Where is the Tauride Garden? Tauride Garden: familiar and unusual. Opening public access to the garden ensemble

The crocodile from Moidodyr, the nose of Major Kovalev, the first steamship in Russia, the same Kulibin and the first landscape park of St. Petersburg. And also Sherlock Holmes and the Musketeers. These are not wild fantasies or mind expanders. This is the Tauride Garden and Palace.

The palace was initially called the Horse Guards House (the barracks of this regiment were located nearby). Two years later, Potemkin sold the palace to the treasury for a fabulous sum at that time - 450 thousand rubles. This was not done without intention. Ishmael fell in 1791. Türkiye was defeated. For his services in the annexation of Crimea (Tavrida) to Russia, after the appointment of Prince Potemkin as governor-general of this region, another name was added to his surname - Tauride. Catherine II had the opportunity to return the palace to Potemkin, calling it Tauride.

A month later, Prince Potemkin-Tavrichesky gave a grandiose brilliant ball in the palace, which amazed all of Europe with its scope and luxury. But five months later Potemkin died, and the palace was declared imperial. Catherine II began to often spend her time here. During this period, the Tauride Palace was very popular not only in Russia, but also abroad. High-ranking foreigners who came to St. Petersburg considered it their first duty to visit it. The palace site was landscaped, a garden was laid out, and a large greenhouse was built. At the same time, the bank of the Neva was cleared of various buildings and a beautiful lattice was built in front of the palace.

Paul I, soon after the death of Catherine II, gave the palace, who turned it into barracks, and used the Catherine Hall as a stable. By order of Paul I, the parquet floor was moved to the Mikhailovsky Castle. The palace quickly fell into disrepair. Restoration began under Alexander I.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Tauride Palace turned into an arena for major political events.

4. Tauride Palace, 1910-1915

From 1906 to February 1917, the State Duma met here, and therefore the winter garden was turned into a meeting hall and built into an amphitheater, and the palace theater was rebuilt into a library. In 1907, the magazine "Old Years" rightly called this restructuring an act of vandalism.

In 1917, the last session of the IV State Duma was held, and in the same year the Petrograd Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies began to operate here. From that day on, the palace became the center of attraction for the revolutionary masses. The council worked here until August 1917, that is, until it moved to the headquarters of the revolution -. The Tauride Palace also housed the Provisional Government.

6. Meeting of the Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies in the Tauride Palace, 1917

From the first days of Soviet power, the palace became a traditional venue for the most important events and a place for training and retraining of party and Soviet personnel - the Higher Party School and the Peasant University were opened here.

The history of the greenhouse is closely connected with the fate of the Tauride Palace, of which it was part of the garden for a long time.
According to the plan of Catherine II, the “Palm” greenhouse was supposed to be adjacent to the palace. The greenhouse building on Potemkinskaya Street was founded in 1784 almost simultaneously with the start of construction of the palace.

For various reasons, many difficulties arose during the construction of the greenhouse; the greenhouse was subject to constant reconstruction. In 1889, a full-fledged greenhouse for palm trees, oleanders and laurels was built here. The founder of gardening on Potemkinskaya Street was the famous English garden architect William Gould. In 1928-1930, the greenhouse fell into disrepair, was dismantled and transferred to the Botanical Garden, where it is currently located.

Two ponds were dug, which were filled with water from, and sterlet was released into the reservoirs. View slides were poured from the soil removed during the construction of the ponds. They also created two islands, one of them was planted with trees. A high hill was built in the northern part of the Big Island, from where a view of the palace became available. The large island was connected to the shore by two bridges, one of which was created by mechanic Ivan Kulibin. This bridge was made in 1793 based on a model of an unbuilt wooden bridge across the Neva, 1/10 of its original size.

The Tauride Garden was surrounded by a palisade of logs and a ditch, through which wooden bridges led. Most of the trees were planted along the edges of the site, thus fencing it off from urban development.

Immediately after its creation, the Tauride Garden was closed to public visits. Since it was under the jurisdiction of the imperial court, it was kept in excellent condition. Swans swam in the ponds of the Tauride Garden, and peacocks roamed the lawns. Foreign guests arriving in St. Petersburg were often taken here for a walk. The first landscape park in St. Petersburg was the Tauride Garden, which for a long time was considered the most beautiful in the city.

In 1815, Russia's first steamship, the Elizaveta, was tested in the Tauride Garden. This steamship was constructed by installing a steam engine on an ordinary boat. A year later, the Kulibin Bridge was dismantled. A few years later, a fence with a stone gate was built along Tavricheskaya Street. She separated an area adjacent to the apartments of the owners of the estate, called the “Sovereign Yard”. In 1861, the Northern Bee newspaper wrote:
“By the Highest command, from July 24th, the Tauride Garden, with the exception of the greenhouse and the orchard, is open to public festivities. The entrance to the garden is designated from Tauride Street, through the so-called Sovereign Yard”.

Thus, the Tauride Garden became publicly accessible. A restaurant was organized in the Admiralty gazebo by the merchants Solviev and Makarov. In 1875, instead of a burnt gazebo, a two-story pavilion was built. In winter, St. Petersburg residents went ice skating and ice skating in the Tauride Garden.

