Kuskovo Estate
The Kuskovo Estate, nicknamed the Moscow Versailles due to its formal French gardens, is a perfect example of an 18th century Muscovite country residence. The history of the estate dates back to 1715, when Tsar Peter the Great awarded the village of Kuskovo to Boris Sheremetev, a Russian general who excelled at the battle of Poltava and who decided to build a summer residence there. The Sheremetyevs were one of the wealthiest and most powerful families in Russia and the estate was used by several generations of the family.
Nowadays, Kuskovo estate is an official museum of Russian architecture, ceramics and sculpture.
Here is one more picture of the very pretty building, Grotto, located in Kuskovo Estate. This photo I made at one perfect summer day in 2005. I have already photos of this building in my Moscow photo gallery which I took in 2004, but here I tryed to make something different. Hope you enjoy this view!
Here is the information from my previous photos about this building:
The Grotto (1755-61) by F. Argunov was a resting/cooling place for guests on hot summer days. It is designed to seem like an underwater cave with its sea shell decorations and greenish color. Nowadays the Grotto pavilion has the unique collection of porcelain, antique ceramics, faience, majolica, glass, and crystal from the West Europe and Russia.
Grotto
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Kuskovo Estate
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pond
Note: These Moscow Photos are to help you familiarize yourself with Moscow's Sightseeing and my services. The photos in my albums are protected by international copyright law. You may keep my photos in your personal albums or, you may use these images as personal wallpaper on your computer, but, they are not for distribution (commercial or non-profit). If you would like to buy a specific photo, feel free to make your request via E-mail. I do hope you enjoy my work as photographer. Many of these photos were taken during excursions with my clients. You can find my pictures in Internet under nickname "ArtLook" (short from Arthur Lookyanov) at the follow websites:
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