The Search for a Place for the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts in Russia

Abstract

The article reveals and traces for the first time the chain of events that determined the process of choosing the territory for the location of the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg. Causal links between the known and newly introduced into scientific turnover events related to the choice of the location of the Academy of Arts are determined. It is revealed that the formation of the idea of the Academy's location in Russia was a single process that lasted more than fifty years. It is established that the roots of this process go back to the reforms of Peter the Great and to the urban planning projects of St. Petersburg by J.B. Leblon and D.A. Trezzini. The reasons why alternative options for the location of the Imperial Academy of Arts in the ancient capital, Moscow, and even on the Palace Embankment near the Winter Palace, were rejected, and why I.I. Shuvalov chose the site on the embankment of Vasilyevsky Island are considered.