Museum-Reserve Tsarskoye Selo
Traveling to St. Petersburg is determined by the desire to see its sights, walk along Nevsky Prospekt, look at the Neva, tamed by reliable embankments, admire the bridges and walk around the city at night. Among the popular and important places is the museum – reserve Tsarskoye Selo.
Each of the royal persons left their mark on the appearance of Tsarskoye Selo. Among the magnificent palaces, parks drew inspiration from the Great Pushkin. Here he completed the work “Eugene Onegin”.
Story
The first mention of Tsarskoye Selo dates back to 1502 (under the name Saritsa). During the transition of the territory to Russia, the area was called Sarskaya Manor, and since 1711, after the announcement of Catherine the “True Empress” of Russia, a palace-type residence was formed here. The most august names loved entertainment.
Rich fantasies carried them to the fabulous world of the East, the ancient cities of Europe, and other parts of the planet. Buildings with exotic names appeared: Chinese or Creaky arbor, Gothic gates, Pyramid, Turkish baths, Hanging gardens, Marble bridge, masterpieces of baroque and classicism styles.
The center of the exposition diversity of the park is the Catherine Palace with the famous Amber Room, the “Golden Enfilade” of luxurious halls. The Museum houses 36505 items combined into interesting collections.
Among them, the following collections have a special price:
What to see
Every year, Tsarskoe Selo is visited by a huge number of tourists. There are optimal routes of excursions, capturing a large number of interesting places of the Museum. Photography is allowed on the territory of the museum (except for the Amber Room). The beginning of a fascinating journey into the past of our Motherland begins with Catherine's Palace.
Catherine Palace
The history of the life of three great queens (Catherine I, Elizabeth Petrovna, Catherine II) is kept by the architectural masterpieces of the world heritage monument, created by the best masters of three eras from the life of the Russian State.
In the period from 1744 to the present, restorations and additions took place in the palace. In 2003, the Amber Room returned to its original place, restored according to the surviving samples. The modern image of the palace was preserved in accordance with the view during the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna.
At the time of the opening, the azure facade of the palace, the snow-white columns of the five solemn church domes, the spire with a golden star, sparkled with gilded ornaments. To create such beauty, 100 kg of gold was used.
The inner chambers, located one after the other in the form of the Front Enfilade, were equipped by the famous Rastrelli. The figures of Atlanteans, stucco decorations are made according to the ideas of the sculptor Dunker. Many cabinets were made under the direction of the Scottish architect Cameron.
During the last major reconstruction of the palace (architect Monighetti in 1863), a marble staircase appeared. During the war, 53 halls of the palace were looted. 32 halls have been restored. Do not count the flow of people going to see the Amber Room. Its panels were restored in the Tsarskoye Selo amber workshop after 20 years of painstaking work.
Catherine Park
Along with the appearance of the palace building, a green recreation area was built around it. Under the leadership of Rastrelli, the buildings “Hall on the Island”, located in the center of the Big Pond, “Grotto”, “Hermitage” appear. All trends in garden art of the second half of the 18th century were reflected in the design of the landscape style of the park. Alleys of lindens were planted along the Big Pond. Such an alley, called Rampovaya, grew up on a hill above the pond, as a continuation of the Russian roller coaster.
The Chesme Column, the Cahul Obelisk, the Small Execution Column, and the Ruin Tower appeared in different parts of the park. The Hermitage Kitchen, the Great Caprice Pavilion, the Agate Rooms, the Chinese Gazebo, the Admiralty, the pavilions in the style of Russian classicism Upper and lower baths. The park has a statue of Hercules in the guise of Peter I, sculptures of famous characters from the mythology of antiquity, rare trees and plants are planted. All buildings harmoniously formed a single ensemble.
The park is located on an elevated place, where in ancient times sea waves raged and pine forests grew much later. Now you can walk through the territory of the regular Old Garden (created by Roosen, Focht in 1720 by decree of Peter I), the English landscape park (it appeared in 1790 under the leadership of Ilyin, Bush, Neelov).
Alexander Park
The Alexander Palace is considered the best example of classicism architecture. Nearby is the territory of a beautiful park, which became part of the Tsarskoye Selo State Museum. You can enter the park from the side of the Catherine Palace and through the gates of the Alexander Palace.
On an area of about 200 hectares, two parts of the park are divided: a regular (New with a regular geometric layout) and a landscape zone. The years of the life of the last Romanovs passed here. Original buildings are located on the square of the park.
Among them, it is proposed to inspect the following buildings:
- Pavilion children's house. It was erected for the entertainment of the children of Nicholas I.
- Arsenal. The Gothic style building was erected on the site of the Monbijou pavilion. It houses a museum.
- White Tower. The pavilion is made in the form of a medieval castle of knights, surrounded by a moat. Completely restored in 2012.
- Chinese village. Currently, beautiful houses (12 units) are occupied by a hotel.
- Chapel or chapel. The Gothic building is under restoration.
- Ratna Chamber. Chinese theater and many other attractions.
