Tsarskoye Selo city. Pushkin and Tsarskoe Selo. Babolovsky Palace and Park

Museum Reserve "Tsarskoye Selo" - probably one of the most famous sights of St. Petersburg. I think that almost every tourist who visited the Northern capital has been here.

Tsarskoye Selo is beautiful parks, magnificent palaces - a huge territory, permeated with the history of pre-revolutionary Russia.

Why I love Tsarskoye Selo

I have been here many times. This place is a pleasure to visit again and again. Most of all I like to walk in the Catherine Park. I talked about it in more detail in. It is divided into regular and landscape parks. For me, its last part is more interesting, but for beautiful photos, of course, the Regular Park is more popular with tourists. Its strict symmetry and abundance of all kinds of decorations make the most vivid impression on the guests of the Village.

But most of all, Tsarskoye Selo is known for its palaces. Of course, first of all - the Catherine Palace. Its luxury and beauty are difficult to convey in words. This is a must see! The wealth and chic of that era is the best way to convey the decoration and appearance of the palace.

Of course, the Alexander Palace is less pompous. But he attracts guests in a completely different way. If the Catherine Palace is more official, its halls and rooms do not give the impression that they once lived here (I talked about the Catherine Palace in more detail), then the interior decoration of the Alexander Palace, the preserved interior items make you believe and plunge into the home life of the imperial family.

I was lucky enough to visit the palace even before it closed. The cabinet of Nicholas II made the greatest impression on me.

A very cozy and truly homely atmosphere reigns in all rooms. It is easy to imagine that all the things that have survived to this day (and there are a lot of them) were used in everyday life by members of the Romanov family. Read separately about the palace.

Now let's plunge into history, I will tell you about how Tsarskoye Selo appeared. And then I will list all the most interesting places.

A bit of history

Tsarskoye Selo appeared thanks to Tsar Peter I. It was he who presented the land of the Sarskaya manor to his wife Ekaterina Alekseevna (future Catherine I). The generous gift was greatly appreciated. Since 1710, the history of Tsarskoye Selo began as a royal country residence. This place was loved by almost all subsequent Russian emperors. Ekaterina Alekseevna ordered to rebuild a small two-story summer palace on the territory of the Village, as well as to lay out a park around it.

Later, Tsarskoye Selo was given the status of a reserve. And since 1990, it has received its modern name - the State Museum-Reserve "Tsarskoye Selo".

How to get there

The Museum-Reserve is located at: , Pushkin, st. Sadovaya d. 7.

You can get there in the following ways:

With Vitebsk railway station there is an electric train in Pushkin to the station "Tsarskoye Selo":

• The ticket price is 40 rubles.
• Travel time - 30 min.
• From the station to the museum can be reached using fixed-route taxis No. 371, 377, 382, ​​buses No. 371, 382 or take a walk.
• The walk will take about 30 minutes.

From metro station "Moscow" Shuttle buses go directly to the park:

• Taxi No. 286, 287, 342, 347, 545.
• The stop is located behind the House of Soviets.
• Usually there are many fixed-route taxis with large signs "Tsarskoye Selo", "Parks of Tsarskoye Selo", "Palaces" at once.
• A fixed-route taxi will reach you in 40 minutes, provided that there are no traffic jams.
• The fare will be about 40 rubles.

Tsarskoye Selo can be reached from Moscow Avenue:

• Bus number 187 stops in front of McDonald's.
• Here you can also catch fixed-route taxis from the ring from the House of Soviets.
• The bus goes to the station (Pushkin).
• The fare is 30 rubles.

From metro station "Kupchino" can be reached by taxi:

• Taxi number 545, 286, 287, bus number 186.
• Travel time is 30 minutes if there are no traffic jams.
• The ring of minibuses is located on Vitebsky Prospekt from the side of the metro.

How to get to Tsarskoye Selo by taxi:

• The trip will cost about 500-600 rubles one way.
• Travel time is approximately 30 minutes if there are no traffic jams.

I like to get to Tsarskoye Selo by minibus from the Moskovskaya metro station. Due to the fact that there are always a lot of minibuses, you can slowly approach, take a seat and quickly and comfortably get directly to the museum. Along the way, you can admire the city landscapes.

Opening hours and ticket prices

Catherine Park

Working hours:

• from September to April from 7:00 to 21:00;
• from May to July from 7:00 to 23:00;
• in August - from 7:00 to 22:00.

Ticket:

• from April 25 to October 20 - 120 rubles. At other times admission is free.

Catherine Palace

This tour is the most popular. Here are the longest lines. Therefore, when planning your day, first visit the palace. When buying a ticket, keep in mind that it is valid for an hour.

Working hours:

• from June to August - from 12:00 to 20:00;
• in May and September - from 12:00 to 19:00;
• Please note that the box office closes an hour earlier.
• The day off is Tuesday, and from October to April - Tuesday and the last Monday of the month.

The museum offers two types of excursions:

1. The route passes through: the Great Hall, the Dining Rooms, the Crimson and Green Pillar Rooms, the Picture and Portrait Halls, the Amber Room, the Chinese Drawing Room, the Buffet Room, the Waiter's Room.
   Ticket price:
   1. adults - 580 rubles;
   2. pensioners - 290 rubles;
   3. cadets, members of artists' unions, conscripts, members of the unions of architects and designers of Russia - 290 rubles;
   4. students over 16 years old and students - 290 rubles;
   5. visitors under 16 years old - admission is free;
2. The route passes through: the Great and Arabesque Halls, the Anti-chambers, the Amber Room, the Picture Hall and the exhibition "Romanovs in Tsarskoe Selo".
   Ticket price:
   1. adults - 400 rubles;
   2. pensioners - 200 rubles;
   3. cadets, members of the unions of artists, architects, designers of Russia, conscripts - 200 rubles;
   4. students over 16 years old and students - 200 rubles;
   5. Visitors under 16 years old - admission is free.

Alexander Palace

Currently closed for renovation until 2018.

Museum Lyceum of A. S. Pushkin

Located in the wing of the Catherine Palace. The entrance to the museum is separate.

Working mode:

• from 10.30 to 18.00. The box office is open until 17.00.

Tour ticket prices:

• adults - 200 rubles;
• pensioners - 100 rubles;
• students - 100 rubles;
• visitors under 16 years old - 80 rubles.

Ticket price without tour:

• adults - 120 rubles;
• pensioners - 40 rubles;
• students - 40 rubles;
• visitors under 16 years old - free of charge.

What to watch

A visit to Tsarskoe Selo will take you a whole day. So many places to visit!

Catherine Palace

First of all, head to the Catherine Palace. Groups of 20 people are allowed into the palace every 20 minutes. Having bought a ticket, you must remember that the museum must be visited within an hour.

The palace is absolutely beautiful! I would advise you to take a walk without an excursion, because the guide leads the guests very quickly through the halls, and there is no opportunity and time to examine all the beauty in more detail, admire and admire everything. For myself, I choose going to museums as a “savage”. Moreover, you can always join a group and listen, and then continue to wander in your mode. There are many beautiful halls in the palace, each of them is magnificent in its own way. The most famous are the Great Hall and the Amber Room.

Big hall

He is simply amazing! The whole room is just immersed in gold! Every detail of the interior is thought out to the smallest detail, elegant and unique in its beauty. As you know, official receptions and luxurious balls were held here.

For this, a huge number of candles were lit in the evening, and the walls began to burn, shimmer with gold! The hall made an indelible impression on all the guests.

the Amber Room

Incredibly beautiful room. It is rightfully called one of the wonders of the world. It should not be forgotten that the original amber panels that decorated the room were irretrievably lost during the Great Patriotic War.

Museum Lyceum of A. S. Pushkin

After visiting the Catherine Palace, you can walk to the museum-lyceum of A. S. Pushkin. It is located in the wing of the Catherine Palace, which is adjacent to the park fence.

A very interesting tour of the place where the famous Russian poet studied. You will be shown audiences and halls, as well as private rooms of lyceum students. It's amazing how modest the conditions were!

Catherine and Alexander parks

And many more interesting things can be found here.

At the moment, the Alexander Palace is closed for renovation until 2018, but you can just admire the building itself. It is really very beautiful and majestic. Alexander Park also has many interesting monuments and structures that you can see. Entrance to the park is free, so it is very popular with locals. Here you can walk, go skiing, spend time with your family on a picnic.

• The Big and Small whims unite Alexander and Ekaterininsky parks. They are artificial bridges under which the road to the palaces passes. In this photo, both the Big Caprice and the Small Caprice are clearly visible in the distance.

• The Great Chinese Bridge is located in front of the front parade ground of the Catherine Palace and leads to the Alexander Park.

• The White Tower is a complex of buildings in the medieval style. It was erected specifically for the children of Emperor Nicholas I. Here the guys studied military affairs, fencing and many other disciplines.

And this is far from all that can be seen here!

I hope my review was interesting.I wish you the most pleasant impressions from your visit to Tsarskoye Selo!

