David Grimm (architect)
David Grimm | |
|---|---|
| Давид Гримм | |
 | |
| Born | 3 April [O.S. 22 March] 1823 |
| Died | 21 November [O.S. 9 November] 1898 (aged 75) Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire |
| Education | Member Academy of Arts (1855) Professor by rank (1860) |
| Alma mater | Imperial Academy of Arts (1848) |
| Known for | Architecture |
| Notable work | Chersonesus Cathedral |
| Awards |  |
David Ivanovich Grimm (
Chersonesos and smaller churches in Russia and Western Europe. Grimm was a long-term professor at the Imperial Academy of Arts
and chaired its department of architecture in 1887–1892.
Biography
David Grimm was born in a
Asia Minor, Italy and Greece, studying the Byzantine relics. These studies were summarized in Grimm's 12-volume Monuments of Byzantine architecture in Georgia and Armenia (1859–1856) and subsequent works. Grimm became a professor of the Institute of Civil Engineers
in 1856 and at the Academy in 1859.
In 1858 empress
Vladimir I of Kiev was baptized in 988. Construction of the cathedral commenced before the Crimean War to the design by Konstantin Thon; after the war, his design was discarded and work began from scratch. Maria's choice was influenced by another Byzantine scholar, Grigory Gagarin. Grimm's design was approved in June 1859 and displayed to the public the next year. Unlike contemporary Byzantine architects, Grimm based his draft on Georgian legacy, employing polygonal surfaces instead of Byzantine cylinders and domes. Construction started in 1861 and, despite royal sponsorship, proceeded very slowly: the structure was completed in 1876, and the interiors in 1897. The Chersonesus Cathedral remained a sole example of the Georgian line in Byzantine revival until it reappeared shortly before World War I
.
The other commission of the
Russian Revival theme of 17th century Yaroslavl
architecture.
In 1865 Grimm and
viceroy of the Caucasus Mikhail Nikolayevich - dismissed the Schroeter-Huhn proposal as too expensive; he supported the Grimm-Gedike draft but instructed the architects to decrease its size to cut costs. The building that was completed in 1871-1897 followed the original Russian scheme of a single dome with four symmetrical apses created by Roman Kuzmin in 1861, yet Grimm changed his proportions to create a tall, vertical silhouette. Grimm's draft, publicised in the 1860s, paved the road to numerous variations of the same single-dome layout and was perfected by Vasily Kosyakov
in the 1880s.
Grimm's last design, the
burial vault of Grand Dukes in Peter and Paul Fortress, remained on paper: after Grimm's death, the project was taken over by Antony Tomischko, who also died soon, and the Vault was redesigned and completed by Leon Benois in Baroque
style.
David Grimm was buried at
Smolenskoe Lutheran Cemetery in Saint Petersburg. His son, Hermann Grimm (Russian: Герман Давидович Гримм) (1865–1942), was also a successful architect; grandson, Hermann Grimm (Russian
: Герман Германович Гримм) (1904–1959) was an educator and historian of art.
Buildings
- Chersonesos(draft 1858-1859, completed 1897)
- Grand Ducal Burial Vault at the Peter and Paul Cathedral
- Church of Saint Olga in the grand ducal manor of Mikhailovka, Strelna (1861–1863)
- Completion of German Refomist church in Saint Petersburg (draft 1862 by Harald Julius von Bosse, completed 1865)
- Chapel to the memory of late Nicholas Alexandrovich, Nice(draft 1866, completed 1868)
- Cathedral of Saint Alexander Nevsky, Tbilisi (draft 1865-1870, completed 1897)
- Moika Embankment, 42 (Saint Petersburg), 1867–1870
- Church of Protection in Gatchina, completed 1883
- Church of Saint Alexander Nevsky, Copenhagen (completed 1883 by Albert Nielsen)
-
Church of Maria Magdalene -
Chersonesos Cathedral, draft -
Mikhailovka Church, 1863 -
Tbilisi cathedral, 1897 -
Protection church in Gatchina, present day
References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to David Grimm.
- (in Russian) Savelyev, Yu. R. Vizantiysky stil v architecture Rossii (Савельев, Ю. Р. Византийский стиль в архитектуре России. - СПБ., 2005) Saint Petersburg, 2005. ISBN 5-87417-207-6, pp. 36–56, 245
- (in Russian) Savelyev, Yu. R. Iskusstvo istorizma i gosudarstvernny zakaz (Савельев, Ю. Р. Искуство историзма и государственный заказ. - М., 2008) Moscow, 2008. ISBN 978-5-903060-60-3
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