Major Kovalev’s nose was seen in the Tauride Garden:
“Then a rumor spread that Major Kovalev’s nose was walking not on Nevsky Prospect, but in the Tauride Garden, as if he had been there for a long time; that when Khozrev-Mirza still lived there, he was very surprised at this strange play of nature. Some of the students of the Surgical Academy "We went there. One noble, respectable lady asked in a special letter from the caretaker of the garden to show her children this rare phenomenon and, if possible, with an instructive and edifying explanation for the young men."
Nikolai Gogol, "The Nose", 1836

Various public organizations worked here. Among them: Society for the Physical Development of Children, Ladies' Benevolent Society, Cavalry School. At the corner of Potemkinskaya and Kirochnaya streets the Society for the Guardianship of People's Sobriety is located. He built a theater here, one of the most popular institutions in the garden. In 1910-1914, an Exhibition Pavilion was built in the north-eastern part of the garden for the Imperial Russian Horticultural Society. After 1917, this pavilion was rebuilt into a two-story garage.

Active public use of the Tauride Garden led it to a deplorable state. The newspaper "Narodnoye Vremya" writes:
“It started with the fact that a significant part of its territory was occupied by the guardianship of public sobriety with its buildings. Then for some reason it was necessary to cut down the old shady trees. The lawn tennis society, not content with the house built several years ago, now built some kind of ridiculous platform. Then Another society appeared - gardening, and a huge brick building was erected on the edge of the garden.".

In the famous fairy tale “Moidodyr” by Korney Chukovsky, a washcloth was chasing the author in the Tauride Garden and his meeting with the Crocodile takes place there.
"And from the mad washcloth
I ran as if from a stick,
And she's behind me, behind me
Along Sadovaya, along Sennaya.

I'm going to the Tauride Garden,
Jumped over the fence
And she's chasing after me
And she bites like a wolf.

Suddenly, my good one comes towards me,
My favorite Crocodile."
Korney Chukovsky, "Moidodyr", 1921

Since 1932, the Tauride Garden began to be called the Park of Culture and Leisure named after the First Five-Year Plan. Amusements, stages, a cinema, and a club were built in the park. The alleys were named: Udarnikov, Youth. Despite the renaming, among Leningraders the park was still called the Tauride Garden.

During the siege of Leningrad, 43 high-explosive bombs and many incendiary bombs were dropped on the Tauride Garden. Recruits were trained here before being sent to the front. Repairs of cars returning from the Road of Life were organized in the garden. Immediately after the end of the blockade, in the Tauride Garden there were vegetable gardens for children's hospitals in the Smolninsky district of Leningrad. Then work began on its restoration - skating rinks, a boat station, a new stage and a summer pavilion were built.

In the 1950s, the two-story garage was rebuilt into the first panoramic cinema in Leningrad, called "Leningrad Panorama". Later it became known as "Leningrad".

In 1956, the garden began to be called the City Children's Park, it was transferred to the jurisdiction of the City Department of Public Education. A year later, a monument to V.I. was erected at the entrance to the park. Lenin, a few years later the monument “Young Heroes of the Defense of Leningrad” was unveiled - the first monument in Leningrad dedicated to the children who died during the siege. Since the 1960s, the Tauride Garden has been actively used as a place for children's leisure and recreation. A stadium was built here, a figure skating school and a club for young cosmonauts were organized. In the summer, pioneer camps operated here. As a result, the garden had to be restored again.
To carry out restoration work, the garden was transferred to the City Trust for the Exploitation of Green Spaces in 1985. It was given back its historical name - Tauride Garden. However, there was no money for the necessary work, and the ponds continued to fill with garbage and the lawns were trampled. The Tavrichesky Garden also suffered significantly from mass dog walking by residents of nearby houses.

In 1990, a bust of the composer P.I. was installed in the southwestern part of the Tauride Garden. Tchaikovsky, in 1995 - a monument to the poet S.A. Yesenin. Restoration work began in 1999. For the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg, bridges and a dam were restored here, and new trees were planted. Lawns and paths have been updated.

Walking tours around the city have become very popular lately. The travel agency “Silver Ring” is also not lagging behind and has launched a series of interesting city walks. I couldn’t miss this and decided to take an organized walk around the city. I chose the excursion “Tavrichesky Garden - the past and the unfulfilled.” I had my own interest in this. The fact is that my sister lives next to Tavrichesky. There is a big age difference between us, so during my school years, I and her daughters often hung out in Tavrika :))) This is what many people call the Tauride Garden. I hadn’t been to the garden for many years, and I really wanted to refresh my memories.

Well what can I tell you. The Tauride Garden has hardly changed. All the same alleys and even benches! (maybe new, but this is exactly what was there before), shady trees and green lawns. Try to go out onto the lawn earlier, now please.

However, let's start in order. We met with our guide Natalya near the Chernyshevskaya metro station. We met. We learned an interesting thing. It turns out that one of the pre-revolutionary metro projects included the “Tavrichesky Garden” station. But the project remained on paper, and we walked towards Potemkinskaya Street along Kirochnaya, which for me remained Saltykov-Shchedrin Street.

The crocodile from Moidodyr, the nose of Major Kovalev, the first steamship in Russia, the same Kulibin and the first landscape park of St. Petersburg, and also Sherlock Holmes and the musketeers. Do you think my imagination is running wild? No! You will learn about all this if you go for a walk with Natalya in the Tauride Garden. I don’t want to describe everything in detail, but I still want to tell you some interesting things :)))

The Tauride Garden greeted us with open gates, a green fence and crowds of people walking.

