And here is the promised story. It’s just scary how much text I ended up with. Don’t blame me, I can’t do this without getting to the bottom of things and delving into interesting details. The excitement of a researcher, what can you do? At least look at the photos, it’s really worth going there.
Hidden treasure: Ryabushinsky's mansion - a stone story by Fyodor Shekhtel.
It was wonderful. It was wonderful because this was our first walk around Moscow together with my husband after the birth of our son. We left Igor with his godmother for a few hours and went to the center. It doesn't get any more central: Malaya Nikitskaya, 6/2. On one side is the noisy Nikitsky Boulevard, on the other - the old curving Spiridonovka, opposite - the domes of the Church of the Great Ascension - witnessmarriage of Alexander Pushkin with the beautiful Goncharova.
The museum-apartment of A.M. is located at this address. Gorky. But here’s a paradox: most visitors come here not to look at the personal belongings of the proletarian writer, but to see the interiors invented and implemented by the famous Moscow architect Fyodor Osipovich Shekhtel. And most people know this house not as Alexei Maksimovich’s apartment, but as Ryabushinsky’s mansion.
As sometimes happens, the real treasure is hidden in plain sight. I think many who live or work in the center have more than once passed by this house with a smoothly curved cast-iron fence. It instantly attracts the eye with an unusual mosaic frieze with intertwining stems of flowers.
Mosaic ornament: soft lilac orchids and irises on a blue background
But does everyone know that you can freely go inside and inspect the house absolutely free of charge (only photography is paid: 100 rubles in the museum apartment and 30 rubles separately for photography in the prayer room on the third floor)?
Rushing past, an ordinary passer-by will fleetingly admire the mosaic, glance at the tightly closed front door facing Malaya Nikitskaya, and then run on. Only by pausing at the inhospitably locked door and peering through the bars of the fence, you can see a small piece of paper stuck on the door with an arrow pointing somewhere to the side, “Entrance to the Museum.” The entrance to the museum is from Spiridonovka Street, from the former back staircase of the mansion. Why is it always like this with us? Although, on the other hand, the real treasure does not lie entirely on the surface, you need to look for it, and the greater the joy from its discovery.
So let’s discover one of the recognized masterpieces of Moscow Art Nouveau.
Crossroads of destinies
First, I’ll write a little about the people, because this house would not be what it is without the people who shared its fate. It so happened that in this house the fates of three bright, charismatic, each in their own talented and extraordinary personalities crossed: Stepan Pavlovich Ryabushinsky, Fyodor Osipovich Shekhtel and Alexei Maksimovich Gorky.
Stepan Pavlovich Ryabushinsky
Stepan Pavlovich (1874-1842) is one of a large family of Russian merchants and then entrepreneurs Ryabushinsky, an entire dynasty that left a noticeable mark in industry, science, and culture of Russia.
The generation to which Stepan Ryabushinsky, the owner of the house on Malaya Nikitskaya, belonged, consisted of eight sons and four daughters, most of whom had outstanding abilities and became famous in various activities. The five brothers were mainly involved in trading, industrial and banking affairs of their family's huge company, as well as charitable activities. Two brothers went into science, one became an artist and writer, publisher of the once sensational magazine “Golden Fleece”. Many family members were collectors, collecting paintings by Russian and foreign artists, icons, and art objects.
Stepan Pavlovich was completely immersed in the affairs of the company, headed the trading part of the cotton production, and subsequently became the initiator and creator of Russia's first automobile plant in Moscow. Just imagine what an innovation it was at that time, and what remarkable breadth of views, courage and flair you had to have to start and raise such an adventure to a worthy level.
It was he who ordered the then young Shekhtel to build a mansion for his family. They just started talking a lot about the architect after he built a mansion for Zinaida Grigorievna and Savva Timofeevich Morozov on Spiridonovka in 1893 (This house can still be seen now at number 17. No sign, a high solid fence, a checkpoint with a barrier. There is now a hall there receptions of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. One can only guess about the interiors, they say it’s something magnificent).
Stepan Pavlovich's family was Old Believers. Apparently, this partly explains one of the main interests of his life: he collected, researched, put in order ancient Russian icons and organized their exhibitions. He has published articles on this topic in specialized journals. He was an archaeologist by training and a real expert in pre-Nikon icon painting, which existed before the split between the Orthodox and Old Believer churches. He was the first to begin the scientific clearing and restoration of ancient icons. His restoration workshop was also located in a mansion on Malaya Nikitskaya. Only from Tretyakov Gallery catalogs, where after revolutionpart of his collection was transferred, there are 57 iconsXIII— XVII centuries V.
He chaired the Ostozhensk Old Believer community and headed the commission for the protection of antiquities of the churches of the Rogozhskoe cemetery. The most valuable icons of his collection were kept in the churches of the Rogozhsky cemetery. It’s interesting how when writing historical posts you come across the intertwining of places and destinies..html, but I only learned about Ryabushinsky’s participation now, while collecting material for this story.
After the revolution of 1917 he emigrated to Milan.
Fyodor Osipovich Shekhtel (1859-1926)
“... when art is accessible and understandable to the entire population. Only then will it be able to manifest its powerful power: it will raise the taste for the elegant, ennoble the soul, awaken and develop higher needs of the spirit and raise life to a higher level of development.” From the collected works of F.O. Shekhtel
Fyodor Shekhtel was originally named Franz Albert, as he was born in St. Petersburg into a family that went back to immigrants from Bavaria and moved to Russia under Catherine II. However, most of his life is connected with Moscow, where he arrived at the age of 16.
How to be able to write about such a block briefly, unboringly, but at the same time give it its due To the Big Man and Talent.
Shekhtel is a man of diverse abilities and talents, multifaceted interests, broad outlook, and incredible performance. He was friends with many prominent people of his era: Chekhov, Levitan, Tsvetaev.
He started out as a book designer, was an excellent draftsman, collaborated with various magazines, and out of close friendship, designed collections of stories by A.P. Chekhov. For some time he was a stage designer, creating sets and costumes for theatrical performances, sketches, programs, and posters.
Over time, around the end of the 1890s, he devoted himself entirely to architecture. According to his designs, about 50 buildings were erected in and near Moscow alone, many of which have survived. The most famous, besides the mansions in the center, are the Yaroslavsky Station, founded together with Chekhov, the Art Theater in Kamergersky Lane. Shekhtel designed the entire theater building, both inside and outside, down to the smallest detail - chairs, doors, dressing rooms, entrances, lanterns. He designed a stage with a very complex mechanism, thought through the lighting of the stage and hall, the color of the walls, carpets that absorb sound, and, of course, the curtain. So Chekhov’s seagull, a symbol of the theater, can rightfully be called Shekhtel’s.
For many years he taught at the Moscow Stroganov School. For the project of pavilions of the Russian department at International exhibition 1901 The Imperial Academy of Arts awarded Shekhtel the title of Academician of Architecture. Shekhtel himself took his academic status seriously and signed his works “academician Shekhtel.”
And how many estates and dachas, apartment buildings, public and business buildings, and churches were designed by Shekhtel! And not only in Moscow. During his life, Shekhtel created a total of 19 country estates, 23 mansions, 14 public buildings and monuments, 5 apartment buildings, 9 business buildings, about 20 temples and tombstones. In addition, there are many unfulfilled projects. For example,Shekhtel was carried away by the plans of I.V. Tsvetaev on the creation of the Museum of Fine Arts and became the author of the unrealized project of the main staircase and the Hall of Fame. He generously donated money to the museum, was a consultant in architectural matters and an active like-minded person of Tsvetaev.
