Kremlin Senate

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Moscow Kremlin Senate building (Russian: Сенат), commissioned by Catherine II of Russia, was designed and built by Matvey Kazakov in 1776-1787. The neoclassicist building originally housed Governing Senate, the highest juduciary and legislative office of Russia. Currently, it houses Russian presidential administration.

[edit] Construction

Catherine II had been a frequent guest in Moscow at the time when the city, neglected by past monarchs, did not have enough state offices. She launched construction of such offices and palaces, including the Senate - the national judiciary administration and the seat of elected administration of the Moscow region.

Construction was started in 1776 by Karl Blank on a large triangular property in the north-east of the Kremlin, following a 1775 draft by Kazakov.^[1] The site once housed the Trubetskoy family palace and at least three churches.^[2] In 1779 Blank was demoted, and Kazakov took the lead. He envisaged Governing Senate as the Temple of Law, and designed the structure in strict, symmetrical Neoclassicist style.

The triangular structure is centered around Rotunda Hall (diameter 24.6 meters, 27 meters internal height), once called The Pantheon of Russia. Its dome, carrying the state flag as seen from the Red Square, would later become a Soviet propaganda icon. However, originally it carried St.George statue, then a statue of Justice (destroyed by French troops in 1812).^[3] Exterior styling is unusual in its mix of Doric and Ionic order. Kazakov's building cost 759,000 roubles.

According to Ivan Kondratiev, Catherine was so impressed by the building that she gave Kazakov her gloves, saying "I'll pay your bills later, for now - this is a token for your wife". She indeed repaid Kazakov with diamonds, promotion and a pension.^[4]

Later, in line with legal reforms of Catherine's successors, the building lost its national functions and became the seat of Moscow Regional Court (Здание Московских судебных установлений).

[edit] Modern history

In 1905, terrorist Ivan Kalyayev killed Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich Romanov, the military governor of Moscow, near the Senate. This was commemorated by a memorial cross, designed by Victor Vasnetsov in 1908. In 1918, the monument was destroyed by Bolshevik administration.

Vladimir Lenin had his study and private apartment on the third floor in 1918-1922. Later, the Senate housed Joseph Stalin's study and conference hall. In 1955, Lenin's apartments were opened to public access; in 1994, all exhibits of this museum were relocated to Gorki Leninskiye and the Senate closed its doors to the public again.^[5]

In 1994-1998, Senate building was converted to house Russian presidential administration.^[6] An indiscriminate reconstruction from scratch destroyed Kazakov's interiors. Preservation advocate Alexei Komech reported from the site: "... crushed walls, ripped air ducts and piles of 200 year old bricks remind me of wandering around ruins of Berlin's Reich Chancellery in 1946".^[7] Present-day photographs (inner courtyard main dome) also show that the builders destroyed and paved the chestnut garden that existed in Senate's courtyard in 1970s.^[8]

[edit] References

Coordinates: 55°45′12″N, 37°37′9″E

Moscow Kremlin
Dormition Cathedral | Archangel Cathedral | Annunciation Cathedral
Church of the Twelve Apostles | Church of the Deposition of the Robe | Saviour Church
Chudov Monastery | Ascension Convent
Ivan the Great Bell Tower | Tsar Bell | Tsar Cannon
Grand Kremlin Palace | Palace of Facets | Terem Palace | Amusement Palace | Patriarchal Chamber
State Kremlin Palace | Senate | Arsenal | Armoury | Diamond Treasury
Hill | Sobornaya Square | Ivanovskaya Square
Wall | Towers | Armorial Gate | Necropolis | Stars | Chiming Clock