Kikiny Chambers is one of the oldest buildings in St Petersburg. St. Petersburg was founded on 27 May 1703. In a few days the city will celebrate its Birthday, it will be 321 years old. This number is not round, but it is very beautiful! Not very many buildings whose age approaches the age of the city have survived. Perhaps it would be interesting to see whole streets built in this style... Perhaps one day such streets will be created in virtual reality.
The Kikiny Chambers were built in 1714. The name of this building comes from the surname of its first owner, Admiral Alexander Kikin, an associate of Emperor Peter the Great. In other words, the Kikiny Chambers are Kikin's house. But this simple surname is pronounced in such a way that it seems that the name of the building goes back to the depths of centuries and came from the names of characters of some ancient legends.
The place for the construction of the building was chosen not far from the tar yard - the place where tar was stored. Resin and tar in the XVIII century were among the first state necessities, it was used in shipyards to build ships. A few decades later, the plot of land where the tar yard used to be located was given for the construction of a monastery. Now only the name of this place reminds of tar, it has been preserved and has become common for the whole neighbourhood: Smolny.
We started our walk in the Smolny Garden. This is a beautiful garden located at the fence of the Smolny Convent. The facade of the building that was built for the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens, a state educational institution for women, looks into this garden. We have already walked through this garden once, when we admired the blossoming of cherry blossoms. The garden is decorated not only with sakura trees, but also with fountains and flowerbeds. In May, tulips bloom here.
I decided to take advantage of a nice sunny day to walk to the old mansion of Admiral Alexander Kikin. Originally this building was more modest, its architectural style is called ‘Petrovsky Baroque’. The building had one storey, and only in the central part there were two floors. Many times I have heard homeowners complaining about how tired they were of walking up and down the stairs when they built their country cottages with two or three floors. In the eighteenth century, people were more practical. They built houses exactly the size that was convenient for them.
In the 19th century, the value of the city land increased and the building was added on and partially altered. The building of the Kikiny Chambers was badly damaged during the Second World War. After the war, preliminary work was carried out in preparation for restoration, and it turned out that under the layer of plaster and bricks of the 19th century older details were preserved, and the restoration plan brought the current appearance of the building as close as possible to the original architectural intent of its creator. But the number of floors is still higher than it was at the beginning.
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| Smartphone | Google Pixel 3a |
| Location | Saint Petersburg, Russia |