In the conditions of the subsequent wars and revolutions, he continued to work, trying to find a place for himself in the new time and new order. He creates projects that are in tune with the spirit of the 20s with their industrial construction: Dneproges, the Optical Plant in Bolshevo, the city of power engineers "Electropol", many hydraulic structures, bridges.
None of these powerful projects were implemented; Shekhtel's architectural vision turned out to be unnecessary and even annoying in the new conditions. He was reproached for excessive romanticism, and philosophical understanding of the purpose of architecture turned out to be a completely alien idea in the new state.
Shekhtel deeply felt his uselessness and worked on “ideological” projects, hoping to once again become useful to his contemporaries. For example, he created a project for the Lenin Mausoleum “with a crypt, an audience and a podium,” which remained only on paper.
His last years were truly tragic. He was evicted from his own house on Bolshaya Sadovaya, wandered around communal apartments, went hungry, sold his library and collections in order to feed himself. Summing up his life, he admitted with bitter irony that, having built for all the Morozovs and Ryabushinskys and von Derviz, he remained poor.
A. M. Gorky (Peshkov)
After the revolution, Ryabushinsky's mansion was nationalized. Many different institutions were located within its walls: the department of visas and passports, the State Publishing House of the RSFSR, and even the Psychoanalytic Institute of Professor I.D. Ermakova with an orphanage-laboratory.
In the end, A.M., who returned from abroad, became the owner of the house. Gorky, who received the house as a kind of gift from I.V. Stalin. On the memorial plaque on the facade of the mansion you can read: “A.M. Gorky lived here in 1931-1936.”
Of course, the nationalization and forced immigration of the original owners of the mansion is sad, nevertheless, it happened. And we can only rejoice in the fact that it was the years that Gorky lived here that later turned into a memorial museum and served as a safe conduct for the mansion, which escaped destruction and became accessible to everyone.
What's inside: a wave staircase, a necklace of rooms and a secret prayer room
So, go inside the house through the door on the back side of the mansion, go up the narrow steep back staircase, pass the deaf old man-watchman, put on ugly oversized museum slippers on your feet (if you have medical shoe covers at home, it’s better to take them with you, you can too) and you immediately find yourself at the foot of the “calling card” of the house - the wave-shaped marble main staircase.
It soars in a smooth semicircle to the second floor, proudly carrying fantastic railings reminiscent of the winged curls of a sea wave. The wave begins with a powerful marble splash, on top of which a jellyfish chandelier is thrown. Unusually shaped glass bulbs hang down, reminiscent of the tentacles of this sea creature.
From below you can admire the stained glass window above the small landing in the middle of the stairs.
For some reason, climbing the main staircase to the second floor is not allowed, but if the caretakers are in a good mood and your polite requests, a miracle can happen: they will unhook the rope and allow you to climb to the middle of the sacred staircase. Well, you have to be content with little.
Among the smooth lines of the eye, heavy stepped cabinets climb up to the second floor along the wall opposite the railing. It is difficult to imagine that this is how Shekhtel intended it. And rightly so, not them. This is Gorky's library.
Having gathered our strength and finally managed to turn away from the beautiful staircase, we begin a circular journey through the suite of rooms on the first floor. Through a magnificent doorway we find ourselves in the first room of the circular enfilade-necklace - the dining room or living room.
It must be said that the doors in this house attract most of the attention and seem to direct the visitor from room to room. Some attract the eye with the dominant dimensions of the opening, some with the unusual decorative design of the platbands or the door panels themselves.
Here is a photo of the door leading from the dining room to the library,
The same door, but in the other direction in the direction of travel, looks like this
Movement from room to room is not difficult, the space is not enclosed. The movement stops only on the third floor, in the prayer room, but more on that later.
So, living-dining room.
Numerous meetings of Gorky with guests took place here: writers, playwrights, and creative people. Meetings of the Writers' Union were held here more than once, one of the main initiators of which was Gorky himself. In this room, discussions were held about the then literary method called socialist realism. Almost all famous writers of the 1930s. We visited Gorky here - this house served as a writer's club for them.
A permanent place at Gorky's table is marked with a tea set.
Library
From the dining room through another unusual doorway (see photo above) we find ourselves in the library.
Gorky always had an extensive library. This one, located in the Ryabushinsky mansion, is already the sixth in a row. Previously, he donated public city libraries, for example, in Nizhny Novgorod, or just private individuals. You can have different attitudes towards a writer’s work; it can even be annoying, especially in our time. However, one thing cannot be taken away from him: his colossal educational activities.
The library room is unique with its ceiling, decorated with a panel on which chrysanthemums are blooming, and stucco flowers and leaves. This design turns the room into a real gazebo
Here's a closer photo of the panel
And stucco
Here is a photo from the library to the street, I really like it
The books did not fit in the library and dining room cabinets and gradually crept into the hall, where cabinets were built for them along the stairs (remember?).
Cabinet
In this room was Alexei Maksimovich’s office, where he worked every day according to a strict schedule, from 9 am to 2 pm, holidays and weekends almost did not exist. During these years, Gorky's creative activity was enormous. Self-discipline and organization led to high efficiency, and successful work gave rise to inspiration, as the writer himself admitted. He was probably not joking, since the result of his work is 35 volumes of works of fiction alone, not counting articles and letters.
In this room, Gorky's presence is felt most of all. A large work desk was made to his order: without drawers, higher than usual, so that it would be more convenient to work at it due to lung disease. The order in the workplace was unchanged: an inkwell, large sheets of paper with wide margins, many colored pencils, a wooden pen, notepads and pieces of paper for notes.
This is also a photo from the table, it seems to me that this says something about the personality of the person who wrote here
In the cabinets above the fireplace and near it there is a Gorky collection of works by oriental bone carvers of the 18th-20th centuries: a carved box, vases made of lacquer, bamboo, porcelain, figurines, balls.
This collection is considered one of the best; a similar collection of the Oriental Museum in Moscow is inferior to Gorky’s. Alexey Maksimovich showed it with love and knowledge of the secrets of craftsmanship. Throughout his life, the writer collected various objects of art, many of which he donated to museums and just people. According to him, he would like the energy contained in them to give rise to a new wave of creativity.
Next to the cabinets there is Chinese furniture - a carved table for a lute, two stools, a carved chair at the table. This is a joint gift from the family and writer A.N. Tolstoy, who found them from antique dealers.
Bedroom
There are only the essentials here: a bed, a bedside table, a wardrobe, a chest of drawers. The corner bookshelf was hung at Gorky’s request; books were placed on it for nightly reading. The last selection included “Russian folk tales” collected by A. Afanasyev, “Vanity Fair” by Thackeray, works by R. Rolland, books by K.S. Stanislavsky and V.G. Korolenko, poems by N. Yazykov, “Songs” by Beranger. Sometimes Gorky jokingly called himself a “professional reader.”
The Japanese cabinet contains part of the oriental collection: a dragon, vases and miniature sculptures.
And here is the lid of the chest of drawers with a colorful gargoyle.
This is the view from the bedroom window now. The window frames of the house become picture frames that frame what you see in the window. I think that's how it was intended
And here is the front entrance with a tightly locked door overlooking Malaya Nikitskaya
To the right of the door is a glass cabinet with the writer’s personal belongings
The second floor was closed at the time of our visit to the museum for technical reasons. We were told that there were living rooms and children's rooms there, and now there is an exhibition dedicated to the work of Gorky there.