Babolovsky park
In 1785, instead of the wooden estate of Prince Potemkin, a stone palace was erected with fashionable elements of the Gothic style. It was a remote zone of Tsarskoye Selo parks (according to legend, it was the meeting place of Alexander I with Sophia Velho in 1793-1940). The palace was badly damaged during the last war. Restoration work is underway. Initially, an English garden was laid out around the building, the Bolshoy (Babalovsky) pond was created at the expense of the waters of the Kuzminka River.
The name of the park comes from the Finnish village of Babalovo (Pabola). This is the largest green area of the reserve in terms of area (about 270 hectares). A wide walking area in the form of a circular road has been created along the boundaries of the park.
On its territory there are many cozy walking paths, areas for the passage of crews. The most famous sights of the park are the stone bath (in 1825, under the leadership of Stasov, it was converted into an unusually large granite bath) and the Taitsky water conduit.
It is the largest monument in Europe of the 18th century among the building structures of Russia. The Babalovskaya bath was made by the famous St. Petersburg stonemason S. Sukhanov. The first water conduit in Tsarskoe Selo operated from the second half of the 18th century. Thanks to the care of Elizabeth I, numerous water springs were opened and later canals and water conduits were built to supply the future city of Pushkin. There are no traces of the first aqueduct.
Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum
In June 1817, the first graduation of trained students from the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum took place. Alexander founded it with the aim of educating the children of nobles. The emperor's brothers, the Grand Dukes of Russia, studied here. The curriculum included fencing, horseback riding, drawing, dancing, swimming, and regular school disciplines. By the way, Pushkin, who studied here from 1811 to 1817, was the first student in dancing and fencing.
The diplomat Gorchakov, the Decembrists Pushchin, Kuchelbecker, the poet Delvig, etc. studied at the lyceum. The names of many pupils of the lyceum entered the history of the Russian State. Now the Lyceum building houses the Pushkin Memorial Museum. It was opened in 1949 in honor of the 150th anniversary of the poet.
The premises where the lyceum students lived were restored: the Library, the Great Hall, the Newspaper Room. The library contains original books, textbooks of lyceum students. In the Singing Class there is a musical instrument from the time of Pushkin.
An interesting exposition contains poems, drawings written by the poet's hand. A memorial sign donated by the emperor during the opening of the lyceum is also kept here. An unusual atmosphere developed in the lyceum, traditions were born. One of them was “breaking the bell” after the final exam. Each graduate received a fragment with a symbolic commemorative inscription.
Dacha of Alexander Pushkin
Since 1958, in an old wooden house with a balcony, a veranda, a mezzanine, Pushkin has lived a happy family life since 1831. He walked around the outskirts of Tsarskoe Selo, admired the parks, worked hard, and talked with his fellow lyceum students who survived. The museum in the preserved house was opened in 1958, and in 1981, in honor of the 150th anniversary of the poet, restoration work was carried out here. All rooms have been restored to their original order.
Their interior was created on the basis of the memoirs of contemporaries. Even the fireplace is made in the style of the Pushkin era. Additional rooms host museum expositions dedicated to the poet and his friends: Zhukovsky, Karamzin, the young Gogol, whose life took place in Tsarskoye Selo.
The Tale of Tsar Berendey, The Tale of Tsar Saltan, The War of Mice and Frogs, and Onegin's Letter to Tatyana were written in this house. A modest wooden house can be easily found by the marble inscription “A.S. lived here. Pushkin in 1831”.
Ratna Chamber
Since 2014, after restoration, the building has housed the Museum of the First World War (opened on the day of the 100th anniversary of August 4, 2014). The architectural structure is located in the northern part of the Alexander Park, not far from the Fedorovsky town.
Emperor Nicholas II was present during the laying of the building. The analogues of the Pskov-Novgorod buildings of the XIV-XVI centuries were taken as a model for the construction. At this time, the territory of Tsarskoye Selo was part of the Novgorod possessions.
The main room of the Military Chamber was a huge hall (400 seats) for spectators with choirs. The coats of arms of the provinces of Russia were depicted on the ceiling. In the painted hall there was a stage for lecturing. The main collection of the museum is a collection of weapons, icons, paintings, historical documents about the First World War. During the Second World War, the building was badly damaged. After its transfer to the Tsarskoye Selo Museum-Reserve, the Military Chamber was completely restored.
Arsenal
One of the first museums in Russia, which stores elements of imperial weapons. It is located in a beautiful Gothic building in the central part of Alexander Park. Jagged towers rise majestically above the surroundings.
The purpose of such a building was to display, store collections of weapons of the Middle Ages, Europe, the countries of the East, which Emperor Nicholas I began to collect in the role of the Grand Duke. Previously, on the site of the arsenal there was a hunting pavilion “Monbijou or my treasure”.
The whimsical building (Baroque style) changed the direction of architecture, and an English Gothic castle appeared, complemented by elements from the Romanesque style, invented by the architect Adam Minelas. The interior of the arsenal is made in the Gothic style. On the first floor there is a main staircase, the room of the Empress, a dining room, an office, an entrance hall, an Albanian picture room. The second floor is occupied by the premises of the Indo-Persian, Indo-Muslim, Turkish room.