Attractions

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Tsarskoye Selo is a whole museum complex, which includes a palace and park ensemble of the 18th and 19th centuries. Three beautiful parks, a luxurious royal residence and several pavilions in a variety of architectural styles - all filled with the exquisite charm of a bygone era. And Tsarskoye Selo is the former name of the city of Pushkin, which also has something to see and where to walk. We offer you the 10 best places that you must visit in Tsarskoye Selo.

Museum, Landmark, Palace and park ensemble, Architectural monument, Historical monument

The Catherine Palace is a grand building in the Russian Baroque style. Once it took 100 kilograms of pure gold to gild its facade!

The Great Hall of the palace and the "golden enfilade" of the state rooms amaze with the luxury of decoration. It is impossible to ignore the world-famous Amber Room, revived by the work of the best restorers in Russia. Magical interiors and rare objects of applied art convey the spirit of the Elizabethan and Catherine eras. The exposition of the palace tells about the work of outstanding architects and artists of the 18th and 19th centuries.

The Catherine Palace is not as big as it seems, when you look at it from the side, you can go through it with a tour in about 40 minutes. But it’s better not to rush, arm yourself with an audio guide, a guidebook and your own imagination. Just imagine how fashionable Empress Elizabeth walked through these rooms, in whose wardrobe there were 15 thousand dresses! And how sternly Catherine the Great looked at the graceful curlicues of the local decor, calling this palace “whipped cream”.

An entrance ticket to the palace costs 500 rubles for adult citizens of the Russian Federation. It can be bought by presenting an entrance ticket (120 rubles) to the Catherine Park.

The museum is open from 10.00 to 18.00. Days off: Tuesday and last Monday of each month.

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Park, Museum, Landmark

An integral part of the Tsarskoye Selo imperial residence are parks, first of all, the two main ones - Catherine and Alexander, which received these names from the palaces located in them.

The Catherine Park consists of two parts: the regular Old Garden and the landscape English Park. The old (Dutch) garden was founded, according to legend, by Peter I himself. In any case, it was the Dutch masters Roosen and Focht who planned the garden at the beginning of 1720. However, many outstanding architects showed themselves here: for example, the famous Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli built the Hermitage and Grotto pavilions in the park, as well as the Roller Coaster.

Dozens of architectural structures are located on the territory of the Catherine Park: from majestic palaces and marble monuments to numerous pavilions, bridges, exotic buildings that give the park a unique character. All these objects are worthy of close attention. It will take a whole or even several days to get acquainted with the riches of the Catherine Park. But if you only have an hour or two at your disposal, by all means look at least at the Agate Rooms.

A lot of excursions are held in the Catherine Park, including walks on electric vehicles and in horse-drawn carriages.

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Park, Landmark, Palace and park ensemble, Architectural monument

Alexander Park with an area of ​​about 200 hectares adjoins the Big Tsarskoye Selo (Ekaterininsky) Palace from the front parade ground (courtyard). The main entrance is located opposite the Catherine Palace. You can also enter the park through the gate located at the Alexander Palace, or along the road passing through the Great Caprice.

Alexander Park is divided into regular (New Garden) and landscape parts. Both are masterpieces of park art.

One of the best examples of classicism in world architecture is the Alexander Palace. It was designed by the Italian architect Giacomo Quarenghi. Unfortunately, it is impossible to get inside the building now, because the interiors are under restoration until 2018. However, nothing prevents you from admiring the palace from the outside.

Alexander Park is open around the clock. Entrance to it is free. There are paid excursions on electric cars and horses.

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It was here that from 1811 to 1817 the young Pushkin was brought up, here he found devoted friends who remained faithful to the lyceum brotherhood until the end of his days. Now the premises of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum house a museum - one of the four branches of the All-Russian Museum of A.S. Pushkin.

The museum recreates the environment in which the lyceum students of the first graduation lived and studied. On the basis of archival materials, the Great Hall, Newspaper Room, Library, classrooms, bedrooms of pupils were restored.

The interiors convey the special atmosphere of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, which many outstanding graduates of this educational institution spoke of with great warmth. Among them, in addition to A.S. Pushkin, diplomat A.M. Gorchakov, poets A.A. Delvig and V.K. Kuchelbecker, admiral, historiographer of the Russian fleet F.F. Matyushkin, Decembrist I.I. Pushchin.

You can buy a ticket to the museum for 200 and 120 rubles. In the first case, you can go through all the premises of the lyceum with a guide. With a ticket for 120 rubles, you can see the exposition on your own and take a walk in a small lyceum garden.

The museum is open from 10.30 to 18.00. The box office closes at 5:00 pm.

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Museum, Landmark

Another place directly connected with the name of the great Russian poet is A.S. Pushkin. Here, in a one-story wooden building, which has largely retained its original architectural appearance, there is also a museum.

Pushkin wanted to acquire a dacha in 1831. The poet rented eight rooms in a house that belonged to A.K. Kitaeva, where he lived with his young wife for eight months.

The interiors of the dacha were recreated according to the memoirs of contemporaries. The mezzanine of the house houses the poet's study, where The Tale of Tsar Saltan, Onegin's Letter to Tatiana and many other works were written. A special section of the exposition is dedicated to Karamzin and Zhukovsky, who were here: in Tsarskoye Selo they quite often visited their student and pupil.

The house is very cozy and beautiful in its own way. A walk through the rooms allows you to touch the history of Russian culture.

The museum is open from 10.30 to 18.00. The box office closes at 5:00 pm. Days off - Monday and Tuesday.

Tickets cost 50 rubles, or 100 rubles if you want to be given a tour.

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Landmark, Monument of architecture

The Tsar's Military Chamber is not only the rarest architectural monument of the neo-Russian style, but also the only museum of the First World War in Russia.

The building itself, built in 1914, is a rather complex complex of bizarre buildings. Novgorod and Pskov buildings of the XIV-XVI centuries were taken as a model. As a result, the Military Chamber took the form of an irregular polygon with a courtyard.

Interestingly, the Chamber of Warriors was originally going to house a museum, but not of the First World War, but of the history of Russian troops. However, after the start of the war with Germany in 1914, Nicholas II ordered to arrange a museum of the current war, and the main exhibits, according to the plan of the emperor, were to be portraits of the Knights of St. George. In Soviet times, the museum was closed. It was only restored in 2014. Now the chamber has a permanent exhibition "Russia in the Great War".

You can visit the Military Chamber from 10.00 to 18.00, every day, except Wednesday and the last Thursday of the month. The cost of tickets for adult visitors is 300 rubles.

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Museum, Landmark

In 2016, the Arsenal pavilion was opened in Alexander Park, where the exposition “Tsarskoye Selo Arsenal. Imperial Collection of Weapons. Specialists from the State Hermitage helped to assemble this unique collection.

The Arsenal Pavilion was built in 1834 by Scottish architect Adam Menelas. The Neo-Gothic building is hidden in the depths of the Alexander Park and is an architectural fantasy on the theme of ancient castles.

The central room of the pavilion is the octagonal Hall of the Knights. Here, in the 19th century, the best part of the collection of weapons belonging to Nicholas I was located. Tickets were issued for its inspection, that is, in fact, the Arsenal became the first public museum of weapons in Russia.

For more than seventy years, Arsenal stood in a dilapidated state. But now there is a very rich exposition. In addition to items from its own collection, the museum purchased at auctions valuable items of European weapons and equipment of the 16th-17th centuries, including armor, helmets, halberds, and swords.

Arsenal is open every day, except Monday, from 10.00 to 18.00. Ticket price - 250 rubles.

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Landmark, Monument, Historical Landmark

Fedorovsky town is a complex of residential and outbuildings in the neo-Russian style, reminiscent of a settlement in the fortress walls. The complex was built from 1913 to 1918. The Tsar's Palace in the village of Kolomenskoye served as a model. The town was created for the residence of clergy and the military. It was conceived as a settlement and a courtyard, modeled on the old monastic or boyar estates, which consisted of several chambers and towers surrounded by a fence. The fortress wall in some places was, in addition to decorative, and functional in nature, as it served as a transition between buildings.

The house of the clergy, the refectory, the Imperial pavilion, the Chamber of Warriors and the barracks of the imperial convoy, the officer and soldier hospitals, the office building, outbuildings - everything has a single style solution and is an extremely curious architectural monument. On the territory of the Fedorovsky town there is also the Feodorovsky Cathedral, the lower temple of which was the home church of the royal family.

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Academic Avenue 12-18, Pushkin

Park, Landmark

: Ekaterininsky park with a palace and pavilions, Alexander park with a palace and pavilions and Babolovsky park with a palace.

Catherine Park

It occupies an area of ​​107 hectares. It consists of the regular Old Garden (1717-1720s, garden masters J. Roosen and I. Focht) and the landscape English Park (1760-1796, garden masters J. Bush, T. Ilyin, architect V. I. Neelov) separated by the Big Pond. Named after Empress Catherine I.

