Stasov is a quintessential family of Russian intelligentsia. It included the architect Vasily Petrovich Stasov (1769–1848), his son Vladimir Vasilievich (1824–1906), and granddaughter Elena Dmitrievna Stasova (1873–1966).

Stasov the architect

In his youth, Vasily Petrovich Stasov extensively travelled in France and Italy, where he became professor of St Luke Academy in Rome. On his return home, he was elected to the Imperial Academy of Arts (1811). Among his earlier works, we should mention the Gruzino estate near Novgorod: it was built for Count Alexey Arakcheyev in the 1810s and completely destroyed during the WWII fighting.

While developing guidelines for other architects, Stasov advocated making even the most trivial of buildings—barracks, storehouses, stables—look imposing and monumental. He worked much to embellish Tsarskoe Selo, where he designed the famous Pushkin Lyceum and the fanciful Chinese Village. After the great fire of 1820, he was entrusted to remodel in the Neoclassical style some premises of the baroque Catherine Palace.

Stasov's first important commissions in the capital were the Saviour and the Trinity cathedrals for the regiments of the imperial guards. The interior decoration of the Smolny Cathedral also belongs to him. In 1828, he won a commission to rebuild the Church of the Tithes in Kiev. This ponderous Empire-style edifice, erected on the spot of the first church of Kievan Rus' and containing the relics of Saint Vladimir, was destroyed by the Bolsheviks in the 1930s.

During the reign of Nicholas I, Stasov designed Moscow and Narva triumphal gates in St Petersburg. In 1833, he was approached by the Siberian Cossacks who asked him to produce a large cathedral in Omsk. His last work of importance was the sumptuous decoration of the Winter Palace halls after the disastrous fire of 1837.

Other Stasovs

Vladimir Vasilievich Stasov was probably the most respected Russian critic during his lifetime. He graduated from the School of Law in 1843, was admitted to the Imperial Academy of Arts in 1859, and was made honorary fellow of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1900, together with his friend Leo Tolstoy. Stasov ardently supported the Peredvizhniki movement in fine arts and the Five of Russian composers. His correspondence with leading personalities of Russian art life is invaluable.

His brother, Dmitry Vasilievich (1828–1918), was a notable advocate who took part in the foundation of the Russian Music Society. His daughter, Elena Dmitrievna Stasova, joined the Communist movement in 1898. As a personal secretary of Lenin, she was exiled to Siberia in 1913–16. After the Russian Revolution of 1917 Stasova was made responsible for the Soviets' relations with other Communist parties of the world.

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Narva Triumphal Gate