In plan, the Tauride Garden is an exact square with a side of about 550 m. The garden arose at the Tauride Palace, built in 1783-1789, created with the personal funds of Grigory Potemkin. The planning and layout of the garden was carried out by the English gardener William Gould.

On the site of the small river Samoroika, two ponds were dug and connected by channels, which were filled with water from the Ligovsky Canal. The ponds were inhabited by sterlet and beluga, and swans swam. At one time there lived a seal, which was given to him by a Persian prince. View slides were poured from the soil removed during the construction of the ponds. They also created two islands, one of them was planted with trees. A high hill was built in the northern part of the Big Island, from where a view of the palace became available. The large island was connected to the shore by two bridges, one of which was created by mechanic Ivan Kulibin. This bridge was made in 1793 based on a model of an unbuilt wooden bridge across the Neva, 1/10 of its original size. The bridge has not survived.

Benjamin Patersen. View of the Tauride Palace from the garden. 1797

Another decoration of the park was the greenhouse, the construction of which was first worked by William Gould, and then by Fyodor Volkov, who became the successor of his English colleague. Watermelons and pineapples, peaches and melons, strange flowers and trees were grown in the greenhouse. Under the leadership of Fyodor Volkov, they also built the Garden Master's House, service buildings and the “Admiralty” - a small pavilion in which boats were stored, intended for walking on the surface of the ponds.

The history of the greenhouse is closely connected with the fate of the Tauride Palace, of which it was part of the garden for a long time.

According to the plan of Catherine II, the “Palm” greenhouse was supposed to be adjacent to the palace. The greenhouse building on Potemkinskaya Street was founded in 1784 almost simultaneously with the start of construction of the palace.

For various reasons, many difficulties arose during the construction of the greenhouse; the greenhouse was subject to constant reconstruction. In 1889, a full-fledged greenhouse for palm trees, oleanders and laurels was built here. In 1928-1930, the greenhouse fell into disrepair, was dismantled and transferred to the Botanical Garden, where it is currently located. The current greenhouse building was brought from Pushkin.

During the Second World War the building was badly damaged. Only in 1977 it was reconstructed, and the Flowers Exhibition Hall was opened in the greenhouse. She gained additional fame thanks to cinema. Episodes of more than twenty-five films were filmed here, including “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson,” “The Musketeers 20 Years Later” and “Mr. Now the greenhouse has palm trees and many other flowers and plants. You can purchase bouquets and buy indoor plants in the store at the entrance. There are exhibitions. Paid entrance.

Immediately after its creation, the Tauride Garden was closed to public visits. Since it was under the jurisdiction of the imperial court, it was kept in excellent condition. Swans swam in the ponds of the Tauride Garden, and peacocks walked along the lawns. Foreign guests were often taken here for a walk, apparently to admire the beauty. The first landscape park in St. Petersburg was the Tauride Garden, which for a long time was considered the most beautiful in the city. There are no peacocks now, but there are a lot of ducks.

In 1815, Russia's first steamship, the Elizaveta, was tested in the Tauride Garden. This steamship was constructed by installing a steam engine on an ordinary boat. Who would have thought that a steamboat sailed on this pond? Now only ducks swim here, and fishermen sit on the shore with fishing rods.

In 1861, the newspaper “Northern Bee” wrote: “By the Highest command, from July 24th, the Tauride Garden, with the exception of the greenhouse and orchard, is open to public festivities. The entrance to the garden is designated from Tavricheskaya Street, through the so-called Sovereign’s courtyard.” Thus, the Tauride Garden became publicly accessible.

Various public organizations worked on the territory of the Tauride Garden. Among them: a society for the physical development of children, a ladies' charitable society, and a cavalry school. At the corner of Potemkinskaya and Kirochnaya streets the Society for the Guardianship of People's Sobriety is located. He built a theater here, one of the most popular institutions in the garden. In 1910-1914, an Exhibition Pavilion was built in the north-eastern part of the garden for the Imperial Russian Horticultural Society. After 1917, this pavilion was rebuilt into a two-story garage. Active public use of the Tauride Garden led it to a deplorable state. The newspaper “Narodnoe Vremya” writes: “It began with the fact that a significant part of its territory was occupied by the guardianship of people’s sobriety with its buildings. Then for some reason it became necessary to cut down the old shady trees.”

Guardianship of people's sobriety.

Walking along the alleys of the park, we listen to amazing stories:)))

Major Kovalev's nose was seen in the Tauride Garden. “Then a rumor spread that Major Kovalev’s nose was walking not on Nevsky Prospect, but in the Tauride Garden, as if he had been there for a long time; that when Khozrev-Mirza still lived there, he was very surprised at this strange play of nature. Some of the students from the Surgical Academy went there. One noble, respectable lady asked the caretaker of the garden in a special letter to show her children this rare phenomenon and, if possible, with an instructive and edifying explanation for the young men.” Nikolai Gogol, "The Nose", 1836

We listen with our ears, we admire with our eyes.

There is a wonderful fountain “Boy with a Duck” in the garden. The sculpture “Boy with a Duck” was made in 1910. The author of the project is the architect A. Bruni. In 2008, the sculpture of the fountain, made of bronze, was stolen by unknown persons. In 2009, an exact copy of the sculpture was unveiled.

