restaurant "Caravan" Andrei Kolobashkin, Ilya Dmitriev United ancient East and modernity together, theatricality and utility in the halls of the restaurant "Caravan"

Passing the gallery

A photo: Denis Schiglovsky

Text: Nadezhda Serebryakova

Architect: Andrey Kolobashkin

Painter: Ilya Dmitriev

Magazine: Na (47) 2001

The concept of the restaurant "Caravan" with exclusively oriental cuisine (St. Petersburg, Voznesensky Avenue, d. 46) suggested creating an interior with a colorful atmosphere of a caravanserai (inn), as if brought to us from the ancient East. The interior is not based on exact geographic references. It embodies only the idea in its fabulous interpretation, which is closer and more comprehensible to a European, than any national and religious tenets. The interior consists of two halls and a hall imitating the street of an ancient eastern city. The deliberate "ruinousness" of the walls speaks of its antiquity: the carefully painted "peeling" plaster reminds of the fabulous beauty and past wealth of this settlement. The brazier opened on all sides became a landmark of the first hall, where the chef masterfully cooks traditional fragrant kebabs. The columns framing it from two sides are covered with a yellow-blue ornament, which in ancient times was usually decorated with minarets. In the second hall, impromptu and irony appear in all splendor. A row of closed arbors is located along the blank wall. The walls and ceilings in them are decorated with carved ornaments. Carpets and sofas, on which it is convenient not only to sit, but also to be more comfortable, hookahs and clay lamps, specially brought from Turkey, - all this recreates the oriental flavor by no means “pretend”, but very literally. You can get into the gazebos by wooden walkways, thrown through a very picturesque aryk. Its banks are densely overgrown with grass, clay jugs, as well as herons, ducks and storks, carefully cast in bronze in full size, are visible in the thickets. From the oasis we find ourselves in the “harsh everyday life” of a poor aul, lost in the vast expanses of Central Asia. Immediately after the Chinara, which stretches the bare branches to the sky (the poplar, which grew up near St. Petersburg, plays the role of the Chinara) is a desert with a lonely camel lying on a picturesque dune. At first it seems that it is stuffed, but the camel is made of papier-mâché! Therefore, Green Peace can not worry. The authors of the interior have tried to combine together the ancient East and modernity, the theatricality and utility of the restaurant, the grandness and everyday life, typical of any culture. And they succeeded brilliantly.