soon deemed Mironov's plan inappropriate. The job passed to Pyotr Argunov, with consultancy by Francis Reid, manager of Tsaritsyno Park project. Reid and his associate, Nikolai Kuverin, worked in Ostankino in 1791–1794. A permanent garden manager, Robert Manners, was hired in 1796 and stayed in Ostankino for thirty years. Reid's input apparently concentrated on the immediate vicinity of the palace; regular English garden north from the palace was planted in 1797 by Manners. Two seasons of the theater The theater opened in summer of 1795, amazing the guests with unprecedented stage effects. Paul I, who ascended to the throne in November 1796, summoned Nikolai Sheremetev to Saint Petersburg. As one of the highest statesmen of the reign, Sheremetev now lived mostly in Saint Petersburg. The splendid theater operated publicly for just one season in spring 1797, with one show for emperor Paul and one for Stanisław Poniatowski, former king of partitioned Poland. In 1800 Sheremetev reduced the artistic company—barely sufficient for the private entertainment. The 1802 death of Sheremetev's wife, former actress Praskovya Kovaleva-Zhemchugova, spelled the end of the theater. Nikolai Sheremetev disbanded his theater company and abstained from public entertainment till the end of his life (1809). There were accounts of an 1801 show for Alexander I; however, modern scholars deem these reports incorrect: the show was planned but did not materialize. 19th to 21st centuries Sheremetev's heirs barely maintained the palace; in the 1830s they demolished the old living quarters dating back to the 17th century, and demolished some of the free-standing service buildings. The palace was revived for a short time in 1856, when Alexander II chose Ostankino as his temporary residence during his coronation. Ground floor rooms were converted to living quarters and redecorated, probably by Mikhail Bykovsky. Ostankino Park fell in neglect in the 1830s. In the second part of the 19th century parts of the park were sold to dacha developers and leased to farmers, while the greenhouses concentrated on commercial flower growing. At the end of the 19th century Sheremetev Park became a popular picnic destination; Sheremetevs built a temporary summer stage and ballroom. The palace, which went through another round of repairs and alterations in the 1870s, was opened for public viewing. In the Soviet period the nationalized palace operated as a museum of serf art. In 1935 the eastern part of former Ostankino park grounds were allotted to the emerging Agricultural