Saint Petersburg Stieglitz State Academy of Art and Design

The Saint Petersburg Stieglitz State Academy of Art and Design (Санкт-Петербургская художественно-промышленная академия имени А. Л. Штиглица; abbreviated as СПГХПА) is the oldest school of design in Russia. It occupies a parcel of land immediately to the east of the Summer Garden in Saint Petersburg. History It was set up in Saint Petersburg in 1876 by Baron Alexander von Stieglitz (1814–84), a millionaire philanthropist, as the School of Technical Drawing. The Stieglitz Museum of Applied Arts was founded in 1878 for the benefit of its students. The school building was designed by Maximilian Messmacher (the school's director, until 1896). By the end of the century, the Central School had branches in Yaroslavl, Saratov, and Narva. In 1945, by decision of the Soviet Government School of Technical Drawing, it was re-established as the College of Art and Design which provides training in the monumental, decorative and industrial arts. In 1948 it became the Leningrad Higher School of Art and Industry. It was renamed the Leningrad Vera Mukhina Higher School of Art and Design in 1953 (after Vera Mukhina, the monumentalist author of Worker and Kolkhoz Woman, whose name was a symbol of Soviet art).