Catherine Park in Tsarskoe Selo. Tatiana Gaiduk's blog Grand Catherine Palace in Tsarskoe Selo

Tsarskoye Selo. Catherine Park. Chapter “Regular part of Catherine Park (Old Garden)” of the book “Pushkin. Palaces and parks";

The Great Tsarskoye Selo Palace, numerous pavilions, cascades, bridges and memorial monuments are inseparable from the surrounding parks and together with them form one grandiose whole.

Catherine and Alexander parks went through two main stages in their development. The first of them was the period of construction of regular gardens, the second led to the creation of extensive landscape parks. The new parks included, as independent parts, the old gardens, which, after the cessation of tree trimming, had lost their regular character, but retained, with minor changes, the original layout.

The construction of parks was an innovation for Russia at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries. Peter I himself supervised the creation of several parks in the new capital and its environs, at the same time showing exceptional care for the preservation of forests, which were needed primarily for shipbuilding.

Felling forests near St. Petersburg and on the territory of the city itself was prohibited without special sanction under pain of the most severe punishments. An exception was made only for those owners of country dachas on the shores of the Gulf of Finland, “who want to clear and cut through the forests for a walk, just as they usually clean up groves.” In forest thickets turned into parks, it was allowed to build “promising roads or alleys.” [ TsGAVMF, f. 212, d. 4, 1719, part 2, l. 486. Decree of June 23, 1723 ]

Russian gardens of the 17th century and European medieval gardens had a utilitarian character. Fruit trees, berry bushes, flowers and herbs were grown in them. Usually, places that were distinguished by their beauty, picturesqueness and richness of natural resources were chosen for the construction of estates and gardens. And on the Sarskaya manor, in the first years after its transfer to the ownership of Catherine I, the greatest attention was paid to the cultivation of fruits, berries and vegetables.

In the orchard on the manor in 1718 there were over one and a half thousand apple trees, eight hundred cherry trees, many hundreds of black and red currant and gooseberry bushes. [ T.B. Dubyago. Towards the restoration of Catherine Park in Pushkin. Scientific works of LISS, vol. 10. M. - L., 1950, p. 72. ] Only after redevelopment in the 1720s. it acquired the character of a pleasure garden - covered alleys, trellis pavilions, and decorative ponds appeared in it.

The new aesthetic principles of park construction could not be reconciled and combined with their utilitarian use. Fruit trees gradually migrated from the territory of Tsarskoye Selo gardens to greenhouse farms. [ Greenhouses and greenhouses were located in the Old Garden along a stone fence. Vegetable beds were built in curtains as early as the 1760s. ]

The study of the best European examples, and especially the gardens of Versailles, played a major role in the development of Russian landscape art in the first half of the 18th century and in the emergence of individual palace and park ensembles.

The personal library of Peter I contained essays published in France in the second half of the 17th century, dedicated to Versailles, Trianon and Marly. They served as aids in the work on creating royal residences in the vicinity of St. Petersburg, and above all the ensemble of the Upper and Lower Gardens in Peterhof.

Catherine I, the owner of the Sarskaya Manor, could not even think of a garden that competed not only with the famous works of Western European gardening art, but also with Peterhof. The scale of construction on the manor was very modest, and the size of the garden was insignificant. Only after the reconstruction of the entire ensemble, which began in 1743, the territory of the Old Garden expanded, it was decorated with new pavilions; The New, or Upper, Garden was laid out between the palace and the Menagerie.

The question is who was the author of those new ideas that found their embodiment in the 1740s and 1750s. in gardening and park work in Tsarskoe Selo, can only be decided tentatively. The thread that points the way to his decision is an order dated June 13, 1745: “to find the French master Girard, take him to the village of Tsarskoye and show him the current parterres there in the garden, instead of which to be new, order him, having done it, to announce the drawings , and when he announces it, report to Her Majesty.”

[TsGIAL, f. 466, op. 36/1629, 1745, d. 67, l. 24-26. For information about Nicolas François Girard, see the collective work “Russian architecture of the first half of the 18th century. Research and materials", published under the editorship of academician. I.E. Grabar (M., 1954, pp. 365-368). Girard was not a “craftsman” in the sense that we understand this word today. He was Leblond's assistant and came to Russia with him as one of his "draftsmen" (dessinateur). An architect and specialist in landscape construction, Girard worked for a number of years on orders from gr. X. Minikha and was not in public service. His leading role in the development of garden projects at Tsarskoe Selo, confirmed by the cited document, is very likely. ]

Girard, if he was the author of the project for the reconstruction of the Old Garden, was bound by the already established layout. It is possible that this prevented him from developing the composition of the Old Garden in width and depth, deploying it, as was done at Versailles, along the continuation of the central axis of the ensemble, over vast spaces. [ T.B. Dubyago. History of the development of Catherine Park in Pushkin. 1947, p. 25. Manuscript in the GIOP archives. ]

The transfer of the experience of Western European park builders to Russian soil and even individual borrowings did not determine the final result and the general impression left by Russian parks. They retained their original national character. This could not be otherwise, since the appearance of the parks was formed gradually, not only as a result of the long-term, purposeful activities of their builders, but also under the influence of local natural conditions, which have their own specifics. The composition of vegetation in parks and the replacement of some groups by others depended on these conditions.

Numerous documents from the 18th century indicate that the most common and valued tree in the regular parks of Tsarskoye Selo was the linden tree, easy to trim, suitable for planting in damp low-lying areas, tolerating northern frosts and the humid climate of the Gulf of Finland coast.

After the refusal to trim trees, the main species used by Tsarskoye Selo gardeners when planting in alleys became oak, which does not tolerate crown trimming and is of little use in regular park construction.

Oak trees were planted in the alleys of the regular Old Garden only because of the lack of linden trees. There is a known order dating back to the 1740s about transplanting oak trees planted “according to prespective directions,” that is, in alleys, into a birch grove behind the Fishing Canal and replacing them with standard linden trees.

