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Pushkin (town)
Encyclopedia
Pushkin is a municipal town
in Pushkinsky District
of the federal city
of St. Petersburg
, Russia
, located 24 kilometres (14.9 mi) south from the center of St. Petersburg proper, and its train station, Detskoye Selo, is directly connected by railway to the Vitebsky Rail Terminal of the city. Population:
Pushkin was founded in 1710 as an imperial residence named Tsarskoye Selo and received status of a town in 1808. The first public railways in Russia, Tsarskoye Selo Railways, were opened here in 1837 and connected the town to the capital St. Petersburg. After the October Revolution
, the town was renamed to Detskoye Selo (meaning Children's Village). Its name was further changed in 1937 to Pushkin to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the death of the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin. The town contains an ensemble of the 18th century "Tsarskoye Selo
". This museum complex includes the Catherine Palace
, Alexander Palace
and other buildings and associated parks; it is a major tourist attraction of the area and is included in the list of monuments protected by the UNESCO
.
era, 300–400 million years ago, the area was covered by a sea. Sediments of that time form a layer thicker than 200 meters on top of the Baltic Shield
consisting of granite
, gneiss
and diabase
. The modern topography was shaped by the glacier
retreat some 12,000 years ago which created the Littorina Sea
. About 4,000 years ago the sea receded and formed the valley of the Neva River which has not changed much over the last 2,500 years.
and wet, it is transitional between oceanic
and continental
. The length of the day varies from 5 hours and 51 minutes in the winter solstice
to 18 hours and 50 minutes in the summer solstice
. Summer is short and moderately warm, whereas winter is long and uneven, with frequent thaws. Air temperatures above 0 °C prevail from early April to mid-November. The coldest month is February. Winds mostly blow southward and frequently change air mass above the city. Summer is dominated by westerly and northwesterly winds, and the wind direction changes to westerly and southwesterly in winter. The cloudiest months are November, December and January, and the least cloudy are May, June and July. There are at least 240 sunny days per year. Between 25 May and 16 July white nights
are observed when the sun only briefly goes over the horizon and the day lasts nearly 19 hours. The area is mostly fed by surface and ground waters.
) with an admixture of broad-leaved trees and fen
s. The soils were mostly podzol, combined with peat
and gleysols
. Intensive economic activities changed the original forest landscape to agricultural land with small groves of aspen
, birch
, alder and willow
. In the 18–19th centuries, a large park area of 704 hectares has been created in and around the city. Owing to the parks and environment-friendly policies, the Pushkin area has relatively low level of pollution. There is a large number of birds, reptiles and invertebrates; also common are hare
and muskrat
.
stood a Swedish estate Sarskaya Manor . It was a small estate, which consisted of a wooden house, household annexes, and a modest garden divided by two perpendicular avenues into four squares. This estate originated from an earlier settlement, which was mentioned in church inventories of 1501 and marked on maps drawn for Boris Godunov
as Saritsa . This name later transformed to Sarskaya Manor, then to Saar Village, and finally became the Tsarskoye Selo (meaning "Tsar's Village" in Russian).
After the expulsion of the Swedes from the area Peter the Great gave the manor to Alexander Menshikov. Later, by an official decree of 13 June 1710 the whole area including 43 villages was assigned to Marfa Skavronskaya, wife of Peter who later became Empress Catherine I
. This date of 13 June 1710 is considered as the founding date of the city. In 1717–1724 the architect Johann Braunstein built here a two-storied stone palace surrounded by ancillary buildings, and Y. V. Roozen created a garden with two ponds at the palace. Because of the growing number of servants, a separate village and a wooden Uspenskaya Church (1716) were built nearby. Around then the Sarskaya Mansion transformed into Tsarskoye Selo. The first street of the city, Perednyaya Street (meaning "Front Street", now Sadovaya Street) was established in 1720. Construction of the Znamenskaya Church, the oldest stone building in the city, started in 1734.
. Between 1751 and 1756 the reconstruction was led by Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli
, and the present look of the palace has not changed much since then. In 1755, the Amber Room
was moved from the Winter Palace
to the Catherine Palace. The gardens were extended and decorated with sculptures and pavilions. A canal was dug from Vittolovsky Springs (6 km from the Tsarskoye Selo) to provide water for the park ponds, and several stone houses were build on the Perednyaya Street.
The inflow of people to the area in the 1770s urged Catherine II to separate the Tsarskoye Selo from the urban area. By the decree of January 1780 she established a town Sofia nearby with a separate administration. Further construction works without imperial orders were banned in Tsarskoye Selo and most merchants and clergy were moved to Sofia. The town was divided into rectangular districts with a vast open place in the center. A wooden church of Saints Constantine and Helen and then the stone Sophia Cathedral
(1788) were raised in the town center. According to Johann Gottlieb Georgi
, in 1794, Sofia was mostly populated by the palace workers and peasants. It had a number of stone buildings, a church resembling Hagia Sophia
of Constantinople
, and a factory in the suburbs producing paper for state bank notes. The town prospered owing to the proximity of St. Petersburg and imperial attention.
built the Alexander Palace
at the north-eastern border of the park for the future emperor Alexander I
. In 1808, Alexander I merged the Tsarskoye Selo with Sofia and proclaimed it a town and administrative center of Tsarskoselsky Uyezd
. In 1808 he appointed William Heste
as the town architect, which post he held until his death in 1832. Heste compiled a master plan for Tsarskoye Selo, with division into quarters and associated gardens and orchards. Most residents moved from Sofia to Tsarskoye Selo and the former was converted to a residence of a military regiment. By 1817, Tsarskoye Selo had 15 streets, 354 buildings and a population of 4,000.
The Catherine Palace suffered from the fire of 1820 and was reconstructed by the architect Vasily Stasov
. He also designed several buildings in classical style, namely the Manezh, Stable Building and Grand Orangery
. Between 1811 and 1843 a wing of the Catherine Palace hosted the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum
where Aleksandr Pushkin
studied between 1811 and 1817. Several historical objects were created in those decades including the iron Egyptian gates by Adam Menelaws
.
The first public railway in the Russian Empire, Tsarskoselskaya Railway, was laid in 1837 and connected Tsarskoye Selo with the capital St. Petersburg. Its length was about 22.5 km (14 mi) and the journey time about 40 minutes. The prominent Catherine Cathedral was built in 1840. The town was expanding and by 1855 had 44 streets, 10 churches, 400 houses, 8 military barracks, 3 hospitals and a female seminary
. Tsarskoye Selo was one of the most developed cities of Russia. In 1887 it became the first fully electrified
town in Europe, and by the end of the 19th century had a telephone network.