On the third floor you are greeted by a photo exhibition dedicated to the Ryabushinsky dynasty, and a small exhibition of young artists painting Russian estates. But, of course, the main treasure of the third floor is the prayer room of the Ryabushinsky family.
Prayer room - hidden space
The prayer room was built by Shekhtel for the Ryabushinsky family secretly in 1904. A little later, the persecution of the Old Believers weakened, but at that time it was possible to act only covertly. Therefore, the staircase to the prayer room is located in a tower specially attached to the house. It ends the unimpeded circular movement around the house: you have arrived where you need to go - to the end of everything or, conversely, to the beginning. Having entered through the door, symbolically leading from the lower world, a person finds himself in front of a single door - the Royal Doors.
The low altar barrier has not survived, but one can easily imagine where it was: in front of three high windows with typical temple slopes directing the gaze to the sky. From the site of the former altar, rays laid out on the parquet also diverge to the sides. It is known that the main protecting icon of the house on Malaya Nikitskaya was the image of the Mother of God “The Burning Bush” from Pskov writing from the late 15th century - quite rare even among collectors.
If on the traditional icon “The Burning Bush” the Mother of God is depicted with one ladder leading upward, then Stepan Ryabushinsky kept a more ancient image, in which the Mother of God holds not one, but two ladders. The first, leading upward, speaks of the Mother of God as a helper who gives believers access to the heavenly heights, and the second staircase, lowered down, symbolizes the Queen of Heaven as the protector of sinners, helping everyone who sincerely turns to her. There is a version that investing precisely this secret meaning, Shekhtel introduces two staircases into the house design - the front and the back, which both lead to the prayer room. Here it is - a symbol of different roads to enlightenment and the Kingdom of Heaven
The prayer room occupies a small room, but it seems quite spacious thanks to its excellent proportions and the upward looking dome. Quite poorly lit: skylight at the top of the dome
and the three already mentioned narrow lancet windows in the wall behind the former altar. And they are located above human height, so the light does not flood the room, but diffusely penetrates it from above.
Photo In this room sits a sad caretaker, accepting money for photography and selling literature relevant to the place. She selects someone worthy of her trust from a series of visitors and begins to complain about her fate as a caretaker. He says that he has been sitting there for ten years and is going blind from the light of energy-saving lamps. I advised her to bring a brighter lamp from home, but from the way she looked at me incomprehensibly, I realized that she did not need a solution, but sympathy, so then she only sighed empathetically. So, for some it’s a masterpiece of architecture, and for others it’s a personal calvary.
However, the poorly lit prayer room has its own secret. Thanks to the peculiarities of wall painting, in the evening it turns into an open space with a starry sky: the dark spirals of ivy stems on the walls merge into a common background at dusk, and the white dots on the leaves begin to glow like stars. Of course, I didn’t see the prayer room late in the evening, but I’m ready to believe that there is a feeling of space, an endless universe.
I was so absorbed in contemplating the appearance of the prayer room that I did not immediately realize that its artistic design did not contain the usual images of the Savior and the Mother of God. There are many things that are vitally told here, but only through eternal ancient symbols.
On the towels decorating the three-part window in the altar there is an indication ancient symbol Jesus Christ is a fish with an equal-pointed cross above it and the inscription in Greek “Ichthus” (fish). This encrypts the ancient formula of the symbol of faith: the five letters of the word “Ichthus” are the first letters of the five words Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior (Jesous Christos, Theou Uios, Soter).
At the base of the dome, an abbreviated inscription in ancient Greek is repeated four times: “true Christian women will receive holiness for their suffering on the day of the Last Judgment.” The triangles scattered on the inner surface of the dome are reminiscent of the Trinity, just like the three-part window itself.
At one time the prayer room was lit with candles. Everything that is now painted yellow was gilded. The wall paintings were restored in 1977-89, but in the altar several fragments of original painting from the early 20th century were preserved: symbols of Christ and towels. The medallions on the sails with images of the symbols of the evangelists are also considered authentic.
Sketches for them are preserved in Shekhtel’s archive. They were rolled, cut along the contour of the design with a knife and sprayed onto the sails. Thus, they were not touched by the hand of a modern artist. In the photo you can also see the same leaves with white dots, which in the evening create the impression of privacy with the starry sky.
Mysteries of the house: secret meanings and allegories
How subjective it is, in my opinion, to look for subtexts and secret meanings in works of art. Is this really necessary to understand the author? Maybe it’s better to just enjoy the perception of beauty without reflecting or breaking it down into its component elements? However, how would critics and historians live then? J
Sometimes you are amazed when reading, say, the interpretation of a painting or sculpture. Do you really think that the artist sat just like that and thought about how many symbols and allegories to encrypt in his work? The exception, of course, is medieval painting, written in a language of symbols that was understandable to every enlightened person at that time. But why is the new story worse? Perhaps the creator put a secret meaning into his work. Or maybe he simply obeyed inspiration and created without thinking about future interpretations?
However, I cannot ignore the so-called mysteries of Fyodor Shekhtel. Mostly because when you delve into various guesses and versions, you get a feeling of some mystery, almost mysticism, which gives the whole house a slightly magical flair. So what did he want to say with his vision of the mansion’s interiors?
In one article I found the opinion that “an unprepared viewer often finds in a mansion only an obvious, literal image of the natural elements, flora and fauna.” This supposedly hides Shekhtel’s special approach to his works, dividing the viewer according to the degree of preparedness. Sounds a little arrogant, in my opinion. It is unlikely that Shekhtel intentionally introduced the idea of such intellectual discrimination into his works, although he really makes you think and look for an explanation for the mysteries of the house.
Any museum curator will tell you that the lamp on the main staircase is a symbolic image of a jellyfish, but if you go up the stairs a little, you can see the lampshade covering the top of the lamp, which looks like a tortoise shell.
It would seem that these are natural motifs, the use of images of the animal world. However, the inexhaustible imagination of art interpreters offers the following interpretation: the jellyfish at the beginning of the stairs, with its characteristic plasticity, is comparable to the image of a person who is confused by vanity and haste on the path to God. The transformation of the image into a turtle refers us to associations with calm, balance, and wisdom, the symbol of which is this animal. Thus, the staircase itself appears before us as a symbol of spiritual formation, the path to perfection and to God.
There is an opinion that the framework of purely “natural” motives for Shekhtel is too narrow and primitive. Remember the photo of the wave splashing at the base of the stairs? So, with a serious approach and a strong desire, you can see in it the image of a woman leading a person ascending the stairs, the medallions on the railings of which are made in the form of the Sanskrit “yin and yang” - light and darkness. This can be interpreted as an image of the Mother of God herself.
Or here is a column on the second floor, which you can see by politely asking the caretakers. I already wrote that I have no idea why the entrance along the main staircase to the second floor is blocked by a traditional museum rope, and only upon great request can you be allowed to climb to the middle of this very staircase and, craning your neck, look at the column with a sculptural top.
The capital of the column is an interweaving of monstrous lizards or salamanders with beautiful lilies. They say that this technique carries a deep philosophical meaning, clearly depicting the organic connection of everything that exists. Scary lizards are the personification of evil, lilies are a symbol of good - everything is intertwined in the “here” world.
I only told you about part of the house’s mystery symbols, I hope this is enough to get interested and want to make your own impression.