• Great Catherine Palace

The modern appearance of the palace was formed as a result of the reconstruction of the palace, built in -1723 by the architect I.F. Braunstein. In -1756, the work was first led by architects M. G. Zemtsov, A. V. Kvasov and S. I. Chevakinsky, and then F. B. Rastrelli. Rastrelli is the main author of the architectural design of the building and the magnificent sculptural decoration of its facades in the Russian Baroque style, as well as the entire internal layout and decorative decoration of the halls of the middle of the 18th century. From the west adjoins the main courtyard, decorated with one-story semi-circular buildings and a forged fence with gilded details and gates along the central axis of the palace. Buildings built at the end of the 18th century adjoin the side facades of the palace. On the north side, this is a four-story wing (later it housed the Lyceum, now Memorial Museum - Lyceum, Branch of the All-Russian Museum. A. S. Pushkin), connected to the palace by an arch over Sadovaya Street (architect I. V. Neelov), from the south - the Zubovsky wing (architect Yu. M. Felten). A set of the Cameron Gallery, cold baths, a hanging garden and a ramp (1780-1794, architect C. Cameron) adjoins from the southeast. One of the most famous rooms in the Great Catherine Palace is the Amber Room.

• Hermitage- a two-story octagonal pavilion with a dome, columns and moldings (1744-1754, architects M. G. Zemtsov, F. B. Rastrelli). It was used for summer receptions of royal guests.
• Grotto- a pavilion with azure walls and white columns, decorated with stucco decor dedicated to the maritime theme (1749-1761, architect F. B. Rastrelli).
• Admiralty- a group of buildings made of unplastered brick with white cornices and lancet windows, crowned with Gothic stepped towers and spitz (1773-1777, architect I. V. Neelov).

Alexander Park

It occupies an area of ​​188 hectares. It consists of a regular part (New Garden, 1740s, designed by N. Girard) and a Landscape Park (1790s) with three ponds and mounds. In the western part of the park, the Kuzminka River flows, blocked by a dam.

• Alexander Palace

As of 2016, the museum is restoring the Alexander Palace, the Chapelle pavilion, the Imperial Farm, metal bridges in Alexander Park and the Church of the Resurrection of Christ in the Catherine Palace.

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Literature

• Vilchkovsky S. N. Tsarskoye Selo. Guide. 1710–1910 SPb., 1911. Reprint 1992.
• Petrov A. N. Pushkin. Palaces and parks. L.-M., 1964.
• Monuments of architecture of the suburbs of Leningrad. L., 1983.
• Voronov M. G., Kuchumov A. M. Amber room. L., 1989.
• Tsarskoye Selo Arsenal. / Comp. and enter. article: L.V. Bardovskaya, V.M. Faibisovich. SPb., 2000.
• Bardovskaya L.V. Masterpieces of painting in the Tsarskoye Selo collection. SPb., 2008.
• Bredikhina I. I. Court carriages. Tsarskoe Selo collection. SPb., 2008.
• Bott I.K. Tsarskoye Selo furniture and its crowned owners. SPb., 2009.
• Serpinskaya T. V. Artistic bronze of the Tsarskoe Selo collection, St. Petersburg, 2009.
• Architects of Tsarskoye Selo: from Rastrelli to Danini. / Authors of the articles: L. V. Bardovskaya, I. K. Bott. SPb., 2010.
• Catherine Palace. Front rooms. Living quarters./ Text authors: L. V. Bardovskaya, G. D. Khodasevich. SPb., 2010.
• Alexander Palace./ Authors of the articles: L. V. Bardovskaya, V. F. Plaude, I. G. Stepanenko. SPb., 2010.
• Kedrinsky A. A. Big Tsarskoye Selo (Catherine) Palace: from a suburban estate to a grand residence. 1710–1760 SPb., 2013.
• Plaude VF Photography. 1850s - 1917. / Tsarskoye Selo State Museum-Reserve. Collection catalog. Volume XVII. Book I. St. Petersburg, 2013.
• Stepanenko I. G. Venetian decorative sculpture of the first quarter. XVIII century / State. Museum-reserve "Tsarskoye Selo". Collection catalog. Volume IX. Book I. St. Petersburg, 2015.

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An excerpt characterizing Tsarskoe Selo (museum-reserve)

Five minutes later there was no one left on the street. The cook, with her thigh shattered by a grenade fragment, was carried into the kitchen. Alpatych, his coachman, Ferapontov's wife with children, the janitor were sitting in the basement, listening. The rumble of guns, the whistle of shells, and the pitiful groan of the cook, which prevailed over all sounds, did not stop for a moment. The hostess now rocked and persuaded the child, then in a pitiful whisper asked everyone who entered the basement where her master was, who remained on the street. The shopkeeper, who entered the basement, told her that the owner had gone with the people to the cathedral, where they were raising the miraculous Smolensk icon.
By dusk, the cannonade began to subside. Alpatych came out of the basement and stopped at the door. Before a clear evening, the sky was all covered with smoke. And through this smoke a young, high-standing sickle of the moon shone strangely. After the former terrible rumble of guns had fallen silent over the city, silence seemed to be interrupted only by the rustle of steps, groans, distant screams and the crackling of fires, as it were spread throughout the city. The groans of the cook are now quiet. From both sides, black clouds of smoke from fires rose and dispersed. On the street, not in rows, but like ants from a ruined tussock, in different uniforms and in different directions, soldiers passed and ran through. In the eyes of Alpatych, several of them ran into Ferapontov's yard. Alpatych went to the gate. Some regiment, crowding and hurrying, blocked the street, going back.
“The city is being surrendered, leave, leave,” the officer who noticed his figure said to him and immediately turned to the soldiers with a cry:
- I'll let you run around the yards! he shouted.
Alpatych returned to the hut and, calling the coachman, ordered him to leave. Following Alpatych and the coachman, all Ferapontov's household went out. Seeing the smoke and even the lights of the fires, which were now visible in the beginning twilight, the women, who had been silent until then, suddenly began to wail, looking at the fires. As if echoing them, similar cries were heard at the other ends of the street. Alpatych with a coachman, with trembling hands, straightened the tangled reins and horses' lines under a canopy.
When Alpatych was leaving the gate, he saw ten soldiers in the open shop of Ferapontov pouring sacks and knapsacks with wheat flour and sunflowers with a loud voice. At the same time, returning from the street to the shop, Ferapontov entered. Seeing the soldiers, he wanted to shout something, but suddenly stopped and, clutching his hair, burst out laughing with sobbing laughter.
- Get it all, guys! Don't get the devils! he shouted, grabbing the sacks himself and throwing them out into the street. Some soldiers, frightened, ran out, some continued to pour. Seeing Alpatych, Ferapontov turned to him.
- Decided! Russia! he shouted. - Alpatych! decided! I'll burn it myself. I made up my mind ... - Ferapontov ran into the yard.
Soldiers were constantly walking along the street, filling it all up, so that Alpatych could not pass and had to wait. The hostess Ferapontova was also sitting on the cart with the children, waiting to be able to leave.
It was already quite night. There were stars in the sky and a young moon shone from time to time, shrouded in smoke. On the descent to the Dnieper, the carts of Alpatych and the hostess, slowly moving in the ranks of soldiers and other crews, had to stop. Not far from the crossroads where the carts stopped, in an alley, a house and shops were on fire. The fire has already burned out. The flame either died away and was lost in black smoke, then it suddenly flashed brightly, strangely clearly illuminating the faces of the crowded people standing at the crossroads. In front of the fire, black figures of people flashed by, and from behind the incessant crackle of the fire, voices and screams were heard. Alpatych, who got down from the wagon, seeing that they would not let his wagon through soon, turned to the alley to look at the fire. The soldiers darted incessantly back and forth past the fire, and Alpatych saw how two soldiers and with them a man in a frieze overcoat dragged burning logs from the fire across the street to the neighboring yard; others carried armfuls of hay.
Alpatych approached a large crowd of people standing in front of a high barn burning with full fire. The walls were all on fire, the back collapsed, the boarded roof collapsed, the beams were on fire. Obviously, the crowd was waiting for the moment when the roof would collapse. Alpatych expected the same.
- Alpatych! Suddenly a familiar voice called out to the old man.
“Father, your excellency,” answered Alpatych, instantly recognizing the voice of his young prince.
Prince Andrei, in a raincoat, riding a black horse, stood behind the crowd and looked at Alpatych.
– How are you here? - he asked.
- Your ... your Excellency, - Alpatych said and sobbed ... - Yours, yours ... or have we already disappeared? Father…
– How are you here? repeated Prince Andrew.
The flame flared brightly at that moment and illuminated Alpatych's pale and exhausted face of his young master. Alpatych told how he was sent and how he could have left by force.
“Well, Your Excellency, or are we lost?” he asked again.
Prince Andrei, without answering, took out a notebook and, raising his knee, began to write with a pencil on a torn sheet. He wrote to his sister:
“Smolensk is being surrendered,” he wrote, “the Bald Mountains will be occupied by the enemy in a week. Leave now for Moscow. Answer me as soon as you leave, sending a courier to Usvyazh.
Having written and handed over the sheet to Alpatych, he verbally told him how to arrange the departure of the prince, princess and son with the teacher and how and where to answer him immediately. He had not yet had time to complete these orders, when the chief of staff on horseback, accompanied by his retinue, galloped up to him.
- Are you a colonel? shouted the chief of staff, with a German accent, in a voice familiar to Prince Andrei. - Houses are lit in your presence, and you are standing? What does this mean? You will answer, - shouted Berg, who was now assistant chief of staff of the left flank of the infantry troops of the first army, - the place is very pleasant and in sight, as Berg said.
Prince Andrei looked at him and, without answering, continued, turning to Alpatych:
“So tell me that I’m waiting for an answer by the tenth, and if I don’t get the news on the tenth that everyone has left, I myself will have to drop everything and go to the Bald Mountains.
“I, prince, only say so,” said Berg, recognizing Prince Andrei, “that I must obey orders, because I always fulfill them exactly ... Please excuse me,” Berg justified himself in some way.
Something crackled in the fire. The fire subsided for a moment; black puffs of smoke poured from under the roof. Something else crackled terribly in the fire, and something huge collapsed.
– Urruru! - Echoing the collapsed ceiling of the barn, from which there was a smell of cakes from burnt bread, the crowd roared. The flame flared up and illuminated the animatedly joyful and exhausted faces of the people standing around the fire.
A man in a frieze overcoat, raising his hand, shouted:
- Important! go fight! Guys, it's important!
“This is the master himself,” voices said.
“So, so,” said Prince Andrei, turning to Alpatych, “tell everything as I told you.” And, without answering a word to Berg, who fell silent beside him, he touched the horse and rode into the alley.

