The outstanding architect Alexander Iosifovich Bernardazzi (1831–1907)

Abstract

This year marks the 190th birthday of the famous Swiss architect of Italian origin A.I. Bernardazzi, who is also known for creating various historic buildings in Ukraine, Bessarabia and Poland. Archival documents were an evidence of the beginning of architectural career of Bernardazzi, when the Bessarabian Road and Construction Commission appointed him as the technician for urban planning of Akkerman and Bendery in 1853 and also for building some bridges and causeways in those districts. He took part in the organization of the third market in the Forest Square in Kishinev in September of 1855. This was the first mission of his creativity in Kishinev. Alexander Bernardazzi executed his duty as municipal architect from 1856 to 1878 having taken the place of another architect Luca Zaushkevich. All his subsequent monumental buildings became the best examples of European architecture by their style, shape, and quality. . In Bessarabia, he participated in the design and construction of many buildings such as the temporal theatre, the Lutheran school, the railway station, the Greek Church, the Manuk-Bei’s palace, etc. As for Kishinev, the architect Bernardazzi performed the beautification of paving many streets, the construction of urban water supply and the cast-iron railing in the city park. Also, he participated in many architects’ meetings where he submitted interesting reports referring to the theater, some windows, fire safety of buildings and so on. After his arrival to Odessa in 1878, Alexander Bernardazzi continued to participate in designing social and civil buildings in Bessarabia. For his enormous creative contribution to urban development, he was appreciated with the title of honorable citizen of Kishinev and appointed member of the Bessarabian department of the Imperial Russian Technical Society.