In the vicinity of St. Petersburg there is a small city - Gatchina. Today it is the district center of the Leningrad Region, whose population exceeds 83 thousand people. Every day, thousands of tourists visit this city. And the point is not that Gatchina is a scientific satellite near St. Petersburg (the oldest pedagogical college in Russia, the Institute of Economics and Finance, as well as the Research Institute of Nuclear Physics, which is named after B.P. Konstantinov, are located here). Ordinary tourists are attracted to this city by a museum-reserve with a palace, parks and ponds. It is difficult to list all the sights of Gatchina. Their photos are numerous, probably you have already seen certain corners of the palace park on posters, stamps, on TV. But it’s better to look at the beauty of Gatchina with your own eyes once.
History of the city
The first written mention of a settlement called Hotchino appeared in 1499, in the document “Novgorod scribe book”. It is also known that in 1712 the Gatchina Manor belonged to the sister of Peter the Great Natalya Alekseevna. But the monuments from those distant times, alas, did not survive. So Gatchina would have been a quiet farm if in 1765 Catherine the Second had not presented this name to her favorite, 27-year-old Count Grigory Orlov. He undertook to equip his new territories. Then the first sights of Gatchina appeared. The count was a big fan of hunting, so he built a “menagerie” here, a kind of reserve for animals that were intended for aviary hunting. Now it is a park of the same name. It is located in the northern part of the main Palace complex.
Royal fun
After the death of her pet, Catherine gave the estate to her son Paul, who had recently returned from a trip to France. This happened almost on the eve of the Revolution, in 1783. Impressed by the luxury of the French aristocracy and the royal court (which prompted people to make fundamental changes in the country), Pavel Petrovich began to create from Orlov's hunting grounds something similar to Chantilly's castle. Gatchina's sights were replenished with such structures as the Venus pavilion on the artificial island of Love, a 32-meter obelisk, greenhouses, stables. The tsar wrote from Italy the famous architect Vincenzo Brenna, who began to remodel Orlov's chambers, built by Antonio Rinaldi.
Parks
Perhaps one palace, no matter how beautiful its interiors would be, could not attract the attention of many tourists. Parks are real sights of Gatchina, because of which the object was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Vincenzo Brenna made a lot of efforts to create man-made landscapes. These are the lakes White, Black, Silver, as well as regular and landscape parks Sylvia, Own, Dutch (Upper and Lower). By the way, Paul I granted Gatchina city status, for which grateful residents erected a monument to the king near the palace.
Imperial residence
The beautiful nature, decorated with all kinds of luxuries, the palace, parks, gazebos, a lake and openwork bridges made Gatchina the beloved residence of the imperial family. Here, Paul I, Nicholas I, Alexander II, Alexander III lived sequentially . Each new emperor added something to the arrangement of the palace and parks, but also equipped the city. So, the railway was laid here in 1853. And in 1881 an unprecedented miracle happened for the Russian Empire - the city of Gatchina became completely electrified with “Yablochkov’s candles”. In 1879, the first Russian submarine was tested on Silver Lake, and in 1909 aircraft were launched. In 1914, the Intercession Cathedral was consecrated - the largest temple in the Leningrad region.
Other sights of Gatchina
The residence of the imperial family as a magnet attracted the upper and middle light to settle nearby. Soon Gatchina gained fame as a place where "green, high, cheap." In the vicinity of the palace and park complex are twenty-six estates of the 19th century. They are associated with the names of A. S. Pushkin, K. F. Ryleyev, I. I. Shishkin, V. V. Nabokov, A. I. Kuprin, I. N. Kramsky, I. V. Severyanin and other artists and writers . A map of Gatchina with sights, which can be purchased at the box office of the museum, will help you find all these objects.
How to get to the museum
The easiest way to get to Gatchina is by train. From the Baltic Station in St. Petersburg two trains go to this city. One goes to the village, and the second comes very close to the palace and park complex. If you need a museum, get a ticket for the train that arrives at Gatchina Baltic Station. You can also get to the parks on minibuses number 18 and 18a (they depart from the Moskovskaya metro station) or bus number 431. By your own car, you should move along the Kiev highway. The museum is open daily except Monday, from 10am to 6pm. In principle, it is always interesting there. But an exceptional action in the palace and park complex takes place on the third Saturday of September, when the whole city celebrates Gatchina Day. This is a kind of historical show, when a “story in faces” unfolds before the eyes of the audience. The guests of the residence are welcomed by Paul I himself, accompanied by his retinue. On the parade ground of the palace is a military parade. Then the era replaces another, and gradually, modern creative teams perform in front of the audience, as well as parachutists and pilots of the local flying club demonstrate their skills. It is not in vain that the famous creator of the “dead loop” Nesterov studied in Gatchina. The city day ends with a colorful and pompous firework.