The troops continued to retreat from Smolensk. The enemy was following them. On August 10, the regiment, commanded by Prince Andrei, passed along the high road, past the avenue leading to the Bald Mountains. The heat and drought lasted for more than three weeks. Curly clouds moved across the sky every day, occasionally obscuring the sun; but towards evening it cleared again, and the sun set in a brownish-red mist. Only heavy dew at night refreshed the earth. The bread remaining on the root burned and spilled out. The swamps have dried up. The cattle roared from hunger, not finding food in the meadows burned by the sun. Only at night and in the forests the dew still held, it was cool. But along the road, along the high road along which the troops marched, even at night, even through the forests, there was no such coolness. The dew was not noticeable on the sandy dust of the road, which was pushed up more than a quarter of an arshin. As soon as it dawned, the movement began. Convoys, artillery silently walked along the hub, and the infantry up to their ankles in soft, stuffy, hot dust that had not cooled down during the night. One part of this sandy dust was kneaded by feet and wheels, the other rose and stood like a cloud over the army, sticking to the eyes, hair, ears, nostrils and, most importantly, the lungs of people and animals moving along this road. The higher the sun rose, the higher the cloud of dust rose, and through this thin, hot dust it was possible to look at the sun, not covered by clouds, with a simple eye. The sun was a big crimson ball. There was no wind, and people were suffocating in this still atmosphere. People walked with handkerchiefs around their noses and mouths. Coming to the village, everything rushed to the wells. They fought for water and drank it to the dirt.
Prince Andrei commanded the regiment, and the structure of the regiment, the well-being of its people, the need to receive and give orders occupied him. The fire of Smolensk and its abandonment were an epoch for Prince Andrei. A new feeling of bitterness against the enemy made him forget his grief. He was completely devoted to the affairs of his regiment, he was caring for his people and officers and affectionate with them. In the regiment they called him our prince, they were proud of him and loved him. But he was kind and meek only with his regimental officers, with Timokhin, etc., with completely new people and in a foreign environment, with people who could not know and understand his past; but as soon as he ran into one of his former staff members, he immediately bristled again; became malicious, mocking and contemptuous. Everything that connected his memory with the past repulsed him, and therefore he tried in the relations of this former world only not to be unjust and to fulfill his duty.
True, everything was presented in a dark, gloomy light to Prince Andrei - especially after they left Smolensk (which, according to his concepts, could and should have been defended) on August 6, and after his father, who was sick, had to flee to Moscow and throw away the Bald Mountains, so beloved, built up and inhabited by him, for plunder; but, despite the fact, thanks to the regiment, Prince Andrei could think about another subject, completely independent of general questions - about his regiment. On August 10, the column, in which his regiment was, caught up with the Bald Mountains. Prince Andrey two days ago received the news that his father, son and sister had left for Moscow. Although Prince Andrei had nothing to do in the Bald Mountains, he, with his characteristic desire to exasperate his grief, decided that he should call in the Bald Mountains.

Tsarskoye Selo (Museum-Reserve)

Panorama of the Catherine Palace

About three hundred years Tsarskoye Selo(until 1910 - the Big Tsarskoye Selo Palace Museum) served as the residence of Russian monarchs. Today, the picturesque suburb of St. Petersburg is an outstanding cultural monument and is known throughout the world.

chronicle

1710-1720 A suburban royal residence, villages and settlements are being built on the site of the Sarskaya Myza estate. The Sarskaya manor was renamed into Sarskoye and then into Tsarskoye Selo.
Construction by order of Empress Catherine I of the first stone royal house.
1742-1743 The Catherine Palace is expanding.
1752-1756 Capital reconstruction of the Catherine Palace by the architect VV Rastrelli.
1792-1796 The New Tsarskoye Selo (Alexander) Palace is under construction.
1811 The Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum was opened.
1837 The Tsarskoye Selo railway was opened - the first railway in Russia.
1918 Tsarskoe Selo was renamed Detskoye Selo.
1937 Detskoye Selo was named after A. S. Pushkin.
1941 Occupation of the city of Pushkin by fascist troops.
1944 Liberation of the city of Pushkin.
1950s Large-scale restoration and restoration work has begun, which continues to this day.

Story

The history of this place goes back centuries, by the time of the census of Novgorod lands, noted in the "Census Salary Book for Novgorod Votskaya Pyatina" of 1501. On the maps compiled for Boris Godunov, the estate is called Saritsa. Swedish maps of that time called the estate “Sarishoff” (“elevated place”), that is, the Saritsky master's house, or, as the Novgorodians said, a manor with a master's house. It was a small estate consisting of a wooden house, outbuildings to it and a modest garden, divided by two perpendicular alleys into four squares. The Finns who once lived here used the name "Saarimojs". Later, in Russian, the name was transformed first into Saritskaya and Sarskaya manor, then into Saar and Sarskoe villages, and finally became Tsarskoye Selo.

In 1724, the village was called Blagoveshchensk - after the name of the temple, founded in the presence of Peter I on the site of the current Church of the Sign. However, this toponym did not stick.

After the October Revolution, Tsarskoye Selo was given to children. Many orphanages, sanatoriums were opened, the old parks were filled with children. For this reason, in 1918 the suburb was renamed Detskoye Selo.

In 1937, when the country celebrated the 100th anniversary of the death of A. S. Pushkin, by decision of the Soviet government, Detskoye Selo was named after the great poet. “The place often changed hands. In 1702, the retreating Swedes fled through Saritskhoff, in the direction of the Duderhof churchyard, pursued by Russian troops led by B.P. Sheremetyev and P.M. Apraksin, who liberated the region from a hundred-year-old foreign yoke.

For the first time in the military chronicle, the place where Tsarskoye Selo arose was mentioned in August 1702. During the offensive operations on the Izhora land, Peter I wrote to P. Apraksin, who commanded here, so that he would not burn the villages, which "we ourselves will have to build." He excused himself: "Such is military necessity, sovereign." And he assured that "now he firmly forbade burning from the Sarskaya manor to Kantsy." From a later report of Admiral General Apraksin to Peter I: “Kraneorg was defeated on Izhora, fled to the Tsar’s manor, where, after standing for three days, he retired to Kantsy.” From that moment on, Saretsgoff, or as the Finns called it - Saarmys, ceased to be Swedish and became Russian "finally and irrevocably."

In 1703, by the decision of Peter I, the Sarskaya manor passed to the governor-general of the liberated region A. D. Menshikov, who from 1708, with the help of the Stable Affairs Office, began to conduct a systematic economy here, “filling” the estate and the surrounding lands with artels of carpenters and “arable peasants, prosperous , kind and economic”. However, Menshikov owned the estate for a very short time.

In 1710, Peter I presented the Sarskaya manor, along with 43 villages and lands assigned to it, to Marta Skavronskaya, who in 1712 became his wife under the name of Ekaterina Alekseevna. A dispatch has been preserved in the historical archives: “To the commandant of Kabor Plashev from His Serene Highness Prince Menshikov about the highest command of Peter I - to give Martha Skavronskaya the royal and Slavic manors with their villages, with peasants and with all the land. June 24, 1710." This day is the official date of foundation of Tsarskoye Selo. The Sarsk manor was included in the category of palace lands and began to be built up.

