Shukhov Tower Foundation. Six great creations of the Russian genius Shukhov

Plan:

1 Main areas of activity of V. G. Shukhov
2 Development of the oil industry and thermal engines
3 Creation of building and engineering structures
- 3.1 last years of life
- 3.2 Photo gallery of designs
4 Named in honor of Shukhov and bear his name
5 Memory
6 Publications
7 Inventions of V. G. Shukhov

Introduction

Vladimir Grigorievich Shukhov(August 16 (28), 1853 - February 2, 1939) - Russian and Soviet engineer, architect, inventor, scientist; Corresponding Member (1928) and Honorary Member (1929) of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Hero of Labor. He is the author of projects and technical manager for the construction of the first Russian oil pipelines (1878) and an oil refinery with the first Russian oil cracking units (1931). He made outstanding contributions to the technology of the oil industry and pipeline transport.

V. G. Shukhov was the first in the world to use steel mesh shells for the construction of buildings and towers. Subsequently, high-tech architects, the famous Buckminster Fuller and Norman Foster, finally introduced mesh shells into modern construction practice, and in the 21st century, shells became one of the main means of shaping avant-garde buildings.

Shukhov introduced the form of a single-sheet hyperboloid of rotation into architecture, creating the world's first hyperboloid structures. Later, hyperboloid structures were used in their work by such famous architects as Gaudi, Le Corbusier and Oscar Niemeyer.

In 1876 he graduated with honors from the Imperial Moscow Technical School (now Moscow State Technical University) and completed a one-year internship in the USA.

1. Main areas of activity of V. G. Shukhov

Shukhov Tower on Shabolovka in Moscow

Design and construction of the first oil pipelines in Russia, development of theoretical and practical foundations for the construction of main pipeline systems.
Invention, creation and development of equipment and technologies for the oil industry, cylindrical oil storage tanks, river tankers; introduction of a new method of oil airlift.
Theoretical and practical development of the fundamentals of petroleum hydraulics.
Invention of a thermal oil cracking unit. Design and construction of an oil refinery with the first Russian cracking units.
Invention of original gas tank designs and development of standard designs for natural gas storage facilities with a capacity of up to 100 thousand cubic meters. m.
Invention and creation of new building structures and architectural forms: the world's first steel mesh shells and hyperboloid structures.
Development of methods for designing steel structures and structural mechanics.
Invention and creation of tubular steam boilers.
Design of large urban water supply systems.
Invention and creation of sea mines and platforms of heavy artillery systems, bateauports.

Member of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. Lenin Prize (1929). Hero of Labor (1932).

2. Development of the oil industry and thermal engines

Vladimir Grigorievich Shukhov is the author of the project and chief engineer of the construction of the first Russian oil pipeline Balakhany - Black City (Baku Oil Fields, 1878), built for the oil company "Br. Nobel". He designed and then supervised the construction of oil pipelines of the Br. Nobel", "Lianozov and Co." and the world's first heated fuel oil pipeline. Working in the oil fields in Baku, V. G. Shukhov developed the basics of lifting and pumping oil products, proposed a method for lifting oil using compressed air - airlift, developed a calculation method and technology for constructing cylindrical steel tanks for oil storage facilities, and invented a nozzle for burning fuel oil.

An ancient riveted Shukhov oil tank at the railway station in the city of Vladimir, 2007

In the article “Oil Pipelines” (1884) and in the book “Pipelines and Their Application in the Oil Industry” (1894), V. G. Shukhov gave precise mathematical formulas to describe the processes of oil and fuel oil flow through pipelines, creating the classical theory of oil pipelines. V. G. Shukhov is the author of the projects of the first Russian main pipelines: Baku - Batumi (883 km, 1907), Grozny - Tuapse (618 km, 1928).

In 1896, Shukhov invented a new water-tube steam boiler in horizontal and vertical versions (patents of the Russian Empire No. 15,434 and No. 15,435 dated June 27, 1896). In 1900, his steam boilers were awarded a high award - at the World Exhibition in Paris, Shukhov received a gold medal. Thousands of steam boilers were produced using Shukhov's patents before and after the revolution.

Construction of the world's first double-curvature mesh shells designed by V. G. Shukhov at the Vyksa Metallurgical Plant, Vyksa, 1897

Around 1885, Shukhov began building the first Russian river barge tankers on the Volga. Installation was carried out in precisely planned stages using standardized sections at the shipyards in Tsaritsyn (Volgograd) and Saratov.

V.G. Shukhov and his assistant S.P. Gavrilov invented an industrial process for producing motor gasoline - a continuously operating tubular thermal cracking unit for oil (patent of the Russian Empire No. 12926 dated November 27, 1891). The installation consisted of a furnace with tubular coil heaters, an evaporator and distillation columns.

V. G. Shukhov’s installation for thermal cracking of oil, 1931

Thirty years later, in 1923, a delegation from the Sinclair Oil Company arrived in Moscow to obtain information about oil cracking, invented by Shukhov. The scientist, having compared his 1891 patent with American patents of 1912-1916, proved that American cracking installations repeat his patent and are not original. In 1931, according to the design and technical leadership of V. G. Shukhov, the Soviet Cracking oil refinery was built in Baku, where for the first time in Russia Shukhov’s patent for the cracking process was used to create installations for the production of gasoline.

3. Creation of building and engineering structures

The world's first hyperboloid tower Shukhov, Nizhny Novgorod, photograph by A. O. Karelin, 1896

V. G. Shukhov is the inventor of the world's first hyperboloid structures and metal mesh shells of building structures (patents of the Russian Empire No. 1894, No. 1895, No. 1896; dated March 12, 1899, declared by V. G. Shukhov 03/27/1895 −01/11/1896 ). For the All-Russian Industrial and Art Exhibition of 1896 in Nizhny Novgorod, V. G. Shukhov built eight pavilions with the world's first mesh-shell ceilings, the world's first steel membrane ceiling (Shukhov Rotunda) and the world's first hyperboloid tower of amazing beauty ( was purchased after the exhibition by philanthropist Yu. S. Nechaev-Maltsov and moved to his estate Polibino (Lipetsk region), preserved to this day). The shell of a hyperboloid of revolution was a completely new form, never before used in architecture. After the Nizhny Novgorod Exhibition of 1896, V. G. Shukhov developed numerous designs of various mesh steel shells and used them in hundreds of structures: floors of public buildings and industrial facilities, water towers, sea lighthouses, masts of warships and power line supports. The 70-meter mesh steel Adzhigol lighthouse near Kherson is the tallest single-section hyperboloid structure by V. G. Shukhov. The radio tower on Shabolovka in Moscow became the tallest of the multi-section Shukhov towers (160 meters).

