Vasily
Ivanovich Bazhenov

The son of a deacon. Initially trained as a painter, 1751, was in the "architectural team" D. V. Ukhtomsky, participated in finishing the Golovinsky Palace (not preserved). In 1755, he entered the Moscow University in 1756, he transferred to the St. Petersburg Academic high school, both participated in the architectural works of S. I. Chevakinsky. In 1758-60 among the first students of the St. Petersburg Academy of arts he studied under A. F. Kokorin and J. B. Vallen de La Mothe. In 1760-62 as a pensioner of the Academy of arts to the Paris Academy of arts at Charles de Wailly, in 1762-64 improved his knowledge in Italy, member of the Academy of St. Luke in Rome, Academy of fine arts in Florence and Bologna. From 1765 a member of the St. Petersburg Academy of arts in 1799 its Vice-President. In 1767-92 worked in Moscow. The author of the earliest of the Moscow buildings in the classicism style, featuring a harmonious balance of proportions, by a combination of rational and rigorous articulation of facade plane, and beautifully crafted details of order forms and the sculptural and plastic decor. Of fundamental importance in the work of Bazhenov had the idea of building a big city and manor ensembles.

The breadth of his urban thinking has affected the establishment in 1767 of the project of the Grand Kremlin Palace with the simultaneous restructuring of the Kremlin and red square, the Kremlin turned into a Grand community center with a main oval area, to which converge the main streets of Moscow, its relationship to urban development was carried out thanks to the removal of the monumental façade of the Palace facing the Moscow river, behind the line of the Kremlin walls; however, the building of the Palace with a powerful rusticated plinth and commemorative colonnade (incorporated in 1773, the construction stopped in 1775 by order of Catherine II, wood design model 1773 in GNMA) had to hide the construction of the Cathedral square, which would have disturbed the traditional appearance of the Kremlin. The plan was partially implemented during the construction of the Pashkov house. Other famous buildings by Bazhenov: the Dolgov house on the 1st Meshchanskaya street (1770), the Yushkov house, bell tower and refectory Church "joy of All who sorrow" on Bolshaya Ordynka street. Another line of creativity Bazhenova, revealing his rich imagination and originality of artistic thinking related to the use of elements of medieval architecture, Gothic and old Russian architecture (Moscow architecture of the XVII century) when creating recreational facilities on the Khodynka field on the occasion of signing the Treaty of Kucuk Kainarji (1774-75, known for the drawings of M. F. Kazakov) and ensemble in Tsaritsyno, where they are often fused with classic proportions and articulation of the buildings. The connection is fantastic and symbolically reinterpreted medieval motifs with the emblems of Freemasonry was a reflection of ideological and friendly close off to the Moscow Freemasons and N. And. Novikov. Among graphic works Bazhenova — a panorama of Tsaritsyn (ink, watercolor, pen, brush, 1776, GNMA). Filename Bazhenov in 1965 the former Peasant named street in Tsaritsyn.