The Ilyinskoye Estate. The Demise of the Palace Ensemble and the Issues of the Further Use of the Monument in Culture

Abstract

Parallels are drawn between the theory of 19th-century literature and the program of the arrangement of the imperial residence in Ilyinskoe. The notions of the epic genre of literature and architecture, as well as the notions of the physical and moral beauty of the ensemble of an estate, come into the foreground. The system of inner conflicts inherent in the epic and the myth is taken into consideration, pointing to the ways of future direction.

The work is based on newly discovered documentary pictorial materials. The lithograph "People's holiday on July 20, 1869, in Ilyinskoe"; watercolor by Alb. N. Benois with a view of the palace; a full-length series of 14 photographs of the manor by Scherer.

The article touches upon the theme of personal moral risks of using the territories of semantically significant historical and cultural space for new private building.