The garden was decorated with numerous works of decorative sculpture. The garden builders cherished the idea of ​​​​creating fountains - one of the mandatory accessories of a regular park. But it had to be abandoned, since there were no sources that could be used for their device. It was possible to build only one fountain in the Old Garden. The reservoir into which water was pumped for it was apparently installed in the attic of the palace. The fountain did not last long.

Based on what began in the 1740s. During the reconstruction of the Old Garden, the idea was to build the Hermitage on the continuation of the central alley of the Old Garden, on the main compositional axis of the ensemble.

Work on finishing the Hermitage was still ongoing when Rastrelli began construction of the Grotto on the shore of the Great Pond in the Old Garden. The grotto connects the watery expanses of the Big Pond with the green areas of the garden. After its construction, a new, additional axis perpendicular to the main one emerged in the garden’s layout.

The territory of the Old Garden also expanded: the Lower Ponds became its southern border. The new northwestern border was secured by the construction of the monumental Katalnaya Mountain. A place was chosen for this pavilion on the top platform of a hill overlooking a pond and a garden. In the middle of the Big Pond, on an island, a new spectacular pavilion “Hall on the Island” replaced the old wooden lusthouse.

But the further development of the palace and park ensemble did not follow the path of expanding regular gardens, but along the path of constructing landscape parks on the adjacent territory.

After the refusal to maintain the regular Old Garden in the form it received in the 1740-1760s, its character and viewing opportunities radically changed. In the middle of the 18th century, the palace and park pavilions located on the territory of the Old Garden were visible all at the same time. They dominated the ensemble of the garden, towering above the rows of trimmed trees and shrubs that had clear, geometrically regular outlines. This is how we know the Old Garden from famous images painted by M.I. Makhaev and F.G. Barisien.

The trees subsequently blocked the view of the palace from the park. The Hermitage turned out to be hidden in the depths of the garden. But the Old Garden has not lost its charm. Time is the enemy of regularity and the ally of landscape park construction. Freely growing trees spread their branches widely, and now in the mighty oaks and old linden trees, the same age as the Grand Palace, we see the main decoration of the park.

The modern appearance of the oldest part of Catherine Park is very far from the original, although it has retained a geometrically correct regular layout - a frequent and complex network of straight alleys. This is explained not only by changes in the nature of vegetation. New structures appeared in the Old Garden in the second half of the 18th century, such as the Hermitage Kitchen, the Upper and Lower Baths, and granite bridges on the Fish Canal. One of the two rectangular symmetrical ponds on the third ledge of the garden was redone and became round with two semi-lunar ponds on the sides.

Alleys of old linden trees that have preserved traces of shearing, and an alley of beautiful powerful oak trees lead the visitor away from the palace into the depths of the Old Garden. They are crossed by a “spruce prospect” along the Fishing Canal. The perspective of the Fishing Canal and the alleys on its sides divides the oldest part of the garden into two parts - the upper, processed in the past with ledges that are still noticeable today, and the lower, with the Hermitage in the center.

Light wooden bridges were originally thrown across the Fishing Canal. They were later replaced by granite and metal bridges. [ In the decree of November 11, 1774, one of the points concerned the construction of two stone bridges across the Fishing Canal. “In the Old Garden,” the decree said, “through a transverse channel, make two stone bridges on arches from hewn granite, one along the alley past the Grotto, and the other on the Hermitage Alley.” The bridges were built in 1775-1778. Design drawings of the bridges were presented to Catherine II by V.I. Neelov (TsGIAL, f. 487, op. 13, 1774, d. 3, l. 30). ] The fishing channel ends with a “small lock” and a dam, designed in the 1770s. in the form of a cascade of cut stone. At the base of the dam there is a pile of boulders.

Catherine Park is one of the most beautiful parks in St. Petersburg. It was planted in Tsarskoe Selo in the 18th century.

I had the opportunity to be there more than once. I suspect that, like many St. Petersburg residents, almost every summer I meet and conduct impromptu excursions for my friends in the center of St. Petersburg and its suburbs. The territory of Tsarskoye Selo is simply huge; you need to spend the whole day, or even more, to see everything. But it's worth it!

Usually my friends and I take coffee in a thermos, sandwiches and other goodies on our little trip and hit the road. I like to take a minibus to the park just like in my student years. It's fast, and you can admire nature along the way. After visiting the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum (be sure to visit it!), we find a cozy place in the park or on the shore of the lake and have a picnic. We are interested in discussing what we saw and once again admiring the view of the Catherine Palace from the outside. Then we go further into the park, and I continue to tell my guests about monuments and structures, share with them what I remember from history, and they with me.

As you know, Tsarskoe Selo was the favorite country residence of the Russian emperors. Each of them brought something new to the landscape, something of their own, something they loved. They all treated him like an expensive casket that holds a pearl - a palace. I imagine it as a woven pattern, into which each subsequent ruler wove something of his own that was important to him or was fashionable during the years of his reign.

Architects and gardeners tried to convey and preserve for us everything that was built many centuries ago.

History of the park

Catherine Park owes its appearance to the Russian Tsar Peter the Great. It was he who in 1710 gave his wife Marta Samuilovna Skavronskaya (in Orthodoxy Ekaterina Alekseevna Mikhailova, future Empress Catherine I) Sarskaya and Slavyanskaya manors with adjacent villages. In 1717, construction began on a summer residence for the empress. It was a small, modest stone palace. The Empress herself participated in organizing the construction.

In 1720, the Dutch masters J. Rosen and I. Vocht began building the park. At this time, the Old Garden (a modern regular park) appeared. It was located on three ledges directly in front of the palace. The architecture of the park was designed in the French style that was fashionable at that time, which implies the taming of nature and its subjugation to man. A distinctive feature of the style is clear planning of the territory, the formation of straight alleys, giving artificial shapes to shrubs and trees. As planned, the park was supposed to complement and emphasize the luxury of the palace.

