Schädel, Johann Gottfried

Schädel, Johann Gottfried, b 1680 in Wandsbek, near Hamburg, Germany, d 21 February 1752 in Kyiv. German architect. He came to Russia in 1713 and oversaw the construction of palaces for Duke Aleksandr Menshikov on Vasilii Island, Saint Petersburg, in Oranienbaum, and in Kronshtadt. Later he worked with Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli on buildings in the Kremlin and elsewhere in Moscow (1729–31). After settling in Kyiv in 1731, he designed and built an additional story to the Kyivan Mohyla Academy (1732–40), the famous Great Bell Tower of the Kyivan Cave Monastery in transitional baroque-classicist style (1731–44), and, probably, the Zaborovsky Gate. He supervised the reconstruction of the bell tower of the Saint Sophia Cathedral (1736–40) and the Kyiv metropolitan's residence (1744–8). In his works he skillfully blended features of Western architecture with the Cossack baroque and motifs of folk ornamentation.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 4 (1993).]