“Vasily Bazhenov’s Tsaritsyno” – a series of multi-media films

The park and architectural ensemble of Tsaritsyno in Moscow is today one of the capital’s most important tourist sites. It is a venue for artistic, historical, and local-interest exhibitions, concerts, and various other cultural events. But the history of the architectural ensemble at Tsaritsyno is far from simple.

The palace complex was originally constructed by Vasily Bazhenov on the orders of Catherine II. The palaces and houses, not large but richly ornamented, were spread out on a small hill and were intended as a residence for the Empress outside the city limits. The construction work took quite a long time – over ten years. But life is so unpredictable – and a woman’s mind so prone to change – that no sooner had the ensemble been completed than it was partly demolished by the Empress’s wish. In place of the buildings which had been removed, a new main palace was built, designed by another architect, Matvey Kazakov. While he tried to harmonize his design with the already existing buildings, every architect has his own style, and Kazakov’s palace turned out to dominate the complex, lording it over Bazhenov’s remaining buildings.

But this palace, too, was not a success. After Catherine’s death her son Paul succeeded to the throne, and ordered that no more funds should be allocated to the building work at Tsaritsyno. So the almost-completed palace began its long decline, and by the end of the nineteenth century it had become a “picturesque ruin”, a place outside the city for Muscovites to go walking. The other buildings of the complex also gradually fell into decay.

In 1992 the fortunes of Tsaritsyno took a new turn: it was granted the status of a national museum and park. The buildings of the architectural complex began to rise again and be restored to their former glory. In 2007 Matvey Kazakov’s Great Palace was rebuilt. However, a considerable part of the ensemble designed and built by Vasily Bazhenov has not survived; but it is impossible to tell the story of Tsaritsyno without speaking of Bazhenov's ensemble. So to give visitors the best idea of how the first version of the complex appeared – this architectural fairy-tale created by a great Russian architect – a three-dimensional computer reconstruction of the whole ensemble has been produced. And on the basis of this reconstruction a series of films has been made, telling the history of Tsaritsyno from its beginnings as a village to the present day.

This three-dimensional reconstruction is the result of close co-operation between the specialists at the Tsaritsyno museum and the “Mart” studio. The initial work that had to be performed by the museum’s specialists was hard and complicated: combing through all possible source materials (sketches, plans, designs, archival data) and constructing a model derived from them. On the basis of this work a version of the reconstruction was produced which can be used both in popular programmes and in scholarly investigations.

The series of films which makes use of this reconstruction tells the history of the place known as Chornaya Gryaz (“Black Muck”) which existed here before the village of Tsaritsyno came into being; the history of the construction of the first architectural ensemble by Vasily Bazhenov; the historical riddles bound up with the construction and demolition of his ensemble; the building of Matvey Kazakov’s palace and its subsequent fate.

All these films can be seen at the exhibition in the Tsaritsyno National Museum and Park. In 2010 the museum will issue them in DVD form for viewing at home.