Auguste de Montferrand

Henri Louis Auguste Ricard de Mont Ferrand, actually Henri Louis Auguste Ricard (Russian Анри Луи Огюст Рикар де Монферран; born January 24, 1786 in Paris. . † 28 Junijul / July 10 1858greg in Saint Petersburg ), was a French architect, who was active in St. Petersburg and other cities of Russia and created in the style of classicism. Since he spent most of his working time and more than half of life (42 years) in Russia, he is also known as a Russian architect of French origin.

Life

Henri Louis Auguste Ricard was the son of Benoît Ricard (1747-1788) from Clermont- Ferrand (Puy -de- Dôme) and Marie Françoise Louise Fistion ( 1755-1823 ). He grew up in the neighborhood of the 16th arrondissement Chaillot. There is little about him during his lifetime known in France. He added already as a young man to "de Mont Ferrand " in his name - in memory and appreciation of the City of origin Mont Ferrand (since 1731 Clairmont to Clermont- Ferrand closed) his father and his ancestors. Auguste Ricard de Mont Ferrand studied architecture at the age of 20 Charles Percier at the " college for architecture" ( " L' École Spéciale d'Architecture " ) in Paris. Once finished, he went to the army of Napoleon, and thus came to Russia. In 1814 he presented already Tsar Alexander I. drafts of his works (library, religious buildings, equestrian statues, etc.), after which the Tsar invited him for an indefinite period after Russia. In 1816 he moved to St. Petersburg and settled there for good. Here he won a competition to design the St. Isaac's Cathedral, whose golden dome now dominates the skyline of St. Petersburg. He oversaw the construction project from 1818 to 1858, as the largest Orthodox church in the world was finally completed.

Other works include the interior and facade design of the Saviour - Transfiguration Cathedral in Nizhny Novgorod, grave monuments, several magnificent buildings in St. Petersburg, some of which no longer exist. Moreover, Mont Ferrand designed two masterpieces of engineering, the equestrian statue of Nicholas I immediately before the Cathedral and the Alexander Column on the Palace Square. In 1836 he married Véronique piq and left at 86 Mojkakai his town house built according to their own plans.

Ricard de Mont Ferrand died in 1858 at the consequences of severe rheumatism crisis after pneumonia. His desire to be in his masterpiece, the Orthodox Saint Isaac's Cathedral, buried, was because he was a Catholic, not be met. In honor of him, her builder, the funeral procession moved three times from the St. Catherine's Church, where the funeral was held, to his masterpiece, the Cathedral. On November 9, his death year, his body was interred after transfer to his native city of Paris on the Montmartre Cemetery.

Works (selection)

• School " Richelieu " in Odessa, 1817
• Lobanowa - Rostovskaya Building, St. Petersburg, 1817-1821
• Industrial complex in the fair of Nizhny Novgorod, 1817-1822
• Manege, Moscow, 1817-1825
• Kotschubei Building, St. Petersburg, 1818
• St. Isaac's Cathedral, St. Petersburg, 1818-1858
• Katherinenhof, landscaping and park pavilions, St. Petersburg, 1821-23 (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, cemetery Smolenskoje, St. Petersburg, 1824
• Alexander Column Tsar Alexander I, St. Petersburg, 1832-1836
• Equestrian statue of Tsar Nicholas I, St. Petersburg, 1856-1858