CATHERINE PARK (Pushkin town), a monument of landscape architecture and the central part of Tsarskoe Selo palace ensemble. Its consists of a total of 107 hectares The park consists of a grassed and a landscape areas, divided by the Great Pond, formed by damming the Vangazia Brook. The regular Old Park (1717-20s, garden masters Y. Roozen and I. Focht) was laid out on artificial terraces to the north of the pond. There are parterre lawns and flower gardens on the upper terrace near the Catherine park, two small ponds on the next one, and on the lower terrace there are bosquets between the three divergent alley ways, leading to Rybny Canal, behind which, in the so-called Wild Grove, the Hermitage pavilion is situated (1744-54, architect M.G. Zemtsov , F. Rastrelli). The Grotto (Morning Hall) is located on the bank of the pond (1749-61, architect Rastrelli). There are marble sculptures and busts of the early 18th century on the park's paths (masters A. Tarsia, P. Baratta, et al.). Pavilions of the Upper and the Lower Baths were constructed in classical style on the terraces of the garden by projects of architect I.V. Neelov (see the Neelov family) in the late 1770s, and the Hermitage kitchen in the Pseudo-Gothic style at the Wild Grove entrance. The practice of tree trimming was ceased under Empress Catherine II, and the garden lost its regular character. The landscape part of the Catherine Park (1762-96, garden masters J. Bush, T. Ilyin, architect V.I. Neelov) was laid out around the Great Pond, the geometric outlines of which were changed to fit the landscape style, and the following artificial islands were made: the Great Island (with a hall on it, 1794, architect G. Quarenghi), Wild Island, Stone Island, and Rabbit Island. Artificial Cascading Ponds were connected with the Great Pond. Admiralty complex (1773-77, architect V.I. Neelov) is situated on the east bank of the Great Pond. The Column of Morea (1771), Kagul Obelisk (1771-72) and Chesme Column (1774-76) were erected in honour of victories in the Russo-Turkish Wars of the second half of the 18th century in the landscape part of the park by projects of architect A. Rinaldi. In the south part of the Catherine Park the Tower Ruin with a rampart of packed earth (1771-73), the Gothic Gates (1777-80, architect Y.M. Velten), and Gatchina (Orlov) Gates (1777-78, architect Rinaldi). Nearby, located beyond the park boundary, the Crimea Column is situated (1777-85, sculptor G.I. Kozlov). Swan pools with weirs and cascades are located to the southwest of the Great Pond, behind Sibirsky (Palladiev) Bridge (1772-74, architect V. I. Neelov). The Pyramid with a cemetery for dogs of the royal court with Water Laborinth near it are in the same part of the park. In the western part of the Catherine park there is the Ramp Alley and the Granite Terrace (1809, architect L. Rusca), on which copies of Antique sculptures were installed in the 1850s (master A. Hamburger). A path leads down from the terrace to the Milk Maid fountain (1816, engineer A.A. Bethencourt; female statue - sculptor P.P. Sokolov). To the west of the Ramp Alley there are the Upper Ponds, with the Concert Hall on an island with the Kitchen Ruins (1782-88, architect Quarenghi) and the Evening Hall pavilion (1796, architect I.V. Neelov, 1810-11, architect Rusca). the Catherine Park is separated from the Chinese Village by Podkapriznaya Road. In the 19th century the Catherine Park was enriched with: gates "For My Dear Colleagues" (1817, architect V.P. Stasov), the Turkish Baths (the 1850s, architect I.A. Monighetti), the Personal Garden was laid out with marble pergola and a fountain (1865, architect A.F. Vidov). The Regular design of the Old Garden was restored in the 1960-70s (architect N.E. Tumanova).

Reference: see Tsarskoe Selo entry.

A. A. Alexeev. Baratta Pietro
Bethencourt Avgustin Avgustinovich
Bush Joseph (John)
Catherine II, Empress
Felten Yury (Georg Friedrich) Matveevich
Foсht I.
Hamburger I.A.
Ilyin T.
Kozlov Grigory Mikhailovich
Monighetti Ippolito Antonovich
Neelov Ilya Vasilievich
Neelov Vasily Ivanovich
Quarenghi Giacomo
Rastrelli Francesco de
Rinaldi Antonio
Roozen Yan
Rusca Luigi (Aloisy Ivanovich)
Sokolov Pavel Petrovich
Stasov Vasily Petrovich
Tarsia Antonio
Tumanova Natalia Evgenievna
Vidov Alexander Fomich
Zemtsov Mikhail Grigorievich

