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

Pushkin Town, Parkovaya Street, South-West part of the Catherine Park.

By the architect Antonio Rinaldi (1709-1794)

Gatchina (Orlov) Gates were erected in 1777-1782 on the place of the temporary wooden triumphal arch.

Materials : Siberia grey marble - facing of the Gates; Tivdy pink marble – columns, panels; forging iron, bronze – doors of the Gates; gilt copper – types.

Inscriptions:
Inscription on the attic, from the side of Gatchina Road :
"Moscow has been delivered from misfortune by Orlov";
Inscription on the attic, from the side of the park:
" In 1771 the plague and disturbances were in Moscow, General Count Grigory Orlov was sent to Moscow, according his requst, and he arranged the order and obedience, he stopped the plague by his management and gave the food and healing for poor men".

The Gatchina Gates was the first sample of a triumphal arch in Russian architecture that was built using the durable materials and with using the samples of the Ancient Roman architecture. The inscription on the South attic is the quote from the poem of the poet V.I. Maikov addressed to G.G. Orlov; the inscription on the opposite side maybe was made by Catherine II. Forging doors of the Gates with the rolled bronze decorations were made at the Sestroretsk plants. Catherine II, Empress
Maykov Vasily Ivanovich
Orlov Grigory Grigorievich, Count
Rinaldi Antonio
Parkovaya Street/Pushkin, town в юго-западной части Екатерининского парка

The town of Pushkin, the Catherine Park, the Great Lake.

Architect: Antonio Rinaldi (1709-1794)
Sculptor: I. Schwartz
It was built in 1771-1778
Materials: Olonets pink and white marble for the column stern with rostrums; Olonets gray marble for the pedestal; red marble for the base; Serdobolsk granite for the foundation; bronze for the eagle, spoils of war, bas-reliefs; brass for letters.


Inscriptions were made with letters on the plaque from the southern side of the foundation:
“In the memory of sea victories achieved in the archipelago between Asia and Chio Island on 24 June 1770 when ten Russian Navy ships and seven frigates under the heading of General Count Aleksey Orlov and Admiral Frigory Sviridov defeated and put to flight the Turkish Captain-Pasha Zhefir-bey with sixteen battleships. There were more than a hundred frigates, galleys, brigantines and small ships of the Turkish fleet.
All this fleet was burnt in the port of Chesma by Rear-Admiral Greyg with a sent squadron of the victorious fleet from 2 to 4 November of 1770 at the presence of Russian troops under the leadership of General Count Aleksey Orlov landed on Mitilina Island in the Mediterranean Sea. During putting in flight the enemy and capturing a suburb, the admiralty and surroundings the residuary of the Turkish Navy , two seventy cannons battleships and storehouse for different supplies and tacking , were burnt.
The monument was devoted to the victories of the Russian Navy Fleet in the Russo-Turkish War of 1768-1774 at Khios, Mitilina and especially the famous military event as burning the Turkish Fleet in the Chesma Bay on 25-26 June 1770. Episodes of the Chesma battle were painted by the painter F. Gakkert in the series of pictures ordered by Catherine II for the Great Peterhof Palace. A road palace near Petersburg was named the Chesma Palace. The Chesma Obelisk was erected in Gatchina in the estate of Count G.G. Orlov, a brother of the hero of Chesma battle. In the palace the Chesma Gallery was placed.
The construction of the foundation for the column erected in the center of the Great Lake in Tsarskoye Selo was done under the direction of the architect A.F. Vist. The water in the pond was let out. The sculptor details of the monument was made of bronze according to the sculptor I. Schwartz’s model. The column was decorated with six marble rostrums , symbols of sea victories. The monument was crowned with the bronze figure of an eagle , the symbol of speed, power and courage. On the foundation there are cast bronze high relieves picture: the battle of Khios , on the eastern side, and the battle of Chesma , on the northern side, and the battle of Mitilena Island , on the west side. The Chesma Column was poetized by A.S. Pushkin:

