Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli

Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli (; 1700 – 29 April 1771) was an Italian architect who worked mainly in Russia. He developed an easily recognizable style of Late Baroque, both sumptuous and majestic. His major works, including the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg and the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo, are famed for extravagant luxury and opulence of decoration. Nothing is known about Francesco's Parisian years, but it seems certain that the young man trained and worked in his father's workshop.

While Rastrelli's son Giuseppe Iacopo died in December 1737 of cholera, and his daughter Eleonora died in January 1738,

Boris Vipper has speculated that Rastrelli's last (and unfinished) design was for the Neoclassical Zaļenieki Manor near Mitava.

Demolished buildings

Posthumous glory Rastrelli is a cult figure of the Russian Baroque. His engravings with landscapes of Tsarskoe Selo were spread throughout Europe during Rastrelli's lifetime, and there are some examples in the collections of Ukraine and Germany.

A bust of Rastrelli was installed in Tsarskoye Selo. The second bust of the famous architect was installed on St. Manege Square in St. Petersburg. A square in front of the Smolny Convent has borne Rastrelli's name since 1923. In 1972, the documentary Architect Rastrelli was made (directed by Maria Kligman, Lennauchfilm, Russia). He is the subject of a composition, Rastrelli in Saint Petersburg, written in 2000 by Italian composer Lorenzo Ferrero. A quartet of Russian cellists, including Kirill Kravtsov, Mikhail Degtyarev, Kirill Timofeev, and Sergei Drabkin, is called Rastrelli. The quartet works in Germany and plays music from the Baroque to modern times.