Historical reference.

2) During the siege of Leningrad, 43 high-explosive bombs and many incendiary bombs were dropped on the Tauride Garden. Recruits were trained here before being sent to the front. Repairs of cars returning from the Road of Life were organized in the garden. Immediately after the end of the blockade, in the Tauride Garden there were vegetable gardens for children's hospitals in the Smolninsky district of Leningrad. During the Second World War, the garden was badly damaged by a fallen German plane, but in 1962 it was completely restored.

Under the leadership of architect D. S. Goldgor, restoration work began: skating rinks, a boat station, a new stage and a summer pavilion appeared.

3) In 1955, a monument to S. A. Yesenin was unveiled in Tavrichesky Park. Sculptor A. S. Charkin, architects F. K. Romanovsky, S. L. Mikhailov. The marble sculpture of Yesenin is located near the main entrance to the park on the lawn.

4) In 1956, the garden became known as the City Children's Park and in the late 1960s. became a place for active children's leisure and recreation: a stadium, a figure skating school, and a club for young cosmonauts appeared. Attractions appeared in the garden in the late 1960s. In Soviet times, the attractions were the busiest corner of the garden. They were demolished during the construction of the Gazprom skating rink. I had the opportunity to ride on these rides first myself, and then with my children.

5) On November 7, 1958, the city’s first panoramic cinema, the Leningrad Panorama, was opened in the rebuilt garage building; it later became known as Leningrad. The Leningrad cinema was closed for a long time. Resumed its work in 2017. Now there is a show space “Leningrad Center”.

6) In 1957, a monument to V.I. Lenin was erected in the park. November 10, 1962, the first monument in the city was opened dedicated to the children who died during the siege, “Young Heroes of the Defense of Leningrad” (authors A. I. Alymov, F. A. Gepner, I. N. Kostyukhina and V. S. Novikova) . It is made of light limestone.

7) In 1985, the park returned its historical name - Tauride.

8) On May 14, 1990, a monument to Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was unveiled for the 150th anniversary (art. Boris Alekseevich Plenkin, architect Zhan Matveevich Verzhbitsky).

9) For the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg, bridges and a dam were restored, lawns and paths were updated, and six swans were settled on the ponds. For some reason we didn’t meet swans ((((

Since 2004, new development began on the territory of the Tauride Garden - the Tavrichesky Garden skating rink was built.

This is how the past and present of the Tauride Garden are intertwined. It was - it became. Everyone has their own memories of this place. With us on the excursion was a woman who had lived next to the garden for a long time. They even collected money at school to create a monument to the Young Heroes of the Siege of Leningrad.

But we didn’t just walk around the garden. We walked around it and around it. We saw many interesting places. We heard a lot of interesting facts.

Suvorov Museum.

The museum is adjacent to a park across the street. In Soviet times, children and adults ran there to warm themselves in winter and just to look at it at other times. Fortunately, entrance to the museum was free)))) And we heard an interesting story about Mikhail Zoshchenko. It turns out his father participated in the set of mosaic panels. The boy Misha went to work with his dad and even helped him set up a mosaic. He laid out a small branch of a Christmas tree, which is in the lower left corner at the very bottom of the panel. The twig came out a little crooked, but it left such a memory in history about a famous author in the future :)))

The monument to Suvorov was completely lost against the background of the museum. If I hadn’t poked my finger, I wouldn’t have noticed.

Kaluzhsky Square and Kaluzhsky Lane. Kaluzhsky Lane houses a collection of houses from different eras and different buildings.

I was very surprised Ivanov Tower.

From 1905 to 1912, the symbolist poet Vyacheslav Ivanov lived on the attic floor under the very corner tower. Since that time the house has been called “The Tower”. All the famous decadent poets of different movements of that time visited the poet’s apartment - A. Blok, A. Bely, V. Bryusov, Anna Akhmatova, Balmont, Z. Gippius, N. Gumilev and many, many more names can be listed. The guests gathered late in the evening on Wednesdays and dispersed when “the thick sun was scorching over the roofs” (A. Bely).

“We live together at the top of a round tower above Tauride Park with its swan lake. Beyond the Neva is a fantastic outline of the whole of St. Petersburg to the extreme forests on the horizon. At the twilight hour, cannons roar, announcing the rise of water in the Neva, and the wind from the sea, swirling the yellow leaves of the park, moans and knocks on my tower.” wrote Vyacheslav Ivanov.

Evenings at the Tower continued until Ivanov left Russia in 1912. Now there is a kindergarten on the ground floor. They say that when the kindergarten is open, you can quietly go in and look around the lobby.

Pomeranian Znamenskaya Old Believer Church on Tverskaya Street near the Tavrichesky Garden. It can only be viewed from the outside. Old Believers keep their secrets and do not like prying eyes and ears, but I would like to look inside...

We finished our walk near the Tauride Garden near the center of Leningrad. The chronological order of the excursion is broken. This is on purpose to confuse everyone - to make everyone dizzy. I would like to add on my own behalf. If you don’t like to walk alone, if you need good company for walks, if you don’t want to sit at home in the evening or on weekends, if you like to learn new and interesting things about the city, then this travel format is for you. And what is very important - no overnight journeys, but only two hours of pure pleasure :))))

The duration of the excursion is 2 hours. Walked about 4 km.

