Kuskovo Estate

The Kuskovo museum-estate is an 18th-century architectural and park ensemble in eastern Moscow, in the Veshnyaki district, between the Ryazansky Prospekt, Vykhino and Novogireevo metro stations. The estate was the summer country residence of the Counts Sheremetev and covers about 20 hectares: a wooden palace, a French regular park with ponds and marble statues, several park pavilions and Russia's only specialized State Museum of Ceramics have all survived there. Today Kuskovo is part of the Ostankino and Kuskovo museum association.

History

The village of Kuskovo has been a Sheremetev family estate since the end of the 16th century, first mentioned in 1567. In the 17th century it belonged to Boris Petrovich Sheremetev, and after his death in 1719 passed to his son, Pyotr Borisovich Sheremetev. It was under Pyotr Borisovich, in the 1750s-1770s, that the palace, park pavilions and ponds were built on marshy ground, with thousands of peasants from nearby villages driven in for the earthworks.

The estate was known for lavish receptions that drew up to 30,000 guests at a time. Empress Catherine the Great visited Kuskovo in 1775 and 1787, as did the Polish king Stanislaw Poniatowski and the Austrian emperor Joseph II. A column topped with a statue of Minerva was raised in the park to commemorate Catherine's visits.

During the Patriotic War of 1812 Marshal Michel Ney's corps was stationed at Kuskovo, and officers of Napoleon's army were quartered in the estate; part of the palace's furnishings and park sculpture was lost or damaged. In 1835 Emperor Nicholas I visited Kuskovo with his wife and remarked that the house had barely changed since the invasion. After serfdom was abolished in 1861 the estate's land was leased out, and after the 1917 revolution it was nationalized. Kuskovo was given museum status in 1918-1919, and in 1938 the State Museum of Ceramics opened on the grounds, merging its collection with the Sheremetevs' porcelain holdings.

The palace and park pavilions

The main palace was built in 1769-1775 under the architect Karl Blank. Made of wood, it is considered a prime example of wooden classicism in Moscow architecture of the second half of the 18th century: the facade is painted pink and richly decorated with stucco, four marble sphinxes guard the entrance, and the pediment bears the Sheremetev coat of arms with the motto "God preserves all." Inside, silk wall coverings, portraits of the owners, porcelain, antique furniture and mirrors have survived.

Several 18th-century pavilions stand in the park. The Grotto, built in 1755-1761 by the serf architect Fyodor Argunov, is lined inside with sea and river shells — the recent restoration used more than 150,000 shells, some from mollusk species now extinct or listed as endangered. It is the only pavilion in Russia to keep its genuine 18th-century shellwork decoration. Nearby stand the Dutch House of 1749, faced with blue tiles in the Netherlandish style, and the Italian House of 1754-1755, once the owners' private "house museum" and now showing more than eighty paintings from the 17th to 21st centuries from the Sheremetev collection. The Hermitage pavilion of 1765-1767, also by Karl Blank, was conceived as a closed club for a select few guests. The large stone Orangery of 1761-1765, where the Sheremetevs grew lemons, oranges, coffee and tea trees, and the wooden Swiss House of 1868-1870, built in Alpine chalet style, complete the ensemble alongside the 1792 bell tower and the Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos of 1737-1739.

The Museum of Ceramics

Russia's only specialized State Museum of Ceramics has operated on the estate since 1938. Its collection includes Meissen porcelain, Venetian glass, Italian majolica and Russian porcelain, assembled by the Sheremetevs and later expanded with Alexei Morozov's collection. Among the exhibits is an Egyptian service that Napoleon Bonaparte gave to Emperor Alexander I at the Congress of Tilsit in 1807. Exhibitions of 18th-20th century ceramics and glass are housed in the halls of the Large Orangery.

Getting there

The easiest way to Kuskovo is from Novogireevo metro station: about a 25-minute walk, or buses m64, 247, 314, 635 and 974 to the Ulitsa Yunosti stop. Buses 133 and 208 run from Ryazansky Prospekt metro station, and 409 and 620 from Vykhino, all to the Muzey Kuskovo stop. The estate can also be reached on foot from the Kuskovo MCD-4 platform (about 10 minutes) and from Veshnyaki MCD-3. By car from central Moscow, the drive along Ryazansky Prospekt and Ulitsa Yunosti takes about 30 minutes, and there is parking by the entrance.

Good to know

The estate is open Wednesday through Sunday: the park from 10:00 to 18:00, the palace and the Grotto from 10:00 to 16:00, exhibitions from 10:00 to 18:00; Monday and Tuesday are closed days, and the last Wednesday of the month is a sanitary day. Park admission costs 50 rubles, a palace ticket 300 rubles, the Grotto or an exhibition 200 rubles, and a combined ticket to all the estate's sites costs 850 rubles for adults and 450 rubles for concession holders.