Генезис стиля русской архитектуры 1730-х годов в оценках отечественной историографии XX – начала XXI века
Genesis of style of Russian architecture of 1730s as evaluated by the native historiography of 20th – beginning of 21st century

Summary/Abstract: The genesis of style of post-Petrine Russian architecture has never been the subject of a standalone research. The period comprising the second half of 1720s – 1730s is usually characterised as the early baroque. Falling within the decade of Empress Anne’s reign it is often considered to be a transient stage between the epoch of Peter the Great and Elizabeth of Russia. Such evaluation of the architecture of the Empress Anne period is connected with the negative attitude to her reign as a whole. In the last ten years the historians have done a lot to overcome the stereotyped attitude towards this period. A certain breakthrough was made in the analysis of urban development during the period, however the study of genesis of style of 1730s is still, as a rule, limited by the analysis of separate structures. The author attempts to consider the history of Empress Anne period architecture studies in the native historiography of 20th – beginning of 21st century, to reveal the evolution of attitude to it. One demonstrates ambiguity and inconsistency of evaluations even within the analysis of creative activity of Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli, whose work was heavily influenced by German baroque. That was noted in the researches of the first third of 20th century, and later the role of such influence was considered insignificant. Against this background the activity of other architects has been studied insufficiently. In this regard the author examines the attitude to the creative activity of I. J. Schumacher, that turns out to be closely connected with German line of baroque style, which forms were introduced by this architect in the Russian architecture in a variety of well-known buildings. The author draws attention to the necessity of deeper analysis of the period of study in Europe of Peter’s I pensioners, whose vigorous activity falls within 1730s. The author comes to the conclusion that studying of the style formation peculiarities in this period is impossible without examination of mechanisms of Russian and European architectural connections.

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