The architectural ensemble of the Admiralty or “Holland” consisted of three pavilions and Sailor’s house was included in the Great Pond view of the Catherine park. Earlier, from the times of Elizabeth Petrovna in different secluded parts of the park there was a wooden shed where was a boat for the Empress’s boating on the lake and sailor crew lived, as well as a shed for aquatic birds. Instead of broken sheds during 1773-1777 V.I. Neyelov built stone buildings with the Gothic style facades. Towers, lancet windows, merlon gables and parapets, red brick facing were used for creating the Gothic style. White decorative moulded details and surrounds of windows formed the elegant and well-decorated viewing. The plinth wall was made of dark-red Shoksha porphyry was chosen to match the colour of the façade. The ensemble was devoted to the annexing of ancient Taurida to the Russian Empire.
The middle pavilion was used as a Boat shed where the Tsarskoye Selo flotilla boats were kept in the ground floor. In summer time the boats were given for boating in the Great Lake to all people who was interested in it, they even queued at the Great Pier. Inside there was a model of the seventy-gun navy ship “Leipzig”, a South-American boat-pirogue, oars and another rigging that was kept here in winter. The Large Hall, decorated with white glazed Holland style tiles, occupied the first floor. English etchings and drawings, pictures with depicting ruins, the famous Gottorpsky Globe was can seen here.
The identical side pavilions of the Admiralty – the Bird Houses – were used for keeping birds: swans, pheasants, geese and ducks of especially exotic species. In small decorative yards and in a pavilion there were pools for the wintering of birds. During his morning walks, Alexander I liked to feed birds by himself, he put on a special glove for feeding. Alexander I, Emperor
Elizaveta Petrovna, Empress
Neelov Vasily Ivanovich

The Great and Little Caprice were built in 1772–1774 by the architect V.I. Neyelov and the engineer I. Gerard over the road led to the Great Tsarskoye Selo Palace. The road was named “Under Caprice road”. There are many legends concerning caprices. According to a legend the name is related with too large amount of money spent for building the constructions. Allegedly, looking through too large estimate for building two gates, the first one of big size with a Chinese summerhouse located on the top, and the second one of smaller size, Catherine II said, “Do it like this, it’s my caprice!”. Many ways are directed away from the Great Caprice not only to the park but to more distant places. Catherine II never informed her courtiers about routes of walks and trips in advance. According to another legend the construction was named “The Great Caprice” because of the Tsarina often did surprises for her courtiers, who went with her on a pleasure-trip without luggage and did not suppose that the Empress, passed the arch of the Great Caprice, could suddenly order to turn to Petersburg. Caprices formed the entrance in the Triangular Ground of the Catherine Palace as well as into Catherine and Alexander parks. At the same time caprices are grounds for viewing the remarkable ensemble of constructions in the Chinese style: the Creaking Chinese Summerhouse and the Chinese Village. Artificial ramp-banks went to both Caprices’ tops from both parks. It’s possible to cross from one park to another using the ramp-banks. Catherine II, Empress
Gerard Ivan (Johann Konrad) Kondratievich
Neelov Vasily Ivanovich
Quarenghi Giacomo
Pushkin, town

The cemetery name comes from the village of Kuzmino. Founded in 1714 by peasants- resettlers from villages of the Moscow, Yaroslavl, Vologda and Kostrona regions, later the village has grown in the rich many-populated village of Bolshoye Kuzmino. The imperial residence in Tsarskoye Selo was created by the village inhabitants’ work. Probably , Lukoyanov, a peasant of Kuzmino Village who made glazed tiles for the Tsarskoye Selo Palace of Catherine I, the Belomoins, peasants of Kuzmino Village, the palace contractors and house-owners of Tsarskoye Selo, Tatyana Ivanova, a peasant of Kuzmino Villahe who was a confidante of Empresses Elizabeth Petrovna and Catherine II, as well as an unknown woman-peasant of Kuzmino Village whose portraits were painted by the court painters on Emperor’s order were buried in this cemetery. In 1747 the wooden Church of the Assumption was transmitted from a closed cemetery located in the palace sloboda (district) of Tsarskoye Selo to the cemetery of the village of Kuzmino where the church was consecrated in the name of the Annunciation of the Mother of God. There are no earlier information about the cemetery and church, but the title of the village as “sloboda” in the late 1710s confirms about their presence.
The stone Church of the Annunciation with the Italian appearance of the outstanding beauty was built in 1783-1785 to the design of G. Quarenghi instead of the wooden cemetery church. The Icon of the Mother of God of Kazan, seen at the source at the foot of a hill to Kuzmino Village peasant Marfa Yekimova, was saved in this church for a long time.
The Kuzmino cemetery on an equal footing with the aristocratic Kazan cemetery was the burial place of many famous citizens of Tsarskoye Selo. V.I. Neyelov, the founder of the dynasty of Tsarskoye Selo architects, was buried here in 1782(9?) (The gravestone was restored in 1957). Burial places of his family and sons I.V. Neyelov and P.V. Neyelov were lost as well as the family burial place of the architects Kokorevs, the grave of the famous publisher P.P. Soikin and many others.
In 1941-1944 the village of Bolshoye Kuzmino and the Church of the Annunciation, that were at the defence leading edge, were destroyed. Defenders of blockade Leningrad took cover and died near the cemetery trees and the church walls. Now the monument the Home Guards of The Green Belt of Glory, two memorial guns of which are placed in front of the entrance into the cemetery, remember about their feat of arms. Belomoins, the
Ivanova, Tatyana
Kokorevs, the
Lukoyanov
Malyshevs, the
Neelov Ilya Vasilievich
Neelov Vasily Ivanovich
Quarenghi Giacomo
Soykin Peter Petrovich

