The main facade of the Academy of Arts overlooks the Neva. The building was designed by the architects Alexander Kokorinov and Jean Batist Vallin de la Mothe in 1764. The construction of the building was finished in 1788. It is one of the vivid examples of early Classi­cism in Russian architecture. Over the entrance there is an inscription in bronze letters “To Free Arts. The year of 1765”. It was the first building in classic style in St Petersburg. The well-balanced proportions of the main facade are particularly impressive.
Now the building houses the St Petersburg Repin Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture.
The idea of creation of a Russian artistic school be­longed to Peter I but it was realized only partially at that time. In 1757, Count Ivan Shuvalov came forward with a project to create the Academy of Fine Arts. The Academy of the Three Most Noble Arts (painting, sculp­ture and architecture) was founded in 1757. The first students graduated from the Academy in 1762.
The Academy of Arts has played an important role in the development of Russian art. A lot of famous Rus­sian painters and sculptors studied and worked there.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the graduates of the Academy of Arts deserved the European recog­nition. The Uffizzi Gallery ordered the self-portrait of the portrait master Orest Kiprensky. The history artist Karl Bryullov painted the picture “The Last day of Pompei”, which was recognized in Europe. Now this mas­terpiece is in the collection of the Russian Museum of St Petersburg. The marinist Ivan Ayvazovsky at the age of 30 became a member of the Academy. Now a lot of his best pictures we can see in the halls of the Russian Museum as well.
Such outstanding masters as architects Ivan Starov, Andrey Voronikhin, Andreyan Zakharov; sculptor Mikhail Kozlovsky; painters Alexander Ivanov, Karl Bryullov, Ilya Repin, Valentin Serov, Vasily Surikov, Ivan Shishkin and others studied and worked there.
Along the classes and studios the building contains a research museum of the Academy and a reference library. In the museum, works by the greatest painters are displayed.