Construction of an oval pavilion with a mesh steel hanging covering for the 1896 All-Russian Exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod, photograph by A. O. Karelin, 1895

“Shukhov’s designs complete the efforts of 19th century engineers in creating an original metal structure and at the same time point the way far into the 20th century. They mark significant progress: the core lattice of traditional spatial trusses, based on main and auxiliary elements, was replaced by a network of equivalent structural elements" (Schädlich Ch., Das Eisen in der Architektur des 19.Jhdt., Habilitationsschrift, Weimar, 1967, S .104).

Shukhov also invented arched roof structures with cable ties. The arched glass vaults of V. G. Shukhov’s coverings over the largest Moscow stores have survived to this day: the Upper Trading Rows (GUM) and the Firsanovsky (Petrovsky) Passage. At the end of the 19th century, Shukhov, together with his employees, drafted a new water supply system for Moscow.

In 1897, Shukhov built a workshop with spatially curved mesh sail-shaped steel shells of double-curvature floors for the metallurgical plant in Vyksa. This workshop has been preserved at the Vyksa Metallurgical Plant to this day. This is the world's first arched convex ceiling with double curvature.

Pushkin Museum, 1912

From 1896 to 1930, over 200 steel mesh hyperboloid towers were built according to V. G. Shukhov’s designs. No more than 20 have survived to this day. The water tower in Nikolaev (built in 1907, its height with a tank is 32 meters) and the Adzhigol lighthouse in the Dnieper estuary (built in 1910, height - 70 meters) are well preserved.

V. G. Shukhov invented new designs of spatial flat trusses and used them in designing the coverings of the Museum of Fine Arts (Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts), the Moscow Main Post Office, the Bakhmetyevsky Garage and numerous other buildings. In 1912-1917 V.G. Shukhov designed the floors of the halls and the landing stage of the Kievsky station (formerly Bryansk) in Moscow and supervised its construction (span width - 48 m, height - 30 m, length - 230 m).

While working on the creation of load-bearing structures, Shukhov made a significant contribution to the final design of the buildings and unwittingly acted as an architect. In the architectural appearance of the pavilions of the All-Russian Industrial and Art Exhibition of 1896, GUM and the Kyiv Station, Shukhov’s authorship determined the most impressive features of the buildings.

During the First World War, V. G. Shukhov invented several designs of sea mines and platforms of heavy artillery systems, and designed the bathoports of sea docks.

Construction in 1919-1922. towers for the radio station on Shabolovka in Moscow was the most famous work of V. G. Shukhov. The tower is a telescopic structure 160 meters high, consisting of six mesh hyperboloid steel sections. After an accident during the construction of a radio tower, V. G. Shukhov was sentenced to death with a suspended sentence until the completion of construction. On March 19, 1922, radio broadcasts began and V.G. Shukhov was pardoned.

Now the Shukhov Tower is recognized by international experts as one of the highest achievements of engineering art. International scientific conference “Heritage at Risk. Preservation of 20th Century Architecture and World Heritage,” held in April 2006 in Moscow with the participation of more than 160 specialists from 30 countries, in its declaration named the Shukhov Tower among seven architectural masterpieces of the Russian avant-garde recommended for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

In 1927-1929 V.G. Shukhov, taking part in the implementation of the GOELRO plan, surpassed this tower structure by building three pairs of mesh multi-tiered hyperboloid supports for crossing the Oka River of the NiGRES power line in the area of the city of Dzerzhinsk near Nizhny Novgorod.

The Shukhov Towers in Moscow and on the Oka River are unique monuments of Russian avant-garde architecture.

The last major achievement of V. G. Shukhov in the field of construction technology was the straightening of the minaret of the ancient Ulugbek madrasah in Samarkand, which tilted during an earthquake.

3.1. last years of life

The last years of Vladimir Grigorievich’s life were overshadowed by the repressions of the 30s, constant fear for his children, unjustified accusations, the death of his wife, and leaving service under pressure from the bureaucratic regime. These events undermined his health and led to disappointment and depression. His last years are spent in solitude. He received only close friends and old colleagues at home, read and reflected.

3.2. Photo gallery of designs

4. Named in honor of Shukhov and bear his name

Hyperboloid mesh towers corresponding to the patent of V. G. Shukhov, built in Russia and abroad.
Belgorod State Technological University
Shukhov Street in Moscow (Former Sirotsky Lane). Renamed in 1963. On it (the street) there is the famous Shukhov radio tower.
Street in Tula
Park in the city of Grayvoron
School in the city of Grayvoron
Gold medal named after V. G. Shukhov, awarded for the highest engineering achievements
Shukhov Tower in Bukhara, Uzbekistan
Auditorium named after Shukhov at the Moscow Architectural Institute

5. Memory

On December 2, 2008, a monument to Vladimir Shukhov was unveiled on Turgenevskaya Square in Moscow. The team of authors who worked on the monument was headed by Salavat Shcherbakov. Shukhov is immortalized in bronze, in full growth with a roll of drawings and a cloak draped over his shoulders. Bronze benches are installed around the monument. Two of them are in the form of a split log with a vice, hammers and other carpentry tools lying on them; another one is a structure of wheels and gears.
On the territory of TsNIIPSK named after. A bust of Shukhov was erected by N.P. Melnikov.
In 1963, a USSR postage stamp dedicated to Shukhov was issued.

6. Publications

The hyperboloid Shukhov Tower of the port of Kobe withstood an earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale, Japan, 2005

Shukhov V.G., Mechanical structures of the oil industry, “Engineer”, volume 3, book. 13, No. 1, pp. 500-507, book. 14, No. 1, pp. 525-533, Moscow, 1883.
Shukhov V. G., Oil pipelines, “Bulletin of Industry”, No. 7, pp. 69 - 86, Moscow, 1884.
Shukhov V.G., Direct pumps and their compensation, 32 pp., “Bul. Polytechnic Society", No. 8, appendix, Moscow, 1893-1894.
Shukhov V.G., Pipelines and their application to the oil industry, 37 pp., Ed. Polytechnic Society, Moscow, 1895.
Shukhov V.G., Direct action pumps. Theoretical and practical data for their calculation. 2nd ed. with additions, 51 pp., Ed. Polytechnic Society, Moscow, 1897.
Shukhov V. G., Rafters. Research of rational types of rectilinear trusses and the theory of arched trusses, 120 pp., Ed. Polytechnic Society, Moscow, 1897.
Shukhov V.G., The combat power of the Russian and Japanese fleets during the war of 1904-1905, in the book: Khudyakov P.K. “The Path to Tsushima”, pp. 30 - 39, Moscow, 1907.
Shukhov V. G., Note on patents on the distillation and decomposition of oil at elevated pressure, “Oil and shale economy”, No. 10, pp. 481-482, Moscow, 1923.
Shukhov V.G., Note on oil pipelines, “Oil and shale economy”, volume 6, no. 2, pp. 308-313, Moscow, 1924.
Shukhov V.G., Selected works, volume 1, “Structural mechanics”, 192 pp., ed. A. Yu. Ishlinsky, Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow, 1977.
Shukhov V.G., Selected works, volume 2, “Hydraulic engineering”, 222 pp., ed. A. E. Sheindlina, USSR Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 1981.
Shukhov V.G., Selected works, volume 3, “Oil refining. Thermal engineering", 102 pp., ed. A. E. Sheindlina, USSR Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 1982.