The first palace - "stone chambers with 16 rooms" - in the future Tsarskoye Selo was erected in 1718-1724 by I. Braunstein and F. Ferster at the behest of Ekaterina Alekseevna, on the site of the estate of the former owner of the estate that survived during the hostilities. A small two-story building with a symmetrical layout characteristic of the early 18th century and a high mansard roof was not distinguished by pomp of decoration. Only rustication at the corners and modest white architraves enlivened the red lead-painted facades. Inside the chambers there were several ceremonial rooms, trimmed with polished alabaster, upholstered in leather with gold embossing or covered with silk wallpaper. The upper front hall was decorated with fireplaces, typesetting parquet, mirrors, tapestries and paintings.

In 1719 and 1722, after the construction of a dam on the Vangazya stream, a lake and two canals were formed - the Bolshoi, which was the boundary of the garden and later called Rybny, and the Maly - on the site of the modern Lower Cascade Ponds. They laid the foundation for the creation of the water system of the future palace and park ensemble. Simultaneously with the construction of the palace, the garden, laid at the very beginning of the 18th century in the eastern part of the estate, was expanded and improved. The garden master Jan Rosen is considered to be the author of the initial layout of the Tsarskoye Selo Garden, and the experienced master Johann Vogt supervised its breakdown. A birch grove, called Wild, was planted behind the Fish Canal. It is known that until the middle of the 18th century, the decoration of the garden was extremely modest.

On the western side of the palace, on an area of ​​one square verst, a menagerie was arranged - a place for royal hunting. Moose, hares and other animals were specially driven into the fenced area of ​​the forest. Similar menageries were available at many country estates of that time.

The expansion of the Sarskaya manor led to an increase in the number of palace employees. A settlement grew up near the residence. The buildings, located in close proximity to the imperial palace, first formed Sadovaya, and later Sluzhitelnaya (now Middle) and Malaya streets.

A modest palace with a garden laid out near it at first did not matter as a front royal residence. Dramatic changes in the appearance of Tsarskoye Selo occurred later, in the middle of the 18th century.
In 1728, the estate passed to Elizaveta Petrovna, daughter of Peter I. In the art and especially in the architecture of that time, the elevated and solemn style of Russian baroque was affirmed. And the Tsarskoye Selo Ensemble was created in this style. It was during the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna that Tsarskoye Selo became the imperial residence.

Since 1748, the construction of the residence was headed by the chief architect of the court, Bartolomeo Francesco (Barfolomey Varfolomeevich) Rastrelli, who gave the palace a monumental look. No less magnificent than the facades was the interior of the palace. The Amber Room was called a miracle of decorative art. The mosaic panels made of natural amber built into its walls were of the highest artistic value. Made in 1709 in Prussia according to the project of A. Schluter, they were presented to Peter I as a diplomatic gift by Friedrich Wilhelm I, who was interested in strengthening ties with Russia. At the same time, the territory of the garden was expanding; the Lower Ponds became its southern border. Sculptures and park pavilions appeared in the garden. For the water supply of park reservoirs, a canal was dug from the Vittolovsky springs (6 km from Tsarskoye Selo). During this period, the appearance of Sadovaya Street was formed. In its upper part, the same type of "cavalier" houses in the Baroque style, built according to the designs of S. I. Chevakinsky, appeared, and below - a large stone greenhouse. In basic terms, the palace still has the appearance that Rastrelli gave it.

By 1756, Tsarskoye Selo had become a place of official receptions for the Russian nobility and foreign ambassadors, who were brought to the palace "to show curiosity worthy decoration in the chambers." Elizaveta Petrovna loved this place very much. The Empress visited him for the last time on September 8, 1761. The Tsarskoye Selo manager Udalov organized a refreshment in the palace. During dinner, two musicians played the violins. A cannon salute was made at the "drinking for the health of Her Majesty."

A new stage in the history of Tsarskoye Selo began in the second half of the 18th century. The residence has grown significantly and acquired the artistic appearance that has largely survived to this day. This happened under Catherine II. Since then, the palace and the park began to be called Catherine's.

In November 1796, Catherine II died. Emperor Pavel, who did not love his mother, took paintings, statues, bronze and furniture from Tsarskoye Selo, using all this to decorate the Mikhailovsky Palace, as well as the palaces of Pavlovsk and Gatchina.

Tsarskoe Selo - "the brainchild of the glorious empress" - remained abandoned until the accession of Alexander I, who restored what was destroyed by his predecessor. By decree of Alexander I, in the wing of the Catherine Palace, built in 1791 by the architect Quarenghi for the children of the then Tsarevich Pavel Petrovich, a new educational institution was established - the Imperial Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum. The lyceum was founded with the aim of "educating young people, especially destined for important parts of the state service and made up of distinguished pupils of noble families."

The Imperial Lyceum in Tsarskoye Selo was located in this building from 1811 to 1843. From 1811 to 1817, A. S. Pushkin was brought up here. Pushkin graduated from the lyceum among twenty-nine pupils of the first set, among whom were future celebrities: poets V.K. Kuchelbeker and A.A. Delvig, chancellor A.M. Gorchakov, navigator F.F. Matyushkin and others.

During the reign of Alexander II, the city continued to develop. It opened the Nikolaev men's gymnasium, built the city hall, the Lutheran church.

After Nicholas II ascended the throne in 1894, Tsarskoye Selo began to change even more rapidly. The Fedorovsky Cathedral was erected with a cave church consecrated in the name of St. Seraphim of Sarov, the barracks of some guards regiments and His Majesty's own convoy, the Military Chamber, the Palace Power Station, the city four-class school, the Tsarskoye Selo Station and the City Railway Station, a biological treatment station were built.

It is known that the fate of the imperial residence, created over decades, was decided literally in one day. This happened on August 14, 1917. Nicholas II and his family left the Alexander Palace to go by stage, first to Siberia, and then to the Urals. Already at the end of 1917, the Council of People's Commissars allocated funds for repair and restoration work in the former royal palaces. Tsarskoye Selo palaces and parks have turned into historical and art museums. Only in 1919 they were visited by over 64 thousand people.

After the start of the Great Patriotic War, work began on sheltering and evacuating the art collections of the museum palaces. On September 17, 1941, the Nazis entered the city. The occupation of Tsarskoye Selo lasted 28 months. Hitler's troops barbarously destroyed the treasury of Russian art. On January 24, 1944, the city of Pushkin was liberated. The war has not yet ended, and the city has already started clearing parks and reservoirs, excavating and installing park sculptures.

The scale of the restoration work can be appreciated by looking today at the palace and park ensemble raised from the ruins, the magnificent facades of the Catherine Palace and the historical buildings of Tsarskoye Selo. Pushkin is the only city in Russia that has been awarded the flag of honor of Europe. June 24, 2010 marked his 300th birthday. As part of the celebration, an exhibition dedicated to the 300th anniversary of Empress Elizabeth, the patroness of Tsarskoye Selo and its palaces, was opened.

Today Tsarskoye Selo is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. The former imperial residence, numbering more than three hundred monuments of architecture, history and culture, is famous far beyond the borders of Russia.

Catherine Palace

It turned out that the Catherine (Great) Palace owes its appearance to its brilliant mistresses, three female empresses: Catherine I, Elizabeth Petrovna and Catherine II. It was to them that the palace belonged in the 18th century. Their wishes, projects and personal tastes were brought to life by talented architects, artists and gardeners.

All Russian monarchs lived, worked, gave audiences, arranged diplomatic receptions, ceremonial balls and masquerades in the luxurious halls of the Catherine Palace. Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, daughter of Peter I, and later Catherine II spent not only summer but also winter here. In addition to the personal preferences of the Russian rulers, the architecture of the palace reflects the architectural trends of each of the eras that the palace has survived.

The building for the summer residence of Catherine I was founded in 1717 by Johann Braunstein. In 1743, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, who had barely ascended the throne, ordered the architects M. Zemtsov and A. Kvasov to expand and improve the palace. In 1752, V. V. Rastrelli undertook to rebuild it. It was then that the palace acquired its modern look. On July 30, 1756, the opening of a new building (its length reached 325 meters) took place to the shocked Russian nobles and foreign guests.

The interiors of the palace reflected various artistic styles - mainly baroque and classicism. Several rooms, remodeled in the middle of the 19th century, are made in the style of the era of historicism, suggesting an eclectic mix of different styles of the past. Special rooms were allocated for the storage of services, furniture sets, tablecloths and other items of royal life. Numerous goffuriers, tafeldekkers, coffee shops and other courtiers watched the state of the palace property.

Members of the crowned Romanov family enjoyed spending their leisure time in this country residence. Alas, the private chambers of the royal family have not survived to this day. Currently, the museum's exposition is housed in twenty-six restored halls, which include the ceremonial halls of the Golden Enfilade, created by the architect Rastrelli, the personal rooms of Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich, several rooms that belonged to Emperor Alexander I, as well as the Pre-Church (Stasovsky) Hall.

