallery.
The theater existed until 1835, when the glory of Neskuchny was eclipsed by a new amusement park - Petrovsky, with a theater erected in it.
The Trubetskoy estate was bordered by the possessions of the Golitsyn princes, whose name was also given to the nearby Golitsyn hospital.
One of the owners of the estate was Natalya Petrovna Golitsyna, who became the prototype of the countess in Pushkin’s story “The Queen of Spades.”
Natalya Petrovna, who lived in St. Petersburg, did not want to part with her Moscow dacha and ordered in her will not to sell it earlier than 5 years after her death.
The princess's son, Moscow mayor Dmitry Vladimirovich Golitsyn, sold the estate in 1843 to the Department of Appanages for thirty thousand silver rubles. The property acquired by the emperor occupied an area of about 12.5 hectares. More than 2,500 trees grew in the park - linden, birch and maple. The main house of the estate stood without glass and was in a dilapidated state.
In 1951, on the site of the Golitsyn estate, a rotunda gazebo was built in honor of the celebration of the 800th anniversary of Moscow.
The northern part of Neskuchny Garden, located closest to the city center, was purchased in 1754 by Prokofiy Demidov from different owners: one plot from General Soimonov, the other from the widow of Prince Repnin.
A stone house was built on the resulting large plot. At the palace, Demidov laid out a garden in the shape of an amphitheater.
The first plants were obtained by exchanging seeds and obtaining shoots from the Demidov Botanical Garden in Solikamsk.
From the manor house to the river, the garden descended with ledges that had different widths and heights, but the same length of 95 fathoms. The upper platform was separated from the yard and the house by a lattice about 10 fathoms wide.
Initially, fruit trees were planted, then shrubs and herbaceous plants. The garden had many stone greenhouses containing palm trees and trees from hot countries, and on the fifth platform from the top there was a large pond and poultry house with rare birds and animals imported from Holland and England. In addition, ground sheds and greenhouses served for growing pineapples, grapes and other plants.
After the death of the owner, the empty Demidov estate was acquired by Elena Nikitichna, the wife of Prosecutor General Vyazemsky, who spent her childhood in these places, on the estate of her father Nikita Trubetskoy.
In 1793, the former estate of Demidov was bought by Count Fyodor Grigorievich Orlov, one of the famous Orlov brothers.
Under Count Orlov, Demidov's house was rebuilt, a complex of outbuildings was created, a park was landscaped on the slope of the high bank of the Moscow River, in which a figured pond, pavilions, bridges and a grotto appeared.
Two thalwegs saturated with groundwater were used to create the Catherine Pond.
Having no legitimate offspring, Fyodor Orlov bequeathed the estate to his 11-year-old niece Anna Chesmenskaya. All management of Neskuchny on behalf of his daughter was carried out by her father Alexey Grigorievich Orlov-Chesmensky.
“In the summer, not a single holiday, not a single Sunday passed without some kind of celebrations and holidays in the count’s garden,” contemporaries recalled. The slopes of the ravines were strengthened and formed, and two capital stone bridges were built across the dry ravine: Upper and Middle. The main planning changes in the estate took place at the same time and they were connected with the count’s main passion - horses. Along the northeastern border of the service yard, an extended stone two-story building of the Manege and adjacent stables was erected. In the Orlov Manege, carousels were held - equestrian competitions and processions, in which his daughter Anna took part.
Currently, the Fersman Mineralogical Museum is located in the former arena building.
The former house church at the arena has also been preserved.
In 1804−06, a two-story Summer (Tea) House with 4 Corinthian columns was erected on Orlov’s estate. A large area was built in front of the southern façade of the house.
According to one version, the house was the place of secret meetings between Empress Catherine II and Grigory Orlov, according to another - as a place of games for Anna Alekseevna Orlova-Chesmenskaya. The house offers a picturesque view of the Moscow River and Frunzenskaya Embankment.
In the ravine, near the figure-shaped Catherine Pond with natural banks, another classic pavilion was erected - the Bath House (or Bath), built on the site between the thalwegs. Until now, a significant amount of groundwater has been filtered through the pile system of the Bath House.
The house had bathtubs and a sauna.
In Soviet times, the Bath House was a dining room and a cafe "Float".
After the death of Count Orlov, his daughter Anna inherited his fortune.
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