7. Inventions of V. G. Shukhov

Hyperboloid Adzhigol lighthouse designed by V. G. Shukhov near Kherson, 1911

1. A number of early inventions and technologies of the oil industry, in particular, technologies for the construction of oil pipelines and reservoirs, are not formalized by privileges and are described by V. G. Shukhov in the work “Mechanical structures of the oil industry” (magazine “Engineer”, volume 3, book 13, No. 1, pp. 500-507, book 14, No. 1, pp. 525-533, Moscow, 1883) and subsequent works on structures and equipment of the oil industry.
2. Apparatus for continuous fractional distillation of oil. Privilege of the Russian Empire No. 13200 dated December 31, 1888 (co-author F.A. Inchik).
3. Airlift pump. Privilege of the Russian Empire No. 11531 for 1889.
4. Hydraulic reflux condenser for distillation of oil and other liquids. Privilege of the Russian Empire No. 9783 dated September 25, 1890 (co-author F.A. Inchik).
5. Cracking process (installation for oil distillation with decomposition). Privilege of the Russian Empire No. 12926 dated November 27, 1891 (co-author S. P. Gavrilov).
6. Tubular steam boiler. Privilege of the Russian Empire No. 15434 dated June 27, 1896.
7. Vertical tubular boiler. Privilege of the Russian Empire No. 15435 dated June 27, 1896.
8. Mesh coverings for buildings. Privilege of the Russian Empire No. 1894 dated March 12, 1899. Cl. 37a, 7/14.
9. Mesh arched coverings. Privilege of the Russian Empire No. 1895 dated March 12, 1899. Cl. 37a, 7/08.
10. Hyperboloid structures (openwork tower). Privilege of the Russian Empire No. 1896 dated March 12, 1899. Cl. 37f,15/28.
11. Water tube boiler. Privilege of the Russian Empire No. 23839 for 1913. Class. 13a, 13.
12. Water tube boiler. USSR Patent No. 1097 for 1926. Class. 13a,13.
13. Water tube boiler. USSR Patent No. 1596 for 1926. Class. 13a, 7/10.
14. Air economizer. USSR Patent No. 2520 for 1927. Class. 24k, 4.
15. A device for releasing liquid from vessels with lower pressure into a medium with higher pressure. USSR Patent No. 4902 for 1927. Class. 12g,2/02.
16. Cushion for sealing devices for pistons of dry gas tanks. USSR Patent No. 37656 for 1934. Class. 4 s, 35.
17. A device for pressing sealing rings for pistons of dry gas tanks against the tank wall. USSR Patent No. 39038 for 1938. Class. 4 s.35
18. A device for pressing sealing rings for pistons of dry gas tanks against the tank wall. USSR Patent No. 39039 for 1938. Class. 4 s.35

Literature

The monument of federal significance, the world's first hyperboloid structure, installed by V. G. Shukhov in 1896 in Polibino, requires urgent emergency repairs.

The Shukhov Tower in Moscow is currently inaccessible to tourists.

One of the two state-protected Shukhov towers on the Oka River was deliberately destroyed in 2005. Photo from 1988.

Arnautov L. I., Karpov Y. K. The story of a great engineer. - M.: Moscow worker, 1978. - 240 p.
Shammazov A. M. et al. History of the oil and gas business in Russia. - M.: Chemistry, 2001. - 316 p. - ISBN 5-7245-1176-2
Khan-Magomedov S. O. One hundred masterpieces of the Soviet architectural avant-garde. - M.: URSS, 2004. - ISBN 5-354-00892-1
V. G. Shukhov (1853-1939). The art of construction. / Rainer Graefe, Ottmar Perchi, F.V. Shukhov, M.M. Gappoev, etc. - M.: Mir, 1994. - 192 p. - ISBN 5-03-002917-6.
Vladimir Grigorievich Shukhov. The first engineer of Russia. / E. M. Shukhova. - M.: Publishing house. MSTU, 2003. - 368 p. - ISBN 5-7038-2295-5.
V. G. Shukhov - an outstanding engineer and scientist: Proceedings of the Joint Scientific Session of the USSR Academy of Sciences, dedicated to the scientific and engineering creativity of honorary academician V. G. Shukhov. - M.: Nauka, 1984. - 96 p.
Documentary heritage of the outstanding Russian engineer V. G. Shukhov in the archives (interarchival reference book) / Ed. Shaposhnikov A. S., Medvedeva G. A.; Russian State Archive of Scientific and Technical Documentation (RGANTD). - M.: Publishing house. RGANTD, 2008. - 182 p.

(English)

Peter Gössel, Gabriele Leuthäuser, Eva Schickler: “Architecture in the 20th century”, Taschen Verlag; 1990, ISBN 3-8228-1162-9 and ISBN 3-8228-0550-5
“The Nijni-Novgorod exhibition: Water tower, room under construction, springing of 91 feet span”, “The Engineer”, No. 19.3.1897, P.292-294, London, 1897.
Elizabeth C. English, "Invention of Hyperboloid Structures", Metropolis & Beyond, 2005.
William Craft Brumfield, "The Origins of Modernism in Russian Architecture", University of California Press, 1991, ISBN 0-520-06929-3.
“Arkhitektura i mnimosti”: The origins of Soviet avant-garde rationalist architecture in the Russian mystical-philosophical and mathematical intellectual tradition", Elizabeth Cooper English, Ph. D., a dissertation in architecture, 264 p., University of Pennsylvania, 2000 .
Karl-Eugen Kurrer, "The History of the Theory of Structures: From Arch Analysis to Computational Mechanics", 2008, ISBN 978-3-433-01838-5

(German)

“Vladimir G. Suchov 1853-1939. Die Kunst der sparsamen Konstruktion.”, Rainer Graefe, Ph. D., und andere, 192 S., Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart, 1990, ISBN 3-421-02984-9.
Jesberg, Paulgerd Die Geschichte der Bauingenieurkunst, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart (Germany), ISBN 3-421-03078-2, 1996; pp. 198-9.
Ricken, Herbert Der Bauingenieur, Verlag für Bauwesen, Berlin (Germany), ISBN 3-345-00266-3, 1994; pp. 230.