Over strong mossy rock
The monument was raised.
A young eagle with extended wings is landing there.
And heavy chains, and crushing arrows
Were wound three times round the menacing column
Around the foundation noising gray waves settled in bright foam.
During World War II the high relieves of the foundation were lost. They were restored in the 1990s.
The high of the monument is 14 metres. Catherine II, Empress
Orlov Grigory Grigorievich, Count
Pushkin Alexander Sergeevich
Rinaldi Antonio
Wist Alexander Franzevich
Ekaterininsky Park/Pushkin, town Большой пруд

The Grotto pavilion with the pier , highlighting on the dark green background of the Old Garden and with its mirror reflection in the Great Pond water, pertains to classical views of the Catherine Park.
Such garden pavilion, decorated with shells and tuff inside, as well as the Hermitage was the obligatory attribute of regular park ensembles of the 18th century. In 1749 the architect Rastrelli developed the design of the Grotto pavilion for Empress Yelizaveta Petrovna and himself led the construction works. 210 big seashells and and 17.5 poods (about 480 kilogrammes) small seashells were used for decorating the pavilion. The construction of the pavilion was too long and even in 1761, when constructing the Catherine Palace was finished, the Grotto was among incompleted park constructions.
The Grotto facades are excelled with gorgeous ornamentation and magnificence of the Rastrelli’s Baroque taste. The quaint dome was crowned with carved wooden fountain, its streams spilt along the pavilion sides. The architectural décor was made using typical Rastrelli’s methods: grouping in pairs rusticated columns of composite order, pilasters, broken pediments, the complicated sculpture decoration, figured infill of doorways with sash doors. Arched windows and doors surrounds, windows-lucarnes were designed with plenty of decorative motifs, stucco moulding and at the same time with the seamless combination of atchitectural and sculptural compositions. The connection of the pavilion with “Neptune’s water kingdom” shows the sculpture decorations: volute dolphins, Neptune masks, figures of newts, heads of nereids, sea plants and shells placed on column capitals, surrounds and over windows.
Spatial and planned design of interiors with a broken cornice, columns set to walls, is typical for the Baroque style with its chamfered corners, niches for statues, exedras on butt-ends of the building. Interiors were not decorated with sea shells and stones during Yelizaveta Petrovna rule . Available now plaster decorating of interiors was made by the architect A. Rinaldi in 1771 in the time of Catherine II.
Under Catherine II the Grotto pavilion was often named as the Hall of Antiques, because of the collection of antiques sculptures and vases placed here, or the Morning Hall. In fair sunny weather the Empress, who always got up early, liked working here in mornings. She liked to practice literature in sunrise time, watching a landscape view of the park and colors, changed in sun rays, and light and shadows reflected in water mirror-like surface. The Grotto pavilion view is the most impressed at this time because it is located on the eastern coast of the pond elongated to the south-western side. Young people sometimes were gathered for having coffee or chocolate in the Morning Hall on these days. Catherine II, Empress
Elizaveta Petrovna, Empress
Rastrelli Francesco de
Rinaldi Antonio

The chamber “marble pedestal in honour of virtue and services” or so-called the monument to A.D. Lanskoi is located at the Upper Ponds near the Kagul Obelisk. The monument was erected by the architect A. Rinaldi in the late 1770s – the middle 1780s. The monument design goes back to samples of the basic manuals on laying out of landscape gardens. On the bronze plaque, directed to the Catherine Palace, there is the sign “What a great pleasure for honour people to see virtue and services appreciated at their true value”. Also reliefs of A.D. Lanskoi’s coat of arms and a medal embossed in his memory were placed on the plague. The profile with the sign “Aleksandr Dmitriyevich Lanskoi, General- Lieutenant and General -Aide-de-camp” was placed on one side and on the another side there was an obelisk with four cypresses and the signs “In memory of friendship” and “was born on 8 March 1758, died on 25 June 1784”. Lanskoi, a favourite of the Empress and the most renowned home owner of Sophia Town, was buried in the Kazan cemetery. The sign on the pedestal, evidently lost under Emperor Paul rule, was restored in the 1900s. Lanskoy Alexander Dmitrievich
Paul (Pavel) I, Emperor
Rinaldi Antonio

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)