The Private Garden of Catherine II at the Tsarskoye Selo Palace was laid out by V.I. Neyelov and D. Busch in the 1770s. Catherine II called this part of the park, that was confined with the Ramp Alley and Under Caprice Road and adjacent to the private apartment of Empress, her kitchen-garden and used for morning exercise walking in house dress. Here there was the Big English Meadow with the Kagul Obelisk, Upper Ponds with pavilions and bridges. The second Private Garden near the Alexander Palace was laid out later on the sample of Catherine II’s garden.
In 1855 the territory of the Big English Meadow between the Kagul Obelisk and the southern façade of the Catherine Palace, where Alexander II’s apartment was placed, was closed for public. In 1865 the architect A.F. Vidov developed the project of creating a pergola, fountain, flower beds in the Private garden, they have been being until our days. The Bremen sandstone pergola and Carrara marble fountain were produced at the Peterhof Lapidary Works. Lawns were decorated with flowers and white marble statues. This garden was used by only members of the Imperial family and their milieu. Alexander II, Emperor
Bush, Joseph
Catherine II, Empress
Neelov Vasily Ivanovich
Vidov Alexander Fomich

The Toboggan Hill with two slopes (they were not survived) was erected in 1754-1756 to the design of F.-B. Rastrelli. The third wooden slope was added by V.I. Neyelov in 1765. The engineering decision of the object was made by the famous inventor and scientist A.K. Nartov, a loyal supporter of Peter I. The Toboggan Hill was located between the Ramp Alley and the Grand Pond shore and it was an “entertaining” park construction. A Russian folk entertainment , tobogganing , was used for fun, but carriages were used instead of sledges. People rolled down in carriages on the metal rails laid on the slope to an island of the Grand Pond. Later in Oraniyenbaum the Toboggan Hill was constructed for Catherine II in accordance with the model of the Tsarskoye Selo one. The fancy Toboggan Hill Pavilion constructed by A. Rinaldi was survived until our days in Oraniyenbaum. In the 20th century toboggan hills of Russian parks were restored for life as side-show “American hills”. The Toboggan Hill of the Catherine Park was dismantled in 1792-1795. In 1809 L. Rusca constructed the Granite Terrace, which is now, on the place of the Toboggan Hill Pavilion. Catherine II, Empress
Nartov Andrey Konstantinovich
Neelov Vasily Ivanovich
Rastrelli Francesco de
Rinaldi Antonio
Rusca Luigi (Aloisy Ivanovich)

NEELOV family, a family of architects, representatives of early Neoclassicism and Romanticism. Vasily Ivanovich (1722-82), apprentice of S.I. Chevakinsky and M.G. Zemtsov; from 1744, worked with them and F.B. Rastrelli at the Building Bureau in Tsarskoe Selo. From 1760, architect with the rank of Second Major. Impressed by English park landscaping, during his visit in 1770, designed the landscape part with romantic pavilions of Ekaterininsky Park: the Pyramid Pavilion (1770-71), the Neo-Gothic Admiralty and the Hermitage Kitchen (1774-76), the Chinese Small and Grand Caprices (1770-74, in collaboration with I. Gerard), the Marble (Palladium or Siberian) Bridge in the spirit of Palladio (1772-74). His sons, Ilya Vasilievich (1745-93), graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts (1770), following his study trip to Italy, where he was elected a member of the Bologna Academy, worked with his father in Tsarskoe Selo, as C. Cameron's assistant (from 1780); designed the Upper Bath and the Lower Bath Pavilions (late 1770s) and the Grand Ducal Wing of the Great Palace (1788-92, later Lyceum) emulating early Neoclassicism, the pseudo-gothic Babolovsky Palace and other. Author of the landscape part of Alexandrovsky Park; Peter Vasilievich (1749-1846), apprenticed to his father and J.-B.Vallin de la Mothe. In 1770-75, studied landscape architecture in England. From 1794, worked in Tsarskoe Selo, completing the existing park ensemble. Designed the Evening Hall (1796, subsequently rebuilt by L. Rusca).

Reference: Васильев Б. Л. Архитекторы Нееловы // Зодчие Санкт-Петербурга, XVIII век. СПб., 1997. С. 879-900.

T. A. Slavina.

25 June. A.D. Lanskoi, a favourite of Catherine II, died in Tsarskoye Selo. In 1785 the architector G. Quarenghi built the mausoleum over Lanskoy's grave. Later it was consecrated as the Church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. The funeral of A.D. Lanskoi was at the new place at the outskirts of Sophia Town and then the Kazan Cemetery was founded at this place.

Four year city college was founded. From 1911 the college was placed in its' own building, that was constructed to the design by the civil engineer L.P. Shishko in Nizhny Boulevard (its present address is 40 Oranzhereynaya Street )

The Sophia Post Yard was founded near the Orlov Gates.
The Babolov Palace was constructed and the Babolov Park was laid out to the design by V.I. Neyelov. Lanskoy Alexander Dmitrievich
Neelov Vasily Ivanovich
Quarenghi Giacomo
Shishko Lev Petrovich
Oranzhereinaya Street/Pushkin, town