Manege

OBJECT DESCRIPTION

The Manege building was constructed in the 1880s as part of a St. Petersburg project for Kazan Military School exercises and training junkers. This building, which extends from east to west, was built on the foundation of the Saviour’s Transfiguration Monastery wall. Heating furnaces were arranged symmetrically in niches on both sides of the building.

The Manege is nearly 1000 square metres in size, with an interior measuring 18 x 56 metres and covered in large-span wooden structures. The building’s facade is built of French rustication (wide horizontal stripes). Pilasters (vertical wall projections that resemble flat columns) are also embellished with laid-on lesenes (vertical flat and narrow wall projections) within the rustication cut. The building’s arched windows are modest in framing, with a window sill cornice and pyramidal panels (decorative rectangular recesses).

The portal’s entry has a forged canopy supported by cast-iron pillars. The decorative pediment rests on a wall projecture and merges into the attic (decorative wall). The hipped roof (which has four sloping surfaces and triangle end slopes) is surrounded by a forged grating supported by brick pillars. The side facades’ walls are smooth, with rustication limited to the pilasters.

The Manege building underwent restoration in 2003–2006. Nowadays, an exhibition hall is used for exhibitions as well as cultural and educational activities.