Tsaritsyno

Tsaritsyno is a palace-and-park ensemble and museum reserve in the south of Moscow, in the Southern Administrative Okrug, next to the "Tsaritsyno" and "Orekhovo" metro stations. It was built as a country residence for Catherine the Great on hilly ground cut by ravines; today it is one of the city's largest museum reserves, covering more than 100 hectares with a palace, a park with a chain of ponds, and greenhouses.

History

The land was known as Chyornaya Gryaz ("Black Mud") and had belonged to Russian tsars since the 17th century. In 1775 Catherine the Great bought the estate with the surrounding villages for 30,000 roubles and renamed it Tsaritsyno. The court architect Vasily Bazhenov was ordered to build a new residence here "in the Gothic taste": wooden structures were put up by the Moscow architect Pyotr Plyuskin, while Bazhenov built the stone palace from 1776 to 1785.

In 1785 Catherine the Great inspected the finished palace and was displeased — the staircases seemed narrow to her, the boudoirs cramped, the apartments dark. She ordered the building demolished and gave the new project to Bazhenov's pupil, Matvei Kazakov. After Catherine's death construction stopped, and the unfinished palace stood for decades as picturesque ruins. Some researchers link the destruction of Bazhenov's buildings to the persecution of Moscow Freemasons in the mid-1780s: in the decoration of the Figured (Grape) Gates, Bazhenov used a compass symbol interwoven with a grapevine.

In 1861 the estate was transferred to the Apanage Department, and by the late 19th century a Society of Fishing Enthusiasts worked on Tsaritsyno's ponds, which became a popular fishing spot for Muscovites. A local history museum opened here in 1927, followed in 1984 by the State Museum of Decorative and Applied Arts of the Peoples of the USSR. In 1992 the complex received the status of the State Historical-Architectural, Art and Landscape Museum Reserve "Tsaritsyno", and the surrounding district, then called Lenino, regained its historical name Tsaritsyno. In 2005 the museum reserve was placed under the jurisdiction of the city of Moscow, after which a large-scale restoration followed: by August 2007 the Grand Palace and adjoining buildings were restored (the project was run by Mosproekt-2), and the park was restored in 2006–2007 under architect M. R. Morina. The ensemble's grand opening took place on 2 September 2007, on the City Day holiday.

What to see

The Grand Palace is built in the Russian Gothic style: red-brick facades with white-stone details, towers and pointed windows. Next to it stand the Small Palace, nicknamed the Semicircular Palace for the shape of its roof, and the two-storey Opera House (Middle Palace), built for receptions and performances. The Bread House, also known as the Kitchen Building, hosts exhibitions of ceramics, textiles and art glass. The three Cavalier Buildings keep facades in Bazhenov's style; the Third Building houses the "Dacha Tsaritsyno" exhibition about the estate's time as a dacha settlement, while the First Building holds the museum's administration.

The park keeps a chain of Upper, Middle and Lower ponds. The Middle pond has a small island where, according to legend, Catherine the Great's favourite, Prince Grigory Potemkin, once fired a salute from captured cannon. A sound-and-light fountain operates on the Lower ponds. Among the trees stand the park pavilions "Milovida" and "Nerastankino", which overlook the water, and deeper in the park stands the ornamental Ruin Tower, said to have been built after impressions of a trip to Italy. The Figured Bridge, resembling a fortress gate with red brick and white-stone decoration, links the central part of the park to its islands, and the Triumphal Arch was raised in honour of Catherine the Great. The restored greenhouses grow citrus trees, palms, figs, pomegranates, agaves, cacti and grapes.

Getting there

The nearest metro stations are "Tsaritsyno" (exit 2, park entrance through the Central Gate) and "Orekhovo" (exit 2, entrance through the Park Gate) on the Zamoskvoretskaya line; buses to the museum run from both stations. The main entrance is at 1 Tyurina Street, building 2, and the park entrance is on Dolskaya Street, building 1. Free parking is available near both metro stations, and paid parking near the museum costs 300 roubles on weekdays and 500 roubles on weekends for the first three hours.

The park is open daily from 06:00 to 24:00, and entry to it is free. The museum buildings are open from 10:00 to 18:00, until 20:00 on Fridays and Saturdays, closed on Mondays. A ticket to the Grand Palace and the Bread House costs 750 roubles (450 for the reduced rate), to the greenhouse complex 250 roubles (150 reduced), and a combined ticket to all six buildings costs 1,220 roubles.