The art of ‘Crystal Goose’: Intertwining the medieval & the modern

At the beginning of the 20th century, Russian chemist and photographer Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky developed a complex process for vivid, detailed color photography. His vision of photography as a form of education and enlightenment was demonstrated with special clarity through his photographs of architectural monuments in the historic sites throughout the Russian heartland.

The main part of the Prokudin-Gorsky collection of photographs ultimately became a part of The Library of Congress, but he also established a business that produced color postcards and illustrations in books. This published work included color photographs – presumably taken in 1907 – of one of the most famous monuments in St. Petersburg, commonly known as the Cathedral of the Savior on the Blood.

Savior on the Blood in detail

The facades of the cathedral are bordered with strips of recessed panels containing decorative ceramic tiles, while the upper part of the complex structure is decorated with mosaic panels, some of monumental size. The major panels were designed by Viktor Vasnetsov, Mikhail Nesterov and other prominent artists (including Parland himself) and were produced to the highest technical standards by Alexander A. Frolov’s mosaics firm.

Of special note are four mosaic scenes from the Crucifixion cycle designed by Vasnetsov for the pediments of the church's west entrance porches. Each of the scenes reveals his mastery of a demanding ancient artistic medium. Vasnetsov's involvement in the mosaic work for the church reflects a revival of interest in medieval art forms that would appear in his pioneering work as a painter, designer, and architect.

Unknown provincial beauty

This collaboration between major artists and the Frolov master craftsmen occurred not only in major cities such as Moscow and St. Petersburg, but also, and no less brilliantly, in relatively unknown provincial locations, such as the unusually named ‘Gus Khrustalny’ (‘Crystal Goose’) in Vladimir Province.

The Vladimir territory to the northeast of Moscow is among the richest in Russia in terms of cultural heritage, from Murom to the east on the Oka River to Gorokhovets on the Klyazma River, not to mention Suzdal and Vladimir itself.

Often overlooked in this wealth is the town with the curious name of Goose Khrustalny, located on the small Gus River, a left tributary of the Oka. Although there are competing claims for the original derivation of the word, the town’s name is generally understood as “Crystal Goose”—appropriate in view of its role in Russian glass production from the middle of the 18th century.

Goos origins

The settlement was first mentioned simply as ‘Goos’ in documents from the 17th century. By the middle of the 18th century, the village came into the possession of the Maltsov merchant dynasty, considered the leading Russian producer of glass. In 1756, Akim Maltsov opened a glass factory at the village with assets transferred from his father’s holdings in the Mozhaisk region.

The enterprise rapidly grew and the Goos River was dammed for the factory pond. Expanded in the 1850s, the pond exists to this day at the center of the town park. In reward for his services to Russian commerce, Akim Maltsov was granted nobility status in 1775, which in turn enhanced his ability to acquire property and serfs for the factory workforce.

The house of glass

For almost six decades in the 19th century, the Goos factory belonged to Akim’s grandson, Ivan Maltsov, who not only introduced innovations such as Bohemian style glass products, but also began textile production as employment for the growing number of women in the factory settlement.

A decisive moment in the town’s development occurred following Ivan Maltsov’s tour in 1838 of French glassworks. There he noted effective ways in which workers’ housing and services were grouped around the factory complex. This provided the basis for the model factory town that flourished after 1880 under the direction of the new owner, Maltsov’s nephew Yury Nechaev-Maltsov.

Weaving into the future

During the late 19th century, the town also witnessed rapid expansion of the textile factory, whose brick buildings are still the most visible factory presence in town (the buildings of the glass factory are less noticeable).

In the late 20th century, the factories – and particularly the glassworks – endured a period of economic decline that caused the loss of much of the skilled workforce, including master artists. Nonetheless, many of the town’s buildings, including brick factory cottages, have been well preserved. And the center of Gus Khrustalny is quite appealing with its small squares and rebuilt 19th-century Trading Center.

Soviet era

Nearby is the main parish Church of SS Joachim and Anna, originally built as a neoclassical rotunda in 1816 and expanded over the next several decades. Damaged during the church's use as a workshop during the Soviet era, the interior and its wall paintings from the turn of the 20th century are now being restored.    

Late 19th-century church architecture is handsomely represented by the large Chapel of Saint Barbara, with ornate architectural detail and an attractive park setting.

The main architectural landmark in Gus Khrustalny is the monumental Church of St. George, built in 1892-1904 to a design by the prominent Petersburg architect Leonty Benois. In 1926 the church was converted to a factory club, with its cupolas and bell tower removed.

Despite these losses, the superbly built structure was preserved. In 1973-83 the interior was restored as part of the conversion of the building to a museum of artistic crystal—a function that it serves to this day. 

Vasnetsov’s influence

The appearance of the Church of St. George, with its basilica plan, elongated nave, and Romanesque details, is unusual by traditional Orthodox standards. But, the interior and its remarkable surviving art are well served by the extended open space, marked by Romanesque style columns of polished labradorite from the Zhitomir area.

The primary artist was the renowned Viktor Vasnetsov (1848-1926), one of the most popular Russian painters in the late nineteenth century – and beyond. For the main altar space in the east, he designed a magnificent mosaic portraying the Assembly of Mary Mother of God in a composition known by the name of a hymn to the Virgin, “In Thee Rejoiceth”.

Vasnetsov’s design was implemented by the Petersburg glass works of Alexander N. Frolov and sons, which played such an important role in the revival of the mosaic art in Russia at the turn of the 20th century—such as the Church of the Resurrection on the Blood, photographed by Prokudin-Gorsky in St. Petersburg. Unfortunately, the icon screens created by Vasnetsov were destroyed during the Soviet period.

The ‘Last Judgment’

When we turn back toward the west, we see a no less spectacular work of art, Vasnetsov’s vast canvas depicting the Last Judgment, portrayed in the manner of 17th-century frescoes such as the St. Sophia Cathedral in Vologda.            

In this painting those who have been found worthy of salvation are on the right hand of the enthroned Savior, while the damned are on the left, with a resurrected soul being weighed in the center. The righteous are dressed in traditional Russian clothing (partly justified by the presence of medieval saints among them), but the damned are luridly portrayed as writhing bodies in the grip of wanton passions. Their faces often have a contemporary urban character, particularly noticeable in their hair styles.

Removed when the church was converted into a club, this bold painting miraculously survived – perhaps in deference to Vasnetsov’s prestige among the Soviet elite.

With the restoration of the structure as a glass museum, Vasnetsov’s ‘Last Judgment’ was returned to its original space on the west wall, where it rests in all its glory. 

In the early 20th century, Russian photographer Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky developed a complex process for color photography. Between 1903 and 1916, he traveled through the Russian Empire and took over 2,000 photographs with the process, which involved three exposures on a glass plate. In August 1918, he left Russia and ultimately resettled in France where he was reunited with a large part of his collection of glass negatives, as well as 13 albums of contact prints. After his death in Paris in 1944, his heirs sold the collection to the Library of Congress. In the early 21st century, the Library digitized the Prokudin-Gorsky Collection and made it freely available to the global public. A few Russian websites now have versions of the collection. In 1986, architectural historian and photographer William Brumfield organized the first exhibit of Prokudin-Gorsky photographs at the Library of Congress. Over a period of work in Russia beginning in 1970, Brumfield has photographed most of the sites visited by Prokudin-Gorsky. This series of articles juxtaposes Prokudin-Gorsky’s views of architectural monuments with photographs taken by Brumfield decades later.