ARCHITECTURAL APPEARANCE OF BUILDINGS IN NIZHNY NOVGOROD ASSOCIATED WITH N.A. DOBROLYUBOV

Subject: this research is relevant because it deals with the issues of historical and architectural heritage of N. Novgorod associated with Nikolai Alexandrovich Dobrolyubov (1836-1861), a literary critic, publicist, democrat, born here in the family of A.I. Dobrolyubov, a priest of the St. Nicholas Church Top-Posadskaya, and until 1853 permanently living in his hometown. He saw Nizhny Novgorod in the era of classicism, during implementation of the “Regulations about the structure of N. Novgorod” when, according to the plan of 1839, the renovation of streets, plazas and embankments was carried out, and Lykov dam (1837-1839) was built near the estate of Dobrolyubov. We examine N. Novgorod churches in the neighborhood of Kremlin, which were admired by N.A. Dobrolyubov: St. Nicholas Church (1741, lost), the Holy Myrrh-bearers Church (1649, exists), and in the Kremlin: the Archangel Michael (17th century, exists), Savior Transfiguration (1830-1834, lost) - it was the tomb of K. Minin. Instead of destroyed temples - elegant vertical dominants of metro-rhythmic compositions, in 1930-1950s the monumental buildings were built, which changed the image of the environment without creating rhythmic accents. The stone-tiered temple of the “ship”-type, Holy Myrrh-bearers Church (1649), surrounded in the 20th century by disharmonious high-rise buildings, has lost the dominant role in metro-rhythmic composition of the city. It was found out that the mansions associated with N.A. Dobrolyubov, including the house of the clergy of St. Nicholas Church, Dobrolubov’s manor, the house of the guardian siblings, have survived without changing their classic appearance. Public buildings of the period of life of N.A. Dobrolyubov, which preserved the original appearance and the style of classicism, include: N. Novgorod Theological Seminary, the house of N. Novgorod Noble Assembly. The monument of N.A. Dobrolyubov (sculptor P.I. Gusev, architect B.S. Nelyubin, 1986), mounted on B. Pokrovskaya, close to the lost St. Nicholas Church, creates a favorable environment for studying the historical heritage of N. Novgorod, which requires a comprehensive approach to its reconstruction and restoration. The scientific novelty of the study is that for the first time, on the basis of a comprehensive review of architectural appearance of buildings associated with life of N.A. Dobrolyubov in N. Novgorod from the viewpoint of systematic approach and by using various methods of analysis, we revealed their special and characteristic features, give recommendations for their reconstruction. Research objectives: reveal the degree of preservation of buildings of Nizhny Novgorod associated with Nizhny Novgorod period of life of N.A. Dobrolyubov, describe the history of their construction, determine their place among the historical and cultural heritage of the city, perform a comprehensive analysis of their architectural appearance, including a space-planning decision, stylistics, decor, the role in the composition of streets, give recommendations for their reconstruction. Materials and methods: the methodological basis of the work is a systematic approach that allows us to consider the main characteristics of architectural appearance of buildings in N. Novgorod, associated with the period of life of famous democrat-nizhegorodets of the mid-19th century. To summarize the materials obtained from archival and literary sources, the bibliographic analysis was used, and for the field surveys - photographic images and grapho-analytical approach. Results: we give a comprehensive review of architectural appearance of buildings in N. Novgorod associated with the period of life of N.A. Dobrolyubov, and introduce the history of their creation, stylistics, space-planning decision, décor into the scientific usage of data on buildings. Recommendations are given for their comprehensive reconstruction in order to increase the tourist, social and investment attractiveness of the capital of N. Novgorod region. Conclusions: the results of the study can form the basis of documents required for creation of restoration projects of buildings related to life of the famous nizhegorodets. Comprehensive approach to reconstruction of historical and architectural heritage of N. Novgorod, associated with the memory of N.A. Dobrolyubov, will contribute to improvement of the quality of social life of local population, and increase the tourist and investment attractiveness of the city and the region.