Catherine Park

Catherine's Park - one of the five in Tsarskoe Selo - consists of a regular Old and landscape English parks. Surrounding the Great Catherine Palace, it forms a single palace and park ensemble with it.

Unlike the parks of other famous suburbs of St. Petersburg - Petrodvorets, Pavlovsk, Gatchina - Catherine's Park reflects different artistic styles of landscape art. It is also remarkable in that it is associated with the life of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. It was to the Old Garden that the great poet dedicated beautiful lines: Embarrassed by memories, Filled with sweet longing, Beautiful gardens, under your sacred dusk I enter with my head bowed.

The southern building of the Catherine Palace, on the first floor of which Platon Zubov, the last favorite of Empress Catherine II, settled in the 1790s, as a result of which the building was named Zubovsky, adjoins the ensemble created in 1780-1794 by the architect C. Cameron.

In the early 1770s, Empress Catherine II came up with the idea of ​​a building in the Greco-Roman style in Catherine's Park. On this occasion, she wrote to the sculptor E. Falcone: “I would like to have a project for an antique house, planned as in antiquity. I am able to build such a Greco-Roman rhapsody in my Tsarskoye Selo garden.” The idea to create such a work in the residence of Catherine the Great attracted many famous masters. The Frenchman Ch. de Vailly proposed to erect a building dedicated to the sciences and arts and their patroness, Minerva. The greatest connoisseur of antiquity C. Clerisso dreamed of building an "ancient house" oriented towards the famous baths of Diocletian and surpassing the Catherine Palace in its size. The latter did not please the empress, who rejected this project.

The execution of the order of Catherine the Great, in the end, went to C. Cameron, invited to Tsarskoe Selo from Scotland. He created an amazing structure, which is often called the "terms of Cameron."

Pavilion "Upper Bath"

The Upper Bath Pavilion, or, as it was called in the 18th century, The Soap of Their Highnesses, is located on the banks of the Mirror Pond. The construction of the stone soapbox was carried out according to the project of I. Neelov, finishing work was completed in 1779. Until the middle of the 19th century, the building retained its original purpose and consisted of six rooms: a vestibule, a cloakroom, a bath, a bathhouse (steam room), a stoker's room (hot water) and a central octagonal hall intended for relaxation.

The upper bath is made in the style of early classicism. Despite the fact that its facades are almost completely devoid of decorative decoration, it makes a strong impression thanks to the trihedral risalit. (This is the name of the protruding part of the building, going to its entire height.) The walls of the risalit are cut through with semicircular and round windows, as well as a wide doorway.

The motifs of garlands, bouquets, flowers and fruits are used in the wall painting, making the interior festive and elegant. The pavilion is currently used for temporary exhibitions.

Pavilion "Grotto"

The Grotto Pavilion was erected by order of Empress Elizaveta Petrovna in 1749-1779 by the architect V. V. Rastrelli on the northern bank of the Big Pond. Alas, his plan - to decorate the interiors with multi-colored sea shells and porous tuff - did not materialize. The pavilion was decorated by Antonio Rinaldi. The decoration of the walls created by him, light, exquisite in design, has survived to this day. Rastrelli had already left Russia by that time, having not agreed in artistic tastes with the reigning Catherine II. The grotto was the first building to revive the desert panorama of the coast.

Pavilion "Admiralty"

The complex was built according to the project of the architect V. Neelov during the summer of 1773. It is located on the bank of the Big Pond - on the site of a wooden boat shed. The complex includes three pavilions: a central one and two side pavilions. In the lower floor of the central building, the boats used to ride the courtiers on the Big Lake were stored, hence the name of the buildings - the Admiralty.
In the 19th century, there was a collection of rowing boats from the peoples of almost all countries, including the treshouts of Empress Catherine II and the Turkish cripple of Nicholas I, donated by the Turkish Sultan.

Fountain "Girl with a jug"

The Milkmaid Fountain, known as the Tsarskoye Selo Statue, or the Girl with a Jug, occupies a special place among the park sculptures of Tsarskoye Selo. This is the only sculpture specially made for the Catherine Park.

A granite rock serves as a pedestal for a bronze statue of a girl. From a broken jug lying at her feet, a stream of spring water runs, entering the pool connected to the fountain. Initially, the pool was designed in the form of a grotto, to which a staircase made of Pudost stone led. The grotto existed until the middle of the 19th century. At the beginning of World War II, the statue was buried in the ground. Thanks to this, the fountain was not damaged. At present, the bronze original of the "Girl with a jug" is placed in the funds of the museum-reserve, and a copy cast in 1990 is installed in the park.

Alexander Palace

The Alexander Palace, or the New Tsarskoye Selo Palace, was founded in the northern part of the Alexander Park in 1792 by order of Catherine II. It was a gift from the Empress for the wedding of her beloved grandson, the future Emperor Alexander I, with Grand Duchess Elizabeth Alekseevna. In May 1796, in the last year of the reign of Catherine II, the construction of the building was completed, and on June 12, 1796, the Grand Duke and his wife entered the New Palace.

The Alexander Palace was designed by the famous Italian master G. Quarenghi, and it was built by the architect P. Neelov. The palace is an elongated two-story building with two outbuildings on the sides. In the center of the main northern facade there is a magnificent through colonnade, consisting of two rows of columns.

The interiors, designed by G. Quarenghi, corresponded to the classical canons; the whole building is sustained in the style of classicism. The halls of the Front Enfilade were located along the garden facade of the palace. In the center there was a hall with a semi-rotunda, divided into three parts by wide arches. The middle part of the room was called the Semicircular Hall, on the east side it adjoined the Portrait Hall, and on the west side - the Billiard Hall, or the Crimson Drawing Room.

Nicholas I was very fond of the Alexander Palace and paid great attention to its improvement. The grandson of the emperor, Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich, the future Emperor Alexander III, the palace served as the grand ducal residence.

Today, the Alexander Palace is associated with the last page in the history of the Russian Empire. The 12 years of the reign of the last Russian emperor are closely connected with him. At that time, receptions were held here for ambassadors, famous foreign figures, the celebration of the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty, etc. From here, on the morning of August 1, 1917, the family of Nicholas II set off towards the bloody Yekaterinburg finale. In 1918, the Alexander Palace turned into a state museum. Later, it housed a rest home for NKVD officers and an orphanage named after. Young Communards.

Until recently, the famous palace was closed to visitors, and few people knew that the interiors of the Front Enfilade and part of the decoration of the private apartments of Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna were preserved in it.

In August 1997, the exposition "Memories in the Alexander Palace" was opened in the left wing of the palace. The guests are presented with decorations and personal belongings of Emperor Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, their daughters Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia and their son, Tsarevich Alexei.

Alexander Park

The park adjoins the Catherine Palace from the main entrance. From here you can get to the park via the Great Chinese Bridge. On the other hand, people enter the park through the gates located at the Alexander Palace.

Alexander Park is divided into the so-called New and landscape gardens. The New Garden - a regular park with a geometrically correct layout appeared in 1740. Right behind the Bolshoi 2Chinese Bridge there is a straight wide linden alley, which serves as the main axis of the New Garden. The garden is surrounded on four sides by the Cross Canal, dug in 1748-1749. Over time, the layout of the garden changed somewhat: in the square to the right of the Chinese Bridge, in the second half of the 18th century, picturesque ponds with peninsulas appeared. In the square on the left is the "Fungus" curtain. The bulk mountain "Parnassus" became the center of the third square, and the Chinese theater became the compositional core of the fourth. The landscape park under the first mistress of Tsarskoye Selo, Catherine I, was a piece of natural forest adjacent to the palace. There, by order of the queen, a menagerie was set up, where wild animals were kept almost in natural conditions for the royal hunt.

In the early 90s of the 18th century, a new Alexander Palace began to be built in the neighborhood. It was decided to build a landscape park around it with three ponds and mounds. The natural forest on the territory of the Menagerie was turned into a park with a network of roads. The architect A. A. Menelas built a whole complex of neo-Gothic buildings in the new park in a short time: the White Tower, the Chapelle, the Arsenal, the Lama Pavilion, and the Pensioner's stable. The modern ensemble of Alexander Park also includes the Chinese Village and the Cross Bridge.

Cross Bridge

The Cross Bridge spans the Cross Canal. The building was completed in 1779. The bridge stands on four shoots that lead to a stone "Chinese" gazebo, lined with crimson, yellow and blue glazed bricks. The walls of the gazebo are cut through by high lancet windows. The curved “Chinese” roof is painted “under fish scales” and topped with a spire with balls strung on it. Four granite stairs of 23 steps each lead through the arches to the gazebo.

Pavilion "Chapelle"

The Chapelle pavilion (from the French cha-pelle - chapel) appeared on the outskirts of the Alexander Park in 1828. It looked like a gothic chapel, ruined by time. The construction project belongs to the architect Adam Adamovich Menelas. Chapelle consisted of two square towers, one of which completely "collapsed". Colored glass was installed in the windows of Chapelle, which added even more "gothic" to it. The sculptures in the pavilion were made by the sculptor V. I. Demut-Malinovsky. The statue of Christ was commissioned by the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna by the German sculptor Johann-Heinrich von Dannecker. Currently, the pavilion is once again being prepared for restoration.

