Luigi Rusca

Luigi Rusca (born September 2, 1762 in Agno ; † 1822 in Valenza ) was a classicist Ticino architect who worked primarily in Saint Petersburg , but also in other Russian cities.

Rusca portico in St. Petersburg

After studying in Turin , Rusca moved to Russia in 1783 , where his father Giovanni Battista had already worked. He worked at court for Catherine II and her successor to the throne. In 1802 he was appointed court architect. In addition to his main task, the design of interiors, he planned, among other things, residential buildings, barracks, churches and mosques. In 1815 he received an honorary membership of the St. Petersburg Academy. In 1818 he left Russia and moved to France .

Works (selection)

• Rusca portico on Nevsky Prospect (1805–1806). This construction was demolished during the construction of the Saint Petersburg Metro in 1962 and rebuilt in 1972 according to the original plans
• Gothic tent roof on the Nikolausturm of the Moscow Kremlin (1806)
• Reconstruction of the Ivan the Great bell tower in the Moscow Kremlin after 1812

Barracks

• Barracks of the grenadiers (1803-1807)
• Barracks of the cavalry guard (1803-1806)
• Barracks of the Izmailovsky regiment (1809-1812)

bridges

• Expansion of the Kazan Bridge (1805)

Interior work

• Anichkov Palace (1809)
• Tauride Palace (1801–1803)

Churches

• Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Reval (plans 1807, posthumously built 1825–1827)
• Church of All Sufferers (1817-1818)

literature

• Erik Amburger : Recruiting foreign skilled workers for the Russian economy from the 15th to the 19th century , Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1968, p. 129
• Eliana Perotti: Luigi Rusca . In: Isabelle Rucki and Dorothee Huber (eds): Architects Lexicon of Switzerland - 19./20. Century Basel: Birkhäuser 1998. ISBN 3-7643-5261-2
• Eliana Perotti: Luigi Rusca. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . December 3, 2010 , accessed January 11, 2020 .

Web links

Commons : Luigi Rusca  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Biography Luigi Rusca. In: Ticino artists in Europe. Retrieved February 9, 2017 . 
• Erik Amburger database at the Institute for East and Southeast European Studies
• 300 years of St. Petersburg - Swiss master builder on the Neva. Retrieved April 29, 2009 . 
• Roman Hollenstein: Columns on the Neva - The architecture of classicism in St. Petersburg. nextroom architecture database, accessed on April 29, 2009 .