A. Toeseva

Turetskaia bania (The Turkish Bath [at Tsarskoe Selo])

St. Petersburg: Tsarskoe Selo / P-2, 2010. saddle-stitched. Catherine the Great had the custom of erecting a park structure, such as a pavilion or sculptural monument, to mark momentous victories. After victory over the Turks in 1791, she asked G. Quarenghi for a design, and he proposed a Turkish bath. The project was unrealized during Catherine’s reign, but her grandson Emperor Nikolai I took it up again and in 1852 Ippolit Monighetti, a student of Alexander Briullov and graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts, received the commission. The romantic folly on a small peninsula in the lake of Tsarkoe Selo that Monigetti designed is a gem of historicism and has only recently been restored after damage in World War II. This concise study explains the choice of theme, describes the rapport of architect and emperor, and points out the prototype in Adrianople. 16 pp., 7 x 9 ½ ins., 2 b-&-w illus., 41 color, Rus. Item #2083

Price: $18.00