Chinese village

From the Cross Bridge, you can walk along the alley to the Chinese Village, built in the 1780s by architects C. Cameron and I. V. Neyelov. It became a tribute to the fashionable passion for the East at that time. Initially, the walls of the houses were faced with glazed faience tiles made at the A. Konradi factory in Krasnoe Selo. However, during the first frosts, the tiles cracked, and in 1780 C. Cameron ordered that the buildings be plastered and painted with oriental ornamental motifs. The houses painted with “chess” and “under the fish scales” curved roofs with figures of fantastic dragons decorated a lot.

With the death of Empress Catherine II, work in the Chinese Village ceased. In 1798, Emperor Paul I ordered the dismantling of houses for material for the Mikhailovsky Castle in St. Petersburg. Fortunately, this order remained unfulfilled. In 1817-1822, V.P. Stasov connected the houses in pairs and re-planned the inside, adapting it for housing. In the 19th century, the Chinese Village was used as a guest apartment. Each house was supplemented with a garden for relaxation, inside there was a bed, a table, a chest of drawers for linen and dresses, as well as a desk with all the necessary accessories. Indispensable attributes of the situation were a samovar, tea and coffee appliances.

The outstanding Russian historian N. M. Karamzin often lived in the Chinese Village from spring until late autumn, in 1822-1825 he worked here on the multi-volume History of the Russian State. At present, the Chinese Village has been completely restored. The houses are again used as guest and residential apartments.
Retirement stable and horse graveyard

In January 1826, Emperor Nicholas I ordered the transfer of eight riding horses "of Emperor Alexander Pavlovich's own saddle", who lived out their lives "on pension" in the stables of St. Petersburg, to Tsarskoye Selo, where a special building was built for them, called Pensionernaya stable. The two-story pavilion with a round stair-tower-belvedere, two trihedral bay windows and a one-story extension was built of brick in the English Gothic style. The upper floor housed the caretaker's and grooms' quarters. Not far from the southern facade of the building there is a cemetery of horses "of the imperial saddle". Rows of stone slabs with inscriptions carved on them indicate the burial places of the favorite horses of Russian emperors from Alexander I to Nicholas II.

As if the buildings are beautiful
The number of stars must be multiplied,
Constellation to be clear
Worthy of Tsarskoye Selo
M. V. Lomonosov

To the south of St. Petersburg is the small town of Pushkin, named after the famous Russian poet, whose life was closely connected with these places. Until 1918, the city was called Tsarskoye Selo, and it is with this name that the brightest pages of the city's history are associated.

Many memories of the heyday and decline of the Romanov dynasty are associated with Tsarskoye Selo. Tsarskoye Selo is located 25 km south of the center of St. Petersburg. It is a small town with two huge palaces surrounded by parks. Tsarskoe Selo is the royal summer residence and literary symbol of Russia.
Despite the fact that for two centuries Tsarskoye Selo was the ceremonial summer residence of Russian emperors, the origin of the name of this city has nothing to do with the Russian word "tsar". Until 1772, the Tsarskoye Selo lands belonged to the Swedes, and on the site of the future royal residences there was a Sarskaya manor, i.e. a manor on an elevated place? which Peter I in 1710 presented to his wife Ekaterina Alekseevna. After the Swedes were expelled from the conquered territory, the Sarsky manor was called Sarskoye Selo. In 1717, construction began on a stone palace in Tsarskoe Selo, and the Finnish name was changed. Over the years, the modest manor has turned into a brilliant country residence of Russian autocrats, one of the most beautiful palace and park ensembles in Europe.

In 1702, the retreating Swedes fled through Saritskhoff, in the direction of the Duderhof churchyard, pursued by Russian troops led by B.P. Sheremetyev and P.M. Apraksin, who liberated the region from 100-year-old domination of foreigners.
Since 1703, the Sarskaya manor began to belong to the governor-general of the liberated region A.D. Menshikov, who since 1708, with the help of the Stable Affairs Office, began to conduct a systematic economy here, populating the estate and the surrounding lands with artels of carpenters and “arable peasants, prosperous, kind and economic ". AD Menshikov owned the estate until 1710. On June 24, 1710, Peter I presented the Sarsky manor, along with 43 assigned villages and lands, to Marta Skavronskaya, who in 1712 became his wife under the name of Ekaterina Alekseevna. This day is the official date of the founding of Tsarskoy Selo.
Just as Peter was able to see the future St. Petersburg in the thin swamps, so Catherine saw a magnificent residence in place of a modest estate. In this case, "to be according to this" was said by the wife of the Emperor. It was an act in the spirit of Peter and matched his most majestic designs.
The first palace, “stone chambers with 16 rooms” was built in 1724 by I. Braunshtein at the behest of Ekaterina Alekseevna on the site of the estate of the first owner of the estate that had survived from the hostilities. The expansion of the Sarskaya manor led to an increase in the number of palace employees. A settlement began to be created near the residence. The buildings, located in close proximity to the Imperial Palace, first formed Sadovaya, and later Sluzhitskaya (now Middle) and Malaya streets. In 1728 the estate passed to Tsesarevna Elizaveta Petrovna. Before her accession to the throne in 1741, the only significant building in Tsarskoye Selo was the Church of the Sign, built in 1734 by architects M. Zemtsov and I. Blank.
Since 1741 Tsarskoye Selo became the official residence of the Russian monarchs. This circumstance was facilitated by the favorable geographical location of the city, proximity to the capital, the Gulf of Finland, a picturesque area at an altitude of 120 meters above sea level, a favorable wind rose, fresh air, a dry place, clean water sources, and a healthy climate. There has never been an epidemic of plague, cholera or other dangerous mass diseases that often affected other areas. Since that time, the construction of the palace ensemble, hydraulic structures and ordinary urban residential buildings began. Many outstanding architects and artists, famous stone and wood carvers, the best blacksmiths and stonecutters worked here to create palaces and parks.
Italian baroque, antique and gothic, Egyptian, Chinese and ancient Russian motifs - everything is intricately intertwined in this amazing city.

A French diplomat, a contemporary of Empress Elisabeth, called the Catherine Palace a jewel, which lacks only a case. Indeed, this majestic building, made in the Russian Baroque style, amazes with its brilliant splendor. In the Pushkin palace and park ensemble, it stands out for its scale, elegant combination of colors - white, sky blue and gold - and whimsical architectural solutions.

Finally, its brilliant appearance, which has survived to this day with some changes, was acquired by the Catherine Palace thanks to the chief architect of the court B.-F. Rastrelli.
The decree on the restructuring of the old building was signed by Elizabeth on May 10, 1752, and already on July 30, 1756, Rastrelli presented his creation to the Empress and foreign ambassadors.
Rebuilding the palace, Rastrelli retained its main elements. In the extended (over 325 meters) facade of the building, one can distinguish the "middle house", that is, the center of the palace, emphasized by three ledges - risalits. The "middle house" is decorated with atlantes and caryatids, decorative masks (mascarons) on the pediments and above the windows, cartouches and other moldings. In 1756, sculptures, mascarons and cartouches were gilded, which gave the palace a special luster.
From the central part of the palace departed symmetrical outbuildings, connected by galleries, which Rastrelli organically included in the general plan of the palace, creating full-story buildings. Five gilded domes of the Palace Church towered above the northern building, and a large gilded dome with a multi-pointed star on the spire rose above the southern one, where the front porch was located. According to Rastrelli's project, the Front Courtyard was also finally decorated, the entrance to which is decorated with gilded gates, made according to the architect's drawing at the Sestroretsk plant.
No less luxurious was the interior decoration of the Catherine Palace. The Ceremonial Enfilade, created by Rastrelli, was nicknamed "golden" because of the abundance of gilded carvings. The enfilade arrangement of the halls was also used by Rastrelli in other palaces, but only in the Catherine Palace the length of the Front Enfilade was equal to the length of the entire building.
In the interiors of the palace, the Picture Hall stands out, the walls of which are decorated with 130 paintings by Western European artists. This collection was acquired in 1754 specifically for the decoration of the hall. Immediately behind the Picture Hall, the famous Amber Room used to be located.