In the center is an octagonal “hall of the knights” with a round table. The collections of weapons collected in the Arsenal are represented by numerous samples from different countries. Over 5 thousand samples were constantly replenished with products made by the best gunsmiths. Since August 2016, after restoration, the permanent exhibition “Tsarskoye Selo Arsenal” has been opened in the building with a rich collection of weapons, memorial items of the emperor.
Fedorovsky town
During the construction of the Feodorovsky Cathedral, it was decided to build several houses for priests, clerks, a deacon, an infirmary, a refectory, etc. The prototype of the complex of buildings was the appearance of the Tsar's Palace in the village of Kolomenskoye.
According to the type of ancient monasteries, where in the general ensemble there were monastic, boyar estates, surrounded by a decorative fortress wall. Construction on private donations began in 1913 and in the summer of 1914 all planned houses were completed.
The complex was surrounded by a wall with watchtowers, loopholes, carved stone gates. The main buildings were five: the White Stone Chamber (the house of the priests), the Yellow Chamber (the house of the clerks). Refectory, deacon's house, chancery room. In the refectory chamber, a third floor with a hydropathic facility was built on. By 1918, the building of a bathhouse with a laundry was included in the ensemble. Opposite the Refectory (at the suggestion of N. Roerich) 100 cedar seedlings were planted, brought from Verkhoturye.
In our time, 10 trees have been preserved. Since 1994, the complex has become a property of the Russian Orthodox Church of the northwestern region. This is a well-known educational center with icon-painting workshops, a hotel, a place visited by numerous pilgrims. Now not all buildings of the Fedorovsky town have been completely restored. Work is underway to restore them to their original appearance.
Collections
The buildings of the Tsarskoe Selo Museum-Reserve contain 36,505 elements (of which 3,224 are items of the main fund). Of these, permanent, thematic, temporary expositions have been prepared. Even now, when a lot of time has passed since the reign of the emperors of Russia, new facts of their biography are being discovered, documents and things appear that complement the museum's funds.
For example, the museum bought at an auction in Monaco a letter from Alexander II to his beloved (who became wife after the death of Maria Alexandrovna and “the most serene Princess Yuryevskaya”) Ekaterina Dolgorukova.
The total number of letters written to each other was 6,000. The kokoshnik of Princess Olga Romanova, bought in New York for $15,000, has returned to the museum's collection. A real work of art of gemstone embroidery, made in the form of a crown. Kokoshniks belonging to Princesses Tatiana and Anastasia have been in this museum for a long time.
14 new versions of fans have replenished the collection of Russian and foreign masters of the 18th-20th centuries. Among them, a fan from France appeared (it is made of horn plates, lace carving). There are different fragments on it, and on one of them the image of the French hero Openchinel is made. The collection contains specimens with which the empress attended the ball. You can walk in the Museum for a long time and marvel at its interesting collections.
Interesting Facts
For 200 years, Tsarskoe Selo was the summer residence of the imperial families. Received as a trophy after the Northern War, the Saar Manor (donated to the future Ekaterina Alekseevna) is fanned by numerous interesting events hidden among the stone chambers, the rooms of luxurious palaces.
Among them are the following facts:
Visiting Rules
The museum is a valuable cultural heritage site of different peoples and times. All objects are under state protection in accordance with a special decree of the President of the Russian Federation of April 2, 1994.
The rules of visiting and behavior on the territory of the reserve have been developed, approved and strictly implemented. They are developed on the basis of a large list of regulatory documents. The mode of visiting all pavilions, parks has been approved and the passage (after presenting a ticket) to them stops 1 hour before the end of work.
It is forbidden to come to all expositions, exhibitions with weapons, in outerwear, with an umbrella, without shoe covers, with food, animals. Persons under the influence of alcohol are closed. Smoking is not allowed on the territory of the reserve.
During the walk, you can not go behind the fences, touch the exhibits with your hands, sit on museum furniture, turn on mobile phones, take photos, shoot movies. In any disputable case, the Museum administration will acquaint you with the full list of rules of conduct and give important advice.
Opening hours, ticket prices
You can come to the Tsarskoe Selo Museum-Reserve by car along the Pulkovsky and Petersburg highways, by train from the Vitebsky railway station to the station with the same name. Then go to the city bus station by minibus No. 382, by regular bus to the stop “Museum-Reserve”. There are buses, minibuses coming from the metro station “Moskovskaya”, “Zvezdnaya”, “Kupchino”.
The museum is open from 10 am to 6 pm. Closed on Tuesday and the last Monday of every month. Children under 16 go without a ticket. Students, schoolchildren, pensioners pay 350 RUB. The ticket price for adults is 700 RUB. Payment for the audio guide is 150 RUB. At the box office, cards of the following types are valid: Visa, MasterCard, UnionPlay, Maestro.
Excursions
You can see one of the most beautiful places in our country along with a variety of excursions on weekends or for a longer period (which is much more interesting).
The following options are offered:
Before traveling to the beautiful city of St. Petersburg, it is necessary to determine in advance the excursions and the days of their conduct.