After the accession of Elizabeth Petrovna to the throne, Tsarskoye Selo became the official imperial residence. The most important guests were met here and the most lavish receptions were held. Probably, no other Russian emperor is more associated with balls, masquerades and wild, spectacular celebrations as she is. Tsarskoe Selo of her time was the best way to characterize the love of luxury and the idle lifestyle of its mistress. During her time, the palace was rebuilt, the park was expanded and improved. I read somewhere that once, when the Empress was returning to Tsarskoye Selo, already at the entrance to the palace she saw a glow from her carriage and was very afraid that the palace was on fire! It really burned, but not with fire, but with a golden glow - the reflection of the setting sun. I would like to see this at least once!

So, in the 1750s, the small two-story palace began to be rebuilt. Court architect F.B. Rassrelli was involved in the design of the Catherine Palace. He also worked on the design of the park. It is not surprising that the regular park turned out to be just as pompous. Dense green labyrinths turning into small open-air halls, elegant sculptures by Italian masters, a variety of different flowers of bushes - all this was supposed to once again emphasize the luxury and splendor of the Catherine Palace.

Empress Elizaveta Petrovna loved her country residence and spent a lot of time here. Luxurious balls and dinners were held regularly. After the meal, the Empress invited her guests to take a walk through the park on a sleigh or carriage. The park was equipped with swings, carousels, and slides. In the evening fireworks flew into the sky.

One of the favorite places of the guests was Katalnaya Gora. Architect F.B. Rastrelli came up with an unusual and interesting engineering solution. The mountain was a pavilion with slopes extending out to the sides. They were built on top of the hill, repeating the natural landscape of the site. Guests used single and double strollers for the descent, which moved on metal rails. These carriages were lifted up using special mechanisms driven by horses. If you imagine the scale with which everything in the park was built, then the feeling of going down the mountain was probably no worse than on the slides in modern amusement parks!

By order of Empress F.B. Rastrelli also designed the buildings of the Hermitage and the Grotto.

The Hermitage building is a small and interesting two-story building deep in the park. The exterior decoration of the building completely repeated the decoration of the Catherine Palace. The palace and the Hermitage were connected by an alley along which guests walked. The Hermitage was intended for small balls, meetings and dinners, especially in the warm season.

The Empress loved to invite guests here to surprise them with an outlandish engineering invention - a lifting canapé (sofa). The dining room and meeting rooms were on the second floor, but no one walked up the stairs; guests and food were also lifted using special devices. It was unusual and extremely funny. Another unusual decision of the Empress was to arrange the orchestra on the street, rather than inside the building. Muffled music flowed through the windows of the building, making the celebration truly magical.

The grotto was built on the shores of the Big Lake in 1755-1756. Empress Elizaveta Petrovna certainly wanted to have a place where she could enjoy the view of the Big Lake and, if desired, go down from the pier to the boat.

Catherine II paid a lot of attention to the arrangement of Tsarskoye Selo. By her order, a fashionable English park at that time (a modern landscape park) was laid out. The distinctive feature of this style is not the taming of nature, but the submission to it. English parks are characterized by winding water channels that lead to wide flower fields. These are kind of wild parks. A minimum of intervention to only highlight the beauty of nature.

During the construction of the English park, the old park underwent partial changes. Crescent Ponds appeared. The water system, consisting of canals and ponds, was an important component in decorating the park. Here everything was thought out for the relaxation and entertainment of the royals and their guests. Small boats were waiting for them everywhere, on which they could sail, enjoying the views from the water. It must have been great to ride a boat like that on a hot summer day, and maybe even swim!

Catherine II tried to introduce the newest and most fashionable Western trends into architectural design. Many monuments were erected in the park glorifying the services of the empress and the victory in the Russian-Turkish war in the second half of the 18th century. Under the empress, the Cold Bath pavilion with Agate rooms and the Concert Hall were also erected.

The Cameron Gallery was built on the transition from a regular park to a landscape one. The Empress wanted to have a place for walks, private conversations and private thoughts.

All buildings in the English park were designed in a classical style with minimal decoration of the facades. Rigor and simplicity in every detail.

All this time, perennial trees and shrubs were brought into the park, sent from the gardens of St. Petersburg and from abroad. The oak trees that Peter I planted may still be preserved here.

In a later period, large-scale redevelopment was no longer carried out. During Soviet times, the palace and park complex became a museum. In 1918, the Catherine Palace received its first visitors.

During the Great Patriotic War, the city of Pushkin was captured by fascist troops. Tsarskoe Selo suffered the invasion hard. Many works of art were lost, and the buildings themselves were also seriously damaged. The German invaders used some of them for their own economic needs, sparing neither the interiors nor the furniture. Many paintings and art objects, including the Amber Room, were taken away and lost forever. A significant number of trees in the park were destroyed. After the liberation of Pushkin, only ruins remained from the Catherine Palace and many other premises.

Even before the end of the war, work began on restoring the museum complex. In 1983, the Tsarskoye Selo palace and park ensemble received the official status of a nature reserve. Today its full name is the Tsarskoye Selo State Museum-Reserve. Most of the restoration work was completed in 2010, on the eve of Pushkin's 300th anniversary. But many restoration works both in the buildings and in the park are still ongoing.

What to see

Of course, the main pearl of the park is the Catherine Palace. I talked about it in more detail in one of the. But there are many interesting places that are also worth seeing.

The Hermitage is a kind of echo of the luxury of the Catherine Palace, a kind of projection in miniature. As I already said, they are connected by a straight alley along which the empress’s guests once walked. This small building is decorated in the Baroque style, in the same color scheme as the palace. The Hermitage has preserved its 18th-century decoration virtually unchanged.

Pay attention to the Hermitage Kitchen - the unusual architecture of the building is made in the Gothic style that was fashionable at that time. Here, by the way, is another entrance to the park.

The grotto is a small building in a marine style, standing on the shore of the Big Lake.

The Cold Bath pavilion is located between the Zubovsky building of the Catherine Palace and the Cameron Gallery. Intended for bathing and relaxation of the imperial family. The building was erected in 1787 by the architect Charles Cameron. It is also called Cameron's Baths.

