Domenico Trezzini

The Peter and Paul Cathedral is Domenico Trezzini's most celebrated work.

Domenico Andrea Trezzini (* around 1670 in Astano ; † February 19 ^{. Jul} / 2. March  1734 ^{. Greg} in Saint Petersburg ) was a Swiss architect who worked primarily in Russia; his Russian name was Andrej Jakimowitsch Tresin or Andrej Petrowitsch Tresin .

Origin and family

Domenico Trezzini was born in Astano, a small village in the Swiss canton of Ticino , and probably studied in Rome . He was married three times, which among other things led to the fact that not only were the years of birth of his children far apart, but there were also some ambiguities regarding the relationships of some people in this noble family.

His son Pietro Antonio Trezzini (1710, Astano - 1734, Astano) left Russia in 1725. He is sometimes confused with the architect Pietro Trezzini ; but they are probably two different people. According to Russian archives, another son, Matteo Trezzini (after 1710 - after 1750) with the Russian name Matvey Andreevich Trezzini, returned to St. Petersburg after the death of his father and worked as a medic.

Carlo Giuseppe Trezzini (1697, Astano - 1768, Saint Petersburg, Russian Ossip Petrowitsch Tresin ) was married to his daughter Maria Lucia Tomasina Trezzini as his son-in-law.

See also : Trezzini

Professional activity

Trezzini was offered by the Russian Tsar Peter I, along with other architects, to plan several buildings there on the occasion of the founding of the new capital St. Petersburg in 1703. As court architect, he made a significant contribution to the creation of the most representative buildings in the city.

In 1712 he planned the development of the Moskowskaia district and the island of Kotlin and Vasilievsky island. His outstanding works are for example the Kronstadt Fortress (1704), the Peter and Paul Fortress (1706–34) with the monumental Peter’s Gate (1714–16), the Peter and Paul Cathedral (1712–1733) , the summer palace of Peter I (1710–1714), the Alexander Nevsky Monastery (1715–1722), the Twelve Colleges (1722–1742) as well as numerous buildings on the former port area.

literature

• Alice Biro: St. Petersburg 300 years ago. The city architect Trezzini as a socially minded superior. In: Swiss History Journal . Volume 53, 2003 ( full text ).
• Joseph Ehret: Domenico Trezzini from Astano, the first builder of St. Petersburg. In: Journal for Swiss Archeology and Art History , Issue 2, Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel 1951; same: three Swiss in old Russia. Swiss East Institute, Bern 1979, pp. 7–22.
• Nicola Navone: Bâtir pour les tsars. Architectes tessinois en Russie 1700-1850. Presses polytechniques et universitaires romandes, Lausanne 2007, ISBN 978-2880745837 .
• Mario Redaelli, Pia Todorović Redaelli: Domenico Trezzini. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . April 10, 2014 .
• Celestino Trezzini : Domenico Trezzini. In: Historisch-Biographisches Lexikon der Schweiz , Volume 7, Tinguely - Hungary. , Attinger, Neuenburg 1921, p. 48 ( digitized version ).

Web links

Commons : Domenico Trezzini  - Collection of Images

• Domenico Trezzini on a private website on Ticino artists in Europe, 13. – 19. century
• Domenico Trezzini's life (Italian) on ti.ch/can/oltreconfiniti