It’s time to end here, so as not to continue endlessly, because the meaning of the symbols of modernity is inexhaustible.
Finally, a photo of the house from Spiridonovka
Update: my husband read the post and explained to me, who was inattentive, why visitors in the museum are not allowed up the main staircase to the second floor: there is a crack. That is why we were asked to climb along the very edge of the staircase. I managed to ignore this moment of the museum employee’s explanation.
The museum-apartment of A. M. Gorky is located in the former Ryabushinsky mansion, built for the family of a young Russian entrepreneur by the famous Moscow architect F. Shekhtel. The luxurious house on Malaya Nikitskaya, in which the writer lived in the last years of his life, is a true masterpiece of architecture of the early twentieth century. It is made in the Russian Art Nouveau style, unusual for Moscow of those years, and its history is connected with three outstanding people who lived at the same time, but had very different destinies. And only one of them is mentioned on the memorial plaque installed on the facade.
The mansion is one of the few similar objects open to the public located in the center of the capital. Some buildings house government agencies and embassies, where ordinary citizens are not allowed to enter. Its interior decoration has been preserved almost in its original form, conceived and implemented by F. Shekhtel.
Ryabushinsky's mansion
An unusual house with multi-level and multi-format windows, a mosaic frieze with floral motifs and glazed brick trim is considered an adornment not only of Malaya Nikitskaya Street, but of the entire capital. The splendor of the interior decoration is hidden from the eyes of passers-by, but you can see it with your own eyes by visiting the museum-apartment of A. M. Gorky.
The mansion was designed by F. Shekhtel under the influence of European Art Nouveau combined with fashion trends of Art Nouveau - a style characterized by the preferential use of natural smooth curves in the architectural appearance and interiors, rather than straight lines and clear angles. A feature of this area also includes the use of new, non-standard technologies. Despite the borrowing of stylistic solutions, F. Shekhtel managed to harmoniously fill them with his own decorative elements and details.
The mansion bears the name of the customer and the first owner of the house - Stepan Ryabushinsky. He was a famous entrepreneur and collector, but most importantly, he belonged to the wealthy Ryabushinsky dynasty and became its worthy follower. Stepan Pavlovich had one of the best collections of icons in Russia and organized grand exhibitions of icon painting, including for the 300th anniversary of the House of Romanov. Thanks to his participation, scientific research was carried out, which made it possible to discover and restore real iconographic masterpieces.
After the October Revolution, Ryabushinsky was forced to leave the country. His collection of icons was confiscated. Some of them were sold, the rest were donated to museums. Fortunately, most of the collection has been preserved and is located in the Tretyakov Gallery. Today there is talk about organizing a permanent exhibition of icons collected by Stepan Pavlovich in one of the Ryabushinsky houses.
During Soviet times, the mansion was replaced by several owners from among government agencies. During this time, unique pieces of furniture, lamps and the original fireplace portal, made of marble specially brought from Carrara, disappeared. In addition, the house's unique ventilation system was damaged. The salvation from the final ruin of the mansion was the settlement of the family of a proletarian writer in it in 1931.
Architecture of Shekhtel's house
The Ryabushinsky mansion was built under the direction of the architect from 1900 to 1902-03. The main facade with the front porch faces Malaya Nikitskaya Street. At the moment, you can enter the building from Spiridonovka through the “black” door, originally intended for servants.
Shekhtel was responsible for creating designs for more than 210 buildings in the capital and Moscow region, built at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Among them are the Yaroslavsky railway station, Morozova’s mansion on Spiridonovka, and the Khudozhestvenny cinema on Arbat. Most of the 86 surviving objects are today under state protection. The architect himself lived out his life in his daughter’s apartment, which was turned into a communal apartment after the revolution.
Shekhtel's house on Malaya Nikitskaya became a real masterpiece of the master. Due to the spectacular stepped arrangement of window openings, the building looks multi-story. Streamlined forms of arched vaults, window grilles in the form of curly branches and spiral curls of balcony railings give the exterior additional lightness. A low fence opens up a view of the facade, decorated with a wide mosaic frieze. The plant motifs depicted on it hide mysteries and symbols.
The central terrace, hanging over the main entrance, rests on massive columns united by figured lintels. Two of them come close to the “red” line. On the side facades there are balconies with decorative railings. On the territory of the estate there is an outbuilding with a stable attached to it. The rooms were intended for servants. One of the premises was rented by A. Tolstoy during the Second World War. Today it houses the writer's museum-apartment.
The front part of Shekhtel's house may go unnoticed by passers-by, especially in the summer, when the mansion is hidden behind the treetops. All the most interesting and amazing things are revealed to visitors to the Gorky House Museum.
Interior features
Shekhtel successfully complemented the architectural innovation with the technical equipment of the mansion. The ventilation system allowed air to circulate throughout the entire space of the house. From the kitchen to the dining room, dishes were delivered via elevator.
The first thing that catches the eye of everyone who enters is the famous Shekhtel staircase with its gracefully curved railings. According to the author's idea, it symbolizes the endless movement of waves. At its base stands an original jellyfish lamp, miraculously preserved during the years of “modernization” of the mansion by representatives of government agencies.
Colored stained glass windows in sunlight give an amazing play of colors on the walls and matte ceilings. Detailed decorative elements successfully complement the interior. Here, even the door handles are shaped like seahorses, and the capitals of the columns are decorated with salamanders surrounded by lilies.
There is a secret room on the third floor, not even mentioned in the insurance inventories. It was decorated in the early Christian style and was intended for prayers. The secrecy was associated with the ban on the presence of religious buildings in private homes. But the Ryabushinskys belonged to the Old Believers, and they needed a chapel.
It is quite difficult to imagine the interiors of the mansion from descriptions and photographs, so it would be better to visit it.
History of the Gorky Apartment Museum
The Ryabushinsky mansion was given to the Gorky family in 1931. He was categorically against moving into “palace rooms,” rightly believing that this would negatively affect the opinions of proletarians forced to live in barracks and communal apartments. Nevertheless, Gorky, who returned from abroad, was brought straight from the station to Malaya Nikitskaya to an already renovated and furnished house.
According to contemporaries, the Ryabushinsky mansion did not suit the writer either in spirit or in status. Here he felt uncomfortable, called the rest room “the ballerina’s bedroom” and never used the Shekhtel staircase, since it was difficult for him to climb to the second floor. Over time, Alexey Maksimovich became accustomed to the furnishings and features of the house, especially since several of his requirements were met. In particular:
- the workroom was decorated in accordance with the furnishings of his previous offices;
- the living room was converted into a library, filling the walls with multi-tiered cabinets;
- the bedroom was placed in one of the offices;
- the half-naked figures that decorated the interior were removed.
Under Gorky, the house on Malaya Nikitskaya turned into the cultural center of literary Moscow, where it was always crowded and noisy. The life of a writer has become busy and a little tiring. Social activities and constant creative meetings, including the famous night meetings with Stalin and members of the Politburo, at which the fate of writers and their works had to be decided, distracted from the main activity. But despite the fact that there was too little time left to write his own works, Gorky continued to work on novels and plays.
In 1934, Alexei Maksimovich had to endure the tragic events associated with the death of his son, who lived on the second floor of the Ryabushinsky mansion with his family. In recent years, his daughter-in-law and granddaughters remained with the writer. After Gorky’s death (1936), Nadezhda Peshkova, or Timosha, as her family called her, with the direct participation of the official widow of the writer Ekaterina Pavlovna Peshkova, tried to preserve the legacy of her father-in-law, his things and the environment in which he lived and worked in the period 1931-36 gg.