In 1905, the Alexander Palace became the main residence of the Nicholas II
. Here the royal family was held under house arrest after the February Revolution
. In 1902–1908 the town was equipped with the most advanced by the time water system with a separate sewer network and a water purification station. By 1909 the town had 30,000 residents and 19 schools. In 1910, an Imperial garrison camp was established to the north of the Catherine Palace, on the border of Alexander Park and the city. It had a separate cathedral (Fedorovskiy Cathedral), a dining hall, and two hospitals, one for officers and one for soldiers. The first bus route was opened in 1911, and in 1914 a powerful for the time 300-kilowatt wireless telegraphy
station was built in the city. Léon Theremin
worked at that station in 1918–1919.
, the palace and park complex was declared as museum and national property. On 7 November 1918 it was renamed to Detskoye Selo , because of the large number of children's institutions established in the area, and due to a general trend to renew Tsar-related geographical names. On 10 February 1937, on the occasion of the 100-year anniversary of the death of Aleksandr Pushkin
, the town was given his name. On 10 June 1939 the Catherine Cathedral has been demolished by the Soviet authorities.
After the start of World War II
, on 17 September 1941 the town was occupied by the German troops. Several buildings of the palace complex were destroyed or damaged and many artworks were abducted, including the entire inner decoration of the Amber Room
. The town was liberated on 24 January 1944 as a result of the Krasnoye Selo–Ropsha Offensive
.
Restoration of the palace complex was initiated already during the war. Public access was gradually re-established to the parks (1946), lyceum (1949) and six palace halls (1959). The Amber Room was restored only by 2003. The town was rebuilt in 1950-1960s. Several factories were established in the eastern part of Pushkin and in Sofia and two prominent monuments were raised in 1960, to Vladimir Lenin (sculptor Zair Azgur
) and Ernst Thälmann
(sculptor Arnold). In 1975, the town was equipped with a new water system and modern sewage treatment facilities, which were upgraded in 1999–2005 within a joint Russian-Finnish-Swedish project.
. Large scale cleanup and reconstruction of the town was conducted before the celebration of the 300th anniversary of the town (24 June 2010). In April 2004 vandals pushed the monument of Lenin from its pedestal breaking the statue. The reconstruction of the Catherine Cathedral began on the place of the monument on 7 December 2006. Another monument of Lenin was heavily damaged on 6 December 2010 in an explosion staged by an unknown group.
of Catherine I. It was however not the emblem of the city, but only of the imperial residence. Two town emblems were proposed by Baron Bernhard Karl von Koehne, one in 1859 and another in 1882, but neither was accepted.
In Soviet times the town had no coat of arms. In 1990, the coat of arms of 1831 was registered as the emblem of Museum "Tsarskoye Selo" and for this reason could not be approved as a symbol of the city. The Decree of Pushkin City Council of 15 March 2001 approved the following coat of arms. It featured an oval shield with the monogram of Catherine I on red background. The shield was topped with a golden crown and had golden laurel branches underneath. On 25 March 2010, Pushkin Municipal Council approved the current four-panel coat of arms. Two of its panels feature identical crowned monograms of Catherine I on red background, and the other two parts depict a black double-headed eagle of the Catherine II era on a purple background. The eagle has a red tongue, golden beaks and claws and three crowns. In its right paw the eagle holds a silver torch burning with gold flame and in the left paw it has a two-legged silver anchor without a cross bar. The eagle's breast is covered with a blue oval shield with a silver cross on it; the rim of the shield is formed by a snake biting its tail. This 4-part coat is named as "extended" or "big" whereas its one part with the Catherine I monogram is called "small" and is also an official coat of arms of Pushkin.
and Vitebsk
runs through the eastern border of the city.
The major attractions of the town are described below.
; about US$4 million has been spent by 2008 and some US$3.2 million more is required to complete the restoration. The museum-reserve includes:
. It occupies an area of 107 hectares and consists of the regular
Old Garden (1717–1720) and an English garden
(1760–1796, architect Vasily Neyelov
) separated by large ponds. The park includes numerous pavilions of significant architectural and historical value. Most of them have been restored.
The original palace of 1717–1723 was rebuilt in 1743–1756, first by Mikhail Zemtsov
, A. V. Kvasov and Savva Chevakinsky
and then by Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli
. Rastrelli was the primary author of the architectural design and lush sculptural decoration of the facade, in the style of Russian Baroque; he also designed the interior layout and decoration. The main courtyard is facing west and has a gilded wrought-iron fence and gates. The palace is surrounded by a few buildings added in the late 18th century. One of them is a four-story outhouse to the south, which hosted the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum
and was then converted into a museum, a branch of the All Russian Pushkin Museum
. Lyceum is connected with the palace by an arch over Sadovaya Street (architect I. Neelov). Other attachments to the palace include Zubovsky wing on the southern side (architect Y. M. Felton) and Cameron's
Gallery, cold saunas and a hanging garden to the southeast. One of the most famous rooms of the palace is the Amber Room
.
palace was built in 1792–1796 by Giacomo Quarenghi
for Alexander I
. The palace is an elongated two-storey building with double wings on either side and a two-row colonnade
on the northern side. Next to the palace is a vast park with a lake.
Mechanical engineering
is the core industry of Pushkin. It is represented by such enterprises as plant "Sophia" (railway equipment), Pushkin's Engineering Works (road construction equipment), NGOs STIGMASH (boiler equipment), plant "Astra" and "DVT" (woodworking machinery). Several companies produce medical equipment. The town has an asphalt
plant, a stone processing plant Medved' ("Bear"), and several woodworking and furniture production factories. The town has well-developed food industry which produced prefabricated
frozen meat ("Daria"), beer (Tinkoff brewery
is part of Anheuser-Busch InBev
– the biggest beer producer in Russia), bread ("Tsarskoselsky bread"), among other products. The factory "СЛАВЯНСКИЙ" is one of the largest Russian producers of frame-panel houses.
The Sofia are of Pushkin hosts a military garrison with several aircraft and artillery units and a military cooks school No. 228. Outside the town there is military airfield and an aircraft repair plant, which is part of Forces of central subordination of the Russian Air Force
.
passes through the city. Saint Petersburg Ring Road
and three major international highways run near Pushkin, namely M10 E105
, M20
E95
and M11
E20
. Pushkin is connected with St. Petersburg via Pulkovo, Moscow and Vitebsk highways.
