| Embassy of Austria in Moscow Посольство Австрии в Москве Botschaft von Österreich in Moskau | |
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| Location | Moscow |
| Address | Starokonyushenny Lane |
| Coordinates | 55°44′37″N37°35′42″E / 55.74361°N 37.59500°E /55.74361; 37.59500 |
| Ambassador | Martin Vukovich |
TheEmbassy of Austria inMoscow is thediplomatic mission of theRepublic of Austria to theRussian Federation. It is located at 1Starokonyushenny Lane (Russian:Староконюшенный переулок, 1) in theKhamovniki District ofMoscow. The consulate, located in the same building until 2007, now operates from a new nearby building at 7Bolshoy Levshinsky Lane.[1]
The Embassy occupies a listedneoclassical revival building, theNikolay Mindovsky House, designed and built byNikita Lazarev in 1906.Mindovsky family originated inKineshma, whereserf Ivan Ivanovich Mindovsky (1781–1853) launched his own textile mill. His grandson, Ivan Alexandrovich, commissioned the first historical Mindovsky House toLev Kekushev (44, Povarskaya Street, present-dayEmbassy of New Zealand in Moscow). Next of kin, Nikolay Ivanovich, commissioned the second Mindovsky House to Nikita Lazarev. Various other members of the clan also owned mansions and apartment blocks in the city so as of 2008 there are six extant Mindovsky houses.
Mindovsky House that became Embassy of Austria stands on a strategic corner lot visible fromPrechictenka Street. In the 18th century the area was occupied by a spaciousGagarin family estate, destroyed by thefire of 1812, then by wooden Mukhanov estate. In 1899 the dilapidated Mukhanov property was purchased by real estate developers and split into three lots; the first two buildings were built toWilliam Walcot's design in 1900–1902, the third was purchased by Mindovsky.[2]
Lazarev's Mindovsky House became a statement of neoclassical reaction against "Decadent art". The L-shaped structure extends over 32×44 meters. Its two main parts intersect at 90 degrees, while the streets actually cross at a sharper angle – this allowed placing a small garden in front of the cornerrotunda hall, but the western facade with main entrance had to be tapered to fit into street boundary. Originally all the building was single story; in 1913 the owners rebuilt the eastern living wing into two stories. Eastern wing, which housed the consulate until 2007, was regularly remodelled later while the single-story formal halls of the western wing, facingPrechistensky Lane retain the original 1906 interiors.[2]
The Embassy of Austria moved into Mindovsky House in 1927. After theanschluss of 1938, it was used as an exclusivevilla for foreign dignitaries, housing guests likeJoachim von Ribbentrop (August 1939, seeMolotov–Ribbentrop Pact) andWinston Churchill (October 1944). However, the rumour that Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was signed in Mindovsky House is, most likely, anurban legend. In April 1955 the building was the site of Austrian–Soviet talks on theAustrian State Treaty and then became an embassy of independent Austria for a second time.[3]
Mindovsky House, specifically its corner hall, is also known as the site of a fictional shooting in the 1957 novelDoctor Zhivago byBoris Pasternak.[3]
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1 No diplomatic relations with Russia, functions as an informal diplomatic mission | |
