Joseph Bové

Joseph Bové (1784–1834) was a neoclassical architect who rebuilt Moscow after the great fire of 1812. Born in St Petersburg to a Neapolitan painter, he trained in Moscow. In 1813 the Moscow Building Commission placed him in charge of façade design for the reconstructed city, approving new façades and enforcing the street lines of the rebuilding plan.

He laid out Red Square and Theatre Square, rebuilt the Manege, erected the Triumphal Arch at Tverskaya Zastava, and designed his most famous building, the Bolshoi Theatre, opened in 1825. He died in Moscow in 1834.