, Institute of Law and Business, Naval Engineering Institute and a Military Institute of the Mozhaysky Military Space Academy.
The town is a major center of agricultural science hosting a number of research centers and laboratories. They include the Northwestern Scientific Center of Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Genetics and Breeding of Farm Animals, All-Russian Research Institute of Plant Protection, All-Russian Research Institute for Agricultural Microbiology, Institute of Plant Industry
, Research Institute of Chemical Soil Reclamation and many others.
The town has several churches of other denominations. Their construction is due to the fact that the town was the imperial residence, which always hosted non-Orthodox believers. Currently active are the Church of St. John the Baptist (Roman Catholic cathedral in the classical style) and a Evangelical Lutheran Church built in Gothic Revival style
. The Church of Evangelical Christian Baptists is being restored. In addition, there is a parish of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There are two cemeteries: Kazan (area 28.83 hectares) and Kuzminskoye (4.6 hectares).
which is also used, from 1991, for broadcasting the local radio station "Tsarskoye Selo". The local newspapers include "Tsarskoselskaya Newspaper" (published since 1906), which focuses on culture, international relations, government and district events; "Municipal Vestnik" reports the activities of the Pushkin Municipal Council; "Gorodok-info" is a small advertising and information newspaper distributed by hand; "Gazeta + TV" is weekly news advertising edition, and "Nash Pervyi" is a local advertising magazine.
Athens
, Greece
Annapolis, United States
Bitola
, Macedonia
, since 2005 Brunswick
, Germany
Valance
, France
, since 2010 Valdai, Russia
, since 2000 Weimar
, Germany
Versailles, France
Worcester, United States
, since 1987 Glasgow
, United Kingdom
Grunwald
, Germany
Dzyaotszo, China
Zielona Gora
, Poland
Ivrea
, Italy
Imatra
, Finland
Heraklion
, Greece
Kalamazoo
, United States
, since 1992 Cambrai
, France
, since 2003 Cumbria
, United Kingdom
Castel Goffredo
, Italy
Kerava
, Finland
Corfu
, Greece
Lappeenranta
, Finland
Lahti
, Finland
Loukhsky District
, Karelia
, Russia
, since 1999 Mantua
, Italy
, since 1993 Nassau County
, United States
, since 1996 Novopolotsk, Belarus
, since 2003 Neukölln
, Germany
, since 1991 Nürtingen
, Germany
Ogano, Japan
, since 1999 Olekminsk, Russia
, since 1997 Aalborg
, Denmark
, since 1976 Rethymnon, Greece
, since 1996 Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan
, since 1995 Stratford-upon-Avon
, United Kingdom
Tarragona
, Spain
, since 1997 Tulcea
, Romania
Heinola
, Finland
, since 1997 Zerbst
, Germany
, since 1994 Szczecin
, Poland
Administrative divisions of Saint Petersburg
The federal city of Saint Petersburg, Russia, is divided into eighteen city districts , which are in turn subdivided into municipal okrugs, municipal towns, and municipal settlements.-Admiralteysky District:...
in Pushkinsky District
Pushkinsky District, Saint Petersburg
Pushkinsky District, Saint Petersburg is an administrative and municipal district , one of the 18 in Saint Petersburg, Russia....
of the federal city
Federal cities of Russia
The Russian Federation is divided into 83 federal subjects, two of which are federal cities....
of St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, located 24 kilometres (14.9 mi) south from the center of St. Petersburg proper, and its train station, Detskoye Selo, is directly connected by railway to the Vitebsky Rail Terminal of the city. Population:
Pushkin was founded in 1710 as an imperial residence named Tsarskoye Selo and received status of a town in 1808. The first public railways in Russia, Tsarskoye Selo Railways, were opened here in 1837 and connected the town to the capital St. Petersburg. After the October Revolution
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
, the town was renamed to Detskoye Selo (meaning Children's Village). Its name was further changed in 1937 to Pushkin to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the death of the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin. The town contains an ensemble of the 18th century "Tsarskoye Selo
Tsarskoye Selo
Tsarskoye Selo is the town containing a former Russian residence of the imperial family and visiting nobility, located south from the center of St. Petersburg. It is now part of the town of Pushkin and of the World Heritage Site Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments.-History:In...
". This museum complex includes the Catherine Palace
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 :...
, Alexander Palace
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...
and other buildings and associated parks; it is a major tourist attraction of the area and is included in the list of monuments protected by the UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
.
Geology
The town is located on the Neva Lowland, on the left bank of the river Neva. The landscape is quite varied and contains hills, ridges and terraces intermixed with valleys, plains, forests and farmland. Numerous springs give rise to streams and feed ponds. In the PaleozoicPaleozoic
The Paleozoic era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic eon, spanning from roughly...
era, 300–400 million years ago, the area was covered by a sea. Sediments of that time form a layer thicker than 200 meters on top of the Baltic Shield
Baltic Shield
The Baltic Shield is located in Fennoscandia , northwest Russia and under the Baltic Sea. The Baltic Shield is defined as the exposed Precambrian northwest segment of the East European Craton...
consisting of 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...
, gneiss
Gneiss
Gneiss is a common and widely distributed type of rock formed by high-grade regional metamorphic processes from pre-existing formations that were originally either igneous or sedimentary rocks.-Etymology:...
and diabase
Diabase
Diabase or dolerite is a mafic, holocrystalline, subvolcanic rock equivalent to volcanic basalt or plutonic gabbro. In North American usage, the term diabase refers to the fresh rock, whilst elsewhere the term dolerite is used for the fresh rock and diabase refers to altered material...
. The modern topography was shaped by the glacier
Glacier
A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...
retreat some 12,000 years ago which created the Littorina Sea
Littorina Sea
Littorina Sea is a geological brackish-water stage of the Baltic Sea, which existed around 7500–4000 BP and followed the Mastogloia Sea, transitional stage of the Ancylus Lake...
. About 4,000 years ago the sea receded and formed the valley of the Neva River which has not changed much over the last 2,500 years.