(Italian)

“Vladimir G. Shukhov e la leggerezza dell’acciaio”, Fausto Giovanardi, Borgo San Lorenzo, 2007.

(French)

Picon, Antoine (dir.), "L'art de l'ingenieur: constructeur, entrepreneur, inventor", Éditions du Center Georges Pompidou, Paris, 1997, ISBN 2-85850-911-5.

Notes

Hyperboloid Shukhov 610-meter TV Tower in Guangzhou, China, 2010

Vladimir Grigorievich Shukhov (August 16, 1853 - February 2, 1939) - great engineer, inventor, scientist; honorary member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Hero of Labor. He is the author of projects and technical manager for the construction of an oil refinery with the first Russian oil cracking units and oil pipelines. Vladimir Grigorievich made an outstanding contribution to the technology of the oil industry and pipeline transport. He was the first to use steel mesh shells for the construction of buildings and towers. After him, high-tech architects, the famous Buckminster Fuller and Norman Foster, finally introduced mesh shells into construction practice, and in the 21st century. shells became one of the main means of shaping avant-garde buildings. Shukhov introduced the form of a single-sheet hyperboloid of rotation into architecture, creating the world's first hyperboloid structures. Later, hyperboloid structures were used by such famous architects as Gaudi and Le Corbusier.

Born in the city of Grayvoron, Kursk province (now in the Belgorod region) into a noble family. He spent his childhood years on his mother's family estate, Pozhidaevka. He showed a knack for design since childhood. In 1871, after graduating with honors from a gymnasium in St. Petersburg in 1871, he brilliantly passed the entrance exams to the Imperial Moscow Technical School (now the Moscow Higher Technical School named after N.E. Bauman), receiving the right to study at public expense. While still a student, he made his first invention - a nozzle for burning liquid fuel (which was highly praised by D.I. Mendeleev and was produced in thousands of copies long before the Laval nozzle). In 1876 he graduated from college with a gold medal and completed a one-year internship in the USA.

Shukhov is the inventor of the world's first hyperboloid structures and metal mesh shells of building structures (patents of the Russian Empire No. 1894, No. 1895, No. 1896; dated March 12, 1899, declared by V. G. Shukhov 03/27/1895 - 01/11/1896). V. G. Shukhov developed numerous designs of various mesh steel shells and used them in hundreds of structures: floors of public buildings and industrial facilities, water towers, sea lighthouses, masts of warships and power line supports. The 70-meter mesh steel Adzhigol lighthouse near Kherson is the tallest single-section hyperboloid structure by V. G. Shukhov. The radio tower on Shabolovka in Moscow became the tallest of the multi-section Shukhov towers (160 meters).

The world's first steel mesh tower in the shape of a hyperboloid of revolution was built by Shukhov for the largest pre-revolutionary All-Russian Industrial and Art Exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod, held in 1896.

Shukhov's hyperboloid tower at the All-Russian Industrial and Art Exhibition in Nizhny Novgord.
On the left is a photo from the late 19th century. On the right is a modern image

The single-sheet hyperboloid of rotation of the first Shukhov tower is formed by 80 straight steel profiles, the ends of which are attached to ring bases. The mesh steel shell of diamond-shaped intersecting profiles is reinforced with 8 parallel steel rings located between the bases. The height of the hyperboloid shell of the tower is 25.2 meters (excluding the heights of the foundation, reservoir and viewing superstructure). The diameter of the lower ring base is 10.9 meters, the upper one is 4.2 meters. The maximum diameter of the tank is 6.5 m, height is 4.8 m. A beautiful steel spiral staircase rises from the ground level from the center of the base of the tower to the level of the bottom of the tank. In the central part of the tank there is a cylindrical passage with a straight staircase leading to an observation deck on the upper surface of the tank.

“Shukhov’s designs complete the efforts of 19th century engineers in creating an original metal structure and at the same time point the way far into the 20th century. They mark significant progress: the core lattice of the traditional spatial trusses of that time, based on the main and auxiliary elements, was replaced by a network of equivalent structural elements.”

Vladimir Grigorievich Shukhov was the first in the world to use hyperbolic structures in construction, 16 years earlier than the brilliant Spanish architect Antonio Gaudi.

Shukhov also invented arched roof structures with cable ties. At the end of the 19th century, he and his employees drafted a new water supply system for Moscow. More than 180 steel bridges were built according to V. G. Shukhov’s designs.

In 1897, Shukhov built a workshop for the metallurgical plant in Vyksa with spatially curved mesh sail-shaped steel shells of double-curvature floors, which has been preserved at the Vyksa metallurgical plant to this day. This is the world's first arched convex ceiling with double curvature. V. G. Shukhov invented new designs of spatial flat trusses and used them in designing the coverings of the Museum of Fine Arts (Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts), the Moscow Main Post Office, the Bakhmetyevsky Garage and numerous other buildings. In 1912-1917 V. G. Shukhov designed the floors of the halls and landing stage of the Kievsky railway station (formerly Bryansk) in Moscow and supervised its construction (span width - 48 m, height - 30 m, length - 230 m). While working on the creation of load-bearing structures, he made a significant contribution to the final design of the buildings and unwittingly acted as an architect. In the architectural appearance of the pavilions of the All-Russian Industrial and Art Exhibition of 1896, GUM and the Kyiv Station, Shukhov’s authorship determined the most impressive features of the buildings.

During the First World War, V. G. Shukhov invented several designs of sea mines and platforms of heavy artillery systems, and designed the bathoports of sea docks.

Construction in 1919-1922 towers for the radio station on Shabolovka in Moscow was the most famous work of V. G. Shukhov. The tower is a telescopic structure 160 meters high, consisting of six mesh hyperboloid steel sections. After an accident during the construction of a radio tower, V. G. Shukhov was sentenced to death with a suspended sentence until the completion of construction. On March 19, 1922, radio broadcasts began and V.G. Shukhov was pardoned.

Regular broadcasts of Russian television through transmitters at the Shukhov Tower began on March 10, 1939. For many years, the image of the Shukhov Tower was the emblem of Soviet television and the screensaver of many television programs, including the famous “Blue Light”. Now the Shukhov Tower is recognized by international experts as one of the highest achievements of the art of construction and is classified as a world cultural heritage site.

