The city of Gatchina: map, photo. Sights of Gatchina, city day

In the vicinity of St. Petersburg there is a small town - Gatchina. Today it is the regional center of the Leningrad Region, whose population exceeds 83 thousand people. Every day this city is visited by thousands of tourists. And it's not that Gatchina is a scientific satellite near St. Petersburg (here there is the oldest pedagogical college in Russia, the Institute of Economics and Finance, and also the Scientific Research Institute of Nuclear Physics named after BP Konstantinov). 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 those or other corners of the palace park on posters, stamps, on TV. But it is better to look once at the beauty of Gatchina with your own eyes.

City `s history

The first written mention of the settlement called Hotchino appeared in 1499, in the document "The Novgorod scribe book." It is also known that in 1712 the Gatchina manor belonged to the sister of Peter the Great Natalia Alexeevna. But the monuments from those distant times, alas, did not survive. So Gatchina would be a quiet hamlet, if in 1765 Catherine II did not give this estate to her favorite, the 27-year-old Count Grigory Orlov. He undertook to equip his new territories. Then the first sightseeing of Gatchina appeared. The count was a great hunter of the hunt, so he built here the "Menagerie", a kind of reserve for animals that were intended for free-range hunting. Now it is a park with the same name. It is located in the northern part of the main Palace Complex.

Royal fun

After the death of her pet, Catherine donated an estate to her son Pavel, who had recently returned from a trip to France. It happened almost on the eve of the Revolution, in 1783. Impressed with the luxury of the French aristocracy and the royal court (which prompted the people to radical changes in the country), Pavel Petrovich began to create from the hunting grounds of Orlov something similar to Chantilly Castle. Sights of Gatchina were replenished with such structures as the Venus Pavilion on the artificial island of Love, a 32-meter obelisk, greenhouses, stables. The king issued from Italy the famous architect Vincenzo Brenna, who began to remodel the rooms of Orlov, built by Antonio Rinaldi.

Parks

Perhaps, one palace, no matter how beautiful its interiors would be, could not attract the attention of numerous tourists. Parks are the true sights of Gatchina, because of which the site has become a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Vincenzo Brenna made a lot of efforts to create man-made landscapes. This lake White, Black, Silver, as well as regular and landscape parks Sylvia, Own, Dutch (Upper and Lower). By the way, Paul I granted Gatchina the status of the city, for which grateful residents established a monument to the tsar next to the palace.

Imperial Residence

Beautiful nature, decorated with all kinds of luxury palace, parks, gazebos, ponds and openwork bridges made Gatchina the favorite residence of the imperial family. Here consistently lived Paul I, Nicholas I, Alexander II, Alexander III. Each new emperor added something to the arrangement of the palace and parks, but also arranged the city. So, the railway was built here in 1853. And in 1881 there was an unprecedented miracle for the Russian Empire - the city of Gatchina became fully electrified "candles Yablochkov." In 1879, on the Silver Lake, the first Russian submarine was tested, and in 1909 aircraft were launched. In 1914 the Intercession Cathedral was consecrated - the largest church in the Leningrad region.

Other sights of Gatchina

The residence of the imperial family as a magnet attracted the higher and medium light to settle nearby. Soon Gatchina gained fame as a place where "green, sublime, cheap." In the vicinity of the palace and park complex there are twenty-six mansions of the 19th century. They are associated with the names of AS Pushkin, KF Ryleev, II Shishkin, VV Nabokov, AI Kuprin, IN Kramskoy, IV Severyanin and other artists and writers . The map of Gatchina with sights, which can be purchased at the ticket office of the museum, will help you to find all these objects.

How to get to the museum

The easiest way to get to Gatchina on the train. From the Baltic station of Petersburg two trains go to this city. One goes to the settlement, and the second one comes very close to the palace and park complex. If you need a museum, take a ticket for the train, which arrives at the Baltic station of Gatchina. You can also get to the parks on the minibuses No. 18 and 18a (they depart from the metro station "Moskovskaya") or bus No. 431. On your own car, you should drive along the Kiev highway. The museum works daily, except Monday, from 10 am to 6 pm. In principle, it is always interesting there. But the exclusive action in the palace and park complex occurs on the third Saturday of September, when the whole city celebrates the day of Gatchina. This is a kind of historical show, when a "story in the faces" unfolds before the eyes of the audience. 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 epoch replaces the other, and gradually the modern creative groups perform in front of the audience, as well as parachutists and pilots of the local flying club demonstrate their skills. It's not for nothing that the famous creator of the "dead loop" Nesterov studied in Gatchina. The city day ends with colorful and pompous fireworks.