The thermal baths themselves are located on the ground floor. On the second there are six rooms for rest. Thanks to their rich interior, they were called the Agate Rooms.

The main facade of the building opens onto the terrace where the Hanging Garden is located.

Cameron Gallery - located at the intersection of the regular and landscape parts of the park. The building is located on a hill and offers a beautiful view of the park and the Big Lake.

The Upper Bath pavilion was intended for water treatments of the imperial family.

The “Lower Bath” pavilion was intended for water treatments for courtiers.

The Morean (or Small Rostral) column is located between the First and Second Lower Ponds. It was erected in honor of the victory of the Russian fleet off the Morea Peninsula during the Russian-Turkish War.

The gate “To my dear colleagues” is an original cast-iron monument. Located in the southeast of the park.

The Chesme Column is located in the middle of the Big Lake. It was installed in honor of the victory of the Russian fleet over the Turkish fleet in the Battle of Chesma (1770).

Admiralty - several pavilions on the shore of the Big Lake in the southern side of the park. Built in honor of the annexation of the Tauride Khanate (Crimea) to Russia.

The Marble (Palladian) Bridge is installed over the channel that connects the Bolshoi Pond with the Swan Pond.

The Turkish Bath Pavilion is the last building erected in Catherine Park. The pavilion is a monument to victories in the Russian-Turkish war. According to the architect I. A. Monighetti, the building has the appearance of a Turkish mosque.

The ruin tower is another monument dedicated to the victories of Russian troops in the Russian-Turkish war. The tower is unusual in that it resembles a Doric column connected to a pavilion. It's like she's going into the ground. The external design of the walls is also unusual. Their surface is artificially “aged” with the help of painted cracks.

The Gatchina (Orlovsky) gate led to the road towards Gatchina, where the estate of Count G. G. Orlov was located. Catherine II highly valued the count's contribution to saving Moscow from the plague. The gate became a kind of gratitude from the empress. Externally, the gate looks like a triumphal arch.

The Island Hall Pavilion is located in the heart of the Big Lake on a small island. It was intended to host concerts and dinners for guests floating on the Great Lake. At the moment there is a concert hall where the museum’s ceremonial events take place.

The granite terrace (“Ruska terrace”) was built in 1810 on the site of Katalna Gora.

The fountain “Girl with a Jug” was created by the famous sculptor P. P. Sokolov especially for Tsarskoye Selo Park. The statue of a girl is located on a rock as if on a kind of pedestal. At the girl’s feet is a broken jug from which a stream of water is pouring.

The concert hall in the southwestern part of the park was built in 1782-1788 according to the design of the architect D. Quarenghi.

The ruined kitchen was built according to the design of G. Quarenghi in 1785-1786 to prepare meals for guests of the Concert Hall.

The Chinese gazebo was built on the border between Catherine Park and the New Garden of Alexander Park. It is also called Creaky because of the weather vane, which makes a creaking sound when the wind blows.

Kagul (Rumyantsevsky) obelisk. The architect of the project is A. Rinaldi.

It was installed in 1772 in honor of the victory of Russian troops over Turkish troops on the Cahul River.

When to visit

The park is open to visitors all year round, but it is worth keeping in mind that not all museums are open all year round. Therefore, if you decide to visit all the places in the park, it is better to choose summer time.

How to get there

The State Museum-Reserve "Tsarskoe Selo" is located at the address: Pushkin, st. Sadovaya, 7.

You can get to the place in the following ways:

• By electric train from Vitebsky station you can get to the Tsarskoe Selo station in the city of Pushkin. The ticket costs about 40 rubles and the travel time is approximately 30 minutes. You can get from the station to the museum by minibuses No. 371, 377, 382, ​​buses No. 371, 382. You can walk to the museum, or walk. This will take approximately 30 minutes or less.
• By minibuses No. 286, 287, 342, 347, 545. They depart from the Moskovskaya metro station. The stop is located behind the House of Soviets. Here is their ring. On the minibuses, Pushkin and Tsarskoe Selo will be written in large letters. The fare is about 40 rubles. Travel time is 30-40 minutes if there are no traffic jams.
• Bus No. 187 stops opposite McDonald's on Moskovsky Prospekt, and minibuses that come from the ring from the House of Soviets also stop here. The bus goes to the Tsarskoye Selo station in the city of Pushkin. The fare is 30 rubles. From there you can get to the park by bus, minibus or on foot.
• By minibuses No. 545, 286, 287, bus No. 186 from the Kupchino metro station. Travel time is about 30 minutes. Their ring is located on Vitebsky Prospekt on the metro side.

Operating mode:

• from October 21 to April 24, admission to the park is free;
• from April 25 to October 20, admission is paid from 9:00 to 19:00;
• from September to April the park is open from 7:00 to 21:00;
• from May to July from 7:00 to 23:00;
• in August the park is open from 7:00 to 22:00.

Ticket price:

• for adults from April 25 - 120 rubles;
• schoolchildren, students; members of the unions of artists, architects, designers of Russia; cadets and conscripts - 60 rubles;
• pensioners of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus - 30 rubles;
• for visitors under 16 years old - free.

Anything to add?

Tsarskoe Selo is a museum-reserve located near St. Petersburg in the city of Pushkin. Tsarskoe Selo is one of the three most visited attractions in St. Petersburg, not counting the northernmost capital. The other two attractions are of course the Hermitage and Peterhof. During our short acquaintance with St. Petersburg, among other things, we visited two of them. And today we will talk about Tsarskoye Selo, a museum with a rich and complex history.

How to get to Tsarskoye Selo

The easiest, most convenient and fastest way to get to Tsarskoye Selo is by minibus. To do this, you need to take the metro to Moskovskaya station. Here, between Moskovskaya Square and the House of Soviets, there is a parking lot for commuter buses and minibuses. If you find it difficult to find your way, just ask the commuter bus stop or the House of Soviets. From this stop they go to Tsarskoe Selo minibuses No. 287, 342, 545. You can see in detail the route of minibuses with stops using the application. There is another option by train from Vitebsky station, but in Pushkin you will still have to change to a minibus. We left for Tsarskoe Selo from the Moskovskaya metro station and were there within 30 minutes.