St. Petersburg and its suburbs are landscaped with garden and park complexes. Their history, as a rule, goes back centuries. Many attractions are available to visit. In the heart of the metropolis, the Tauride Garden has found refuge - a delightful place with picturesque landscapes, welcoming guests all year round.

The history of the beautiful garden

In the estate of G. A. Potemkin, a participant in the victorious battles of the 18th century, a wonderful garden was laid out near the Horse Guards House, built in 1783-1789. It was built with funds allocated by the count. Subsequently, the complex was recognized at the state level as a monument in honor of Russia’s victories in the wars that took place at the end of the eighteenth century.

The treasury buys the magnificent ensemble. And then Catherine II awarded G. A. Potemkin the title of His Serene Highness Prince of Tauride and gave him an imperial gift - a garden that became part of his estate. In such a miraculous way, the complex returned to its owner.

Later, when the owner of the estate died, the house was renamed and the garden was given the same name. Thanks to the empress, who bought the estate for the second time, the memory of the favorite was immortalized, to whom she presented the land as a gift, commemorating victories in battles.

Organization of a garden complex

The beautiful complex - the Tauride Garden - was developed by the skillful hands of the English master V. Gould. A talented gardener transformed the monotonous, dull landscape that prevailed in the estate into a picturesque place with ponds, ponds, stone canals and beautiful hillocks overgrown with low-growing herbs, winding paths, alleys lined with benches, and delightful panoramic views.

The ensemble was surrounded by trees, a log palisade and a moat with wooden bridges thrown across it. A sterlet was released into the reservoirs on which swans swam. Peacocks walked on the lawns. First, trees were planted along the perimeter of the estate, forming a natural fence from other urban areas. And later the Tauride Garden in St. Petersburg was surrounded by a fence into which a stone access bridge was built.

Greenhouses and greenhouses, built according to F. Volkov's designs, were planted with peaches, apricots, melons, watermelons and even pineapples. The owners of the estate pampered themselves and their guests with fruits that ripened in the garden.

Greenhouse of the Tauride Garden and Park Ensemble

The greenhouse, built in an ancient estate, is rightfully considered the oldest and most popular winter garden in St. Petersburg. The grandiose plan of the architect and Catherine II included the creation of a real palm grove, covered with a glass dome. True, the idea was not brought to life, but flowers were always planted here in abundance. All the plants from the greenhouse located in Pushkino were transported to this place. In 1936, the Tauride Greenhouse was converted into an exhibition hall. Nowadays her main guests are gardeners and married couples.

Flower lovers here examine the magnificent collections, individual samples of them and purchase their favorite specimens for their estates. On sale days, they get exotic plants at reasonable prices. Newlyweds often come to the greenhouse. They create memorable romantic photo sessions. Stunning wedding ceremonies are organized for them. And festive banquets are held under palm trees, among lush flowers.

Kulibina Bridge

The luxurious Tauride Garden in St. Petersburg amazes with its Big Pond, in which there is an island connected to the coastline by two bridges. When erecting them, the craftsmen adhered to the design of a wooden bridge on the Neva that had been designed but not built.

View slides

An embankment, the main viewpoint, was built on the northern side of the Big Island. It offers a view of the Tauride Palace with a facade overlooking the pond. In addition to this hill, several more species hills were built in the garden and park complex. From them one could see lawns with peacocks walking importantly, one or another part of the prince's palace and other architectural structures.

Little Admiralty

The Tauride Garden in St. Petersburg had its own small Admiralty. It was located in a gazebo designed for storing pleasure boats. In 1815, a test was held here of the Elizaveta ship, which is considered the first “steamboat” in Russia. In fact, it was an ordinary boat equipped with a steam engine.

Opening public access to the garden ensemble

Until 1861, the complex was not classified as a citywide facility. Only important guests were allowed to walk along it. There is a legend about a prince who gave the garden ensemble a seal, which for some time became an inhabitant of the Big Pond.

By the highest order, the complex acquires the status of a universal landmark of St. Petersburg. In winter, the ponds turn into solid skating rinks. In the Admiralty, the merchants set up a luxurious restaurant. This place is popular with all sorts of public organizations.

The Ladies' Charitable Society, the Cavalry School operate here, and sports enthusiasts and interest groups gather here. Access to visitors is limited only to greenhouses, greenhouses and fruit plantations.

Complex in the era of socialism

During the Soviet period, the Tauride Garden in St. Petersburg was actively used by citizens and guests of the city on the Neva. It played the role of camps, winter skating rink, stage, cinema, and dog walking area.

The restoration of the garden ensemble was carried out for the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg. They planted trees in it, installed a bust of Tchaikovsky and a monument to Yesenin, and equipped it with new lawns and paths. Swans were released into the ponds.

How to get to the Tauride Garden

On Shpalernaya Street, 47 there is the Tauride Garden. How to get to it? After going down the metro, you get to Chernyshevskaya station. When exiting the subway, it doesn’t matter where to turn: right or left.

When turning right, walk 50 m to the first intersection and make a right turn, go to Furshtadskaya Street and follow to its end (in the direction of increasing building numbering). The outskirts abut Potemkinskaya Street, and right behind it begins a garden and park complex. When turning left, go the same 50 m, make a left turn, exit onto Kirochnaya Street and move to the south-west corner of the garden fence.

