The Rukavishnikov Estate is an architectural ensemble on Upper Volga Embankment in Nizhny Novgorod, built in 1875–1880 to commission of Sergei Mikhailovich Rukavishnikov, a hereditary honorary citizen and first-guild merchant. The estate's main house is an outstanding example of academic eclecticism of the last quarter of the 19th century. Since 1918 the building has housed the city museum; today the estate is the main building of the Nizhny Novgorod State Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve.[1]
History of the site and construction
Before the early 18th century, the land on which the estate stands was part of Nizhny Novgorod Ostrog: a wooden tower of the town's defenses stood here. Under Peter I the defensive structures were dismantled, leaving an earthen rampart, and the site gradually turned into a city outskirts. The look of the embankment began to change in the 1830s, when Nicholas I, during a visit to Nizhny Novgorod, ordered large-scale construction to begin, marking the start of the Verkhne-Volzhskaya Embankment. Even so, for a long time townspeople were in no hurry to put up major stone buildings here.[4]
One of the first to settle on the embankment was third-guild merchant Serapion Vezlomtsev. In 1868 his house was bought by first-guild merchant and manufacture councillor Mikhail Grigoryevich Rukavishnikov. Seven years later his heirs began building the present-day estate: construction started in 1875 and continued for five years. One after another, the main house, the wing, the service block, and the stable block went up — the whole ensemble stretched along the embankment.[4] The clients intended the new house to become the largest and most luxurious building in Nizhny Novgorod.[4]
Architecture and interiors
The project was designed by Kileveyn Robert Yakovlevich; the decorative work was carried out by the artist F. G. Toropov.[1] The facade is adorned with delicate stucco molding, sculptures of female figures in Greek robes, and a rich sky-blue coloring of the walls, which often draw comparisons of the estate to an Italian palazzo.[4]
The ground floor is given over to business premises: here is the owner's study, devoted to the history of the Rukavishnikov merchant dynasty. On the second floor is the ceremonial enfilade: a dining room in the Russian style, drawing rooms in the Baroque and Rococo spirit, and a double-height ballroom richly decorated with stucco molding, paintings, and patterned parquet flooring.[1] In 2007–2010 large-scale restoration work was carried out, during which the building's architectural appearance and interiors were carefully restored.[1]
Museum
In 1918, with the involvement of the sons of the last owner — Ivan Sergeyevich Rukavishnikov — a city museum opened in the estate.[1] Today the building is the main block of the Nizhny Novgorod State Historical and Architectural Museum-Preserve and is located at Verkhne-Volzhskaya Embankment, 7. In the rooms of the former merchant house, permanent exhibitions and thematic exhibits from the museum-preserve's collections are held; the ballroom hosts concerts and reenactments of 19th-century balls.[1]