Pietro Antonio Solari

Pietro Antonio Solari (Latin:Petrus Antonius Solarius Z. Davidov. Stars on the towers. (Звезды на башнях) Moscow, 1963] ) , also known as Pyotr Fryazin (c. 1445 – May 1493) was an Italian architect.

He was born in Carona, Ticino, and apprenticed under his father Guiniforte Solari, himself an architect and sculptor. In 1476, he was hired to continue the construction of the Duomo di Milano. Later on, he was in charge of several construction projects in Milan. In 1484 he sculpted a tomb in the Cathedral of Alessandria.

In 1487, he was invited to Russia by Ivan III to construct the walls and towers of the Moscow Kremlin. Within the next two years, Solari built most of the walls (excluding the western wall built by his successor Aleviz) and towers of the Kremlin, including the Borovitskaya, Konstantino-Eleninskaya, Spasskaya, Nikolskaya, and Corner Arsenalnaya towers. Engineering methods, technique and architectural forms, used by Solari, were reminiscent of the fortifications of Northern Italy.

On top of the Spasskie Gates there was inscribed the following inscription: "Ioannes Vasilii, dei gratia magnus dux Volodimeriae, Moscoviae...et aliarum, totius Russiae d-nus, anno 30 imperii sui hos turres condere jussit; et statuit Petrus-Antonius Solarius mediolanensis anno nativitatis domini 1491".

Together with Marco Ruffo, Solari also built the Palace of Facets in the Kremlin.

He died in Moscow in May 1493.

References

*cite book|title=Arte e artisti dei laghi lombardi|publisher=Noseda|location=Como|year=1959