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Spanish Ambassador lauds GlavUpDK restoration works
Head of the Main Administration for Service to the Diplomatic Corps (GlavUpDK under the MFA of Russia) Alexey Izotov met with new Spanish Ambassador Ignacio Ybanez Rubio on the GlavUpDK premises on May 23.
The head of the Spanish diplomatic mission showed an interest in GlavUpDK history and core activity. He said, for instance, that GlavUpDK and the Spanish Embassy had been cooperating for years and expressed hope for the continuation of those contacts.
The participants had a detailed discussion of the progress of renovations of the ambassadorial residence in Staropeskovsky Lane conducted by GlavUpDK under the MFA of Russia.
The unique architectural monument occupied by the Spanish Embassy since 1999 was first mentioned in the second decade of the 19th century. Back then, the mansion belonged to Prince Pyotr Vyazemsky, a close friend of Alexander Pushkin. The great poet and his close friends, Ivan Pushchin and Pavel Naschokin, frequently visited the house.
Nikolay Lvov, a grandson of the same-named acclaimed architect and a great fan of Pushkin, purchased the former Vyazemsky House in the 1840s. He preserved the building practically as it was and even planted a public garden, called Pushkinsky, nearby. The public garden remains a green oasis in the city center.
The mansion became home to many people after the 1917 Revolution and accommodated the publishing house of the Central Statistical Department for a long period of time afterwards.
GlavUpDK took charge of the building in 1961. The facade was restored to the condition of the early 19th century, but the interior premises had been seriously damaged in the previous years. The house’s surviving fragments helped restore its 19th century interior in the late 1990s, and the solemn but cozy atmosphere of Empire-style Moscow was brought back to the rooms of the Lvov House.
Renovations are ongoing in the old mansion. Ignacio Ybanez Rubio lauded the efforts of GlavUpDK and underlined his responsibility for the preservation of cultural heritage in the historical part of Moscow.
