Babolovo Palace
Encyclopedia
Babolovo or Babolovka was a dacha
(myza) of Prince Potemkin in Tsarskoe Selo.
It was in 1780 that Catherine II of Russia
presented the grounds adjoining the Catherine Park
and the Alexander Park
to her then-favourite, Potemkin. A temporary wooden palace
was built to house the lovers' trysts. It was rebuilt in stone to a Gothic Revival design by Ilya Neyelov between 1782 and 1785. The Babolovsky Palace was essentially a summerhouse
with seven rooms giving on to a park, a quaint octagonal tower and no second floor.
Alexander I of Russia
used the palace for his furtive rendezvous with Sophia Velho, a court banker's daughter. He commissioned Vasily Stasov
to redesign the palace. The tower was replaced with a huge bath
hewn from a red granite
monolith. Engineer Agustín de Betancourt
had it placed within the room before the walls were constructed. The bath weighed 48 tons and was 196 cm high.
The palace fell into disrepair after the Russian Revolution and currently stands in ruins. The granite bath mentioned in one of Pushkin's first poems is still in situ. Other structures in the Babolovsky Park (which covers some 300 ha) have disappeared, apart from an aqueduct
from the 1770s and Adam Menelaws
' gate separating the two parks.
Dacha
Dacha is a Russian word for seasonal or year-round second homes often located in the exurbs of Soviet and post-Soviet cities. Cottages or shacks serving as family's main or only home are not considered dachas, although many purpose-built dachas are recently being converted for year-round residence...
(myza) of Prince Potemkin in Tsarskoe Selo.
It was in 1780 that Catherine II of Russia
Catherine II of Russia
Catherine II, also known as Catherine the Great , Empress of Russia, was born in Stettin, Pomerania, Prussia on as Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg...
presented the grounds adjoining the Catherine Park
Catherine Palace
The Catherine Palace was the Rococo summer residence of the Russian tsars, located in the town of Tsarskoye Selo , 25 km south-east of St. Petersburg, Russia.- History :...
and the Alexander Park
Alexander Palace
The Alexander Palace is a former imperial residence at Tsarskoye Selo, on a plateau around 30 minutes by train from St Petersburg. It is known as the favourite residence of the last Russian Emperor, Nicholas II, and his family and their initial place of imprisonment after the revolution that...
to her then-favourite, Potemkin. A temporary wooden palace
Palace
A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word itself is derived from the Latin name Palātium, for Palatine Hill, one of the seven hills in Rome. In many parts of Europe, the...
was built to house the lovers' trysts. It was rebuilt in stone to a Gothic Revival design by Ilya Neyelov between 1782 and 1785. The Babolovsky Palace was essentially a summerhouse
Summerhouse
Summerhouse can refer to:*Summer house*Summerhouse, County Durham*"The Summerhouse", a song by The Divine Comedy...
with seven rooms giving on to a park, a quaint octagonal tower and no second floor.
Alexander I of Russia
Alexander I of Russia , served as Emperor of Russia from 23 March 1801 to 1 December 1825 and the first Russian King of Poland from 1815 to 1825. He was also the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland and Lithuania....
used the palace for his furtive rendezvous with Sophia Velho, a court banker's daughter. He commissioned Vasily Stasov
Vasily Stasov
Vasily Petrovich Stasov was a Russian architect.-Biography:Stasov was born in Moscow....
to redesign the palace. The tower was replaced with a huge bath
Bathing
Bathing is the washing or cleansing of the body in a fluid, usually water or an aqueous solution. It may be practised for personal hygiene, religious ritual or therapeutic purposes or as a recreational activity....
hewn from a red granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
monolith. Engineer Agustín de Betancourt
Agustín de Betancourt
Agustín de Betancourt y Molina was a prominent Spanish-Canarian engineer, who worked in Spain, France and Russia. His work ranged from steam engines and balloons to structural engineering and urban planning...
had it placed within the room before the walls were constructed. The bath weighed 48 tons and was 196 cm high.
The palace fell into disrepair after the Russian Revolution and currently stands in ruins. The granite bath mentioned in one of Pushkin's first poems is still in situ. Other structures in the Babolovsky Park (which covers some 300 ha) have disappeared, apart from an aqueduct
Aqueduct
An aqueduct is a water supply or navigable channel constructed to convey water. In modern engineering, the term is used for any system of pipes, ditches, canals, tunnels, and other structures used for this purpose....
from the 1770s and Adam Menelaws
Adam Menelaws
Adam Menelaws, also spelled Menelas was an architect and landscape designer of Scottish origin, active in the Russian Empire from 1784 to 1831...
' gate separating the two parks.