Having arrived in Pushkin only after lunch and having analyzed the queue to the palace, we decided to limit ourselves to a walk in the park. It is worth mentioning that a ticket to the park, for which you also need to stand in line, is not an entrance ticket to the palace, where you need to stand additionally after entering the park. There are several pavilions in the park, and several exhibitions in the palace. Prices for visiting museum exhibitions can be found on the official website of the Tsarskoye Selo Museum-Reserve.

There is an arch next to the ticket office. This arch connects the Church wing to the Imperial Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, where Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin studied from 1811 to 1817 and graduated from it among the first cohort.

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Great Catherine Palace in Tsarskoe Selo

The Catherine Palace is named after Empress Catherine I, by whose order the building was founded in 1717. The Saarskaya Manor estate was a gift from Peter I to his wife, now it is Tsarskoe Selo. The palace was the country residence of three Russian empresses: Catherine I, Elizaveta Petrovna and Catherine II. Each of the empresses contributed something different to the appearance of the Great Catherine Palace. The current appearance of the palace is the work of the famous architect Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli, whose bust is installed on the north side of the palace.

By order of Elizabeth Petrovna, Rastrelli rebuilt and significantly enlarged the Catherine Palace. So in 1756, a 325-meter palace with a gilded facade appeared before the stunned guests. After the death of her predecessor, the Palace and the park passed into the possession of Catherine the Great, who until the end of her reign made adjustments to the appearance of the park and the palace, but nothing changed significantly in the palace.

The palace building was badly damaged during the Nazi occupation during the Great Patriotic War. In addition to the burnt building, the palace lost its main relic - the Amber Room, which was taken from Russia. Now the Amber Room, meticulously recreated by restorers, is open to the public in the Grand Catherine Palace. And the palace itself is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Catherine Park in Tsarskoe Selo

You can get to the Catherine Park, as well as the Catherine Palace, only through one entrance, although there are more of them. It is located on Sadovaya Street, not far from the minibus stop; they deliver you to the very entrance and pick you up from there. Catherine Park is fabulously rich. You can walk around the park for more than one day and it will still be difficult to leave here after seeing all its attractions. On an area of ​​more than 100 hectares, in addition to the palace itself, there are many pavilions, bridges and monuments built at different times and in different architectural styles.

Cameron Gallery

You can begin your acquaintance with the park's pavilions not far from the Grand Palace, from the southern wing. The southern wing of the palace, or as it is correctly called Zubovsky, is named after the last favorite of Catherine II, Platon Zubov, for whom it was erected. The Cold Bath and Cameron Gallery are also located here. All three pavilions are connected by a ramp with the faces of Roman emperors.

The Cameron Gallery is named after the architect Cameron, who built this pavilion. The upper tier is decorated with busts of idols of Catherine the Great, and the pavilion itself was intended for philosophical walks and conversations.

From here you can enjoy beautiful views of the entire park and the Maid of Honor garden.

Cameron's commitment to ancient art is visible to the naked eye.

Mirror Ponds and Upper Bath

Opposite the Great Catherine Palace there is a regular park, one of the main places in which is occupied by two Mirror Ponds. On the north side of the pond farthest from the Cameron Gallery is the Upper Bath.

As the name suggests, this building served as a steam room for members of the imperial family. Currently, admission to this pavilion is free; it features an exhibition dedicated to cinematic art, or more precisely to all Russian films filmed on the territory of Tsarskoe Selo. In one of the rooms, equipment from the Anna Karenina film set is displayed as exhibits.

Not far from the Upper Bath, there is the Lower Bath pavilion, where entry is paid.

The only thing that can ruin a walk is the rainy St. Petersburg weather, otherwise it’s very pleasant to walk along the cozy paths, shady alleys and symmetrically cut lawns and it’s easy to forget about time.

Pavilion Grotto, Tsarskoe Selo

The regular park can be divided into the Old Garden and the Hermitage Grove. The Old Garden includes two Mirror Ponds, the Upper and Lower Baths and the Grotto Pavilion.

The grotto, built by Rastrelli himself, was decorated in accordance with its name. Patrons of the seas, dolphins and shells create the mood of the sea. The interior decoration of the Grotto was changed many times, so the tuff disappeared from the walls, making the room even more like a grotto. Many sculptures and paintings from the Grotto are currently in the St. Petersburg Hermitage Museum.

Hermitage Pavilion, Tsarskoe Selo

The old garden is separated from the Hermitage Grove by the Fishing Canal, through which several stone bridges are thrown. The bridges fit very colorfully into the created landscape.

The Hermitage Grove is named after the main building in this part of the park. The Hermitage Pavilion is also the main attraction of the entire regular park.

The Hermitage is one of the classic examples of Russian Baroque. Typically, the project was developed by Zemtsov, and Rastrelli only executed it, adding some details, such as columns. The interior decoration is also typical of the Baroque architectural style, as you can easily see by purchasing a ticket to the Hermitage Pavilion. By paying a little more and arriving at a certain time, you will be given a tour of the internal halls of the Hermitage with a demonstration of the lifting table mechanism. The lifting mechanism allowed the reigning persons to receive replacement dishes without seeing the servants. The mechanism lowered the table into the kitchen, located on the ground floor, and the already set table rose into the refectory hall.

Lower ponds and their attractions

The northeastern border of the park is conditionally limited by the lower ponds. Behind the last third there is a symbolic gate.

The gate “To my dear colleagues” was built in 1817 in honor of the victory in the Patriotic War of 1812. The text engraved on the gate belongs to the hand of Alexander I.

Nearby there is a cast-iron gazebo where you can relax from the hustle and bustle of the regular park. It should be noted that almost no one comes to this part of the park.

