The Polish Garden is a small cozy park in the center of St. Petersburg. It is always quiet and calm: as if there were no busy city streets, noisy highways in the world. There is only you and nature. At the same time, everyone entering here remains within walking distance from the usual maelstrom of life: nearby is the Fontanka embankment, a five-minute walk to the Technological Institute metro station.
Parishioners Poles
Why polish garden? Because nearby - the Catholic Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, most of the parishioners of which were Poles. From 1873 to 1926 the church was a cathedral, it was the residence of the Metropolitan of Mogilev (St. Petersburg was part of the Mogilev archdiocese, the metropolitan led the Catholic Church of the vast empire).
In 1930, the cathedral was closed. In the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945), the building was damaged by bombing, it was restored. Later, the converted building was used as a design bureau. The activities of the Catholic Church in it revived in the 1990s of the XX century. In 1994, the temple was re-registered as the parish of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Goodbye gloomy garden!
The Polish Garden (St. Petersburg) adorns the beautiful house in which Gabriel Derzhavin spent the last years of his life - a Russian poet of the Enlightenment, a statesman, a friend of Alexander Pushkin (oldest in age). Since 2006, the Polish Garden has been an integral part of the All-Russian Museum of A.S. Pushkin (memorial museum-lyceum of A.S. Pushkin).
It is hard to believe that the Polish Garden was gloomy and groomed for quite some time; the local people walked dogs here. Now everything is different. At the beginning of the 2000s, the garden was completely reconstructed: the dead trees were removed, young shrubs were planted, beautiful flowerbeds were planted with an amazing combination of flowers. The walkways have changed. Forged benches gave a glorious green island of St. Petersburg a special, solemn look.
Against such a background, the architectural ensemble (consisting of the owner’s mansion, twin wings, guest house) looks particularly harmonious and attractive. This is noted by residents of St. Petersburg and visitors to the city.
The interiors are decorated in the style of Catherine II. Developing a project to restore the decoration of rooms, experts studied a huge amount of specialized literature, which describes such objects of the past.
According to the English model
The whole look of the 21st Century Polish Garden was formed, carefully avoiding modern trends in landscape design. Delicate backlighting and camcorders don't count. With the help of innovations, all corners of the recreation area that have come down to us from Derzhavin times are emphasized, unusually tinted and protected.
The restoration was carried out according to archival drawings created at the turn of the XVIII-XIX centuries. It is known that the architect N. A. Lvov conceived the “purest charm” of the English model - an irregular style landscape park: without an abundance of straight alleys, with many bridges (wooden structures replaced by iron ones) and ponds.
By the way, Nikolai Aleksandrovich Lvov (a relative of Derzhavin’s wife Daria Alexandrovna) was known for his many-sided nature: he knew a lot about poetry, tried himself as a composer, and made translations. Everything else was fond of botany. Apparently, therefore, the Polish Garden, whose address has long been known to many, turned out to be so beautiful and, if you like, stylish. In the XIX century, the owners of the site have changed more than once, each bringing their own changes to the landscape.
Though you’re not Derzhavin, but still ...
Water mirrors, reflecting the crowns of trees, graceful transitions, cozy arbors - according to some St. Petersburg residents, it is worth going to the Polish Garden on the day of the wedding. The wedding photo session will turn out great! Grooms and brides adorn the park with their presence, and he, in turn, generously "gives" the newlyweds their landscapes. For a long good memory.
Going to the Polish Garden, you can very well count on relaxed solitude. Indeed, no one here bothers anyone: there is a dispersed peaceful coexistence of newly minted mothers with prams, young and old couples in love, and wedding “flocks”.
The directions of the tracks, the location of water bodies, architecture - everything, as was the case under the old Derzhavin. It is believed that while objects such as the Polish Garden are preserved, the concept of “place memory” continues to live. Walking along the walkways, walking along the alleys, you can dream up at ease: imagine yourself as a wise philosopher Gavriil Romanovich (or someone else of his contemporaries).
Good traditions
Green branches of trees hide from the direct sunlight the scenic area of the Polish Garden. In the warm season (spring, summer, autumn) concerts are held here, literary and musical compositions, theatrical performances are played. Is this not a continuation of the good old traditions? "Conversations of lovers of the Russian word" have been held in the kindergarten since 1811.
In 2011, the "old-new" park was opened for visitors. Paid entrance. Some are sad at times when you could go to the park as much as you like and for that. But the low “money barrier” saves the Polish Garden (photo - in the article) from the uncontrolled stay of savage beer drinkers on its territory, who are attracted by well-groomed, cozy spaces. True, this category of visitors manages to quickly turn the corners of paradise into hellishly dirty places.
In the garden, in the garden
Flower gardens in the garden are pleasing to the eye: graceful roses, golden marigolds, hairy asters and other flowers make this place especially attractive. They say that in the Polish Garden of annuals and perennials there are more than a thousand species. About 5 thousand flowering shrubs, several hundred trees.
They say that the four oak trees that grow in front of the master's house were brought from Tatarstan, from the homeland of G.R. Derzhavin. There is a garden (as under Gabriel Romanovich!). In season, pumpkins, zucchini, decorative cabbage, onions, and cucumbers grow on the beds. Imagine: a gazebo on an elevation, and along the hillsides lashes of potential salinity curl.
Optimization is obvious. There is nothing at all under the park, just over two hectares, but there was a place for everything: the green spaces, the playground, and the summer cafe. It is believed that the catering “glass” is a modern thing with pathos claims. Well, a little pathos has not bothered anyone.
Free admission in winter
How to find the Polish Garden (St. Petersburg)? The address for everyone who wants to visit a cozy place is the embankment of the Fontanka River, house 118. In summer (during the paid period) the main entrance is opened from the side of Fontanka, you can enter the garden from Derzhavinsky Lane (it connects the embankment and 1st Krasnoarmeyskaya Street).
When the yellow and red autumn leaves fall to the ground (by the way, amazing apple trees with red leaves grow in the garden, which unusually color the area without autumn “interference”), entry from Derzhavinsky Lane is prohibited. From November 1, gates are locked until the next park season. The snow-covered garden is free to use.
The garden is open seven days a week.
The Polish Garden opening hours are as follows: from 10:30 to 20:00. The cash desk closes at 19:30. A ticket costs 60 rubles (there is a solid list of beneficiaries, for example, students under 16 are included in it), a monthly subscription is 600 rubles (data dated April 1, 2016). There are no days off and short (pre-holiday) days.
At the entrance you can read the appeal to the citizens of St. Petersburg and guests of the city to carefully treat the elements of the garden architecture, to observe order and cleanliness. Strict "no" - dog walking, drinking alcohol, cycling, walking on the lawns. Nobody walks. Everything is decorous and noble.
And yet ... A part of the people really miss the times when the students of the Technozhalozhka and Voenmekh walked freely in the garden, breathing, rustling leaves ... The hostesses and stray dogs were chasing the open spaces ... There is an opinion that the monument of federal significance is beautiful, solemn and noble, ceased to be a native Petersburg kindergarten for residents of the district. But he lives, the Polish Garden (St. Petersburg)! Let his story continue!
For reference: a five-minute walk from the green sights of St. Petersburg - the Rainy Theater (a small drama theater), the youth theater "On the Fontanka", the metrological museum. There are other attractions, for example, a monument to Dmitry Mendeleev, Trinity Izmailovsky Cathedral , etc.