Virtual St-Petersburg/VirtualSaint-Petersburg.iso/vivat/objects/suburbes/pushkin/1_1.txt

Text File | 1996-04-29 | 1.9 KB | 32 lines

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Pushkin - formerly Tsarskoye Selo, or the Czar's Village - was
the home of the Imperial family from the days of Peter the Great
right up to the time of the last Czar. Next to the parks and
palaces stands the town developed mainly in the 19th century as
a summer resort for the aristocracy and well-to-do of St.
Petersburg. In 1837 the first railway line in Russia was built here,
linking St. Petersburg with Tsarskoye Selo. Pushkin is about 25
km. (15 miles) from central St. Petersburg, this time travelling
south. Train service is from the |Vitebsky railway station|Custom1|W:217| or by
bus.
Pushkin is quite different from |Petrodvorets|Custom1|O:240| and |Lomonosov|Custom1|O:238|.
Here, there are no massed fountains and no vistas over the sea.
Here you are very much inland, in beautiful English-style parks,
unrestrained by the geometrical formality of Russian Versailles.
The palaces again bear the stamp of the Baroque days of the
Empress Elizabeth, the paramount example of which is the
Catherine (Yekaterininsky) Palace built by Empress and named
after her mother, Catherine I, Peter's second wife. The palace
rose on the site of previous royal residences, and its present
form is primarily the work of Bartolomeo Rastrelli who took on
the job in 1752 after he had completed the Hermitage pavilion
nearby and before turning his attention to the |Winter Palace|Custom1|O:1| in
the city itself. Like |Petrodvorets|Custom1|O:240| and its residences, the Catherine
Palace  sustained much damage during the war but today it
stands again in all its glory with its 300-meter-long facade,
featuring a row of white columns and pilasters with gold Baroque
moldings boldly set against a blue background. At the northern
end are the golden domes of the Palace Church, and on the
courtyard side sparkle the gilded gates designed by Rastrelli