In 1927-1929 V. G. Shukhov, taking part in the implementation of the GOELRO plan, surpassed this tower structure by building three pairs of mesh multi-tiered hyperboloid supports for crossing the Oka River of the NiGRES power line in the area of the city of Dzerzhinsk near Nizhny Novgorod.

The Shukhov Towers in Moscow and on the Oka River are unique monuments of Russian avant-garde architecture.

The last major achievement of V. G. Shukhov was the straightening of the minaret of the ancient Ulugbek madrasah in Samarkand, which tilted during an earthquake.

V. G. Shukhov is a cyclist. Photo by unknown author from the 1880s.

Vladimir Grigorievich loved music and literature , spoke ten foreign languages. He was devoted to sports, for which he always found time (one year he was even the champion of Moscow in bicycle racing). But his greatest hobbies were chess and photography. Shukhov jokingly said: “I am an engineer by profession, but at heart I am a photographer.” His camera captured many historical episodes from the life of Moscow. Shukhov's knowledge, work and experience were highly appreciated: he was elected a member of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the workers of Moscow in 1927 and 1928 elected him a member of the Moscow Council of Workers' Deputies, in 1928 he was awarded the title of Hero of Labor, and in 1929 one of the first - the title of Honored Worker science and technology, laureate of the Lenin Prize. Academicians P. P. Lazarev and A. N. Krylov, in connection with the presentation of Shukhov as a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1927, wrote: “All of Shukhov’s work is based on his scientific works and is the result of deep theoretical thought.” In 1929 he was elected honorary academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

Shukhov died on February 2, 1939. He was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery more

Monument to Shukhov on Sretensky Boulevard

Brilliant Russian engineer

Today in Russia everyone knows the name of the American inventor Edison, but only a few know who Vladimir Shukhov is, and yet his inventive gift is incomparably higher and more significant. For decades, the merits of the Russian genius were hushed up and downplayed.

Intuitive insight and fundamental scientific erudition, ideal engineering logic and deep spirituality are organically combined in the work of Vladimir Grigorievich.

Vladimir Shukhov was born in the Belgorod district of the Kursk province. His brilliant mathematical abilities manifested themselves very early, and therefore the choice of profession for the young man was not difficult. The most fundamental physico-mathematical training was provided at that time by the Moscow Imperial Technical School, and Vladimir Shukhov entered there.

The atmosphere that reigned there did not at all encourage students to be creative: petty supervision, infringement of basic rights, barracks discipline - but despite everything, Vladimir Grigorievich worked so brightly and selflessly that several prominent scientists and teachers of the school began to single him out. Having received a gold medal upon graduation and an offer to stay on to teach, the young man expresses a desire to be part of a scientific delegation to go to America, to the World Exhibition of Industrial Achievements. On this trip, Shukhov met the Russian emigrant A.V. Bari, an outstanding engineer and talented manager who had been living in the USA for several years. Transatlantic impressions of railways and metallurgical plants, technical innovations and architectural wonders influenced all subsequent work of Vladimir Grigorievich.

Late 1870s - Russia is on the verge of rapid industrial takeoff. Many enterprising Russians living in other countries flocked to their homeland, among them A.V. Bari, who at that time held the post of chief engineer of the Nobel Brothers Partnership. He attracted to cooperation the young promising Shukhov, who had so attracted him back in America. This symbiosis of a successful manager and a brilliant engineer lasted 35 years and brought enormous benefits to Russia.

For the first time, Vladimir Shukhov carried out, for example, industrial flaring of liquid fuel using a nozzle he invented, created a universal method for calculating water pipelines, and according to his designs, about 200 towers of original design were built in Russia and abroad, including the famous Shabolovskaya radio tower in Moscow, under His leadership designed and built about 500 bridges across the Oka, Volga, Yenisei and other rivers of our country. He designed the rotating stage of the Moscow Art Theater and figured out how to save the famous minaret of the Samarkand madrasah... Only from 1880 to 1895, Vladimir Shukhov received nine patents that have not lost their significance to this day. The All-Russian Exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod in 1896 was a true triumph of the engineering thought of this “man of the Renaissance,” where more than four hectares of area were built up with his designs, each of which was an achievement of science and technology.

And after the October Revolution, large-scale matters were in store for Shukhov’s powerful intellect. All major construction projects of the first five-year plans of the Country of Soviets were associated with the name of Vladimir Grigorievich - Magnitka and Kuznetskstroy, the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant and the Dynamo Plant, the restoration of facilities destroyed during the civil war, the first main pipelines...

Vladimir Shukhov's relations with the new government were far from cloudless, but it never occurred to him to leave his country, to go to calm Europe, where the great engineer was repeatedly invited. “We must work regardless of politics. Towers, boilers, rafters are always needed,” this was the position of Vladimir Grigorievich.

Today, in the 21st century, the memory of the great inventor, engineer, citizen Vladimir Shukhov must be preserved for future generations, for whom it will be important to know that many of the greatest discoveries of the past and the century before last came to us not from overseas or from Europe, but were born Russian genius, patriot of his Fatherland.

Much of what Vladimir Grigorievich did was “for the first time in the world.” A simple enumeration of the areas of his activity is amazing: steam boilers and oil refineries, pipelines and oil storage tanks, water towers and oil barges, blast furnaces and metal floors of workshops and public buildings, grain elevators and railway bridges, lighthouses and tram depots, factories. refrigerators and mines, and much more, very different.

Almanac "Great Russia. Personalities. Year 2003. Volume II", 2004, ASMO-press

Inventor of nozzles - Shukhov Vladimir Grigorievich

Today in Russia, probably everyone is familiar with the name of the American inventor Edison, but only a few know V.G. Shukhov, whose engineering and inventive gift is incomparably higher and more significant. The reason for ignorance is the unforgivable sin of many years of silence. We are obliged to eliminate the lack of information about our outstanding fellow countryman. V. G. Shukhov is for us and for the whole world the personification of genius in the art of engineering, just as A. S. Pushkin is rightfully recognized as the poetic genius of Russia, P. I. Tchaikovsky is its musical pinnacle, and M. V. Lomonosov - a scientific genius. The work of Vladimir Grigorievich organically combines intuitive insight and fundamental scientific erudition, subtle artistic taste and ideal engineering logic, sober calculation and deep spirituality

