The Pashkov House (Russian: Пашко́в дом) is a neoclassical mansion that stands on a hill overlooking the western wall of the Moscow Kremlin, near the crossing of the Mokhovaya and Vozdvizhenka streets. Its design has been attributed to Vasily Bazhenov. It used to be home to the Rumyantsev Museum—Moscow's first public museum—in the 19th century. The palace's current owner is the Russian State Library.
The Pashkov House was erected in 1784—1786 by a Muscovite nobleman, Pyotr Pashkov. He was a retired Captain Lieutenant of the Guards Semenovsky Regiment and the son of Peter the Great's batman.[1]
It is one of the key locations described by Mikhail Bulgakov in his novel The Master and Margarita:
"At sunset, high over the city, on the stone terrace of one of the most beautiful houses in Moscow, a house built about a hundred and fifty years ago, there were two: Woland and Azazello. They could not be seen from the street below, because they were hidden from unwanted eyes by a balustrade with plaster vases and plaster flowers. But they could see the city almost to its very edges."[2]
The Pashkov House stands on a high Vagankovo hill, as though continuing the line of its ascent, on an open corner of two descending streets.
The mansion, being at the same time a town manor, has a flat-topped lay-out with a court of honor opened towards the entrance.
Lay-out of the garden in front of the building impresses by its splendor:
The Pashkov House has two main facades, one facing the carriageway and being palatial and solemn, the other facing the yard and looking cozier and more like a country estate.
In contrast to rusticated ground floor, the porticoes use great order linking two floors.
Main and most grand premises of the palace were in its central building, entrance to which was along the axis of the building, from the side of the соurt of honor. Main vestibule was also located along the axis of the main building, where you can see the grand staircase. To the right of the vestibule, clear of the central axis, there was a grand staircase to the first floor leading to the ante-room and to the main hall. The service wings accommodated residential and service rooms.[3]
According to some sources, original color of the walls was orange. Paul I started changing the Bazhenov's appearance of the building: upon his orders, the statue of Minerva (or Mars, symbolizing the victories of the reign of his mother) crowning the dome, was removed from it.
During the Napoleon's invasion the building suffered heavy damage:the wooden belvedere with the Corinthian order roundabout colonnade crowning the building was destroyed, as well as a large statuary and coat of arms of the Pashkovs on the entablature of the central portico.[4]