Доклады Международного конгресса ИИСАА. Т. 1

II. Middle East, Caucasus and Central Asia / Ближний Восток, Кавказ и Центральная Азия Доклады Международного конгресса по источниковедению и историографии стран Азии и Африки. Т. 1. 2020 297 Schumacher found the site for building the new barn near the Ligovsky Canal, ‘which is sandy and high, dry and covered with pine forest’. Eventually, the yard remained at the same site, for the water in the Fontanka turned out to be more suitable for bathing the elephants than the water in the Ligovsky Canal, the latter being ‘calcareous and has hardness in itself’. The architects suggested renovating the old building so that it could house seven more mammals, equipping it with six masonry heaters and adding premises for keepers and an icehouse. Besides, they planned to build the second barn with a similar layout, supplemented by a shed, an icehouse, a kitchen and stables. 2 Asatiy, the elephant trainer 3 , played an active role in this project as a consultant. On 5 June 1741 in ‘Sankt Peterburgskie vedomosti’ the following announcement was published: ‘Since it was ordered by the Chancellery of Buildings to build the barn for the elephants with the addition of living chambers, therefore through this is announced, if somebody wishes to build the aforesaid building, they should immediately show up at the abovementioned Chancellery for price negotiations and contract’. 4 In June the Chancellery repeatedly announced the enrolment of 1 Vnutrenniy byt russkogo gosudarstva. Book 1. P. 326, pl. 2 Ibid. Р. 330–331. 3 Referred to as ‘Persian elephant expert’ or ‘elephant teacher’, Asatiy was mentioned among other people working at the Elephant Yard in 1741. 4 Санкт-Петербургские ведомости . 5 июня 1741 г. № 45. / Sankt-Peterburgskie vedomosti . [ St Petersburg News ]. 5 June 1741. No. 45. (In Russian). Fig. 5. Plan of the Elephant Yard in St Petersburg, 1741 1 The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg. Inv. no. 102434