Vladimir Grigorievich Shukhov was born in 1853 in the town of Grayvoron, Kursk province, and spent his childhood here. He lived at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. His contemporaries called him “an academician of engineering rank,” and his descendants called him “one of the best engineers of all times.” This is not an exaggeration. Nature has given V.G. an unusually generous gift. Shukhov's talents, bright and multifaceted. Builders consider him the greatest specialist in the field of structural mechanics; petrochemists - the creator of the oil industry; power engineering - an outstanding heating engineer. A simple listing of his areas of interest and areas of practical activity is sufficient. As a student in the first special class, Vladimir Grigorievich made his first practically valuable invention: he developed his own design of a steam nozzle for burning liquid fuel and made its experimental model in the school workshops. This invention was highly appreciated by D.I. Mendeleev, who even placed an image of Shukhov’s nozzle on the cover of the book “Fundamentals of the Factory Industry” (1897). The principles of this design system are still used today. According to experts, the Shukhov nozzle already at that distant time - and it began to be produced on an industrial scale in 1880 - was not only economical, but also solved the environmental problem of burning oil in the most environmentally friendly manner. According to Shukhov's system, steam boilers, oil refineries and cracking installations, pipelines, oil tanks, oil and water pumps, nozzles, barges for transporting oil, air heaters, spatial rod systems and suspended metal ceilings were created. V.G. Shukhov was not only an engineer-inventor, but also the author of projects for many buildings and structures: blast furnaces, forges and copper foundries, sleeper rolling plants, grain elevators, railway bridges, hangars, overhead cranes, aerial cableways, lighthouses, radio towers, power transmission masts , chimneys... He showed his talent in a very special area: in 1932 (he was then almost eighty years old), the engineer, using an original and bold method, straightened the famous minaret of the Ulugbek Madrasah in Samarkand, damaged by an earthquake.

We still, sometimes unconsciously, benefit from the results of his engineering genius. When we drive a car, we don’t really think about the fact that the cracking process for producing gasoline was proposed by Shukhov. When we are in Moscow, we go to the world famous GUM or the Kievsky railway station and admire the almost weightless and reliable ceilings of these and many other structures with an area of up to several thousand square meters, the author of which is V.G. Shukhov. The symbol of the Shukhov buildings is the Shabolovskaya Tower, which has been used for more than 85 years to install antennas for sound and television broadcasting and still remains in operation. This design is recognized by international experts as one of the highest achievements of the art of construction and is classified as a world cultural heritage site.

Vladimir Grigorievich Shukhov is called differently. But at the beginning of the twentieth century, this was the only way - the First Engineer of Russia. As he himself said, he owes this high title to the fact that from the very beginning of his engineering career he REFUSED TO IMITATE AND REPEAT FOREIGN SAMPLES and began to create in an original, purely Russian style, relying on the best traditions of Lomonosov, Mendeleev, Kazakov, Kulibin. All his engineering and scientific solutions are based on the experience of the people, on the achievements of Russian scientists: Zhukovsky, Chebyshev, Chaplygin, Letniy, Markovnikov. The originality and progressiveness of his engineering solutions made it possible for Russia to resist the expansion of foreign technical thought and overtake it for many years. “Man - factory” was called during his lifetime, because he alone, with just a few assistants, was able to accomplish as much as a dozen research institutes could do. So, Shukhov’s incomplete “alphabet”, invented, calculated and created by him. We all know these technical creatures. But few people know, unfortunately, that they were first created by a Russian and in Russia!

A - familiar aircraft hangars;

B - oil barges, butoports (huge hydraulic gates);

B - aerial cable cars, so popular in the ski resorts of Austria and Switzerland; the world's first free-hanging metal floors for workshops and stations; water towers; water pipelines in Moscow, Tambov, Kyiv, Kharkov, Voronezh;

G - gas holders (gas storage facilities);

D - blast furnaces, high-rise chimneys made of brick and metal;

F - railway bridges over the Yenisei, Oka, Volga and other rivers;

Z - dredgers;

K - steam boilers, forge shops, caissons;

M - open hearth furnaces, power transmission masts, copper foundries, overhead cranes, mines;

N - oil pumps, which made it possible to extract oil from a depth of 2-3 km, oil refineries, the world's first oil pipeline, 11 km long!!! It was built in Baku: “Balakhany - Black City”;

P - warehouses, specially equipped ports;

R - the world's first cylindrical radio towers, including the well-known Shukhovskaya in Moscow;

T - tankers, pipelines;

Ш - sleeper rolling plants;

E - elevators, including “million-dollar” ones in Saratov and Kozlov.

DID YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS, dear readers?! NO SYNONYMS HERE. Each "letter" includes many variations and types. Each of them could become a source of national pride for any nation.

After all, for example, the entire oil industry in Azerbaijan was able, in principle, to rise, and is now holding on only thanks to the inventions of the Russian Engineer Vladimir Grigorievich Shukhov! What about Azerbaijan, Russian industry rose from devastation in the 20-30s largely thanks to its inventions and engineering developments. He did not emigrate anywhere and despised the idea. He was always only with Russia! Shukhov brilliantly spoke three foreign languages, considered it impossible for himself to sit in the presence of a woman; he made hundreds of inventions, but only patented 15 of them - he had no time to do this. And he wrote only 20 scientific papers, because he worked and worked for practice, for life, which constantly threw tasks at him.

By the way, the Americans were the first to steal Shukhov’s patent for an oil refinery installation. After all, this installation opened a new era in oil refining and the production of gasoline and all other components from it. The American “inventors” of such a device called themselves Barton, Dabbs, Clark, Hall, Ritman, Ebil, Gray, Grinsith, McCom, Isom. America “didn’t remember” about Shukhov’s patents. The second who stole his inventions were the Germans. And when Shukhov, outraged by the unceremonious theft of his ideas for oil tanks already implemented in Russia, wrote a letter to a certain German engineer Stiegletz, he received a sweet answer: “It is unlikely that the famous engineer Shukhov will be especially important for him to have this issue recognized.” This is what civilized countries do with Russian inventors when they really need it. But still, the Americans shocked Shukhov in this sense. And not some overseas swindlers, but completely respectable rich people. In the hungry year of 1923, a commission from Sinclair, a competitor of Rockefeller (a familiar name) in the oil business, came to Shukhov in Russia. The official goal of the commission is to find out the real priority of the invention of cracking, that is, that same oil refining. Sinclair was unhappy that Rockefeller appropriated the right to use it only for his company. Shukhov in a conversation, as they say, on his fingers, with documents, proved his priority. Do you know what the “respected” Americans did? At the end of the conversation, they took out wads of their dollars from their briefcase and placed the sum of $50,000 in front of Shukhov. In general, they decided that the Russian brilliant engineer would immediately prostrate himself in front of their money. Shukhov turned purple and said in an icy voice that he was satisfied with the salary he received from the Russian state, and the gentlemen could take the money

Ladimir Shukhov was called by his contemporaries a “factory man” and a “Russian Leonardo.” He developed the oil industry and construction, heating engineering and shipbuilding, military and restoration affairs. According to his drawings, oil pipelines were laid and river tankers were designed, towers were erected and factories were built.