The cascade bridge separates the Second Lower Pond and the Third Lower Pond.

The same cascade bridge separates the First and Second Lower Ponds. Next to this cascade bridge is the Morean Column, which is a monument to Russia’s victory in the Russian-Turkish War.

So, moving from the Third Pond to the First, we reached the Big Lake, on the shores of which, and on the lake itself, there are many attractions. The first thing we saw was Rabbit Island, there is a ferry nearby that takes everyone to the Big Island. The ferry has a schedule and cost. And on the Big Island there is the concert hall “On the Island” and the Chesmenskaya (Orlovskaya) Column, works of the famous architect Antonio Rinaldi. It was erected in honor of the naval victories of Count Orlov.

Admiralty and Turkish Bath

Here, on the shores of the Big Lake, already at the end of the 18th century, three brick buildings were built under the common name of the Admiralty. These buildings are no longer built in the Russian Baroque style, but closer to Gothic.


On the opposite bank of the Big Lake from the Grotto pavilion, there is a Turkish bath. The pavilion conceived by Alexander I was brought to life by the architect Monighetti. The Turkish bath was built in memory of the Russian-Turkish war. During the Great Patriotic War, the pavilion was destroyed and later restored. Entrance to the Turkish Bath pavilion is paid.

Landscape Park, Tsarskoe Selo

Behind the Big Lake begins the Landscape Park. Many canals with bridges, paths, hills and trees make the walk unforgettable. While here, you can easily lose your sense of reality and fall into a real fairy tale.

Walking through the Landscape Park, we crossed Ramp Alley, which leads to the Cameron Gallery. And on the way we will see the Granite Terrace. I would like to admit that we looked up all the names and locations of pavilions and alleys in the free map that is issued at the ticket office along with a ticket to the park, so you will not be left without a life-saving landmark.

The Granite Terrace, decorated with exact copies of ancient statues, overlooks the Admiralty.

And if we look straight from the terrace, we will see the same Concert Hall on the Big Island, in front of it is the sculpture “Nerves, Caesar of Rome,” and even closer to us is the statue “Venus with Cupid.”

In the southwestern part of the park there are Upper Ponds, which have become the main element of the landscape design of this part of the park.

In the very depths of the islands, surrounded by a pond, is the Ruin Kitchen Pavilion.

Nearby is the Concert Hall pavilion.

Already quite on the border with the Alexander Garden is the Creaking (Chinese) gazebo, conceived by the architect Rastrelli and embodied by Neelov.

From here you can already move towards the exit from the park, that is, towards the Great Catherine Palace. On the way we came across another pavilion, the Evening Hall. One of the latest structures of the Catherine Park, built already in the 19th century.

Already almost next to the Zubovsky outbuilding, to which we came out, there is a colorful Pergola (Trellis gazebo), a favorite place for photo sessions of newlyweds.

The perlog is the conditional boundary of the so-called Own Garden. It is easy to recognize by its marble fountain and the “Nymph” sculpture.

We left the territory of the Catherine Park not through the main entrance, but through Triangular Square, past the Golden Gate of the Catherine Palace. We showed this side of the palace at the very beginning of the article. By the way, entry to the inner territory of the palace is allowed only as part of an excursion group with passes.

Opposite the Golden Gate to the Catherine Palace is the entrance to the Alexander Garden. Having gone around the palace buildings, we again find ourselves on Sadovaya Street, next to the arch. Next to the Lyceum is the first stone church in Pushkin.

Tsarskoe Selo - review

There are some tips for everyone who decides to visit Tsarskoye Selo in St. Petersburg. If your trip coincides with the tourist season, which is May-September, then be prepared for a huge number of people. As mentioned above, Tsarskoye Selo is one of the most visited attractions of the northern capital. The visitors here are very diverse and not only our compatriots, but also many foreigners, and delegations from China are very numerous. Therefore, if you want to walk not only in the Catherine Park, but also visit the Catherine Palace itself, you should come here early in the morning and take sandwiches with you, because standing in line and walking through the park can last the whole day.

As for us personally, the road from St. Petersburg is not at all tiring. It only tires a large number of people. But not everything is so bad here, there are large crowds only at the Catherine Palace itself (the queue for the palace) and at the Cameron Gallery. The rest of the park is almost empty, so it will be comfortable to walk around even at rush hour and in the peak season. As for entering the palace, if you still intend to get inside, be prepared to stand in a 2-3 hour queue. But the inconvenience will not end there. Due to the large flow of tourists, you will not be allowed to walk freely through the halls of the palace. The excursion is very limited in time, and you will see the Amber Room almost without stopping. So if you still want to see the legendary Amber Room, be patient.

The small Catherine Park is located in the Meshchansky municipal district of Moscow. It is located between the streets of the Soviet Army, Olympic Avenue and Suvorovskaya Square.

In every city there are places about which there is nothing special to say, there are no significant events associated with them, and there is nothing interesting in them for most people. Well, the park. Well, a pond. And what? It's a different matter than the Museum of Erotica on Arbat! And here? Trees? Ducks? But these are not boring places, we are, and we will be so until we learn to enjoy every little flower.

A long time ago, in the 12th-13th centuries, there was the village of Sushchevo, which later became the Sushchevskaya settlement. On the territory of the park there was a chain of ponds in the bed of the Naprudnaya River (other names Samoteka, Sinichka), which flowed into the Neglinnaya.

One of the first buildings in the park was the Church of Tryphon. It was erected in 1492. The Holy Cross Monastery was also moved here and the stone Church of St. John the Warrior was built.

In the second half of the 18th century, next to the Church of St. John the Warrior, the country estate of Count V.S. Saltykov was founded. After the count's death, the estate passed to his son, a participant in Suvorov's campaigns, Count A.V. Saltykov. The new owner of the estate was one of the close nobles of Empress Catherine II.

Soon the empress bought the estate. It was rebuilt into the building of the Invalid Home for soldiers of the Russian army, which later became the Catherine Institute for Noble Maidens, and the park was named Catherine.

