Nikolay Krasnov

Nikolay Petrovich Krasnov (Russian: Николай Петрович Краснов; 23 November 1864 – 8 December 1939) was a Russian and Serbian architect and painter, who served as chief architect of Yalta, Crimea, between 1887 and 1899. From 1922 he lived and worked in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and was a key figure in the architectural development of Belgrade. As a young artist he received patronage from Sergey Tretyakov, brother of the founder of Moscow's Tretyakov Gallery, and entrepreneur Petar Gubonyin. for which he was paid 900 roubles per year. Krasnov worked on the designs through 1909 and they were commissioned in 23 April 1910, and built over the subsequent 17 months. Nikolay was in a group housed in the empty Villa St Ignatius, which had been a Jesuit college and then a hospital during World War I. To earn money, Nikolay painted many scenes of Malta, signing his paintings as N Krasnoff. He is known as Nicholas Krasnoff in Malta. In May 2016 MaltaPost issued a commemorative set of stamps in his honour.

1922–1939: Work in Belgrade

In 1922 Krasnov and his wife moved to Belgrade, then part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In Belgrade he became head of the Department of Monumental Architectural Developments and Monuments, part of the Serbian Ministry of Housing and Building. These academicist buildings were large and imposing, and designed to represent the strength of Yugoslavian statehood. However, Krasnov also created buildings of various other styles, including the renovation of the medieval Ružica Church in 1925. He also created the artistic interiors for St. George's Church royal mausoleum in Topola, the villa of the Old Palace in Belgrade, and the House of the National Assembly (completed in 1936).

He died in Belgrade on 8 December 1939, and is buried in the Russian section of the New Cemetery in Belgrade.

In 2016 a street in Belgrade was renamed in his honour.