“Man of Life” Vladimir Shukhov

Vladimir Shukhov was born in 1853 in the district town of Grayvoron, Kursk province. His mother came from an old noble family, his father worked as a lawyer and auditor at the Ministry of Finance. The family was not rich and lived on the salary of the head of the family. My father was often transferred during his service: first to Kursk, then to St. Petersburg.

At the age of 11, Vladimir Shukhov entered the Fifth St. Petersburg Gymnasium. Even then, the boy showed an ability for the exact sciences, especially mathematics. In fourth grade, he created his own proof of the Pythagorean theorem - logical and concise.

In 1871, Shukhov graduated from high school with honors. He entered the Moscow Imperial Technical School (today - Bauman Moscow State Technical University). Among his teachers were the famous mathematician Alexei Letnikov, a scientist in the field of railway transport mechanics Dmitry Lebedev, and the founder of modern hydro- and aerodynamics Nikolai Zhukovsky. They required students to have an impeccable knowledge of physics and chemistry, mathematics and architecture. Vladimir Shukhov was a diligent student: he read additional literature and worked enthusiastically in the school’s workshops. In 1874 he created his first invention, which was practically valuable. It was a steam nozzle for burning liquid fuel. This small detail made the process safer, more convenient and more economical.

Vladimir Grigorievich Shukhov - high school student. Photo: arran.ru

Vladimir Grigorievich Shukhov is a student at the Moscow Imperial Technical School in Moscow. 1875. Photo: arran.ru

Vladimir Grigorievich Shukhov - engineer. 1877. Photo: arran.ru

In 1876, Shukhov graduated from college with a gold medal. Nikolai Zhukovsky invited him to teach and do science together, and the famous mathematician Pafnuty Chebyshev invited him to work at St. Petersburg University. However, Shukhov was not attracted to theoretical research; he dreamed of inventing. "I am a man of life"“, he said, that’s why he decided to become a practical engineer.

In the same year, Vladimir Shukhov, as the best graduate of the Imperial School, went to the USA for a year as part of a scientific delegation. There was a lot to learn in America: the latest technical ideas were rapidly introduced here, and huge amounts of money from various charitable foundations were spent on engineering developments.

Founder of the oil industry

A year later, Vladimir Shukhov returned to St. Petersburg, where he got a job in the drawing bureau of the Warsaw-Vienna Railway. Gray everyday life began. However, soon the life of the young engineer changed dramatically. He was found by successful entrepreneur Alexander Bari, whom Shukhov met back in America. Bari concluded a lucrative contract with the Nobel brothers partnership, owners of the Baku oil fields, and invited Shukhov to head the branch of his company in Baku. The young engineer agreed.

When Shukhov arrived at the Baku field, he saw disorganization, numerous fires and oil slush. Oil was extracted in buckets and transported in barrels. Kerosene was then considered the only useful product from it - it was used for lighting needs. And gasoline and fuel oil obtained from the production of kerosene were considered industrial waste. Gasoline evaporated, and fuel oil was poured into pits, which polluted the surrounding nature.

The twenty-five-year-old engineer began to introduce his innovations into production. He installed steam nozzles and cylindrical tanks on the equipment, and designed the first pipeline for pumping oil.

Oil station of the V.I. Partnership Ragozin and Co. in Konstantinov on the Volga. Built according to the design of V.G. Shukhov construction office of engineer A.V. Bari. 1881. Photo: arran.ru

Reservoirs of the Lebed Shipping Company Partnership in Tsaritsyn on the Volga. Built according to the design of V.G. Shukhov construction office of engineer A.V. Bari. 1882. Photo: arran.ru

The beginning of the oil pipeline route, about 3 kilometers long, in the city of Batumi from the Y. Nashauer reservoir station. Built according to the design of V.G. Shukhova. 1886. Photo: arran.ru

But most importantly, Vladimir Shukhov discovered the cracking process, which made it possible to separate oil into fractions. Now, when distilling it, it was possible to obtain not only kerosene, but also motor oils, diesel fuel, fuel oil, and gasoline. The world's first industrial installation for continuous thermal cracking of oil was designed and patented by Vladimir Shukhov together with his assistant Sergei Gavrilov in 1891. His invention began to be used more widely a little later, when a large number of gasoline-powered cars appeared.

Vladimir Shukhov worked in the Bari office for almost half a century. Here he had the freedom of action so necessary for any inventor.

"Factory Man"

In the early 1890s, a period of greatest prosperity began in the life of Vladimir Shukhov, which one of his employees later called “a complete triumph of intelligence and wit.” The engineer began to devote more time to the field of metal structures. Shukhov developed this interest when he was working on the design of the ceilings of the Upper Trading Rows (today GUM) on Red Square in Moscow. For the roof of the building, he created unique translucent ceilings - arched truss structures. The weight of the iron parts of the rafters was more than 800 tons, but, as composer Alexander Razmadze wrote, “the appearance of the grid of floors was something so light and thin that it looked from below like a cobweb with glass embedded in it”.

In 1896, at the All-Russian Art and Industrial Exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod, Vladimir Shukhov presented several of his inventions in the field of metal structures: the already well-known arched truss and new mesh coverings. Also at the exhibition was a hyperboloid water tower invented by an engineer. To create it, Shukhov took two metal rings and connected them with equal-sized slings, and then rotated the rings relative to each other. Absolutely straight lines formed a curved figure - a single-sheet hyperboloid. The design invented by Shukhov was elegant and durable, yet simple and cheap to assemble: its construction required only metal base rings, straight slats and fasteners.

The building of the construction and engineering departments with a mesh covering system engineer Vladimir Shukhov. Photo: arran.ru

The water tower was built according to the design of engineer V.G. Shukhov for the All-Russian Industrial and Art Exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod. Photo: arran.ru

Bridge over the Yenisei River in Krasnoyarsk. Built according to the design of V.G. Shukhova. Construction manager Evgeniy Karlovich Knorre, civil engineer. 1899. Photo: arran.ru

After the Nizhny Novgorod exhibition, Vladimir Shukhov began to receive numerous orders. The engineer designed and built hundreds of water towers, built several railway bridges with spans, and drew up a new water supply project for Moscow. He invented new designs of spatial flat trusses and used them in designing the coverings of the Museum of Fine Arts (Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts), the Moscow Main Post Office, the Bakhmetyevsky Garage, the halls and landing stages of the Kievsky Station in Moscow.