In 1802, already during the reign of Emperor Alexander I, instead of the Invalid Home, the Catherine Institute for Noble Maidens was located in the estate. But it is called “Catherine’s” not in honor of Empress Catherine II, but in honor of St. Catherine. The new building for it was built by the architect Ivan Gilardi.

The War of 1812 severely disfigured the estate and park, and Ivan Gilardi’s son, Dmitry Gilardi, was involved in their restoration.

Already in the 20th century, the Naprudnaya River was enclosed in a pipe along its entire length, with the exception of a large pond. The Church of St. John the Warrior was demolished, and Catherine Square (now Suvorovskaya Square) was expanded to include part of the park. From February 1928, the Catherine Institute was renamed the Central House of the Red Army.

In 1979, the eastern part was cut off from the park, along which Olympic Avenue was laid. On the site of the Church of St. John the Warrior, destroyed in the 30s of the 20th century, the CDKA hotel (now the Slavyanka hotel) was built.

Immediately to the left of the entrance there is a bandstand, a dance floor. A lot of old people are dancing the waltz. We were staring at it. An amazingly touching and sweet picture. They don’t play dominoes, don’t hand over bottles, don’t discuss things on neighbors’ benches, they go dancing. God bless them.

On the left side of the park there is a statue “To the Stars” by sculptor Grigory Postnikov. In the monument, Grigory Nikolaevich captured a young half-naked titan launching a rocket into the sky.

The very idea of ​​launching a space rocket by hand, and not by equipment, is wonderful and patriotic. We can do anything! And on the other hand, it can be understood this way: launch a rocket, even with your hand, or with any technique, the result will be the same.

Not far behind the trees we see the Armenian Cathedral of Surb Khach, built several years ago on Olympic Avenue.

We go to the north-western corner of the park, and pass into its “appendix”, fenced with new buildings and connected to the park itself by a narrow isthmus.

There is a memorial stone dedicated to the bicentenary of the victory in the war with Napoleon in 1812.

The Chapel of Alexander Nevsky and John the Warrior is part of the memorial complex dedicated to Generalissimo A.V. Suvorov.

The monument to the great Russian commander A.V. Suvorov, who accomplished many glorious victories and campaigns, was erected in 2006 in Catherine Park next to the chapel.

Once upon a time, it was on this site that the Church of St. John the Warrior was located. In the 20s of the last century, the temple was destroyed by the Bolsheviks.

Suvorov Alexander Vasilyevich - a great Russian commander who did not suffer a single defeat in his military career (more than 60 battles), Prince of Italy (1799), Count of Rymniksky (1789), Count of the Holy Roman Empire, Generalissimo of the Russian land and naval forces , holder of all Russian orders of his time awarded to men, as well as many foreign military orders.

“He was a man of small stature, skinny, frail, poorly built, with a monkey’s physiognomy, with lively, sly eyes and habits so strange and hilariously funny that it was impossible to see him without laughter or regret; but underneath this original shell hid the talents of a great military genius. Suvorov knew how to make soldiers idolize and fear himself.” (King Louis XVIII of France)

In the same part of the park there is the “Social Rehabilitation Center for War Veterans and Armed Forces.” It’s probably a pleasure to lie down here for treatment, especially in the spring, but the proximity of Prospekt Mira raises doubts about the cleanliness of the air.

Jasmine blooms. It is one of the last to bloom. The sun has already passed its climax, and the daylight hours have begun to decrease, but it is blooming.

This year, due to illness, I missed the flowering of bird cherry and lilac, but I won’t miss the jasmine.

There is a rotunda here, in which, as legend says, “The Empress loved to drink tea with Count Saltykov. In a nearby greenhouse they grew lemons for their tea parties.” True, which empress and with which of the Saltykov counts is not specified.

This pavilion is called "Rotunda of Catherine II". The rotunda is located on the shore of the Great Catherine Pond. This wooden arched structure was erected on the site of an old rotunda.

Nowadays, renting this pavilion costs 1,000 rubles per hour; people like to organize photo sessions there on wedding days, and in the summer you can often see brides in dazzling white dresses in the park. And my missus is in green, matching the color of the rotunda.

Catherine Park is literally sandwiched on all sides by the Olympic sports complex, the Theater of the Russian Army, the Museum of the Armed Forces, the Cultural Center of the Armed Forces, Suvorov Square and Durov's Corner.

There is only one restaurant here, which is on the water on the Big Pond. We didn't go into it.

The park has two entrances - Central, from the side of Suvorovskaya Square and Dostoevskaya metro station, and from the side of Olympic Avenue opposite the stadium.

Hidden in the depths of the garden is a planetarium built in 1958. A special astronomical apparatus is installed here, thanks to which visitors can see comets, stars, planets and eclipses. Unfortunately, the planetarium is not designed for a large number of visitors, so pre-registration is required to visit it. Did you think there was only one planetarium in Moscow? I thought so too.

This horse is not one of the main attractions of the park. So what? She was created to give people joy, so I don’t spare photographs for her.

The approaching houses are simply pressing. What freedom there is in Kolomenskoye, and what non-freedom there is here.

Here it is, the former Catherine Institute of Noble Maidens. As befits all institutes for noble maidens, a bust of Frunze is installed in front of its entrance. Now here is the Cultural Center of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

Opposite the entrance we see the building of the Soviet Army Theater. This was the first theater building built after the revolution. From a bird's eye view, the building looks like a regular five-pointed star. Oddly enough, this form was “invented” by Kliment Voroshilov.

Voroshilov, completely desperate to explain to the stupid architects how to build a theater, once grabbed an ashtray in the shape of a five-pointed star from the table, slammed it on a piece of paper, and said: “That’s how they should build it!” So they built it, but the building turned out to be extremely inconvenient for the theater.

Next to the park and theater is the Central Museum of the Armed Forces (formerly the Museum of the Soviet Army), it was founded in 1919.

