Sukhanovo Estate

Sukhanovo Manor is an architectural complex near Moscow at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries in the classicist style. The ensemble is located 5 km south of the Moscow Ring Road, near the town of Vidnoye. Sukhanov has no single owner: the bar house has been given into private hands – it houses the Perspektiva Lyceum, and the guest houses are occupied by the boarding house of the Union of Architects. The park is open to the public, but needs reconstruction, its territory is constantly encroached upon by developers.

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Video: Sukhanovo Estate

Contents

History of Sukhanovo Estate

Since the 17th century, according to written sources, the village of Sukhanovo was owned by boyar families, but the lord’s wooden house was built here only in the Catherine time, just a few years before the acquisition of the estate by the dignitary Alexei Melgunov. In 1770 he began to erect a stone house, after his death the project was completed by his son Vladimir.

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The next owner of Sukhanov was Melgunov’s daughter Catherine, wife of Prince Dmitry Volkonsky, lieutenant general, hero of the Patriotic War of 1812. In 1805 she began to improve the park, completed the manor house and decorated the interiors. The opulent main building of the Sukhanovo estate was used for balls and receptions, and the princess herself lived in a modest outbuilding to save money. After the death of childless Volkonskaya, the estate passed to the family of her nephew, after the revolution it was opened a school, then a recreation center. After the war, the mansion, damaged by shelling, was reconstructed according to the project of Victor Kokorin, changing much of the interior decoration.

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‘ Volkonskikh Palace

Current state of the estate

Sukhanovo estate is a constant subject of dispute between defenders of Russian cultural heritage and developers trying to erect anthills-multi-storey buildings with pseudo-historical names right on the territory of the park. In September 2016, thanks to enthusiastic architects, they managed to allocate a protective zone not subject to development, but the fate of the complex has not yet been decided. Every summer the Union of Architects organizes a student camp, and young people restore Sukhanov’s historical corners, but due to the lack of funds the work is progressing very slowly. The condition of the Sukhanov pond, where waste from the nearest construction sites gets into, is also a cause for concern.

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‘ Sukhanovo Estate, basedka Temple of Venus

Architectural features of Sukhanovo

The Sukhanovo estate was protected by the state not so much for its outstanding architectural features, but for its typicality – this is how most of the extant estates of the times of Paul I and Alexander I looked like. The main building by an unknown architect was an elongated two-storied building with a portico decorated with columns. Its eclectic interiors once imitated the furnishings of the houses of Asia, Egypt, and medieval Europe.

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‘ The temple on the bank of Sukhanovsky pond
‘ House for commuters

Volkonsky’s tomb

Prince Dmitry Volkonsky was seriously wounded during the war and died soon afterward. The inconsolable widow in 1813-1814 ordered the construction of the tomb to the Swiss Domenico Gilardi, who was restoring Moscow after a devastating fire. In Soviet times, the graves of the Volkonskys were removed from the building, and a dining room for holidaymakers was organized in the round hall. The tombstones now lie in Sukhanov Park, but the burials of Catherine and Dmitry Volkonsky and Maria, their distant relative, are not under them. Nearby two slabs have been preserved over the graves of the young children of the Pestels, who were not directly related to the Volkonskys.

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Parish House

Someone from the Volkonskys created a pseudo-Gothic sketch of a house for servants and priests. Without changing anything in the project, in 1820 on the territory of Sukhanovo estate they built a red-brick building with lancet windows, turrets and weathercocks. The building has not been rebuilt since then, but it has been well preserved even without reconstruction.

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‘ Mausoleum-Tomb of the Volkonskikhs
‘ House for servants and priests
‘ ZHiloy-fligel-ili_Koshkin-dom

Sukhanovo Manor Park

The landscaped park is permeated with paths convenient for bicycling. On one of the wide alleys of the park there is a sculpture “Girl with a Jug” made by Pavel Sokolov, an author’s copy of the Tsarskoye Selo statue. It is an illustration of La Fontaine’s fable about a careless peasant girl who dreamed and broke a jug of milk.

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Surrounded by trees, the pavilion “Temple of Venus” with 8 snow-white columns, topped with a semicircular dome, stands opposite the lord’s house, not far from the pond. The statue of Venus that gave it its name is no longer there, but the repeated bas-reliefs with musical instruments, bows and arrows have been preserved. The bridge, symbolizing the thin boundary between life and death, connects the temple of Venus with the tomb of the Volkonskys. The authentic 19th century site was destroyed, it was rebuilt in 2013.

.‘ Usadebnyy Park
‘ ‘Girl with a Jug’
‘ The Bridge

Where to stay

On the historical territory of Sukhanovo Manor, you can stay longer if you stay at the Architects’ Pension. Guests are welcomed in the Guest House and the Cat House, which is easily recognized by the concrete statue of a cat with a raised tail made in 1959 by sculptor Bronnikov, and two unnamed buildings for 25-40 guests. Guests will be offered entertainment programs, workshops and architecture and drawing courses for children and adults.

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How to get there

From the metro station “Annino” to Sukhanovo estate there is a route cab № 1019. Entrance to the territory of the park is free, in front of the fence there is a free parking lot for visitors’ cars. There is no museum in Sukhanovo, volunteers conduct excursions for those interested by prior arrangement via the estate’s VKontakte page.

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