32 Facts About Nikolay Lvov

Nikolay Aleksandrovich Lvov was a Russian artist of the Age of Enlightenment.

Nikolay Lvov's architecture represented the second, "strict" generation of neoclassicism stylistically close to Giacomo Quarenghi.

Nikolay Lvov worked in Saint Petersburg but his best works survived in the countryside, especially his native Tver Governorate.

Nikolay Lvov redesigned the external appearance of Peter and Paul Fortress and created an unprecedented Trinity Church combining a Roman rotunda with one-of-a-kind pyramidal bell tower.

Nikolay Lvov adapted rammed earth technology to the environment of Northern Russia and used it in his extant Priory Palace in Gatchina; Lvov's construction school, established in 1797, trained over 800 craftsmen.

Nikolay Lvov managed geological surveys and published a treatise on the coals from Donets Basin and Moscow Basin.

Nikolay Lvov experimented with coal pyrolysis, proposed new uses for coal tar and sulphur, and wrote a reference book on heating and ventilation.

Nikolay Lvov designed the badges of the Order of St Vladimir and the Order of St Anna, translated works by Anacreon, Palladio, Petrarch, Sappho and the Saga of King Harald into Russian language, wrote libretto for opera and vaudeville, researched Russian chronicles and published one of the first versions of the bylina of Dobrynya Nikitich.

Nikolay Lvov was born in an impoverished country estate 16 kilometres from Torzhok.

Sources published before 2001 state date of birth March 4,1751; in 2001, Galina Dmitrieva published newly found church records showing that Nikolay Lvov was actually born May 4,1753.

Ten years later, Nikolay Lvov arrived in Saint Petersburg and joined the regiment.

Back in Saint Petersburg, Nikolay Lvov created a private theatre based in the Bakunin house and played lead parts in plays by Jean-Francois Regnard, Antonio Sacchini and, probably, Yakov Knyazhnin.

Around 1778 or 1779, Nikolay Lvov developed relationship with Maria Dyakova.

Nikolay Lvov belonged to a close-knit ring of fellow poets; its key members, Lvov, Derzhavin and Vasily Kapnist, were bonded by their marriages to three Dyakova sisters.

Nikolay Lvov composed one of the first literary stories about Dobrynya Nikitich; unlike his contemporary James Macpherson, he never attempted to disguise it as a true folk bylina.

Politically, Nikolay Lvov was an "active royalist" faithful to Catherine and later Paul I, at the same time he was loyal to his fraternity; he secured a diplomatic appointment to Khemnitzer, and tried to prevent the 1790 trial of Alexander Radishchev.

Nikolay Lvov created the Russian name for a folk song, adopting Herder's concept of Volkslieder.

However, absolute majority of Nikolay Lvov's works were built for private clients: Bezborodko, Derzhavin, Olenin, Kochubey, the Vorontsov and Vyazemsky families in the 1780s.

In 1783, Nikolay Lvov designed the new building for his new employer, the Directorate of Post Offices; the block-sized compound, completed in 1789, became his largest project in Saint Petersburg as well as his home: after completion Nikolay Lvov and his family moved into an apartment on the northern side of the block.

The bell tower of the same monastery became Nikolay Lvov's last known design; it was started after his death by Fyodor Ananyin and completed in 1811.

In 1798, Nikolay Lvov published the first volume of Russky Pallady, an adapted translation of Andrea Palladio's I Quattro Libri dell'Architettura with Nikolay Lvov's own lengthy comments.

The work took eight years: Nikolay Lvov personally engraved in copper over 200 copies of original engravings from the 1616 Venetian edition, the earliest he could acquire.

Nikolay Lvov wished "Palladio's taste to prosper in my country; French twists and English refinement already have plenty of imitators" and particularly criticized French adaptations of Palladianism.

Paul extended the favor to Nikolay Lvov and granted him state support and new commissions, although nowhere as significant or lucrative as those awarded to Vincenzo Brenna.

In 1785, Lvov acquired a helpful associate Adam Menelaws, one of 73 Scottish craftsmen recruited by Charles Cameron, and the future house architect of Nicholas I Interaction and influence between Lvov and Menelaws are disputed.

Nikolay Lvov was concerned about Russia's dependence on imported British coals and deforestation caused by charcoal extraction, and gained support of Bezborodko and Vorontsov to survey for fossil coals.

Nikolay Lvov arranged shipment of coal by barges to Saint Petersburg, but his coal did not sell well.

Walls of Nikolay Lvov's buildings contained elaborate heat exchanging ductwork that gently warmed up incoming outdoor air, heating and ventilating indoor space simultaneously.

Paul's manager, Count Prozorovsky, forced Nikolay Lvov to build the palace literally in a swamp, and the Priory, built literally of dirt and dust, was rated to stand for 25 years only.

In July 1801, Nikolay Lvov wrote that he "returned from the other world on crutches" but managed to get through to the new emperor, Alexander I, and presented his album on rammed earth construction.

Nikolay Lvov's health deteriorated again and he left Saint Petersburg for the Caucasus.

Nikolay Lvov was buried in a rotunda mausoleum in his native Cherenchitsy that he designed in 1784 and built in the 1790s.