Yury Felten
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Yury Matveyevich Felten (Russian: Ю́рий Матве́евич Фе́льтен, German: Georg Friedrich Veldten; 1730 –1801) was a Russian Imperial architect who served at the Empress's Catherine the Great court.
Yury Felten was born Georg Veldten, into a family of German immigrants to Russia. His father worked for the Russian Academy of Sciences. Young Yury Felten studied on a Russian State scholarship at the Gymnasium of the Academy of Sciences.
In 1744, after the death of his father, Felten moved to Germany. From 1744 to 1749 he studied at Tübingen University, but his financial and personal situation prompted him to move back to St. Petersburg. Felten wrote a letter to Empress Elizabeth, and she extended her hospitality and a scholarship, so he completed his studies at the Russian Academy, graduating in 1752 as an architect.
From 1752 to 1762 Felten worked as assistant to the celebrated architect
Yury Felten enjoyed the trust and respect of Empress Catherine the Great. She commissioned much work from him in
Felten was also a well-reputed inventor and engineer. He built a heavy-lifting machine that moved the enormous granite rock that became the pedestal of
From 1764 Felten taught architecture at the Imperial Academy of Arts. In 1789, he was appointed the Director of the Academy, a position he kept for the rest of his life.
Arguably his best-known work is not a building but the cast-iron railing (1783) on the Neva side of the Summer Garden in St. Petersburg.
Another one of his notable buildings is the Annenkirche, Saint Petersburg.