Before the Great 1812 Fire of Moscow: Matvei Kazakov exhibition at Shchusev Museum

The Shchusev Museum of Architecture is putting on  “Matvei Kazakov and the Great Fire of Moscow”. The exhibition will mark the 280^th anniversary of the Moscow architect’s birth. This will be the first retrospective of Kazakov’s works in recent decades.

Matvei Kazakov is considered one of the founders of Russian classicism and the most famous representative of Russian pseudo-Gothic architecture. In 1786, he was the capital city’s leading architect. It was Kazakov who designed the Senate of the Moscow Kremlin, the new building of Moscow University, the Assembly of the Nobility, Golitsyn and Pavlov hospitals, Petrovsky Palace and the Demidov, Gubin and Baryshnikov estates.

On show will be the original projects, architectural graphics, engravings, a series of drawings and three-dimensional models of buildings. Kazakov’s albums that are kept at the Museum of Architecture will also be on view. Six of the albums contain designs for private buildings and seven albums include designs for public buildings, all created under the architect’s supervision. The albums compiled between the 18^th and 19^th centuries before the Great Fire of Moscow in 1812 can even be called an encyclopedia of architecture

In addition to this, to mark 280 years since the outstanding architect’s birth, the museum will publish a catalogue with articles of leading researchers in history and history of art. The graphic legacy of Matvei Kazakov will also be presented.  

The exhibition will be on from 5 December 2018 to 10 March 2019 on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1 pm to 9 pm and on Wednesdays and Fridays and the weekend from 11 am to 8 pm. On Mondays it is closed.