Climate
The climate Pushkin is temperateTemperate
In geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally relatively moderate, rather than extreme hot or cold...
and wet, it is transitional between oceanic
Oceanic climate
An oceanic climate, also called marine west coast climate, maritime climate, Cascadian climate and British climate for Köppen climate classification Cfb and subtropical highland for Köppen Cfb or Cwb, is a type of climate typically found along the west coasts at the middle latitudes of some of the...
and continental
Continental climate
Continental climate is a climate characterized by important annual variation in temperature due to the lack of significant bodies of water nearby...
. The length of the day varies from 5 hours and 51 minutes in the winter solstice
Solstice
A solstice is an astronomical event that happens twice each year when the Sun's apparent position in the sky, as viewed from Earth, reaches its northernmost or southernmost extremes...
to 18 hours and 50 minutes in the summer solstice
Solstice
A solstice is an astronomical event that happens twice each year when the Sun's apparent position in the sky, as viewed from Earth, reaches its northernmost or southernmost extremes...
. Summer is short and moderately warm, whereas winter is long and uneven, with frequent thaws. Air temperatures above 0 °C prevail from early April to mid-November. The coldest month is February. Winds mostly blow southward and frequently change air mass above the city. Summer is dominated by westerly and northwesterly winds, and the wind direction changes to westerly and southwesterly in winter. The cloudiest months are November, December and January, and the least cloudy are May, June and July. There are at least 240 sunny days per year. Between 25 May and 16 July white nights
Midnight sun
The midnight sun is a natural phenomenon occurring in summer months at latitudes north and nearby to the south of the Arctic Circle, and south and nearby to the north of the Antarctic Circle where the sun remains visible at the local midnight. Given fair weather, the sun is visible for a continuous...
are observed when the sun only briefly goes over the horizon and the day lasts nearly 19 hours. The area is mostly fed by surface and ground waters.
Soil, vegetation and wildlife
Prior to the founding of the town the area was covered by temperate coniferous forests (mostly pine and firFir
Firs are a genus of 48–55 species of evergreen conifers in the family Pinaceae. They are found through much of North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa, occurring in mountains over most of the range...
) with an admixture of broad-leaved trees and fen
Fen
A fen is a type of wetland fed by mineral-rich surface water or groundwater. Fens are characterised by their water chemistry, which is neutral or alkaline, with relatively high dissolved mineral levels but few other plant nutrients...
s. The soils were mostly podzol, combined with peat
Peat
Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation matter or histosol. Peat forms in wetland bogs, moors, muskegs, pocosins, mires, and peat swamp forests. Peat is harvested as an important source of fuel in certain parts of the world...
and gleysols
Gleysols
A Gleysol in the FAO World Reference Base for Soil Resources is a wetland soil that, unless drained, is saturated with groundwater for long enough periods to develop a characteristic gleyic colour pattern...
. Intensive economic activities changed the original forest landscape to agricultural land with small groves of aspen
Aspen
Populus section Populus, of the Populus genus, includes the aspen trees and the white poplar Populus alba. The five typical aspens are all native to cold regions with cool summers, in the north of the Northern Hemisphere, extending south at high altitudes in the mountains. The White Poplar, by...
, birch
Birch
Birch is a tree or shrub of the genus Betula , in the family Betulaceae, closely related to the beech/oak family, Fagaceae. The Betula genus contains 30–60 known taxa...
, alder and willow
Willow
Willows, sallows, and osiers form the genus Salix, around 400 species of deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere...
. In the 18–19th centuries, a large park area of 704 hectares has been created in and around the city. Owing to the parks and environment-friendly policies, the Pushkin area has relatively low level of pollution. There is a large number of birds, reptiles and invertebrates; also common are hare
Hare
Hares and jackrabbits are leporids belonging to the genus Lepus. Hares less than one year old are called leverets. Four species commonly known as types of hare are classified outside of Lepus: the hispid hare , and three species known as red rock hares .Hares are very fast-moving...
and muskrat
Muskrat
The muskrat , the only species in genus Ondatra, is a medium-sized semi-aquatic rodent native to North America, and introduced in parts of Europe, Asia, and South America. The muskrat is found in wetlands and is a very successful animal over a wide range of climates and habitats...
.
| Moscow gate | Gostiny Dvor | Sadovaya Street |
Establishment of a settlement
In 1609–1702, on the place of Catherine PalaceCatherine 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 :...
stood a Swedish estate Sarskaya Manor . It was a small estate, which consisted of a wooden house, household annexes, and a modest garden divided by two perpendicular avenues into four squares. This estate originated from an earlier settlement, which was mentioned in church inventories of 1501 and marked on maps drawn for Boris Godunov
Boris Godunov
Boris Fyodorovich Godunov was de facto regent of Russia from c. 1585 to 1598 and then the first non-Rurikid tsar from 1598 to 1605. The end of his reign saw Russia descend into the Time of Troubles.-Early years:...
as Saritsa . This name later transformed to Sarskaya Manor, then to Saar Village, and finally became the Tsarskoye Selo (meaning "Tsar's Village" in Russian).
After the expulsion of the Swedes from the area Peter the Great gave the manor to Alexander Menshikov. Later, by an official decree of 13 June 1710 the whole area including 43 villages was assigned to Marfa Skavronskaya, wife of Peter who later became Empress Catherine I
Catherine I of Russia
Catherine I , the second wife of Peter the Great, reigned as Empress of Russia from 1725 until her death.-Life as a peasant woman:The life of Catherine I was said by Voltaire to be nearly as extraordinary as that of Peter the Great himself. There are no documents that confirm her origins. Born on...
. This date of 13 June 1710 is considered as the founding date of the city. In 1717–1724 the architect Johann Braunstein built here a two-storied stone palace surrounded by ancillary buildings, and Y. V. Roozen created a garden with two ponds at the palace. Because of the growing number of servants, a separate village and a wooden Uspenskaya Church (1716) were built nearby. Around then the Sarskaya Mansion transformed into Tsarskoye Selo. The first street of the city, Perednyaya Street (meaning "Front Street", now Sadovaya Street) was established in 1720. Construction of the Znamenskaya Church, the oldest stone building in the city, started in 1734.
Imperial residence
During the reign of Elizabeth, Tsarskoye Selo became the imperial residence. In 1740-50s the modest palace of Catherine I was rebuilt into a luxurious summer residence, the Catherine PalaceCatherine 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 :...
. Between 1751 and 1756 the reconstruction was led by Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli
Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli
Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli was an Italian architect naturalized Russian. He developed an easily recognizable style of Late Baroque, both sumptuous and majestic...
