Back to Monrepos: History, Restoration, and the Future of a Historic Park Discussed in Vyborg
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A descendant of the founders of Monrepos Park, the Barons Nicolai, leading restoration experts from St. Petersburg, representatives of the museum community, and major investors exchanged views on the results of restoration efforts and future development prospects of this unique rocky landscape park.
On July 10, the Worldwide St. Petersburg Club and the Organizing Committee of the Golden Trezzini International Awards, together with the Monrepos Park Museum and Reserve, held a cultural and historical voyage to the legendary park on Tverdysh Island. This event, part of an ongoing series of meetings organized by the Club and the Awards, brought together leading experts in architecture, restoration, and cultural heritage, as well as business community representatives, to discuss the future of the ensemble.
The meeting took place in the newly restored park, where a large-scale restoration was completed in 2023. Historical buildings, landscape architecture elements, and engineering structures were brought back to life, restoring Monrepos’s former beauty and reaffirming its status as one of Russia’s premier landscape gardens. The guests were able to appreciate the results of this work during a guided tour led personally by the museum's director, Alexander Smirnov.
The central event of the day was the symposium "Monrepos Park: Mysteries of History, Restoration Pathways, and Visions of the Future," held in the Manor House. Opening remarks were delivered by Alexander Smirnov, Director of the Monrepos Park Museum and Reserve; Pavel Chernyakov, Chairman of the Golden Trezzini Awards Organizing Committee and member of the Worldwide St. Petersburg Club; and Eduard Gorin, creator and visionary behind the public space SENO in St. Petersburg and head of investment projects aimed at developing Vyborg.
The symposium, moderated by Oleg Dmitriev, Deputy Chairman of the Golden Trezzini Awards Organizing Committee, was dedicated both to exploring Monrepos’s rich past and generating new ideas for its harmonious development in the future.
According to museum director Alexander Smirnov, the restoration of Monrepos is the largest project of its kind in Russia completed "in a single stretch"—unlike the phased restorations of imperial residences near St. Petersburg that have taken decades. The main restoration work at Monrepos was carried out from 2017 to 2023 by the architectural bureau Liteinaya Chast-91. At the symposium, the bureau’s director Elena Skrylyova spoke about the process, explaining key project decisions—such as the restoration of the wooden Manor House using a traditional log frame disassembly-and-reassembly method. She also shared archival worksite photos and amusing stories that inevitably arise during even the most serious restoration work—from ant infestations in decayed structures to contractors discovering, to their horror, that they had confused millimeters with centimeters in a decorative element.
Elena Skrylyova’s presentation was complemented by Konstantin Likholat, director of Pallada, the company responsible for restoring the tiled stoves at Monrepos. He noted that in most cases today, restorers deal with mass-produced ceramic tiles. Monrepos’s uniqueness—and the special responsibility it placed on the restorers—lay in the fact that its ceramic stoves were handmade in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Sebastian Zinovieff-Fitzlyon, a descendant of Baron Nicolai and Honorary Consul of Australia in St. Petersburg, presented the history of Monrepos through the lens of a family chronicle—births, marriages, deaths, and the lives of truly remarkable individuals. The audience was able to trace the Nicolay lineage from the 18th century to the present day (the surname Nicolai ceased to be passed down in the early 20th century). Alongside the family's people, he focused especially on books—the most treasured heirlooms passed from generation to generation. In its heyday, the great library of Monrepos was the soul of the estate. At the beginning of World War I, Paul von Nicolai donated it to the University of Helsinki, and today it is preserved at the National Library of Finland.
Unaware of the previous speaker’s focus, Alexander Smirnov continued the theme of books. He shared the museum’s upcoming plans, which include creating a museum in Monrepos dedicated to Dmitry Likhachov and his ideas on cultural heritage preservation. The restored but currently unused Library Wing of the Manor House is expected, by agreement with Likhachov's descendants, to house his personal book collection. The project is expected to be at least partially implemented by 2026—to mark the 120th anniversary of Likhachov's birth.
Another major plan revealed by Alexander Smirnov is the creation of a unified tourist route connecting Vyborg Castle with Monrepos. The Kronwerk Fortress, which lies between the two sites and has recently come under the stewardship of the Monrepos Museum and Reserve, will undergo restoration and landscaping. As a result, the castle and the park will be linked by a convenient and engaging pedestrian path.
Among the guests at Monrepos were Sergey Nekrasov, President of the All-Russian Pushkin Museum; Marina Shaposhnikova, Chief Curator of the Mariinsky Palace; Alexey Guzanov, Chief Curator of the Pavlovsk State Museum; Ivan Lebedev, Chief Architect of the Peterhof State Museum; Vasily Yakovlev, Assistant Director of the St. Isaac’s Cathedral State Museum; Ivan Chechot, Head of the Visual Arts and Architecture Section at the Russian Institute for Art History; Elena Tkachenko and Galina Domakha, founders of the Elena Tkachenko Fashion House; artist Sergey Bugaev (Afrika); and Dmitry Grozny, founder and producer of the Lemon Guide Awards and a restaurant industry expert.
The Worldwide St. Petersburg Club and the Golden Trezzini Awards Organizing Committee express their deep gratitude to the leadership of the Monrepos Park Museum and Reserve and personally to Alexander Smirnov for their warm hospitality and assistance in organizing the event. Special thanks go to the event’s general partner—Eduard Gorin, creator and visionary behind SENO public space in St. Petersburg and head of investment projects supporting Vyborg’s development—for his generous support.
