History of parquet

Floors were highly valued and paid great attention at all times. In Europe by the 17^th century, masters achieved perfection in producing art parquet.

Art parquet developed very fast in Russia with the most popular parquet figure of “fir pattern”.

In the 17^th century, the most common way of parquet flooring was a method called “oak brick”, which was famous throughout Russia. Oak border was another way of parquet flooring, a very beautiful piece of work.

Palace and composing parquet made of rare sorts of foreign trees were developed in 1750. The masters made sophisticated and beautiful patterns for this parquet.

Parquet was manufactured with separate panels, so such parquet was called panel parquet. When sticking color wood to the panels, two methods were applied: marquetry and inlay.

Natural wood color was most valued in parquet. The correct wood split, selecting and flooring nearby staves under a certain angle make a significant contribution to art parquet. Wood changing its color against the light is a peculiar feature of art parquet.

In 17 – 19^th centuries, parquet was processed manually only. Factory parquet became widely spread by the 80-ies of the last century, and eventually art parquet became very rare.

Frieze was used to correct inexact calculations of a room when panels were assembled. The best Russian art parquet of the 18^th century remained in the Chinese palace in the town of Lomonosov and in Ostankino museum – palace in Moscow. The 19^th century parquet remained best in the state Russian museum in the Winter palace, St. Petersburg.

Simplicity and grandness are reflected in Ostankino Palace combining the principle of symmetry with laconic and solemn decoration of the palace interiors, making them a marvelous example of the Russian art parquet. One of the most splendid halls of the palace is the Egyptian Pavilion with its amusing floor. Its central part with an enormous rosette is monumental, and the area bordering the center looks very festive. 

Revival of art parquet began with restoring works. Thanks to a few restoration masters, Russian art parquet survived until the present days, remaining great art and accurate jeweler work of the true masters.

The wood for parquet must be dry and ripe. The trees, which were used for parquet manufacturing, were mostly hardwood trees. The local species like pine, birch, and oak are very solid, and not easily worn.

To make the wood look voluminous, the wood was fumigated. Another method of wood processing was so called wood engraving.

The skill to use the grain direction is one of the most important conditions in the production of art parquet. Marvellous parquet layers achieved great effects working with national wood species.