, and the present look of the palace has not changed much since then. In 1755, the Amber Room
Amber Room
The Amber Room in the Catherine Palace of Tsarskoye Selo near Saint Petersburg is a complete chamber decoration of amber panels backed with gold leaf and mirrors...
was moved from the Winter Palace
Winter Palace
The Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg, Russia, was, from 1732 to 1917, the official residence of the Russian monarchs. Situated between the Palace Embankment and the Palace Square, adjacent to the site of Peter the Great's original Winter Palace, the present and fourth Winter Palace was built and...
to the Catherine Palace. The gardens were extended and decorated with sculptures and pavilions. A canal was dug from Vittolovsky Springs (6 km from the Tsarskoye Selo) to provide water for the park ponds, and several stone houses were build on the Perednyaya Street.
The inflow of people to the area in the 1770s urged Catherine II to separate the Tsarskoye Selo from the urban area. By the decree of January 1780 she established a town Sofia nearby with a separate administration. Further construction works without imperial orders were banned in Tsarskoye Selo and most merchants and clergy were moved to Sofia. The town was divided into rectangular districts with a vast open place in the center. A wooden church of Saints Constantine and Helen and then the stone Sophia Cathedral
Sophia Cathedral
The Ascension Cathedral in the town of Sophia in the vicinity of Saint Petersburg, was one of the first purely Palladian churches to be built in Russia. Rather paradoxically, it may also be defined as "the first example of Byzantinism in Russian architecture".- Construction...
(1788) were raised in the town center. According to Johann Gottlieb Georgi
Johann Gottlieb Georgi
Johann Gottlieb Georgi was a German geographer and chemist.Georgi was professor of chemistry at St Petersburg. He accompanied both Johann Peter Falck and Peter Simon Pallas on their respective journeys through Siberia. Gergi was particularly interested in Lake Baikal...
, in 1794, Sofia was mostly populated by the palace workers and peasants. It had a number of stone buildings, a church resembling Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia is a former Orthodox patriarchal basilica, later a mosque, and now a museum in Istanbul, Turkey...
of Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
, and a factory in the suburbs producing paper for state bank notes. The town prospered owing to the proximity of St. Petersburg and imperial attention.
Town
A new park which later became Alexander Park was established in the 1770s to the west of the Catherine Palace, and in 1792–1795 Giacomo QuarenghiGiacomo Quarenghi
Giacomo Quarenghi was the foremost and most prolific practitioner of Palladian architecture in Imperial Russia, particularly in Saint Petersburg.- Career in Italy :...
built the Alexander Palace
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...
at the north-eastern border of the park for the future emperor Alexander I
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....
. In 1808, Alexander I merged the Tsarskoye Selo with Sofia and proclaimed it a town and administrative center of Tsarskoselsky Uyezd
Uyezd
Uyezd or uezd was an administrative subdivision of Rus', Muscovy, Russian Empire, and the early Russian SFSR which was in use from the 13th century. Uyezds for most of the history in Russia were a secondary-level of administrative division...
. In 1808 he appointed William Heste
William Heste
William Hastie was a Russian architect, civil engineer and town planner of Scottish descent. His name is also transliterated back from Russian as William Heste or, seldom, Vasily Heste....
as the town architect, which post he held until his death in 1832. Heste compiled a master plan for Tsarskoye Selo, with division into quarters and associated gardens and orchards. Most residents moved from Sofia to Tsarskoye Selo and the former was converted to a residence of a military regiment. By 1817, Tsarskoye Selo had 15 streets, 354 buildings and a population of 4,000.
The Catherine Palace suffered from the fire of 1820 and was reconstructed by the architect Vasily Stasov
Vasily Stasov
Vasily Petrovich Stasov was a Russian architect.-Biography:Stasov was born in Moscow....
. He also designed several buildings in classical style, namely the Manezh, Stable Building and Grand Orangery
Orangery
An orangery was a building in the grounds of fashionable residences from the 17th to the 19th centuries and given a classicising architectural form. The orangery was similar to a greenhouse or conservatory...
. Between 1811 and 1843 a wing of the Catherine Palace hosted the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum
Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum
The Imperial Lyceum in Tsarskoye Selo near Saint Petersburg also known historically as the Imperial Alexander Lyceum after its founder the Emperor Alexander I with the object of educating youths of the best families, who should afterwards occupy important posts in the Imperial service.Its...
where Aleksandr Pushkin
Aleksandr Pushkin
Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin was a Russian author of the Romantic era who is considered by many to be the greatest Russian poet and the founder of modern Russian literature....
studied between 1811 and 1817. Several historical objects were created in those decades including the iron Egyptian gates by 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...
.
The first public railway in the Russian Empire, Tsarskoselskaya Railway, was laid in 1837 and connected Tsarskoye Selo with the capital St. Petersburg. Its length was about 22.5 km (14 mi) and the journey time about 40 minutes. The prominent Catherine Cathedral was built in 1840. The town was expanding and by 1855 had 44 streets, 10 churches, 400 houses, 8 military barracks, 3 hospitals and a female seminary
Seminary
A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...
. Tsarskoye Selo was one of the most developed cities of Russia. In 1887 it became the first fully electrified
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
town in Europe, and by the end of the 19th century had a telephone network.
In 1905, the Alexander Palace became the main residence of the Nicholas II
Nicholas II of Russia
Nicholas II was the last Emperor of Russia, Grand Prince of Finland, and titular King of Poland. His official short title was Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias and he is known as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer by the Russian Orthodox Church.Nicholas II ruled from 1894 until...
. Here the royal family was held under house arrest after the February Revolution
February Revolution
The February Revolution of 1917 was the first of two revolutions in Russia in 1917. Centered around the then capital Petrograd in March . Its immediate result was the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, the end of the Romanov dynasty, and the end of the Russian Empire...
. In 1902–1908 the town was equipped with the most advanced by the time water system with a separate sewer network and a water purification station. By 1909 the town had 30,000 residents and 19 schools. In 1910, an Imperial garrison camp was established to the north of the Catherine Palace, on the border of Alexander Park and the city. It had a separate cathedral (Fedorovskiy Cathedral), a dining hall, and two hospitals, one for officers and one for soldiers. The first bus route was opened in 1911, and in 1914 a powerful for the time 300-kilowatt wireless telegraphy
Wireless telegraphy
Wireless telegraphy is a historical term used today to apply to early radio telegraph communications techniques and practices, particularly those used during the first three decades of radio before the term radio came into use....
station was built in the city. Léon Theremin
Léon Theremin
Léon Theremin was a Russian and Soviet inventor. He is most famous for his invention of the theremin, one of the first electronic musical instruments. He is also the inventor of interlace, a technique of improving the picture quality of a video signal, widely used in video and television technology...
worked at that station in 1918–1919.
