Company

The restoration inside the chapel of St. Catherine Church included new walls and magnificent columns. This was Alexey Mikhailov’s first project accomplished on a standalone basis and the starting point of Kolonna’s history. A renowned French architect appreciated the superb quality of works in the Church of St. Catherine and contacted Alexey Mikhailov’s company. Their meeting resulted in many years of fruitful cooperation both in Russia and abroad. In particular, pilasters and panels were fabricated and shipped to Toronto; radial doorway framing elements were manufactured for one project, large mirror surface elements with multi-colored panels for another one; both were shipped and installed in New York City; an ensemble of columns, niches, panels with an intricate jib door system of Russian origin was installed in a private apartment in the center of Paris; a number of columns, panels and a large cantilever worktop with shaped supports were manufactured and installed for a Sheikh family in Doha, Qatar.

Complicated restoration of the White Hall. The main challenge for the renovators was a thick layer of oil paint over the to-be-restored Scagliola surface left from the former Museum of Revolution.

In the 19th century, Scagliola was an indispensable part of interior appearance used for the fabrication of various ornamental elements. One of the most popular interior application methods for Scagliola is the manufacture of decorative panels. For instance, the exquisite Scagliola panels decorating the pavilion walls were recreated from historical sketches.

The walls encrusted with multi-colored Scagliola marble shed festive luster on the whole interior.

The great white columns united in a harmonious ensemble support a balcony with elegant banisters. The elimination of degraded surface defects and the removal of color streaks due to leakage enabled to restore the original mirror-like gloss of the colonnade. The restored colonnade brought back the majestic chastity of the main Academy Hall.

Scagliola’s palatial gloss is always in-demand at presentable state-owned buildings and facilities. After the columns at the President’s residence near Moscow, a number of pilasters and columns were fabricated and installed at the Sochi residence.

The project received a nomination for the prize of St. Petersburg as the best restoration in 2007.

All the mansion rooms of appreciable value are decorated with multi-colored Scagliola marble. During the survey of the White Column Hall, the inspection commission said that we had turned a yellow-column hall into a white-column place. This phrase is the best evidence to the quality of restoration.

Scagliola is more lightweight than marble slabs. The walls painted in light colors create an “airy” ambience inside the temple. The smooth Scagliola surface makes this smart material appropriate for pictorial decoration. The temple pendentives were decorated with paintings, which additionally complicated the restoration works.

. Of special interest is how the mirror-like gloss of the straight walls create a reflection of the window openings taking the window line further into the virtual space.

What makes this project special is that all the sketches, drawings, metalwork and Scagliola elements came from our company’s specialists. The iconostasis was entirely fabricated in our workshops and transported to the chapel building piece by piece. The Holy Doors and side doors were trimmed with Scagliola marble, to provide a surface uniform with the wall. We have also implemented an artistic concept of Scagliola rays radiating from the Holy Doors.

The historically unheated premises created a climatically challenging environment for Scagliola marble. In the course of time, the topmost Scagliola layer looked like crumpled paper. We applied a new conservation restoration technology to preserve the historical integrity of Scagliola marble.

Applying the unpolished granite, sandstone and limestone imitation techniques, it conducts tests to check the use of products on the exterior of buildings.

Far from sandstone texture, the artistic approach enabled us to imitate a more complicated surface resembling heat-treated granite. We fabricated the doorways and window frames for a private residence in Repino settlement reproducing the Dymovsky granite texture. Also, the façade of a new building in St. Petersburg was trimmed with weathered marble imitations.