Nadezhda Alekseevna (daughter-in-law) remained in the mansion until 1965, the year of the opening of the Gorky Memorial Museum-Apartment on Malaya Nikitskaya. It is thanks to her efforts and enthusiasm that contemporaries have the opportunity to plunge into the atmosphere that surrounded the writer in the last years of his difficult life.
Exhibitions
In the 5 rooms of the mansion, located on the ground floor, the furnishings of 1936 have been completely preserved. These are the writer’s office and his bedroom, the library and secretarial room, as well as the dining room. Here you can find furniture from those years, personal belongings and Gorky’s book collection, arranged in the same order as in his time. On the second floor there is an exhibition telling about the life of Alexei Maksimovich after his return to his homeland from Italy. Part of the premises is given over to the storage of the museum fund. In the equipped basement there is an exhibition giving an idea of Ryabushinsky and Shekhtel.
Operating mode
You can visit the Gorky Museum and get acquainted with the interiors of the mansion every day from 11:00 to 17:30, except Monday, Tuesday and official days. public holidays. The last Thursday of every month the institution holds a sanitary day.
Ticket prices in 2019
The cost of entry to the Gorky Apartment Museum is:
- for adults - 300 rubles;
- for children from 7 to 15 years old and pensioners - 100 rubles;
- for students and pupils - 150 rubles;
- for non-residents of the Russian Federation - 400 rubles.
For a group excursion (up to 20 people) you will have to pay 3,000 rubles. For foreigners, such a service will cost 4000-5000 rubles. Groups of up to 10 people are served individually. The price of the tour for residents of the Russian Federation is 1500 rubles, for non-residents of the Russian Federation - 2000 rubles.
How to get to the museum-apartment of A. M. Gorky
The nearest metro stations are located 1-1.5 km from the mansion:
- “Barrikadnaya” and “Pushkinskaya” - line 7;
- "Tverskaya" - line 2;
- "Arbatskaya" - lines 3 and 4.
You can get to the museum by buses No. 15, 39, A, 243, m6. Stop "Nikitsky Gate".
Mobile taxi services in Moscow - Uber, Gett, Maxim, Yandex. Taxi
Ryabushinsky Mansion: video
Original taken from galik_123 in Classics of Moscow Art Nouveau
The history of this building in the center of Moscow is associated with the names of three famous people Russia, although the plaque on the building only mentions one. The Art Nouveau mansion was built by the architect Shekhtel for the millionaire Ryabushinsky, and the writer Gorky lived there for the longest time. This mansion has forever linked the lives of these outstanding people in history, and when talking about the house, it is impossible not to talk about each one. They lived at the same time, but their destinies turned out differently...
In general, in Moscow there are not many mansions of the early 20th century open to the public. Especially ones like the Ryabushinsky mansion - a masterpiece of Moscow Art Nouveau, a classic of the genre. I have long wanted to go inside and see the famous interiors. After all, it is quite difficult to get into other Moscow mansions located in the center, because they contain either embassies different countries, or other important government institutions, and besides, the internal space has long been redone in accordance with modern convenience requirements. And in this mansion you can see what was planned by the Master.
1. The mansion for S.P. Ryabushinsky was built by Fyodor Osipovich Shekhtel (1859-1926) - the greatest Russian architect at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, holder of the Orders of St. Anne and St. Stanislav, creator of Russian and Moscow Art Nouveau. The future architect came from a family of colonists from Bavaria who arrived in the Schukk colony near Saratov in June 1766. His father was a process engineer, and his mother Daria Karlovna, nee Rosalia-Dorothea Getlich, p. Later she worked as a housekeeper for Tretyakov. Many of the architectural monuments built by Shekhtel in Moscow were included in the Golden Fund of Russian Architecture and are under state protection. More than 50 buildings were created according to his designs in the capital, and many of them have survived to this day. His main buildings in Moscow: the mansion of Z.G. Morozova on Spiridonovka (1893), Art Theater (1902), Yaroslavl Station (1902). An excellent example of the neoclassical style, in which Shekhtel also worked, is the Khudozhestvenny cinema on Arbat Square.
Fedor Osipovich Shekhtel
After the revolution in 1918, Shekhtel managed to sell the mansion on Bolshaya Sadovaya, built by the architect for his family. He settled on Bolshaya Dmitrovka with his daughter Vera. Tenants were moved into the apartment, and last years great architect lived in a communal apartment. He was buried at the Vagankovskoye cemetery. And his masterpiece - the mansion on Malaya Nikitskaya still serves as an adornment of the capital.
2. The mansion was built in 1900-1902 by order of 26-year-old entrepreneur S.P. Ryabushinsky. In it, the architect thought through everything, from the layout to the interior decoration of the premises. The house combined the achievements of the Art Nouveau style (rejection of straight lines and angles in favor of more natural lines, interest in new technologies) with Russian architectural tradition.
The small mansion consists of several volumes, each of which is unique. The facades are lined with glazed bricks in light colors; on top of the house is decorated with a mosaic frieze depicting orchids. The building is two-story, but multi-level windows of various shapes create a multi-story effect.
3. Attention is immediately drawn to the amazing mosaic frieze with orchids, made according to Shekhtel’s sketches. In Art Nouveau aesthetics, a special role was played by symbol and riddle, for example, a bud was perceived as symbol of emerging life. The decoration on the facade of the mansion indicates the presence of some kind of secret in the house.
4. Stepan Pavlovich Ryabushinsky (1874-1942) - famous Russian entrepreneur, banker, collector, representative of the Ryabushinsky dynasty. Known as a collector of icons. Ryabushinsky's collection of icons was considered one of the best in Russia. Largely thanks to Stepan Pavlovich, a systematic scientific study of icons began, and many masterpieces of icon painting were discovered. Stepan Ryabushinsky organized exhibitions of icon painting, including the famous exhibition dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the House of Romanov in 1913.
The Ryabushinsky family - Stepan Pavlovich, Anna Alexandrovna and Boris
After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Stepan Ryabushinsky emigrated to Milan. The collection of icons of Ryabushinsky entered the State Museum Fund, most of them (54 icons) are in the department of ancient Russian art of the State Tretyakov Gallery, the rest were sold or transferred to other museums.
5. After the emigration of the Ryabushinskys, the building survived many owners. It housed various government agencies. Some pieces of furniture and lighting fixtures of that time, made according to Shekhtel’s sketches, were lost, the ventilation system was destroyed and a unique fireplace made of Carrara marble was dismantled. In 1931, M. A. Gorky moved into the mansion, and now this building is Gorky’s memorial house-museum. It can be considered that Maxim Gorky indirectly saved the mansion from complete destruction, distortion beyond recognition and transfer to the jurisdiction of some institution.
6. The front entrance overlooked Malaya Nikitskaya, along another porch you could go down to the garden. Now the main entrance is closed.
7. Compared to the beginning of the 20th century, the interiors have partially changed, even the entrance to the building is now located from Spiridonovka, but the main thing has been preserved. In addition, the museum has albums with photographs and sketches of unpreserved interiors.
8. Previously, this entrance was considered black and was intended for servants.
9. The mansion has a fairly large area surrounded by a low decorative fence in the Art Nouveau style.
10. An outbuilding was built on the territory of the mansion, where there were a stable, a laundry room, a janitor's room, and the Ryabushinsky servants lived. From 1941 to 1945, the writer A.N. lived in one of the rooms of the outbuilding. Tolstoy, now his museum-apartment is here.
