Stone maidens watching -
winter folds around their robes,
Rumyantsev’s silence.
These five frames capture the sculptural details of the historic building at 17/6 Maroseyka Street - once the palace of Count Nikolai Petrovich Rumyantsev, statesman, collector, and one of the great patrons of Russian culture.
Today the building houses the Embassy of the Republic of Belarus, but its façade still carries the artistic language of its earlier era.
The classical female figures adorning the façade have no recorded names.
They are anonymous allegories - embodiments of knowledge, arts, virtues, or simply the decorative ideals of the late 19th‑century architectural imagination.
Their gestures, drapery, and symbolic attributes hint at a forgotten narrative, one that once suited the grandeur of the Rumyantsev residence.
Photographed on expired Ilford HP5 in the cold February light, these sculptures reveal a quiet dialogue between stone and winter.
Their robes catch the shadows, their faces remain calm, and the ornate architectural framing turns each figure into a scene from a silent classical drama.
This series preserves not only the craftsmanship of Moscow’s architectural heritage, but also the lingering spirit of the Rumyantsev Palace - a place where history, culture, and allegory still live in stone.
Technical details:
Variations on a theme “...with a film across Moscow”
Camera: Pentax MZ‑7
Lens: SMC Pentax‑FA 80–320mm F4.5–5.6
Film: Ilford HP5 Plus 400 (exp. 08.2014), dev. Xtol
Photo taken: February 13, 2018
Scanner: Noritsu LS‑1100
Location: Former Rumyantsev Palace (now Embassy of the Republic of Belarus), Maroseyka 17/6, Moscow
Title: Stone Maidens of the Rumyantsev Palace — I–V
Stone maidens watching—
winter folds around their robes,
Rumyantsev’s silence.
Technical details:
Variations on a theme “...with a film across Moscow”
Camera: Pentax MZ‑7
Lens: SMC Pentax‑FA 80–320mm F4.5–5.6
Film: Ilford HP5 Plus 400 (exp. 08.2014), dev. Xtol
Photo taken: February 13, 2018
Scanner: Noritsu LS‑1100
Location: Former Rumyantsev Palace (now Embassy of the Republic of Belarus), Maroseyka 17/6, Moscow
The real gem of the complex of buildings of the Embassy of the Republic of Belarus in the Russian Federation is the palace of Count N. P. Rumyantsev. The building is an interesting monument of Russian architecture. White-blue palace, decorated in a pseudo-baroque style. It was erected in the XVII century and completely rebuilt in the middle of the XIX century. During the reconstruction on the balconies of the building, female allegorical sculptures appeared.
Sculptural female figures that decorate the second and third floors are at first sight purely decorative, but they are allegorical images symbolizing agriculture and cattle breeding - on the second floor, free arts - theater, singing, dance, architecture, painting, music - on the third understand by looking at their attributes).
In 1957 a complex of buildings was transferred to the use of the Representation of the Council of Ministers of the Byelorussian SSR. In early 1993, it housed the diplomatic representation of Belarus in Russia. In 2004-2013 there was a complete reconstruction of buildings with the restoration of the original interiors of the XIX century.
Stone Maidens of the Rumyantsev Palace (Ilford HP5 Plus 400)
Stone maidens watching -
winter folds around their robes,
Rumyantsev’s silence.
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