OSTERMAN'S ESTATE

   The architectural complex that the Muscovites through habit call Osterman's Estate was formed during the 18th-20th centuries. It is located on the site where the town estate used to be. As a reminder of the estate the three-storied palace with wings and passages survived until nowadays. The architect creating the palace is unknown, but the specialists assume that the master might be the apprentice of architect M. Kazakov.
   The palace was badly damaged in the fire of 1812, and it was not restored for a long time. The last estate owner was A. Osterman-Tolstoy, the hero of the war of 1812 and the participant of foreign campaigns of the Russian army. In 1827 he sold the mansion, as he was going to leave Russia for good. In 1834 the building was given to Moscow seminary.
   In 1840 the mansion was restored after architect A. Shchedrin's design. He carefully preserved the original shape of the palace, but made it a little wider. In 1885 when the seminary needed extra premises, the mansion was added the two-storied building of diocesan dormitory, and the ensemble of the estate was not disturbed.
   In 1918 Osterman's Estate was nationalized. After World War II it housed the Supreme Soviet Presidium and Council of Ministers of RSFSR. In 1949 the dormitory was overbuilt by design of architect V. Gelphreikh. The three-storied building perfectly completed the architectural ensemble.
   On June 21, 1981 the Russian Museum of Applied and Folk Art was opened on the territory of Osterman's Estate. The museum collections number over 65,000 items of the 14th-20th centuries such as folk crafts articles, applied art works, artistic manufacture examples and so forth.
   Osterman's Estate has been changed. For example, it does not feature the picturesque ponds any more, and the modern park differs from the original one, but still the estate remains an outstanding monument of Russian architecture.