In the fall of 1913, in the mansion of Stepan Pavlovich Ryabushinsky on Malaya Nikitskaya, one of the last meetings (without outsiders) of the large family of millionaire Ryabushinskys took place. At that time, the Ryabushinskys were known throughout Russia: from Riga to Baku, from Arkhangelsk to Tiflis. They came from free peasant Old Believers of the Borovsko-Pafnutievsky Monastery. By the beginning of the 19th century, Borovsk had turned from the first spiritual centers of Russia into an ordinary provincial town halfway between Kaluga and Moscow. The grandfather of the famous Ryabushinsky brothers, Mikhail Yakovlevich, grew up there. At the age of twelve he was sent to Moscow to study in the trade sector. The trade was successful, and at the age of 16, Mikhail Ryabushinsky enrolled in the third merchant guild, presenting, at that time, a substantial capital of a thousand rubles. This is where millions of Ryabushinskys began.
His son Pavel Mikhailovich Ryabushinsky was already very different from his father, the founder of the dynasty. He represented the second generation of domestic entrepreneurs who were interested in politics, arts and sciences. P.M. Ryabushinsky was elected from his class as a member of the Moscow Duma, the commercial court, and the Moscow Exchange Society. He handed over to his sons a well-established and vigorously developing business, as well as 20 million in banknotes - a huge fortune.
The third generation of Russian entrepreneurs, the Ryabushinsky brothers, received an excellent education. They graduated from the Moscow Practical Academy of Commercial Sciences and knew two or three European languages. For the most part, they were smart, active, ready for large-scale activities and widespread charity.
From left to right - Pavel, Mikhail, Vladimir, Stepan, Nikolay, Sergey, Fedor, Dmitry Ryabushinsky
Pavel Pavlovich Ryabushinsky, chairman of the Partnership, owner of the Moscow Bank, editor-in-chief of the Morning of Russia newspaper, one of the leaders of the Progressive Party - the most prominent representative of Russian big capital. He combined the peculiar business ethics of the Old Believer environment, the broad nature of a Russian merchant and philanthropist with the iron tenacity of an educated entrepreneur of the twentieth century. By the beginning of the tenth years, Pavel Pavlovich already headed the largest financial monopoly. Wherever possible, his “Central Russian Joint Stock Company” opposed foreigners: geological exploration in the North, in the Ukhta region, logging, expanding interests in the oil industry, the first steps of domestic mechanical engineering, the automobile and aviation industries and other areas.
His closest associates in business - the brothers Stepan, Sergey and Vladimir, stood at the origins of the domestic automobile industry, founded the first AMO automobile plant in Russia (ZIL), and are also archaeologists, collectors and specialists in ancient Russian icon painting. Mikhail was also a collector. His collection of Russian and Western European artists became the pearl of the collections of several leading Soviet museums. Nikolai, a famous writer, founder of the magazine "Golden Fleece", who published poetry and prose under the pseudonym N. Shinsky in "Musaget" and other fashionable publishing houses of the beginning of the century. Dmitry, one of the world's leading experts in the field of aeronautics theory, established the world's only private Aerodynamic Institute back in 1904 on the Kuchino family estate. He subsequently emigrated to France, where he continued his research and became a French academic.
These were the Russian millionaires! The most prominent representatives of the Russian business community at the beginning of the last century, the Ryabushinskys, always focused only on the Russian market. After the Ryabushinskys new Russia, which they no longer knew, beautiful buildings, factories, factories, and scientific institutions remained.
11. The front hallway was made in the Art Nouveau style.
12. Ryabushinsky’s house was decorated with nine unique stained glass windows made according to Shekhtel’s sketches. They also performed architectural tasks. For example, an image with pine trees and fields stretching into the distance created the illusion of a window, thereby visually increasing the space.
13. All rooms of the house are grouped around the main staircase 12 m high in the form of a gray-green wave of marble, at the very beginning of which a jellyfish-lamp floats out. There is a column at the top of the stairs.
14. The staircase is made of Estonian Vasalemma marble. The beautiful stone was processed in the Moscow workshop of M.D. Kutyrina. At the beginning of the stairs there is a very interesting marble bench: in order not to freeze while sitting on it, a stream of warm air from a special grille was directed onto it; now this heating system no longer works.
15. Lamp in the form of a jellyfish.
16. Between the flights of stairs there is a place for rest.
17. When viewed from above, Medusa turns into a turtle (personification active life and contemplative life). The ladder becomes not just a device for physical ascent, but a symbol spiritual ascent of man.
18. Stepan Ryabushinsky was one of the first to engage in the restoration of old icons. Therefore, space was provided in his house for a restoration workshop. Already in 1914, the magazine "Russian Icon" reported that Ryabushinsky was going to open an icon museum in his house on Nikitsky.
19. Doors, handles, lampshades of the house are algae, shells, seahorses, turtles.
20. Shekhtel also provided for a chapel in the house, which, according to tradition, had a round dome. The room itself is located in the attic, in the north-western side of the house. During the construction of the building, this room was made secret. To get into it, the owners walked along the second floor. (We didn’t have time to take a photo of the chapel - the museum was closing.)
21. The column with a massive capital is decorated with beautiful lilies, symbol of purity, and disgusting salamanders - symbol of evil. The narrow gallery was also of particular importance. It meant that the path to goodness is narrow and thorny. Then the believers walked up the back stairs.
22. A decorative balcony inside the house decorated the rise (view from the second floor landing). All the closets were made according to Gorky's order.
23. Office of Secretary A.M. Gorky.
24. In five memorial rooms (library, office, bedroom, dining room and secretarial room) the original furnishings and personal belongings of A.M. have been preserved. Gorky, who lived here from 1931 to 1936. The writer's personal library is used in scientific research.
28. The windows on the first floor are simply amazing with their shape and size.
29. Fine wooden carvings decorate the doors. Floral motifs and waves - symbol of perpetual motion in the parquet drawing of the hall and dining room.
30. The library has a beautiful view from the window; the window frame has an unusually intricate shape.
31. Library ceiling stucco - fantasy aquatic plants, snails.
32. A.M.’s office Gorky.
33. Along the walls are cabinets containing an impressive collection of bone carvings by masters of the 18th-20th centuries (netske).
34. View from the window of Gorky’s office.
35. There are objects on the desk that apparently belong to the writer.
36. Gorky's bedroom on the first floor. The writer occupied rooms on the first floor, and on the second floor there was the writer’s family - his son with his wife and children.
37. The view from the bedroom window is also pleasing to the eye.
38. On the second floor there is now an exhibition dedicated to the writer A.M. Gorky - paintings, gifts. The writer spent the last years of his life in this house, working on the epic novel “The Life of Klim Samgin.”
39. In the halls of the second floor hang originals by famous artists who were friends with Gorky and gave him their works.
B. Grigoriev. Portrait of A.M. Gorky, 1926
Italian landscapes V. Khodasevich
V. Khodasevich. ON THE. Peshkova, 1920s
42. Two paintings by M. Nesterov: left Evening on the Volga (Loneliness), 1932; on right Sick girl, 1928.
43. The lives of outstanding people of their time were intertwined in this amazing mansion. This house has a difficult fate too...
