Preserving splendor of old: Kuskovo palace interiors getting ready for restoration

Historical interiors of the Kuskovo Memorial Estate palace are getting ready for restoration. The project will be ready before the year ends.

The palace has the status of a cultural heritage site of federal significance. Its location is 2/1 Yunosti Street. Built in 1769-1775 on Count Pyotr Sheremetev’s orders, the building was intended for grand receptions in summertime.

The project design was initiated by the Moscow Department of Culture. The entire Memorial Estate ensemble is being restored under the Moscow Department of Cultural Heritage oversight.

The Moscow Government has been busy with comprehensive restoration of Kuskovo. The façades of the main building—the palace or the grand house as it used to be called in the 18th century – were restored in 2019-2020.

The Kuskovo Palace still preserves its original spatial layout along with its interior elements: flooring, ovens and fireplaces, ornamental paintings, wood carvings and plaster mouldings, mirrors and lighting fixtures.

“The palace interiors have also been a point of pride for the owners. Their unique painted plafonds, artfully done parquet flooring, gilt wood carvings, silk wall lining, marble fireplaces and ovens with colorful tiling all survived to our days. This year, restoration professionals did all the tests that will serve as the basis for future restoration. In particular, they took samples to study monumental painting, architectural elements and decorations made of papier-mâché and finishing interior textiles,” said Alexey Yemelyanov, Head of the Moscow Department of Cultural Heritage.

Additionally, they took samples of joists and roof beams for microbiology and mycology tests, dug test pits to see the foundations’ condition.

After the interior restoration project is complete, it will go to the responsible department for approval. Restoration per se will start after the Moscow Department of Cultural Heritage approves the project and issues a permit. The Department will also supervise the operation.

The Kuskovo estate solidified in its modern appearance in the late 1770s, but even before that, it used to be a level above all other mansions around Moscow when it came to its size or opulence. Count Pyotr Sheremetev contracted the best architects of his time to build it. In the 1750s, it was Yuri Kologrivov. Starting 1764, Karl Blank, master of Baroque and early Classicism styles, was overseeing the Kuskovo construction.

In 1769, they decided to completely dismantle the old palace and replace it with a new, larger, one-storey building in the Classicist style. The span of its façades was supposed to reach up to 100 sazhens (one sazhen equals 2.13 meters) long and about 60 sazhens wide.  Frenchman Charles De Wailly and young Russian architect Vasily Bazhenov used to work on the new palace designs. However, they finished their projects only in 1774, and by that time the building was almost done. We still don’t know who was its true author.

The layout of the wooden master house built in the early Russian Classicist style is typical of stone palaces of the latter half of the 18th century. Some Baroque elements still linger in the outer decorations, linking the palace to other parts of the estate ensemble. Baroque influence can be seen in window placement, entrance porch and side porticos with rounded pediments.

Public and private enfilades encompass reception rooms, billiard and card rooms, a dining room, a library and the owner’s private chambers. Long strings of connected rooms lead to the palace’s main space: the White Dance Hall. Rich collections of paintings, portrait and ornamental sculptures, furniture, clocks, lighting fixtures, porcelain and glassware highlight the opulence of the palace interiors. Three porticos with pillars adorn the façades. The central pediment features splendid wood carvings around the PS monogram under an earl’s crown. A white stone staircase and low-sloping ramps for carriages lead to the main entrance. Sculptures of sphinxes –  a legendary creature with the head of a woman and the body of a lion –adorn the ramps. A comprehensive restoration of the palace interiors took place in 1976-1983. All its decorations and furnishings were restored according to the 1780s-1790s inventory lists. Furniture and wall upholstery that had been lost in the 19th century, was restored based on surviving specimens and similar decorations.

The Memorial Estate grounds (together with the park surrounding it) are a cultural heritage site of federal significance, included in the Kuskovo regional heritage site.

The palace building is used for expositions, Museum reserves storage and exhibitions. You can take a virtual tour of the beautiful and unique estate and learn about its every corner in detail if you read a report by mos.ru.