Auguste de Montferrand

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Bust of A. de Montferrand in St. Isaac's Cathedral, St. Petersburg
Auguste de Montferrand (Portrait of Eugène Pluchart 1834)
Montferrand's statue of Nicholas I is one of the few equestrian statues in the world that is carried by two bases alone.

Henri Louis Auguste Ricard de Montferrand , actually Henri Louis Auguste Ricard ( Russian Анри Луи Огюст Рикар де Монферран * 24. January 1786 in Paris ; † June 28 . Jul / 10. July  1858 greg. In Saint Petersburg ) was a French Architect who worked in Saint Petersburg and other cities of Russia and created in the style of classicism . Since he spent most of his creative time and more than half of his life (42 years) in Russia, he is also referred to as a Russian architect of French origin.

Life

Henri Louis Auguste Ricard was the son of Benoît Ricard (1747–1788) from Clermont-Ferrand (today's Puy-de-Dôme department ) and Marie Françoise Louise Fistion (1755–1823). He grew up in the Chaillot district of the 16th arrondissement . Little is known about him during his lifetime in France. As a young man he added the addition “de Montferrand” to his name - in memory and appreciation of the town of origin Montferrand (merged with Clairmont to Clermont-Ferrand since 1731) of his father and his ancestors. At the age of 20, Auguste Ricard de Montferrand studied architecture with Charles Percier at the “School of Architecture” (“L'École spéciale d'Architecture”) in Paris. After graduating, he joined Napoleon's army and came to Russia. In 1814 he presented drafts of his works to Tsar Alexander I (library, sacred buildings, equestrian statues, etc.), whereupon the Tsar invited him to Russia for an unlimited period of time. In 1816 he moved to St. Petersburg and settled there forever. Here he won a competition to design the St. Isaac's Cathedral , whose golden dome now dominates the silhouette of Saint Petersburg. He oversaw the construction project from 1818 to 1858, when the largest Orthodox church in the world was finally completed.

Other works include the interior and facade design of the Savior Transfiguration Cathedral in Nizhny Novgorod , funerary monuments, various magnificent buildings in St. Petersburg, some of which no longer exist. In addition, Montferrand designed two masterpieces of engineering, the equestrian statue of Nicholas I in front of the cathedral and the Alexander column on the palace square . In 1836 he married Véronique Piq and had his town house built on Mojkakai 86 according to his own plans.

Ricard de Montferrand died in 1858 as a result of a severe rheumatic crisis following pneumonia . His wish to be buried in his masterpiece, the Orthodox Saint Isaac's Cathedral, could not be met because he was a Catholic. As a tribute to him, its builder, the funeral procession moved three times from St. Catherine's Church, where the funeral was held, to his masterpiece, the cathedral. On November 9th, the year of his death, his body was buried in the Montmartre cemetery after being transported to his native Paris .

Works (selection)

Portrait of Montferrand on an envelope from the USSR
  • "Richelieu" high school in Odessa, 1817
  • Lobanova Rostovskaya Building, St. Petersburg, 1817–1821
  • Industrial complex of the Nizhny Novgorod Fair , 1817–1822
  • Manege , Moscow , 1817-1825
  • Kochubei Building, St. Petersburg, 1818
  • St. Isaac's Cathedral , St. Petersburg, 1818–1858
  • Katherinenhof, landscaping and park pavilions, St. Petersburg, 1821–1823 (destroyed)
  • Winter Palace , restoration of the murals, St. Petersburg, 1827–1828
  • Ekaterinow Vokzal (Vauxhall) Pavilion, Pavlovsk Park, St. Petersburg, 1823
  • Grave of his mother Louise Fistion, Montmartre Cemetery, Paris , 1823
  • Grave of the architect and general Agustín de Betancourt , Smolenskoye Cemetery, St. Petersburg, 1824
  • Alexander Column of Tsar Alexander I, St. Petersburg, 1832–1836
  • Equestrian statue of Tsar Nicholas I , St. Petersburg, 1856–1858

literature

  • Britta Wollenweber, Peter Franke (ed.), Wladimir Schalimow (transl.): St. Petersburg. Capital of Culture of Russia . Wostok , Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-932916-09-3
  • Yves Gauthier, Wojtek Buss, Eliane Hagedorn (transl.): Saint Petersburg . Flammarion, Paris 2003, Prestel, Munich 2004, ISBN 2-08-021014-9
  • Валерий Константинович Шуйский: Огюст де Монферран. История жизни и творчества . Центрполиграф, Москва 2005 (Valeri Konstantinowitsch Schuiski: "Auguste de Montferrand. Life story and work". Zentrpoligraf, Moscow 2005), ISBN 5-9524-1749-3

Web links

Commons : Auguste de Montferrand  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Montferrand, Auguste de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ricard de Montferrand, Henri Louis Auguste; Ricard, Henri Louis Auguste; Ricard de Montferrand, Auguste; Рика́р де Монферра́н, Анри́ Луи́ Огю́ст (Russian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French neoclassical architect
DATE OF BIRTH January 24, 1786
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris in the Chaillot district , 16th arrondissement (Paris) (borough)
DATE OF DEATH July 10, 1858
Place of death St. Petersburg