Znamenskoye-Raek Estate

About museum

Nikolai Alexandrovich Lvov was a nobleman from Novotorzhsky Uyezd (today Torzhok District, Tver Oblast). A vivid and versatile representative of the Russian Enlightenment and a prominent figure in the cultural life of the 18th century. Lvov's creative legacy spans various fields: architecture, poetry, music, and engineering innovations. A master known for his works in St. Petersburg and the Moscow region, versatile and energetic, Lvov "created the very typology of private life and private contemplation in Russia," having built the first private estates for the newly ennobled gentry. The Znamenskoye-Raek estate was built on commission from its owner, senator and General-Field Marshal Fyodor Ivanovich Glebov (1734–1799), as a gift for his beloved wife, Elizaveta. The Glebov-Streshnev family had close ties to the royal family. The great-great-grandmother of the general-field marshal's wife, Elizaveta Petrovna Streshneva, was Evdokia Lukyanovna Streshneva — the wife of the first Russian tsar of the Romanov dynasty and the matriarch of the royal line as the mother of heirs. The Znamenskoye-Raek estate is a striking example of Palladianism on Russian soil. A ceremonial palazzo here blends with the cosiness of a Russian manor, something Lvov achieved with such genius in his designs. One of the most consistent Palladians, N. A. Lvov developed his own distinctive language in Russian architecture.