Hello dear readers. In this report we will talk about one very interesting house, hidden on the corner of Spiridonovka and Malaya Nikitskaya Street. I've heard about this building for a long time, but never got around to it. But recently we finally got together and, in terms of the program for my birthday in November, we visited it. The Ryabushinsky mansion is a wonderful example of a house in the Art Nouveau style, built by the architect Fyodor Shekhtel by order of the industrialist and philanthropist Ryabushinsky in 1900-02. History and photos - follow the link below.
...Nearby was expropriated
mansion in a lush Art Nouveau style.
Gorky didn’t like stairs:
“Oh, everything is decadent and mannered.” (With)
Firstly, I advise everyone who has not yet visited this architectural monument to do so as soon as possible) Very beautiful house, decoration, interiors, stucco moldings, decorations. Moreover, the condition of the house is simply excellent. And entry there is free. Secondly, I’ll briefly tell you the history of the mansion:
"The Ryabushinsky mansion is a wonderful example of a house in the Art Nouveau style, built by the architect Fyodor Shekhtel by order of the industrialist and philanthropist Ryabushinsky in 1900-02. The first owner of the mansion, Stepan Pavlovich Ryabushinsky, came from a large merchant Old Believer family, but, in addition to entrepreneurship, he was interested in art and collecting.The collection in the Ryabushinsky mansion included more than 100 masterpieces of painting and a large number of icons, some of which were restored and saved by the owner from destruction. Ryabushinsky did not own this wonderful property for long. After the revolution, the family was forced to leave Russia, and their mansions and paintings remained under Soviet rule. Part of the collection ended up in the Tretyakov Gallery and some other museums, but much was lost.
Two-story building with an open plan; the rooms are grouped around the internal staircase; the arrangement of volumes follows the logic of the “organic” growth of the building
Composition: asymmetrical; a massive porch overlooks the red line of the street; the facades recede from the street line, the mansion is surrounded by a low lattice fence; main facade facing the Church of the Ascension (to the north).
In 1917, the Ryabushinsky mansion passed to a new owner - one of the departments of the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs, the department of visas and passports. In 1919, diplomats left the mansion on Nikitskaya. Instead, writers appeared. The mansion housed Gosizdat, the main publishing house of Soviet Russia.In 1926, VOKS, the All-Union Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries, moved into the Ryabushinsky mansion.In 1931, Gorky came to Moscow from Sorrento, and Stalin granted him the Ryabushinsky mansion. Gorky didn’t really like this: a proletarian writer in a bourgeois mansion, and even modernism, which the writer did not like, but there was nothing to do.Gorky asked to disassemble and remove the unique modern fireplace, which was getting on his nerves, but left the rest. Gorky lived in this house from 1931 to 1936. Here he wrote the play “Yegor Bulychov and Others” and the novel “The Life of Klim Samgin.” Gorky’s apartment was one of the centers of literary life in Moscow; preparations for the First Congress of Writers were carried out here, and issues of the development of Soviet literature were resolved. In 1935, Gorky was visited by the French writer Romain Rolland (there is a memorial plaque).
The editorial offices of magazines edited by Gorky were located in the neighboring house; writers constantly gathered in the house, and the first plenum on the creation and congress of the Writers' Union was held here.
In 1942, the writer Alexei Tolstoy moved from Bolshaya Molchanovka to the utility rooms of the Ryabushinsky mansion, where he spent the last years of his life. Now there is a museum-apartment of the writer.
Later, in the Ryabushinsky mansion there was a reception house for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1965, a memorial museum-apartment of Gorky was opened in this house."
And now, after the historical information, I will immediately present photographs without further ado.
1. Before going directly into the house, let’s take a short walk through the small orchard in front of the house.
2. We go inside, take slippers, buy a ticket for a photo and go to explore the mansion. Let's start with the main staircase - the key note of the interior. The unusual railings, reminiscent of a running wave, are made of marble. They start from a lamp with a colored stained glass lampshade.
3. The beautiful stained glass window on the 1st floor echoes the staircase.
4. Maxim Gorky's office.
5. Portrait of the writer, located immediately at the beginning of the exhibition.
6. Let's move to the living-dining room. There is a large window overlooking the garden. There is stucco on the ceiling, old furniture, and a curious fact is that there was previously a fireplace here, which the writer asked to remove.
7. Here is an old, pre-revolutionary photograph of the living room with a fireplace. He was very beautiful, it’s a pity he’s no longer there. It's good that everything else was preserved.
8. A cabinet with items from the writer’s oriental collection.
9. Bedroom room.
10. Wooden wardrobe decoration elements in the bedroom. Above it you can see another small stained glass window. There are paintings on the walls + beautiful ceiling decoration. In general, the architect paid a lot of attention to details. Elements of stucco, stained glass, parquet, wood carvings on the doors - you won’t notice everything at once.
11. View of the main staircase from the second floor.
12. Exhibition about the life of the writer on the second floor. It is less beautiful here - after Gorky, people lived here, the premises were partially renovated and changed. We won't stay here long. In addition to the exposition, nearby is the entrance to a small chapel (!) - it’s beautiful there, but, unfortunately, I didn’t take any photographs. There is also an exhibition of paintings in adjacent rooms.
13. And again on the main staircase. This time - a view towards the stained glass window with rain above the stairs.
14. Exhibit items presented in rooms on the first floor. Here are various things of the writer - pencils with which he wrote, inkwells, scissors and many others.
15. Stunning ceiling in the library. Stucco molding in the form of flowers on trees, snails, beautiful painting by the window. By the way, the library consists of an extensive collection of books that are still in the bookcases to this day.
16. A collection of Chinese figurines and a fireplace in one of the rooms of the mansion.
17. Windows on the second staircase. They still have handles from the beginning of the last century.
18. Lobby and main entrance to the mansion. Above our head is a beautiful stained glass window with a landscape, and the entrance to the corridor is decorated with steel slats in the shape of the legs of two praying mantises.
Alas, it was very dark and it was not possible to shoot properly.
19. Once again we’ll take a photo of the lamp near the stairs.
20. We go outside. Unfortunately, it was cloudy, but we were very inspired by the museum we visited. A very beautiful mansion and an interesting museum. Let's take a shot of the house, garden and Church of the Ascension opposite.
21. Let's cross the road and remove the main facade of the house. Ryabushinsky's mansion is made in light colors, the walls are decorated with ceramic tiles
and majolica depicting fancy orchids.
Thus, now anyone can wander through the rooms, climb the stairs, admiring the interior decoration. If you haven't been here yet, I highly recommend you do so. This blog continues the theme of the visited buildings of the architect Shekhtel (the estate of the merchant Patrikeevs can be seen
With the arrival of spring and warmth, Kvartblog began to travel around his city much more often and with great pleasure, like most Russian people who are not afraid of long and leisurely walks. Finally, I decided to fulfill my old dream and signed up for an excursion to one of the most amazing places for me and iconic for all of Moscow - the Ryabushinsky mansion, which today houses the museum-apartment of M. Gorky.
Ryabushinsky's mansion in Moscow
Of all the many creations of the architect Shekhtel, this mansion is perhaps the best embodiment of his unique style, nicknamed “Russian Art Nouveau”, because in his projects Fyodor Osipovich often followed the architectural traditions of Ancient Rus'.
In two years, from 1900 to 1902, this mansion with adjacent buildings grew up on a small plot along Malaya Nikitskaya Street, and from 1903 to 1905, as many as three publishing companies were already producing large editions of postcards with his photographs.