After the coup d'etat of 1917, Shukhov rejected numerous invitations from abroad. He wrote in his diary: “We must work regardless of politics. Towers, boilers, rafters are needed, and we will be needed". The Bari company and plant were nationalized, Shukhov was evicted from the mansion. Difficult times have come for the engineer and his family.

“Father [Vladimir Shukhov] had a hard time under Soviet rule. He was an opponent of autocracy and did not put up with it during the Stalinist era, which he foresaw long before it began. I didn’t know Lenin closely, but I had no love for him. He told me more than once: “Understand that everything we do is not needed by anyone or for anything. Our actions are controlled by ignorant people with red books, pursuing unclear goals.” Several times my father was on the brink of destruction.”
Sergey Shukhov

In 1920, Shukhov’s youngest son went to prison. To free him, the engineer transferred all his patents worth 50 million in gold to the Soviet state. The son was released, but he was so exhausted and exhausted that he never came to his senses and died. That same year, the engineer’s mother died, followed by his wife.

Shabolovskaya television tower. Built according to the design of Vladimir Shukhov. 1920–1922. Photo: places.moscow

However, Vladimir Shukhov continued to work hard, for which his contemporaries nicknamed him “the factory man.” The inventor designed a tower for the radio station on Shabolovka in Moscow: it consisted of six mesh hyperboloid steel sections 160 meters high. On March 19, 1922, the first radio broadcasts began to be broadcast from it. An architectural masterpiece of the avant-garde era not only fulfills its functions - the Shukhov Tower is included in the List of cultural monuments with protected status and is recommended for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Hyperboloid towers of this design are still being built today in many countries around the world.

All major Soviet construction projects of the first five-year plans were associated with the name of Vladimir Shukhov. The engineer participated in the implementation of the country's electrification plan: he created the tower structure of the power transmission line across the Oka River. He designed the open-hearth shops of the Vyksa, Petrovsky, Taganrog plants, the Azovstal plant, and launched the Soviet Cracking plant in Baku.

In 1929, Vladimir Shukhov received the Lenin Prize for the invention of the oil cracking process, in 1932 - the star of the Hero of Labor and became a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences, and then an honorary academician. He continued to work until the end of his days.

Vladimir Shukhov died in 1939. He was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.

Vladimir Shukhov was the first in the world to create hyperboloid structures - mesh metal structures based on an open surface formed by rotating a hyperbola around its axis. Other achievements of the engineer include the design of the first Russian oil pipelines and oil refinery, an apparatus for continuous fractional distillation of oil, a tubular steam boiler and many other inventions. 1. The world's first hyperboloid design in Polibino. The world first became acquainted with the work of Vladimir Shukhov in the summer of 1896 at the All-Russian Industrial and Art Exhibition - the largest in pre-revolutionary Russia, which was held in Nizhny Novgorod. For this event, the architect built as many as eight pavilions with mesh ceilings and a hyperboloid tower, which became his calling card. The elegant water-pressure structure was crowned with a water tank that could hold six and a half thousand buckets. A spiral staircase led to the tank, along which anyone could climb to the observation deck. Needless to say, the unusual openwork steel tower became the “highlight” of the program and instantly attracted the attention of not only the townspeople, but also the philanthropist and glass king Yuri Nechaev-Maltsev. The successful entrepreneur purchased it at the end of the exhibition and took it to his estate in Polibino, in the Lipetsk region. The 25-meter structure still stands there today. 2. GUM. At the Nizhny Novgorod exhibition, Vladimir Shukhov presented an innovative approach to the use of mesh structures for floors and roofs of buildings. It was used in the Main Department Store (formerly Upper Trading Rows), built opposite the Kremlin. The glass roof of GUM is the work of a great master. It is based on a steel frame made of metal rods. More than 800,000 kg of metal were spent on its construction. But, despite such impressive figures, the semicircular openwork roof seems light and sophisticated. 3. Pushkin Museum named after A.S. Pushkin. This is perhaps the most famous building, in the construction of which Vladimir Shukhov took part. He was faced with a responsible task - to create durable roof coverings through which sunlight could enter. A hundred years ago, when the museum opened its doors, its design did not provide for electric lighting of the exhibition, so the halls had to be naturally lit. Luckily for Shukhov, one of the sponsors of the construction was Yuri Nechaev-Maltsev, who had previously purchased the architect’s first work. So Shukhov had excellent recommendations in his pocket. The three-tier metal and glass roof he created is called a monument to engineering genius. 4. Kyiv railway station in Moscow. The construction of the landing stage of the former Bryansk station took several years, from 1914 to 1918, in conditions of metal and labor shortages. When the work was completed, the glazed space above the platforms, 230 meters long, became the largest in Europe. The spectacular canopy of the Kievsky station was a metal-glass ceiling, which rested on steel arches. Standing on the platform, it’s hard to believe that a structure that weighs about 1,300 tons rises above you! 5. Tower on Shabolovka. Shukhov's universally recognized masterpiece was erected in 1919-1922. The initial project assumed that the tower would rise 350 meters and become a “competitor” to the Eiffel Tower (324 m). Despite the fact that the implementation of the plan required three times less metal than its French rival, it had to be reduced to 160 m (including traverses and flagpole). The reason for this was the civil war and, as a consequence, the lack of the required amount of steel. When the ambitious project was completed, the tower began working as intended - radio broadcasts began in 1922, and the first television broadcast took place in 1938. The airy, weightless structure inspired the writer Alexei Tolstoy to write the science fiction novel “Engineer Garin’s Hyperboloid,” which became a bestseller of that time. 6. Shukhov Tower on the Oka River. In 1929, 33 years after his high-profile debut in Nizhny Novgorod, Vladimir Shukhov returned to the city that brought him recognition. On the low bank of the Oka between Bogorodsk and Dzerzhinsk, according to his design, the world's only multi-section hyperboloid power transmission towers were installed. Of the three pairs of structures that supported the wires, only one has survived to this day. Shukhov’s creations were appreciated all over the world during the engineer’s lifetime, but even today his ideas are actively borrowed by famous architects. Examples of hyperboloid towers are found in Japan, Italy, Brazil, and Great Britain. His work is used by Ken Shuttleworth (Aspire Tower) and Norman Foster (covering the courtyard of the British Museum, the St. Mary Ax skyscraper 30). But the most famous example of the use of Shukhov’s patent is the 610-meter television tower in the Chinese city of Guangzhou - the world’s tallest mesh hyperboloid structure. It was erected for the 2010 Asian Games to broadcast this important sporting event.