The route along the quiet Furshtadskaya street with a park in the middle is preferable. It is built up with beautiful houses built in the nineteenth century. Noisy Kirochnaya Street stretches along a busy city highway.

Visiting time

The Tavrichesky Garden in St. Petersburg has amazing energy conducive to active recreation. Park opening hours: from 7:00 to 22:00. This ensemble remains the only place where nightingale trills are heard in St. Petersburg.

Built in 1783-1789. This ensemble became one of the monuments to Russia's victory in the wars of the late 18th century. Its owner was G. A. Potemkin, a participant in victorious wars. The palace and garden were built with Potemkin’s personal funds, bought by the treasury and returned by Catherine II as an imperial gift along with the donation of the title of His Serene Highness Prince of Tauride.

One of the contemporaries of the creation of the Tauride Garden wrote:

“The monotonous topography of the site was quickly transformed. The level terrain was furrowed by canals; the earth, taken out of the resulting ponds, was located along the banks around the picturesque hills. Ponds and canals were formed with stone, and the hills were covered with turf. A winding network of paths crossed the area.”

The initial planning and layout of the Tauride Garden was carried out by the English gardener William Gould. On the site of the Samoroyka River in the southern part of the Tauride Garden, two ponds were dug, connected by channels. The ponds were filled with water from the Ligovsky Canal, and sterlet was released into the reservoirs. View slides were poured from the soil removed during the construction of the ponds.

Two islands were created in the southern part of the Big Pond, one of them was planted with trees. A high hill was built in the northern part of the Big Island, from where a view of the palace became available. The large island was connected to the shore by two bridges, one of which was created by mechanic Ivan Kulibin. This bridge was made in 1793 based on a model of an unbuilt wooden bridge across the Neva, 1/10 of its original size.

In the Tauride Garden in 1793-1794, two pedestrian metal bridges were installed, which became the first crossings with metal spans in St. Petersburg. They were manufactured at the Sestroretsk Arms Factory under the direction of the architect K. Shpekle. The span of one of them has a length of 10.6 meters, the second - 13 meters.

In 1794, according to the design of F.I. Volkov, the House of the Garden Master (Potemkinskaya St., 2), other service buildings, a fence and a stone access bridge were built in the Tauride Garden. The architect also built a greenhouse and greenhouses, garden bridges and benches. Watermelons, melons, peaches, apricots and pineapples were grown in the greenhouse and greenhouses. On the shore of the Big Pond, Volkov built a gazebo called the “Admiralty”. Boats for boat trips were stored in this gazebo.

At the end of the 18th century, Shpalernaya and Kirochnaya streets were connected by Potemkinskaya and Tavricheskaya streets, which bounded the Tauride Garden from the east and west. The northern part of the estate was limited by Shpalernaya Street. In the early 1800s, the southern part of the garden was limited by the barracks of the Preobrazhensky Regiment with the extended Kirochnaya Street.

Immediately after its creation, the Tauride Garden was closed to public visits. Since it was under the jurisdiction of the imperial court, it was kept in excellent condition. Swans swam in the ponds of the Tauride Garden, and peacocks roamed the lawns. Foreign guests arriving in St. Petersburg were often taken here for a walk. In 1829, the Persian prince Khosrow-Mirza gave the garden a seal, which was released into the Great Pond.

In 1804, the poet Alexander Izmailov wrote:

The Tauride Garden is beautiful!
How I love to be in you
Even though my terrible melancholy
And you cannot destroy.
Only one nature
You have beauty
It’s just everything in you: and water,
And trees and flowers.

In 1815, Russia's first steamship, the Elizaveta, was tested in the Tauride Garden. This steamship was constructed by installing a steam engine on an ordinary boat. In 1816, the Kulibin Bridge was dismantled. In 1822, the architect L. Charlemagne built a fence with stone gates along Tauride Street. She separated an area adjacent to the apartments of the owners of the estate, called the “Sovereign Yard”. In 1861, the Northern Bee newspaper wrote:

“By the Highest command, from July 24th, the Tauride Garden, with the exception of the greenhouse and the orchard, is open to public festivities... The entrance to the garden is designated from Tauride Street, through the so-called Sovereign Yard.”

Thus, the Tauride Garden became publicly accessible. A restaurant was organized in the Admiralty gazebo by the merchants Solviev and Makarov. In 1875, a two-story pavilion was built instead of a burnt gazebo. In winter, St. Petersburg residents went ice skating and ice skating in the Tauride Garden.

Various public organizations worked in the Tauride Garden. Among them: Society for the Physical Development of Children, Ladies' Benevolent Society, Cavalry School. At the corner of Potemkinskaya and Kirochnaya streets the Society for the Guardianship of People's Sobriety is located. He built a theater here, one of the most popular institutions in the garden. In 1910-1914, an Exhibition Pavilion was built in the north-eastern part of the garden for the Imperial Russian Horticultural Society. After 1917, this pavilion was rebuilt into a two-story garage.

Active public use of the Tauride Garden led it to a deplorable state. The newspaper "People's Time" wrote in 1914:

“It started with the fact that a significant part of its territory was occupied by the guardianship of people’s sobriety with its buildings. Then for some reason it was necessary to cut down the old shady trees... The lawn tennis society, not content with the house built several years ago, has now built some kind of ridiculous platform ... Then another society appeared - gardening, and erected a huge brick building at the edge of the garden..."

