Georgy Zaborsky was a Soviet architect, Honoured Builder of Belarus (1961), People’s Architect of the USSR (1981), academician of the Russian Academy of Architecture and Building Sciences (1995). Being an expert of a high European level, he worked in traditions of Belarusian architecture.
Background
Ethnicity:
His father was Slavic, while his mother was of German descent.
Georgy Zaborsky was born on November 11, 1909, in Minsk to the family of Vladimir Georgievich Zaborsky, an accountant of the Moscow-Brest Railway, and Elena Ivanovna Zaborskaya (Zegling).
Education
He studied at the A.Charvyakou Minsk railway school which in the late 1920s – early 1930s. At that school, much attention was paid to art education. Many school graduates of 1928–1930s became famous artists of Belarus. From 1930 to 1934, G.Zaborsky attended the Minsk Architecture, Construction and Road Building Tekhnikum (technical college). The State Examination Commission qualified his diploma paper as excellent. The Commission requested the Ministry of Education of Belarus to recommend G.Zaborsky as the best student for further art education at the Leningrad Academy of Arts. From 1934 to 1939, G.Zaborsky studied at the Academy of Arts.
After the successful defence of a diploma thesis prepared under the supervision of I.R.Langbard, G.Zaborsky was assigned to work in Moscow in the group of the architect Merzhanov, which was preparing the working documentation for the Palace of Soviets. That practical work was excellent schooling for him.
Career
On the recommendation of I.R.Langbard, the Government of Belarus requested to re-assign G.Zaborsky to Belarus. The request was complied with and on the eve of 1940, the young architect found himself in Minsk. Until the Great Patriotic War G.Zaborsky studied the national culture and explored monuments of history and architecture. On the first day of the war, G.Zaborsky volunteered to the battlefront. He was wounded twice. At the end of 1945, G.Zaborsky returned to Minsk and became actively involved in the reconstruction of destroyed towns of Belarus. He took part in developing the first post-war general plan of Polatsk (1946–1949).
Zaborsky made plans for the construction of apartment houses and public buildings. The plans of the three out of the five squares of the architectural ensemble of the main avenue of Minsk were drawn with his direct participation. Most of his architectural works became kind of symbols of the 20th century historical era.
In 1950, G.Zaborsky started planning a building for the Suvorov Cadet School in Minsk. In 1953, his project was nominated for the Stalin Prize.
In 1950, an All-Union open contest for the project of the Victory monument in Minsk was announced. G.Zaborsky’s design, presented under the title ‘Belarus’ was qualified as the best. In the closed competition, in which leading Soviet architects were participating, the plan created by G.Zaborsky in collaboration with architect Ul.Karol was declared the winner. The monument was unveiled with a festive ceremony in 1954.
The building of the Hotel of the Council Ministers of the Byelorussian SSR (1956-1957) was an important stage in the architect’s creative biography.
Zaborsky’s creative activities were not limited to planning and construction. From 1953 to 1964, he taught at the department of architecture at the Belarusian Polytechnic Institute. During the period from 1964 to 1994, G.Zaborsky took part in the reconstruction of rural settlements. As the co-author of planning and construction of the settlement of Vertsyalishky, he was awarded the State Prize of the USSR (1971).
Zaborsky died in Minsk and was buried at the Eastern cemetery.
Views
Georgy Zaborsky was a patriot and sought to creatively master the richest traditions of national culture, “translating” them into the language of architecture. He was a patriot and sought to creative study the richest traditions of national culture, translating them into architectural language.
Quotations:
"Architecture is not only the good and the roof over your head. It is a cultural environment that should give a person aesthetic pleasure."
Personality
He had an amazing ability to think in architectural images in all situations of life: at meetings, friendly conversations and even in transport. He wrote architectural ideas that came to his mind on everything that was at hand: pieces of paper, scraps of newspapers, wrappers, napkins, and numerous notebooks.