Soviet period
In 1918, after the October RevolutionOctober Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
, the palace and park complex was declared as museum and national property. On 7 November 1918 it was renamed to Detskoye Selo , because of the large number of children's institutions established in the area, and due to a general trend to renew Tsar-related geographical names. On 10 February 1937, on the occasion of the 100-year anniversary of the death of Aleksandr Pushkin
Aleksandr Pushkin
Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin was a Russian author of the Romantic era who is considered by many to be the greatest Russian poet and the founder of modern Russian literature....
, the town was given his name. On 10 June 1939 the Catherine Cathedral has been demolished by the Soviet authorities.
After the start of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, on 17 September 1941 the town was occupied by the German troops. Several buildings of the palace complex were destroyed or damaged and many artworks were abducted, including the entire inner decoration of the Amber Room
Amber Room
The Amber Room in the Catherine Palace of Tsarskoye Selo near Saint Petersburg is a complete chamber decoration of amber panels backed with gold leaf and mirrors...
. The town was liberated on 24 January 1944 as a result of the Krasnoye Selo–Ropsha Offensive
Krasnoye Selo–Ropsha Offensive
The Krasnoye Selo – Ropsha Offensive, also known as Operation January Thunder and Neva-2 was a campaign between the Soviet Leningrad Front and the German 18th Army fought for the western approaches of Leningrad in 14–30 January 1944....
.
Restoration of the palace complex was initiated already during the war. Public access was gradually re-established to the parks (1946), lyceum (1949) and six palace halls (1959). The Amber Room was restored only by 2003. The town was rebuilt in 1950-1960s. Several factories were established in the eastern part of Pushkin and in Sofia and two prominent monuments were raised in 1960, to Vladimir Lenin (sculptor Zair Azgur
Zair Azgur
Zair Isaakovich Azgur was a Belarusian sculptor active during the Soviet period. Born in the Vitebsk region, he studied in that city from 1922 to 1925; from 1925 until 1928 he studied at the Vkhutein in Leningrad. He first exhibited in 1923. He was mainly active in Minsk, where among his...
) and Ernst Thälmann
Ernst Thälmann
Ernst Thälmann was the leader of the Communist Party of Germany during much of the Weimar Republic. He was arrested by the Gestapo in 1933 and held in solitary confinement for eleven years, before being shot in Buchenwald on Adolf Hitler's orders in 1944...
(sculptor Arnold). In 1975, the town was equipped with a new water system and modern sewage treatment facilities, which were upgraded in 1999–2005 within a joint Russian-Finnish-Swedish project.
Post-Soviet period
Since the early 1990s Pushkin became a luxury housing development area. Notable festivals are conducted every year on the weekend after the City Day (24 June). International carnivals are conducted in the town from 1995 and from 2000 Pushkin is a member of the Federation of European Carnival CitiesFederation of European Carnival Cities
The Federation of European Carnival Cities was founded in 1980 and has been registered in the Court of Luxembourg. Member cities, organization and individual members are engaged in producing popular celebrations or carnivals which represent an authentic masquerade or parade of a people's cultural...
. Large scale cleanup and reconstruction of the town was conducted before the celebration of the 300th anniversary of the town (24 June 2010). In April 2004 vandals pushed the monument of Lenin from its pedestal breaking the statue. The reconstruction of the Catherine Cathedral began on the place of the monument on 7 December 2006. Another monument of Lenin was heavily damaged on 6 December 2010 in an explosion staged by an unknown group.
Coat of arms
The coat of arms of Tsarskoye Selo was adopted on 12 March 1831 as a crowned monogramMonogram
A monogram is a motif made by overlapping or combining two or more letters or other graphemes to form one symbol. Monograms are often made by combining the initials of an individual or a company, used as recognizable symbols or logos. A series of uncombined initials is properly referred to as a...
of Catherine I. It was however not the emblem of the city, but only of the imperial residence. Two town emblems were proposed by Baron Bernhard Karl von Koehne, one in 1859 and another in 1882, but neither was accepted.
In Soviet times the town had no coat of arms. In 1990, the coat of arms of 1831 was registered as the emblem of Museum "Tsarskoye Selo" and for this reason could not be approved as a symbol of the city. The Decree of Pushkin City Council of 15 March 2001 approved the following coat of arms. It featured an oval shield with the monogram of Catherine I on red background. The shield was topped with a golden crown and had golden laurel branches underneath. On 25 March 2010, Pushkin Municipal Council approved the current four-panel coat of arms. Two of its panels feature identical crowned monograms of Catherine I on red background, and the other two parts depict a black double-headed eagle of the Catherine II era on a purple background. The eagle has a red tongue, golden beaks and claws and three crowns. In its right paw the eagle holds a silver torch burning with gold flame and in the left paw it has a two-legged silver anchor without a cross bar. The eagle's breast is covered with a blue oval shield with a silver cross on it; the rim of the shield is formed by a snake biting its tail. This 4-part coat is named as "extended" or "big" whereas its one part with the Catherine I monogram is called "small" and is also an official coat of arms of Pushkin.