Skillfully organized water landscape, thoughtfully planned regular and landscape parks complemented and enriched the overall picture of the Royal residence. Many outstanding artists and architects put their hand, skill and heart into the creation of this splendor. I. Braunstein, A. Kvasov, S. Chevakinsky, F. Rastrelli, V. Neelov and sons, C. Cameron, D. Quarenghi, V. Stasov, A. Menelas, I. Monighetti, F. Valeriani worked here. This is not a complete list of the most famous names and surnames.
City buildings are not inferior to the palace and park ensemble. The city fascinates with the geometric severity of the streets, reminiscent of the alleys of a regular garden. The luxury of palace facades, the monumentality of cathedrals and temples are striking. The whole appearance of the city creates a special atmosphere of purity, clarity, tranquility, bright joy. M.V. Lomonosov, G.R. Derzhavin, N.M. Karamzin, V.A. Zhukovsky, M.Yu. Lermontov, F.I. Tyutchev, N.V. Gogol, M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, N.S. Gumilyov, A.A. Akhmatova, A.N. Tolstoy, O.D. Forsh, A.R. Belyaev, P.P. Chistyakov, I.E. Repin, N.K. Roerich, V.M. Vasnetsov.
The name of A.S. Pushkin, imprinted in Tsarskoe Selo monuments and street names known to the whole world, is forever associated with Tsarskoye Selo.
Catherine I bequeathed Tsarskoye Selo to her daughter, Princess Elizabeth. Elizabeth fell in love with this residence so much that, having barely ascended the throne, she instructed the architect Mikhail Zemtsov to draw up a project for the enlargement and restructuring of the Catherine Palace.
Catherine II also preferred Tsarskoye Selo to all other country residences. In her reign, the Alexander Palace was built, and the Agate Rooms, the Cameron Gallery and the Grand Duke's Corps were attached to the Catherine Palace. The parks of Tsarskoye Selo were expanded and decorated with many new buildings and monuments in honor of the empress's associates.
Construction in Tsarskoye Selo, abandoned during the reign of Paul I, continued under Alexander I and Nicholas I. It was Alexander’s decision that the Lyceum was opened in 1810, which forever became a symbol of Tsarskoye Selo and the embodiment of the memory of the young years of Alexander Pushkin.
In addition to the palace, he created the magnificent Church of the Resurrection, a grotto decorated with various shells, huge "noise", twisted and small ones of various colors. There was even a hanging garden in Tsarskoye Selo. In the new part of the Tsarskoye Selo park, Rastrelli built the Monbijou pavilion, translated from French as “my treasure”, “my treasure”. Monbijou was used for rest and dinners after the hunt, which is why the pavilion was called the Hunting Pavilion.

To the southwest of the Grand Imperial Palace is an area called Sofia. On January 1, 1780, Catherine II issued a decree number 14958 "on the establishment of the St. Petersburg province of seven counties." It said that "... at the village of Tsarskoye, on the right side of the new Novgorodskaya road, and on the left towards Porkhov, to build a city called Sofia." The city received its own coat of arms: on a red background - an image of a double-headed eagle, in whose paws an anchor and a burning torch. These were signs of stability and order: a burning torch spoke of an illuminated path, and an anchor, of newfound peace. It was supposed to resettle all the inhabitants of the palace settlement in Sofia, but it was settled mainly by merchants, industrialists, clergy and the military.
Sophia was planned and rebuilt according to the decree of the Empress: "... arrange the streets, corresponding to the roads of the nearby garden, so that they make it look ...". The layout of the city was entrusted to the court architect C. Cameron. Documents show that the architect made drawings not only of individual houses, but of entire streets. In fact, it was a project for the architectural framing of the Tsarskoye Selo Catherine's Park. For the area adjacent to the park, the architect created a special "large model", and for the rest of the city - "small". The area and part of the city adjacent to the park were to be built up with houses according to the "large model", and the rest of Sofia - according to the "small" one.

At the beginning of the 18th century, construction according to standard designs was widespread in Russia. Even at the time of the founding of St. Petersburg, the architect D. Trezzini created the first "exemplary" drawings of residential buildings. Later, such houses were designed by A. Kvasov, V. Geste and other architects. While working on his plan, Ch. Cameron developed a typical cell of a residential building. By connecting together such cells, it was possible to create buildings of any length. Sometimes the cells were connected arbitrarily, and therefore many houses in Sofia have irregular outlines.
On August 29, 1808, by decree of Alexander I, a single city was formed under the name Tsarskoye Selo. In connection with the decision of the Emperor, the architect V.I. Geste developed a plan for the reconstruction of Tsarskoye Selo. Naturally, it included the area of ​​Sofia.
By the second half of the 19th century, it was by that time a well-organized European city with a railway connection, well-arranged water supply and sewerage, a telegraph, telephone, and radio station. The city had 14 thousand inhabitants, there was a hospital for 150 people, an almshouse for 40 people was arranged. City Hall, police department, two fire brigades provided and maintained exemplary order. Electricity appeared in Tsarskoe Selo for the first time in Europe.
Time passed. Since 1905, the last Russian autocrat, Nicholas II, has permanently lived in the Alexander Palace. It was on his initiative that the talented architects V.A. Pokrovsky, S.S. Krichinsky, V.M. Maksimov, S.Yu. Sidorchuk, S.A. Danini, A.R. administrative and residential buildings and structures. They enriched the urban landscape with buildings in the Old Russian and classical styles.

In 1917, after his arrest, Nikolai and his family were transferred from Tsarskoe Selo to Tobolsk, and from there to Yekaterinburg, where the emperor's family and the emperor himself were shot. This ended the history of Tsarskoye Selo as the residence of Russian emperors.
Tsarskoye Selo in pre-revolutionary times was an exemplary city in which advanced achievements of science and technology were introduced. From Tsarskoye Selo to St. Petersburg and Pavlovsk stretched the first railway line in Russia (built for the convenience of the imperial family). Electricity was provided in the city, water supply and sewerage were arranged. A smaller copy of the St. Petersburg Gostiny Dvor was built, as well as numerous villas. After the revolution, these villas were turned into orphanages, and the city received the corresponding name - "Children's Village". In 1937 the city was named "Pushkin" to commemorate the centenary of the poet's death. Now the palace complex is again called Tsarskoye Selo, and many streets have been returned to their old names. However, the city itself is still called "Pushkin".
My friends, our union is beautiful!

He, like a soul, is inseparable and eternal - Unshakable, free and carefree,
He grew together under the shadow of friendly muses.
Wherever fate takes us
And happiness wherever it leads
We are all the same: the whole world is a foreign land for us;
Fatherland to us Tsarskoye Selo.

A. Pushkin

After the fall of the monarchy, the city turned into a museum that preserves the memory of its former greatness.
During the occupation (from September 1941 to January 1944) the Nazis plundered the palaces, and not a single house suitable for habitation remained in the entire city. The Germans stole parquets, ceiling paintings, paintings and other items from Catherine's Palace. 57 halls of the palace were destroyed. When the Nazis were driven out, the first window glass was inserted into the window of Pushkin's room at the Lyceum. After decades of restoration work, both castles look the same as before the war, but many pavilions have not yet been restored, as this requires significant effort and large financial costs.

Tsarskoye Selo - the city of Pushkin today has already declared itself as a city of high culture. Its squares, boulevards, amazing buildings, charming gardens and parks, extraordinary aura - everything contributes to creativity and inspiration. Its history, largely mysterious and still waiting for new discoveries, attracts not only historians. It will interest anyone, because here every street, every corner excites with its historical importance or involvement in it.
According to UNESCO, Pushkin is among the top ten cities in the world in terms of attractiveness for tourists. 9 out of 10 tourists visiting St. Petersburg come to the city of Pushkin. The former royal residence, numbering more than 300 monuments of architecture, history and culture, is famous far beyond the borders of Russia for its palaces, parks, cathedrals and princely mansions.
The brightest holiday of the city is the International Tsarskoye Selo Carnival, which unites the interests of the city residents and the business world. The Tsarskoye Selo Carnival was first held in June 1996. Tsarskoye Selo Carnival was accepted into the Association of European Carnival Cities. In 2000, the delegation of St. Petersburg-Pushkin received the flag of the carnival movement and from that moment Pushkin became the carnival capital of the world. From May 27 to June 3, 2001, the XXIst International Convention of Carnival Cities of Europe and the YII Tsarskoye Selo Carnival took place in St. Petersburg.
Many international events have become traditional and annual for Pushkin:
International Tsarskoye Selo Festival "City of Muses", in which representatives from more than 20 foreign countries take part; International Festival "Tsarsko-Selskaya Autumn", within the framework of which the International Festival of Children's Choral Art takes place.
Pushkin was among the first in Europe to sign the Wahlberg Charter for Sustainable Urban Development and is a participant in 5 federal international programs for its implementation. For the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg, the International Cultural Center will be built in Pushkin.
The popularity of Tsarskoye Selo as an international center of culture and tourism is growing.
In 2000, Pushkin, the only city in Russia, was awarded the flag of honor of Europe.

Late autumn
I love the Tsarskoye Selo garden
When he is in a quiet half-darkness
as if embraced by drowsiness,
And white-winged visions
On the dim lake glass,
In some bliss of numbness
They stagnate in this semi-darkness ..

And on the porphyry steps
Catherine's palaces
Dark shadows fall
October early evenings - And the garden darkens like oak trees,
And under the stars from the darkness of the night,
Like a reflection of a glorious past
The golden dome comes out ...