Since 1932, the Tauride Garden began to be called the Park of Culture and Leisure named after the First Five-Year Plan. Amusements, stages, a cinema, and a club were built in the park. The alleys were named: Udarnikov, Molodezhi... Despite the renaming, among Leningraders the park was still called the Tauride Garden.

During the siege of Leningrad, 43 high-explosive bombs and many incendiary bombs were dropped on the Tauride Garden. Recruits were trained here before being sent to the front. Repairs of cars returning from the Road of Life were organized in the garden. On November 5, 1941, an air battle took place over the Tauride Garden. Pilot Alexey Sevastyanov rammed a German plane, the wreckage of which fell into the garden. The pilot of the enemy plane managed to eject and was caught on Mayakovsky Street.

Immediately after the end of the blockade, in the Tauride Garden there were vegetable gardens for children's hospitals in the Smolninsky district of Leningrad. Then, under the leadership of architect D.S. Goldgor, work began on its restoration. Skating rinks, a boat station, a new stage and a summer pavilion were built. In the 1950s, the two-story garage was rebuilt into the first panoramic cinema in Leningrad. Opened on November 7, 1958, the cinema was named "Leningrad Panorama". Later it became known as "Leningrad".

In 1956, the garden became known as the City Children's Park and was transferred to the jurisdiction of the City Department of Public Education. In 1957, a monument to V.I. Lenin was erected at the entrance to the park.

On November 10, 1962, a monument to the “Young Heroes of the Defense of Leningrad” was unveiled here. Its authors were A. I. Alymov, F. A. Gepner, I. N. Kostyukhina and V. S. Novikova. This monument became the first monument in Leningrad dedicated to the children who died during the siege.

Since the 1960s, the Tauride Garden has been actively used as a place for children's leisure and recreation. A stadium was built here, a figure skating school and a club for young cosmonauts were organized. In the summer, pioneer camps operated here. As a result, the garden had to be restored again.

To carry out restoration work, the garden was transferred to the City Trust for the Exploitation of Green Spaces in 1985. It was given back its historical name - Tauride Garden. However, there was no money for the necessary work. Ponds continued to fill with garbage and lawns were trampled. The Tavrichesky Garden also suffered significantly from mass dog walking by residents of nearby houses.

In 1990, a bust of the composer P. I. Tchaikovsky was erected in the southwestern part of the Tauride Garden, and in 1995, a monument to the poet S. A. Yesenin. Restoration work began in 1999. For the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg, bridges and a dam were restored here, and new trees were planted. Lawns and paths have been updated. Six swans were settled in the Tauride Garden.

Address: St. Petersburg, st. Potemkinskaya, 2-4; st. Kirochnaya, 50; st. Tavricheskaya, 8

How to get there from the metro: from the Chernyshevskaya metro station, walk along Furshtatskaya Street (the first intersection if you turn right from the metro exit) in the direction of increasing the numbering of houses until the intersection with Potemkinskaya Street. Across the road is one of the entrances to the park. Another entrance to the park is located on the other side, on Tavricheskaya Street.

Opening hours: 7:00 - 22:00

There is a wonderful picturesque place in the center of St. Petersburg - Tauride Gardens. Many learned about him in early childhood from “Moidodyr”:

"I'm going to the Tauride Garden,
Jumped over the fence
And she's chasing after me
And she bites like a wolf.
Suddenly, my good one comes towards me,
My favorite Crocodile.
He is with Totosha and Kokosha
Walked along the alley
And a washcloth, like a jackdaw,
Swallowed it like a jackdaw."

The Tauride Garden arose as a garden under Tauride Palace, built in 1783-1789. This ensemble became one of the monuments to Russia's victory in the wars of the late 18th century. Its owner was G.A., a participant in the victorious wars. Potemkin. It was built with his personal funds, bought by the treasury and returned by Catherine II as an imperial gift along with the title of His Serene Highness Prince of Tauride.

In 1794, according to the project of F.I. Volkov, a garden master’s house, other service buildings, a fence and a stone access bridge were built in the Tauride Garden. The architect also built a greenhouse and greenhouses, garden bridges and benches. Watermelons, melons, peaches, apricots and pineapples were grown in the greenhouse and greenhouses. On the shore of the Big Pond, Volkov built a gazebo called the “Admiralty”. Boats for boat trips were stored in this gazebo.

Immediately after its creation, the Tauride Garden was closed to public visits. Since it was under the jurisdiction of the imperial court, it was kept in excellent condition. Swans swam in the ponds of the Tauride Garden, and peacocks roamed the lawns. Foreign guests arriving in St. Petersburg were often taken here for a walk. In 1829, the Persian prince Khosrow-Mirza gave the garden a seal, which was released into the Great Pond.

In 1861, the garden was opened “for public festivities.” A restaurant was organized in the Admiralty gazebo by the merchants Solovyov and Makarov. In winter, St. Petersburg residents went ice skating and ice skating in the Tauride Garden.

In the hungry post-revolutionary times, the garden is mentioned in the notes of Zinaida Gippius: “A pound of tea costs 1,200 rubles. We haven't drunk it for a long time. Dry slices of carrots or beets - whatever you have. And brew it. Nothing. It would be nice to have some leaves, and some dirty trees in the Tauride Garden, and God knows, maybe they’re not suitable.”