Population
Working-age population makes 63% of the total, 13% are younger and 24% are older than the working age. The number of children born in 2008 was 1278; this is 137 more than in 2007, yet this about half of the value required for population replacement; 285 children were born by unmarried mothers. 1471 marriage and 742 divorce acts were registered in 2009. The fraction of women in the total population is 54%, and the difference is especially large (2700 women per 1000 men) for citizen outside of working age. The average age of residents is 40 years and is increasing. During 11 months of 2009, 19,316 foreign nationals were registered in Pushkin, that is 3,500 more than in 2008.| Year | 1817 | 1897 | 1910 | 1926 | 1939 | 1959 | 1970 | 1979 | 1989 | 1991 | 1996 | 2002 | 2007 | 2010 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 4,000 | 22,400 | 30,880 | 19,300 | 56,000 | 46,000 | 70,000 | 90,000 | 95,415 | 95,300 | 93,600 | 84,628 | 96,000 | 92,721 |
Layout and architecture of the town
The modern layout of Pushkin was developed in the early 20th century, it consists of two main parts. The northeastern part (old Tsarskoye Selo) contains the oldest streets of the city, such as Sadovaya, Srednyaya and Malaya, and has the Cathedral Square in its center. At the request of Alexander I this part was surrounded by the Catherine and Alexander parks from the south and west and by the October and Sofia boulevards from the east and north. Yet, this part of the town has been constantly expanding, to the east up to the railroad and to the north up to Detskoselskiy boulevard. The southern part of the town is the former town of Sofia, planned by Catherine II and centered at the Sofia Square. To the north, east and west of this part lie the Catherine, Babolovo and Otdelny parks. The railroad to PavlovskPavlovsk
Pavlovsk is a municipal town in Pushkinsky District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, Russia, located south from St. Petersburg proper and about southeast from Pushkin. Population:...
and Vitebsk
Vitebsk
Vitebsk, also known as Viciebsk or Vitsyebsk , is a city in Belarus, near the border with Russia. The capital of the Vitebsk Oblast, in 2004 it had 342,381 inhabitants, making it the country's fourth largest city...
runs through the eastern border of the city.
The major attractions of the town are described below.
State Museum-Reserve "Tsarskoye Selo"
This palace and park ensemble of 18th–19th centuries served as the royal residence and was converted into a museum after the nationalization in March 1918. It received its current status of museum-reserve in 1992. Restoration of the museum is partly supported by the World BankWorld Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
; about US$4 million has been spent by 2008 and some US$3.2 million more is required to complete the restoration. The museum-reserve includes:
Catherine Park
The park is named in honor of the Empress Catherine I of RussiaCatherine I of Russia
Catherine I , the second wife of Peter the Great, reigned as Empress of Russia from 1725 until her death.-Life as a peasant woman:The life of Catherine I was said by Voltaire to be nearly as extraordinary as that of Peter the Great himself. There are no documents that confirm her origins. Born on...
. It occupies an area of 107 hectares and consists of the regular
Garden à la française
The French formal garden, also called jardin à la française, is a style of garden based on symmetry and the principle of imposing order over nature. It reached its apogee in the 17th century with the creation of the Gardens of Versailles, designed for Louis XIV by the landscape architect André Le...
Old Garden (1717–1720) and an English garden
English garden
The English garden, also called English landscape park , is a style of Landscape garden which emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, replacing the more formal, symmetrical Garden à la française of the 17th century as the principal gardening style of Europe. The...
(1760–1796, architect Vasily Neyelov
Vasily Neyelov
Vasily Ivanovich Neyelov was a Russian architect, whose works are representative of early classicism and romanticism. He is notable as one of the first landscape park designers in Russia. Neelov served as a court architect in Tsarskoye Selo and worked with Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli on the...
) separated by large ponds. The park includes numerous pavilions of significant architectural and historical value. Most of them have been restored.
| Catherine Palace | Pavilion Pavilion (structure) In architecture a pavilion has two main meanings.-Free-standing structure:Pavilion may refer to a free-standing structure sited a short distance from a main residence, whose architecture makes it an object of pleasure. Large or small, there is usually a connection with relaxation and pleasure in... Hermitage |
Cameron's Charles Cameron (architect) Charles Cameron was a Scottish architect who made an illustrious career at the court of Catherine II of Russia. Cameron, practitioner of early neoclassical architecture, was the chief architect of Tsarskoye Selo and Pavlovsk palaces and the adjacent new town of Sophia from his arrival in Russia in... Gallery |
Catherine Palace
Mikhail Zemtsov
Mikhail Grigorievich Zemtsov was a Russian architect who practiced a sober, restrained Petrine Baroque style, which he learned from his peer Domenico Tresini...
, A. V. Kvasov and Savva Chevakinsky
Savva Chevakinsky
Savva Ivanovich Chevakinsky was a Russian architect of the Baroque school. He worked in St. Petersburg and Tsarskoe Selo.Chevakinsky was born into a noble family in the village of Veshki in the Novotorzhsk district of Tver province....
and then by Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli
Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli
Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli was an Italian architect naturalized Russian. He developed an easily recognizable style of Late Baroque, both sumptuous and majestic...
. Rastrelli was the primary author of the architectural design and lush sculptural decoration of the facade, in the style of Russian Baroque; he also designed the interior layout and decoration. The main courtyard is facing west and has a gilded wrought-iron fence and gates. The palace is surrounded by a few buildings added in the late 18th century. One of them is a four-story outhouse to the south, which hosted the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum
Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum
The Imperial Lyceum in Tsarskoye Selo near Saint Petersburg also known historically as the Imperial Alexander Lyceum after its founder the Emperor Alexander I with the object of educating youths of the best families, who should afterwards occupy important posts in the Imperial service.Its...
and was then converted into a museum, a branch of the All Russian Pushkin Museum
All Russian Pushkin Museum
The All Russian Pushkin Museum is a museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It was established in 1953 on the basis of the All-Russian Pushkin Exhibition of 1937 which opened in Moscow....
. Lyceum is connected with the palace by an arch over Sadovaya Street (architect I. Neelov). Other attachments to the palace include Zubovsky wing on the southern side (architect Y. M. Felton) and Cameron's
Charles Cameron (architect)
Charles Cameron was a Scottish architect who made an illustrious career at the court of Catherine II of Russia. Cameron, practitioner of early neoclassical architecture, was the chief architect of Tsarskoye Selo and Pavlovsk palaces and the adjacent new town of Sophia from his arrival in Russia in...
Gallery, cold saunas and a hanging garden to the southeast. One of the most famous rooms of the palace is the Amber Room
Amber Room
The Amber Room in the Catherine Palace of Tsarskoye Selo near Saint Petersburg is a complete chamber decoration of amber panels backed with gold leaf and mirrors...
.
Alexander Park
The park occupies an area of 120 hectares next to the main entrance. It consists of a regular part (the New Garden, 1740s, N. Girard) and the Landscape Park (1790s) with three ponds and artificial mounds. River Kuzminka, partitioned by a dam, flows in the western part of the park. Unfortunately, most monuments in the park are in a deteriorating condition. |
||
| Alexander Park | Chinese Village | Pavilion Arsenal |
Alexander Palace
This classicalClassicism
Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for classical antiquity, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. The art of classicism typically seeks to be formal and restrained: of the Discobolus Sir Kenneth Clark observed, "if we object to his restraint...
palace was built in 1792–1796 by Giacomo Quarenghi
Giacomo Quarenghi
Giacomo Quarenghi was the foremost and most prolific practitioner of Palladian architecture in Imperial Russia, particularly in Saint Petersburg.- Career in Italy :...
for Alexander I
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....