Its shape, at first glance similar to a cube, echoes the shape of the Church of the Great Ascension standing opposite. A garden has already begun to bloom around the mansion; buildings intended for various employees of the Ryabushinsky family are scattered throughout it. A.N. Tolstoy lived in the servants' wing after the revolution; now his apartment-museum is located there.
The facades of the mansion are decorated with original patterns of window frames, made according to Shekhtel’s sketches, and a mosaic with giant orchids, which was created in Frolov’s St. Petersburg workshop, also according to the architect’s sketches (this motif of exaggeration of details is often found in his works, for example, strawberries on the Yaroslavsky railway station building). This mosaic is especially beautiful on sunny days thanks to the pieces of golden smalt inserted into it. One of the researchers of the Art Nouveau style called it “a precious shimmering belt encircling the facades of the Ryabushinsky mansion.”
We enter the house through an entrance that was once black, but it was the one that was usually used by the Ryabushinskys, the Gorky family, and Stalin, who often visited the writer.
Stepan Pavlovich Ryabushinsky, a famous entrepreneur, banker, collector and philanthropist, ordered Shekhtel to build this house for himself, his wife and son when he was 26 years old. He was the fourth brother of P.M. Ryabushinsky’s eight children. All the brothers studied and worked a lot, were engaged in science and charity. Together with his brothers, Stepan managed the affairs of the textile factory they had inherited in the village of Zavorovo, and together with his brother Sergei, they created the first automobile plant in Russia, AMO.
The Ryabushinsky family - Stepan Pavlovich, Anna Alexandrovna and little Boris
Bourgeois practicalism also shaped the architectural concepts of that time. The economical merchant Ryabushinsky was not interested in building rooms that would not be used constantly, such as aristocratic ballrooms. The center of the house is a large staircase leading to the second floor, around which the dining room, study and other living rooms are located. This project turned out to be so rational that not only private but also apartment buildings began to be built in its likeness.
The fact that for all his frugality, a Russian entrepreneur is capable of thoughtless spending, says interesting fact, extracted from the surviving expense book of Ryabushinsky’s wife, to whom this house was recorded. Anna Alexandrovna meticulously and point by point wrote down each of her expenses in this book, including tips to waiters and expenses for a cab driver, however, if they traveled abroad, one summary entry appeared in her register, for example, “Trip to Paris - 5 thousand” - a funny detail , relevant for the modern model of travel behavior.
The rooms of the mansion are the result of huge investments of both money and labor. Expensive types of stone and wood are decorated with complex and beautiful patterns that look like waves. The entire first floor is connected to water element. Being in the living room, it’s as if we are standing at the bottom of a pond, and on the ceiling we can see large dahlias looking down into the surface of the water. Please note that the pattern of the window frame is also reflected in the ceiling stucco.
The floor in the front hallway resembles a surface of water into which a stone has been thrown. There used to be two beautiful stained glass screens here, reminiscent of dragonfly wings. They have now been removed for safety purposes, but, according to the tour guide’s promises, they will soon be returned to their place. And the glass wardrobe has survived to this day thanks to its magic handles. Not only were they pretty, but they also protected the glass doors if one of the guests decided to lean on them.
The stained glass landscape decorating this hallway is very important for the overall stylistic and philosophical concept of this house. Art Nouveau, as we know, draws inspiration from nature and actively borrows its images. It is also well known that beautiful nature is fickle and changeable. Throughout the day, this stained glass window changes its appearance, depicting either an evening, or a day, or a morning, or a night landscape, depending on the lighting and viewing angle.
From here we find ourselves in a room that served as an office for both Ryabushinsky and Gorky. Its common motif is the laurel - since ancient times a symbol of success, glory and prosperity. Laurel can be found here in the wood trim, on the door handles and on another stained glass window. At first glance it depicts Mountain landscape, and if we look closely, we can see here the head of a bearded man, sitting in thought under a laurel tree.
By the way, the door handles in the mansion, according to one of the style researchers, form a separate symphony. In each room they are as original as the pattern of stucco or parquet.
Modern architectural space is always a space that has its own philosophy. According to Shekhtel, the procession through this house is the path to elevating the soul. If the first floor was an underwater world, then an incredible wave staircase, which is the center of the hall and the entire house, can take us up from the watery depths. Its appearance reminds us of Gaudí's architecture. By the way, Shekhtel and Gaudi knew each other well, met more than once and exchanged ideas. Gaudi was almost 20 years older and had undoubted authority over Shekhtel; both architects died in 1926.
The staircase railing smoothly transitions into a bench. The impressive lamp below looks like giant jellyfish, floating above you, and from above - on a turtle swimming under water.
An interesting little balcony above the stairs looks like a dragon or an owl. The eyebrows of this animal form the Moscow Art Theater seagull - a symbol drawn by Shekhtel for A.P. Chekhov. Theatricality, mysticism and the desire to lead away from reality are characteristic of the Art Nouveau style in general, and Shekhtel managed to brilliantly embody these features in architecture.
The confrontation between good and evil is also reflected in the decor of the column on the second floor near the stairs: it is ringed by a composition of disgusting salamanders and beautiful pure lilies.
The entire second floor was once occupied by the famous collection of icons of S.P. Ryabushinsky. His collection was the largest in Russia, and, according to art critic N. Punin, gained great fame “for the artistic and historical value of the icons included in it.” In the same house there was a restoration workshop, where restoration artists father and son Tyulin were engaged in the restoration of these icons. Now in the room where the exhibition of icons was located, there is an exhibition dedicated to M. Gorky.
The Ryabushinskys were Old Believers. In the attic of their house, accessible by a back staircase, there is a chapel; it logically crowns this symbolic world. The Old Believers were given equal rights with other believers only in 1905, and before that they were subjected to persecution, accompanied by the “sealing” of the altars of the Rogozhskoe cemetery, which were religious to them. Therefore, the chapel, built in 1904, was a secret. Its appearance is as close as possible to traditional churches, because at that time Old Believer services moved to the private chapels of wealthy merchants. At the base of the dome, the inscription in ancient Greek is repeated four times: “True Christian women will receive holiness for their suffering on the day of the Last Judgment.”
After the revolution and the emigration of the Ryabushinskys, the house alternately belonged to the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs, the State Publishing House of the RSFSR, the State Psychoanalytic Institute with an orphanage laboratory, kindergarten“Preschool commune at the All-Russian Central Executive Committee” and “All-Union Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries.” In 1931, against their wishes, the family of Maxim Gorky moved here. Next week we will talk about how the house changed during Gorky’s life here and what surprises the Soviet government prepared for the writer within its walls.
Quartblog Digest
Chukovsky lived in this house from February 1938 to October 1969. The Bibigon fairy tale begins like this: “I live in a dacha in Peredelkino...” Today Kvartblog introduces you to the house-museum of Korney Chukovsky in Peredelkino.
- “Kvartblog” looked at the workplace of the symbolist Valery Bryusov and looked at things with a hundred-year history.
Continuation of the fate of the Shekhtel mansion - now during the life of Maxim Gorky here. The Kvartblog will tell you about Gorky's apartment museum in Moscow.
In order to keep up with the royal people, Kvartblog visited the Petrovsky Travel Palace of the architect M.F. Kazakova on Leningradsky Prospekt, where Russian tsars once rested after a long journey before their coronation.
Kvartblog brought from St. Petersburg a story about the museum-apartment of A.A. Akhmatova. History, photo, description.
Photos of Yulia Evstafieva and from the archives of the M. Gorky Apartment Museum