Since 1932, the Tauride Garden began to be called the Park of Culture and Leisure named after the First Five-Year Plan. Amusements, stages, a cinema, and a club were built in the park. The alleys were named: Udarnikov, Molodezhi... Despite the renaming, among Leningrad residents the park was still called the Tauride Garden.

In winter, the large skating rink was filled in the same way as many years ago. Here's what he writes about it Arkady Minchkovsky: “In the Tauride Garden there was a popular skating rink in the city. Couples and single runners were skating across the ice field against the wooden stands of the stadium: adults, youth, children. Garlands of bright light bulbs glowed in the darkness. They were reflected in the mirror-like surface of the ice as shining points of white stars. A brass band was playing, and the muffled beats of a drum could be heard far away. The ride went in one direction. From a distance, the stadium with the lights of the skaters resembled a giant whirlpool, picking up and spinning everything that came in its way.”

And here is from Arkady Mironovich’s memoirs about the life of the garden in the summer: “Together in the evenings we went to the paid part of the Tauride Garden. From the last rows of the summer theater they looked at Utesov when he performed there with his popular Teajaz. Then they wandered into the circus tent, which every summer pitched its tent on the other side of the same paid Tavriga. They even climbed to the second floor of the garden restaurant, where they drank sweet coffee with milk and cakes.”

In pre-war times, he began working in the chess section of the garden Mikhail Botvinnik, and in the club he “went wild” on the piano Dmitry Shostakovich.

During the Great Patriotic War, the garden turned into a workshop: cars plying along the Road of Life were repaired there. The palace and garden were constantly under attack. In 1941, a fascist Heinkel bomber crashed into the garden. It was rammed by Soviet pilot A. Sevostyanov. During the four years of the war, 43 high-explosive bombs and many artillery shells were dropped into the garden. One of the shells was discovered in 1971 during the construction of a new toy building.

In 1946, a decision was made to reconstruct the garden; its layout was brought as close as possible to the historical one. In the first post-war winter, a skating rink was built on the garden ponds, then a boat station began operating, then a wooden stage and a summer pavilion for board games were built. The park was popular among Leningraders, but most often it was visited by children. In the 1950s and 1960s, children from nearby kindergartens were brought there for a walk.

In 1956 the garden was renamed City children's park. In the early 60s, children were carried on camels for several months. In the 70s, the park hosted summer one-day pioneer camps, where the children of the townspeople rested. A concrete “ship” with an anti-aircraft gun was installed for the pioneers. For some time there was an IL-14 plane, where they even showed a movie to the children. There was a dairy cafe on Gorka.

In 1985, the garden was transferred to the City Trust for the Exploitation of Green Spaces for restoration work. It was given back its historical name - Tauride Garden. However, there was no money for the necessary work. Ponds continued to fill with garbage and lawns were trampled. For the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg, bridges and a dam were restored here, and new trees were planted. Lawns and paths have been updated.

Today it is quite comfortable here for children, those who like to run, and fantasizing citizens of different ages - the amazing energy of the park encourages activity. However, for relaxation in Tauride Garden everything you need is also there. There's a lot of space here. There is a children's playground and a corner for athletes. Along the alleys you can create a running route of any complexity, which many people use. There is a cafe on site.
But in search of silence you will have to go away from the main alleys.

A lot has been done for the city’s anniversary, but now everything is slowly returning to its previous state. The pond has completely bloomed and become shallow, the stone shoreline has been destroyed. All citizens are concerned the fate of flower greenhouses, around which a lot of controversy flared up between defenders of the city’s historical heritage and some representatives of domestic business.
Young people, having learned about the plight of the oldest Tauride Garden in the city, decided to draw the attention of the townspeople to this issue. The famous toy library is open again. The upstairs is pleasant, and on the ground floor it is planned to open a children's play and educational center. The garden hosts festivals dedicated to protecting the environment and promoting a healthy lifestyle.

“Nevertheless, this garden is one of the most respectable in St. Petersburg. This is the only place in the city center where nightingales have not yet disappeared.
The dense history of this “semi-tropical, semi-Tavrichesky” garden, as Nabokov wrote, can be represented in the form of a huge popular print panorama: Prince Potemkin-Tavrichesky buys all the wax available in St. Petersburg for the installation of garden illumination; Kulibin places a 1/10 life-size model of the arched bridge across the Neva on the pond; Paul the First gives the Tauride Palace to the hussar stables; Alexander the First transports here the famous Venus of Peter the Great, which has since been called Tauride.
Walking in the garden are Major Kovalev's nose, chess player Luzhin and Blok with actress Delmas.
Here, a terrorist shoots Admiral Dubasov, the famous St. Petersburg criminal couple Semyonova and Bezak test a deadly cast-iron weight on a garden bench, and the revolutionary sailor Zheleznyak disperses the Constituent Assembly. Not far away, “like a jackdaw,” Chukov’s disdainful crocodile is swallowing an aggressive washcloth, and a fascist Henkel bomber, shot down by the brave pilot Sevastyanov, is lying on the shore of the Round Pond.
Walking today in the newly restored Tauride Garden, no, no, and you’ll remember Pylyaev’s “Old Petersburg,” where a charming eyewitness testimony from Pavlov’s times is given: “The Romanesque Garden still attracts everyone to take a walk in it. On the gazebos and temples, the walls and doors are covered with profane poetry and prose.”
O. Florenskaya.