The Vysokoe Estate of Counts D. N. and A. G. Sheremet’ev. Documents from the Russian State Historical Archive
Authors:   Smolensk State Museum-Reserve, Smolensk, Russia, Tikhonova Anastasiya V. 
Published: June 2024

The article presents the results of the research on the history of the Vysokoe Estate in the Smolensk province (currently located in the village of Vysokoe in the Novodugino district of the Smolensk region) based on documents from the Russian State Historical Archive, which houses the personal archive of Count Alexander Dmitrievich Sheremet’ev (1859–1931). In comparison to the well-studied Kuskovo and Ostankino estates near Moscow, as well as the famous Fountain House in St. Petersburg, the Vysokoe Estate remains a relatively understudied property of the Sheremet’evs. Thanks to archival documents it became possible to reconstruct the history of the acquisition of this Estate by the representatives of the renowned Sheremet’ev family and the creation of a unique architectural complex in Vysokoe. The majority of archival documents are introduced into scholarly circulation for the first time. From the materials of Count A. D. Sheremet’ev's archive (Russian State Historical Archive, fond 1118), who inherited Vysokoe after his mother's death and continued to develop the Estate, it is known that the property of the Sheremet’ev Counts became theirs in 1857 after the marriage of Count Dmitry Nikolaevich Sheremet’ev (1803–1871) to the Smolensk noblewoman Alexandra Grigorievna Mel’nikova (1825–1874). The latter inherited only a part of the Estate and fully bought it from her mother and sisters after the wedding. At the behest of Countess A. G. Sheremet’eva, architect N. L. Benois designed about 20 stone buildings, including the main estate house ("Palace"), the Church of the Tikhvin Mother of God, and various service buildings. The execution of the work in Vysokoe was supervised by his assistant R. K. Mueller, who later became the architect of the Countess's wooden house. The archive contains the designs of many buildings, correspondence between N. L. Benois and R. K. Mueller with the Main Office of the Sheremet’ev Counts in St. Petersburg, texts of contracts between N. L. Benois and foreign and domestic craftsmen involved in the finishing, and suppliers of interior items. The documents provide valuable information about the client's involvement in the details of the work, allowing us to assess various stages of project implementation, and indicating the Countess's special attention to the arrangement and decoration of the main estate house and the church. For example, marble slabs for the Palace" terrace were ordered from Italian sculptor A. Triscorni, and icons for the church were commissioned from the academician of painting A. G. Goravskii. A significant part of the planned work was carried out in the early 1870s, and after the death of Countess A. G. Sheremet’eva in 1874, Vysokoe was inherited by her only son, A. D. Sheremet’ev. The surviving building designs, supplemented by various administrative documents, currently represent not only scholarly but also practical interest, associated with the commencement of work on the restoration of the remarkable architectural complex of the former Sheremet’ev Estate.