Kessler-Fersman Castle, also known as the country house of the Kessler family in Lozovoe, Crimea, is a monument of architecture and urban planning of local significance, built in the late 19th century.
The Kessler family originated from the German town of Damrau in East Prussia. In the early 19th century, Russian emperors often invited German officials to serve in Russia. Thus, forester Karl-Friedrich Kessler found himself in Russia, where he became the chief forester in the military settlements of Novgorod province. In 1822, he settled with his family in the village of Gruzino near Novgorod. Thanks to his position, he was able to provide his children with a good education. One of his sons became a well-known Russian zoologist, while another, who was interested in architecture, chose a military career and achieved significant success in it. For his services to the Motherland, the emperor awarded Kessler privileges and land grants.
The country house of the Kessler family was built by E. F. Kessler, a Russian military engineer and lieutenant general who participated in the conquest of the Caucasus. After retiring, he settled near his estates, not far from the Tatar village of Eski-Orda, and lived there with his children Alexander and Maria. Although the exact date of the estate's founding is unknown, it is believed to have been established between 1860 and 1878, possibly with the involvement of Kessler's children.
The estate's design was developed in the 1880s by architect O. A. Clausen, who later worked in Simferopol.
After the death of General Eduard Kessler, the estate passed to his son Alexander, a chemist who worked at the Crimean University and was a professor at St. Petersburg University. His sister Maria often visited him with her husband, Yevgeny Alexandrovich Fersman, a Russian military officer and architect. They were accompanied by their nephew Alexander Yevgenevich Fersman, who became fascinated with minerals in Crimea and later became an academician of mineralogy. In his honor, a museum and geological exhibition were later established.
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