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Fairy-tale gingerbread house (dom-pryanik).

Fairy-tale gingerbread house (dom-pryanik).

Original house-gingerbread, be sure to attract your attention.

This building is as surprising and in Russian original as the Cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed ( Vasiliya Blazhennogo). This is one of the most vivid examples of true Russian architecture.

Petersburg architecture can be described by different epithets: classical, strict, ceremonial, proportioned. But we have buildings that, as it were, violate its “strict, slender appearance.” They remind of those times when Russia was not yet a Europeanized country and had its own aesthetic ideals, which were closer to nature, differed in a variety of shapes, sizes and colors, smoothness and roundness of lines.

These buildings are associated with the word “terem”, with Palekh and Khokhloma painting, with bright Dymkovo toys, and, of course, with the Russian folk tale, where the royal chambers always seemed magnificent.

Such a house can be seen near the historic city center on ulitsa Kolokolnaya, which runs parallel to Nevsky Prospect. This amazing building was built at the very beginning of the twentieth century by architect Nikolai Nikonov, who worked in the neo-Russian style. His main specialization was religious (religious) buildings, several houses of his authorship remained in St. Petersburg. This is the unique Ioannovsky Convent on the naberezhnaya reki Karpovka, as well as the apartment building on ulitsa Dostoevskaya . Among other works of the architect Nikolay Nikonov, the Church of the Holy Trinity occupies a special place - the irretrievably lost masterpiece of Russian architecture, on the site of which a high-rise residential building rises today. In addition, the Pokrovskaya Church on ulitsa Borovaya , as well as the Kazan Icon Church on Primorskoe Shosse, were built according to the project of Nikonov.

Nikolai Nikitich worked in other Russian cities, specializing mainly in church architecture. The temples of his projects rise in Moscow, Tallinn, Poltava and on the island of Valaam.

Red brick decoration, rounded kokoshniks above the windows, numerous plant motifs are characteristic of all its buildings.

Dom na Kolokolnaya, 11 is reminiscent of a terem from a Russian fairy tale, which looks expensive inside, and looks like a toy painted with a Khokhlomu or Palekh painting. Round windows, numerous motifs of nature, which have already been mentioned, arches above the entrance to the arch - all this is only a small part of the features inherent in the original style of the creator.

In the house on Kolokolnaya there are a lot of multicolored majolica mosaics, it also decorated the vaults above the entrance and in the arch, intricate peaked turrets crowning the protruding balconies in places.

Despite the abundance of parts and their diversity, the house looks very harmonious. In 2009, the building was severely destroyed by fire. After a long search for funds for the restoration, the house was finally restored and again pleases the eye with its magical luxury of a Russian fairy tale.

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