In 1924, the museum became known as the Central Museum of the Red Army and Navy. Since 1951 - the Central Museum of the Soviet Army, since 1965 - the Central Museum of the Armed Forces of the USSR, since 1993 - the Central Museum of the Armed Forces. It is impossible to remember all this, and no one needs it.

The monument to the dead sailors of the nuclear submarine "Kursk" (sculptor L. Kerbel) was opened on August 12, 2002 to the right of the building of the Central Museum of the Armed Forces, 2 years after the tragedy on the nuclear submarine cruiser.

Map of Catherine Park.

Catherine Park is neither large nor small, a clean, neat, well-groomed city park in Moscow. Near the main entrance to the park there is the Dostoevskaya metro station. Already at the entrance you can see that this park is worth a visit: the paths are paved with tiles, fallen leaves (it was autumn) have been removed, there are flower beds everywhere and an arch with the name of the place.

Almost immediately at the entrance there is background information about the park: its history, plans for the future, a set of rules of behavior and a symbolic diagram with all the signs.

A brief historical background printed in small letters on this stand reads:

The historical territory of “Catherine Park” had no development for a long time; the Naprudnaya River, a tributary of the Neglinnaya, flowed here. There were several ponds along its bed. In the 14th century, the Exaltation of the Cross Monastery was moved to the area of ​​the Naprudnaya River, in 1492 the Church of St. Tryphon was built, and in the 1630s the stone Church of John the Warrior was built. Most of the territory during this period was occupied by groves, meadows and pastures.

In the 18th century, next to the Church of St. John the Warrior, the country estate of Count V.S. was built. Saltykova, which later passed to his son Count A.V. Saltykov, who was one of the Empress’s closest nobles, as well as a participant in Suvorov’s campaigns.

In 1777, the ownership of A.V. Saltykov was acquired by the treasury for the construction of a nursing home to restore the health of veterans of the Turkish company and other defenders of the Fatherland. In 1802, after the transfer of the Invalid House to Matrosskaya Tishina, its entire extensive property was acquired by Empress Maria Feodorovna for the device in it Moscow School of the Order of St. Catherine(aka Moscow Catherine Institute of Noble Maidens), for noble maidens, daughters of officers who were wounded or died in the war.

From the end of 1860, the Catherine Institute began to lease the former garden lands located north of the pond. By the end of the 1880s, a system of small plots had formed to the northeast of the institute's property. New streets are being built to access them: Bolshaya and Malaya Ekaterininskaya. Another plot within the boundaries of the property was leased in 1888 by the honorary citizen, commerce advisor, Alexander Immer, and created an experimental seed station and a plant nursery, with greenhouses and hotbeds.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the building arose in the area of ​​Trifonovsky Lane in close proximity to the Naprudnaya River, which in 1920-30. is enclosed in a pipe, after which the site began to be gradually built up with wooden residential buildings. In the 30s The Church of St. John the Warrior is demolished, and seven-story buildings of the CDKA hotel are erected within the boundaries of the church property.

In 1935-1941. The Red Army Theater was built on Catherine Square. In 1979, Olympic Avenue was built through the park, completely destroying the historical structure of the area. All the old buildings were demolished.

Below on the stand it is stated that the park is a valuable urban landscape, therefore it is planned to carry out a lot of work on restoring reservoirs, landscaping and giving it a historical appearance. In the park you will be able to admire the garden of continuous flowering, the garden of coastal and aquatic plants, and the lilac garden. A variety of walking routes, designed for all age groups, will provide a change of impressions and increase the space of the park.

It sounds tempting, after such words I wanted to visit this park during the flowering period.

The next stand helped to navigate the area and even made me happy! Drinking alcohol, smoking, polluting the area, walking dogs, and much, much more are prohibited in the park. By the way, riding bicycles and rollerblading in the park is also prohibited. Restoration work is visible in the background.

We move deeper into the park: there are also flower beds, flowers, benches, and lanterns everywhere. The place is very calm.

And here is the Great Catherine Pond with an overgrown island for ducks.

There are a lot of ducks here, everyone can feed them.

A walk around the large pond will not take much time, however, it will be a wonderful moment of peace, especially in sunny weather.

Rotunda (round building with a dome) of Catherine II.

Next is another entrance - the eastern one - with the inscription “Moscow for life, for people!” And right there, as confirmation of what was written, there is a descent for strollers and for the disabled, steps with railings, tiles instead of shabby asphalt. You can bring children in strollers and girls in high heels here, which, in fact, is visible in the photograph.

Swimming in the pond is prohibited.

The view of the autumn pond from the other side is just a picture!

Next to the Big Pond there is a Small Pond and a reading pavilion.

The small pond was without water, only one huge puddle and a flock of crows. But we read at the entrance that the park is just being developed!

There is a stone mouth leading to the Small Pond, with a miniature bridge across it.

Even further is the sculpture “To the Stars”. It's strange to see this sculpture here, because the planetarium is located in a completely different part of the park. And behind the monument you can see the Moscow House of War and Armed Forces Veterans, which is connected to a social rehabilitation center.

We go to the northern part of the park. How harmoniously the new “glass” houses fit into the old landscapes of the Catherine Park.

Chapel of Alexander Nevsky and the Holy Martyr John the Warrior - to replace the one demolished in the 30s. stone church.

Nearby there is a gazebo for vacationers.

And then there’s the bust of A.V. Suvorov.

“This glorious year has passed, but the deeds accomplished in it will not pass away”- this is what the inscription on the stone says. This is a quote from the manifesto of Alexander I on the occasion “expulsion of the adversary from Russia” dated January 4, 1912: “THE GLORIOUS YEAR HAS PASSED, BUT THE EXTRAORDINARY FEATS WILL NOT PASS” The stone was installed in 2012, on the 200th anniversary of the Patriotic War of 1812.

Gold autumn! Last look at the wonderful park.

We leave through the Northern Gate, passing by the Moscow House of War and Armed Forces Veterans and the social rehabilitation center. The entire walk took about an hour, but those with free time can spend the whole day here.