More news of the Golden Trezzini Awards: https://goldtrezzini.ru/news/ Follow us on social media: https://www.facebook.com/trezziniawards/ https://www.instagram.com/trezziniawards/ https://www.youtube.com/@goldentrezziniawards
On July 10, the Worldwide St. Petersburg Club and the Organizing Committee of the Golden Trezzini International Awards, together with the Monrepos Park Museum and Reserve, held a cultural and historical voyage to the legendary park on Tverdysh Island. This event, part of an ongoing series of meetings organized by the Club and the Awards, brought together leading experts in architecture, restoration, and cultural heritage, as well as business community representatives, to discuss the future of the ensemble.
The meeting took place in the newly restored park, where a large-scale restoration was completed in 2023. Historical buildings, landscape architecture elements, and engineering structures were brought back to life, restoring Monrepos’s former beauty and reaffirming its status as one of Russia’s premier landscape gardens. The guests were able to appreciate the results of this work during a guided tour led personally by the museum's director, Alexander Smirnov.
The central event of the day was the symposium "Monrepos Park: Mysteries of History, Restoration Pathways, and Visions of the Future," held in the Manor House. Opening remarks were delivered by Alexander Smirnov, Director of the Monrepos Park Museum and Reserve; Pavel Chernyakov, Chairman of the Golden Trezzini Awards Organizing Committee and member of the Worldwide St. Petersburg Club; and Eduard Gorin, creator and visionary behind the public space SENO in St. Petersburg and head of investment projects aimed at developing Vyborg.
The symposium, moderated by Oleg Dmitriev, Deputy Chairman of the Golden Trezzini Awards Organizing Committee, was dedicated both to exploring Monrepos’s rich past and generating new ideas for its harmonious development in the future.
According to museum director Alexander Smirnov, the restoration of Monrepos is the largest project of its kind in Russia completed "in a single stretch"—unlike the phased restorations of imperial residences near St. Petersburg that have taken decades. The main restoration work at Monrepos was carried out from 2017 to 2023 by the architectural bureau Liteinaya Chast-91. At the symposium, the bureau’s director Elena Skrylyova spoke about the process, explaining key project decisions—such as the restoration of the wooden Manor House using a traditional log frame disassembly-and-reassembly method. She also shared archival worksite photos and amusing stories that inevitably arise during even the most serious restoration work—from ant infestations in decayed structures to contractors discovering, to their horror, that they had confused millimeters with centimeters in a decorative element.
Elena Skrylyova’s presentation was complemented by Konstantin Likholat, director of Pallada, the company responsible for restoring the tiled stoves at Monrepos. He noted that in most cases today, restorers deal with mass-produced ceramic tiles. Monrepos’s uniqueness—and the special responsibility it placed on the restorers—lay in the fact that its ceramic stoves were handmade in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Sebastian Zinovieff-Fitzlyon, a descendant of Baron Nicolai and Honorary Consul of Australia in St. Petersburg, presented the history of Monrepos through the lens of a family chronicle—births, marriages, deaths, and the lives of truly remarkable individuals. The audience was able to trace the Nicolay lineage from the 18th century to the present day (the surname Nicolai ceased to be passed down in the early 20th century). Alongside the family's people, he focused especially on books—the most treasured heirlooms passed from generation to generation. In its heyday, the great library of Monrepos was the soul of the estate. At the beginning of World War I, Paul von Nicolai donated it to the University of Helsinki, and today it is preserved at the National Library of Finland.
Unaware of the previous speaker’s focus, Alexander Smirnov continued the theme of books. He shared the museum’s upcoming plans, which include creating a museum in Monrepos dedicated to Dmitry Likhachov and his ideas on cultural heritage preservation. The restored but currently unused Library Wing of the Manor House is expected, by agreement with Likhachov's descendants, to house his personal book collection. The project is expected to be at least partially implemented by 2026—to mark the 120th anniversary of Likhachov's birth.
Another major plan revealed by Alexander Smirnov is the creation of a unified tourist route connecting Vyborg Castle with Monrepos. The Kronwerk Fortress, which lies between the two sites and has recently come under the stewardship of the Monrepos Museum and Reserve, will undergo restoration and landscaping. As a result, the castle and the park will be linked by a convenient and engaging pedestrian path.
Among the guests at Monrepos were Sergey Nekrasov, President of the All-Russian Pushkin Museum; Marina Shaposhnikova, Chief Curator of the Mariinsky Palace; Alexey Guzanov, Chief Curator of the Pavlovsk State Museum; Ivan Lebedev, Chief Architect of the Peterhof State Museum; Vasily Yakovlev, Assistant Director of the St. Isaac’s Cathedral State Museum; Ivan Chechot, Head of the Visual Arts and Architecture Section at the Russian Institute for Art History; Elena Tkachenko and Galina Domakha, founders of the Elena Tkachenko Fashion House; artist Sergey Bugaev (Afrika); and Dmitry Grozny, founder and producer of the Lemon Guide Awards and a restaurant industry expert.
The Worldwide St. Petersburg Club and the Golden Trezzini Awards Organizing Committee express their deep gratitude to the leadership of the Monrepos Park Museum and Reserve and personally to Alexander Smirnov for their warm hospitality and assistance in organizing the event. Special thanks go to the event’s general partner—Eduard Gorin, creator and visionary behind SENO public space in St. Petersburg and head of investment projects supporting Vyborg’s development—for his generous support.
More news of the Golden Trezzini Awards: https://goldtrezzini.ru/news/ Follow us on social media: https://www.facebook.com/trezziniawards/ https://www.instagram.com/trezziniawards/ https://www.youtube.com/@goldentrezziniawards
11.07.2025
13:40
9 months ago
Updated: 11.07.2025