. The palace is an elongated two-storey building with double wings on either side and a two-row colonnade
Colonnade
In classical architecture, a colonnade denotes a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building....
on the northern side. Next to the palace is a vast park with a lake.
Other points of interest
- Babolovo Park was established in the late 18th century and expanded to an area of 268.8 ha in 1820-1860s. It is connected by a straight lane with the Catherine Park. In 1783–1786, Babolovo PalaceBabolovo PalaceBabolovo or Babolovka was a dacha 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...
was built in the park by the architect V. I. Neelov for the prince Grigory Potemkin. It was rebuilt in 1824–1825 by Vasily StasovVasily StasovVasily Petrovich Stasov was a Russian architect.-Biography:Stasov was born in Moscow....
and is known for a large graniteGraniteGranite 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...
bath. The palace is ruined at present. Taitsky conduit built in 1772–1787 runs through the park. Until 1905, this was the only water pipeline of Tsarskoye Selo. - Otdelny Park has an area of 100 hectares. It starts on the left side of the Sofia Boulevard and extends to PavlovskPavlovskPavlovsk is a municipal town in Pushkinsky District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, Russia, located south from St. Petersburg proper and about southeast from Pushkin. Population:...
. The park contains Kolonistsky pond created in 1824–1825 for draining the surrounding countryside. - Fermsky Park is located near the Fedorovskiy town and Alexander Park. It was arranged by Adam MenelawsAdam MenelawsAdam Menelaws, also spelled Menelas was an architect and landscape designer of Scottish origin, active in the Russian Empire from 1784 to 1831...
in 1818–1820 as a grazing area at the neaby imperial farm. A pond was dug in the park for watering. - Buffer Park has been established in the late 1980 – early 1990s. It is situated at the entrance to Pushkin through the Pulkovo highway. The park contains five ponds and is adjacent to Kuzminskoye Cemetery. Tsarskoselskaya Railway was passing through the park and its remains are still visible.
- Reserve Palace was built in 1817–1824 on Sadovaya street in a classical style reminiscent of an Italian Renaissance villa by the architects Adam MenelawsAdam MenelawsAdam Menelaws, also spelled Menelas was an architect and landscape designer of Scottish origin, active in the Russian Empire from 1784 to 1831...
and Vasily StasovVasily StasovVasily Petrovich Stasov was a Russian architect.-Biography:Stasov was born in Moscow....
. - Gostiny Dvor (1866, architect N. Nikitin) is a set of interconnected premises with large halls meant for commercial activities.
- Palace of Princess Olga Paley (1911–1912, architect K. Schmidt) is three-story building in classical style, is now home to the Military Engineering-Technical UniversityMilitary Engineering-Technical UniversityThe Saint Petersburg Military Engineering-Technical University , previously known as the Saint Petersburg Nikolaevsky Engineering Academy, was established in 1810 under Alexander I...
. - Mansion of Viktor KochubeyViktor KochubeyCount Viktor Pavlovich Kochubey was a Russian statesman and a close aide of Alexander I of Russia. Of Ukrainian birth, he was a great-grandson of the celebrated Vasily Kochubey. He took part in the Privy Committee that outlined Government reform of Alexander I. He served in London and Paris...
(1911–1913, architect A. I. Taman, Radishcheva street 4). Nowadays it houses the sanatoriumSanatoriumA sanatorium is a medical facility for long-term illness, most typically associated with treatment of tuberculosis before antibiotics...
"Tsarskoye Selo". - Detskoye Selo Station building (1946–1950, architect E. A. Levinson]]) consists of a two-storey body and three pavilions. The project was awarded Stalin Prize in 1951.
Reserve Palace Gostiny Dvor
Postcard. 1904Palace of Princess Olga Paley
Economy
As of 1 January 2010 there were 741 companies in Pushkin, including 165 in foodservice, 358 in trade and 53 in small retail sales, 162 in household services, as well as 8 supermarkets and one market. Large retail chains of the town include such as "Pyatyorochka", "Magnit" and "RiOMAG".Mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering is a discipline of engineering that applies the principles of physics and materials science for analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems. It is the branch of engineering that involves the production and usage of heat and mechanical power for the...
is the core industry of Pushkin. It is represented by such enterprises as plant "Sophia" (railway equipment), Pushkin's Engineering Works (road construction equipment), NGOs STIGMASH (boiler equipment), plant "Astra" and "DVT" (woodworking machinery). Several companies produce medical equipment. The town has an asphalt
Asphalt
Asphalt or , also known as bitumen, is a sticky, black and highly viscous liquid or semi-solid that is present in most crude petroleums and in some natural deposits, it is a substance classed as a pitch...
plant, a stone processing plant Medved' ("Bear"), and several woodworking and furniture production factories. The town has well-developed food industry which produced prefabricated
Prefabrication
Prefabrication is the practice of assembling components of a structure in a factory or other manufacturing site, and transporting complete assemblies or sub-assemblies to the construction site where the structure is to be located...
frozen meat ("Daria"), beer (Tinkoff brewery
Tinkoff brewery
Tinkoff Brewery is a Russian brewery founded in St. Petersburg by local businessman Oleg Tinkov in 1998 as a brewpub. In 2005 it was sold to InBev.-Brief details:...
is part of Anheuser-Busch InBev
Anheuser-Busch InBev
Anheuser-Busch InBev N.V. is a Belgian-Brazilian publicly-traded company, based in Leuven, Belgium. It is the largest global brewer with nearly 25% global market share and one of the world's top five consumer products companies by EBITA....
– the biggest beer producer in Russia), bread ("Tsarskoselsky bread"), among other products. The factory "СЛАВЯНСКИЙ" is one of the largest Russian producers of frame-panel houses.
The Sofia are of Pushkin hosts a military garrison with several aircraft and artillery units and a military cooks school No. 228. Outside the town there is military airfield and an aircraft repair plant, which is part of Forces of central subordination of the Russian Air Force
Forces of central subordination of the Russian Air Force
Forces of central subordination of the Russian Air Force report directly to the Headquarters of the Air Force.This listing is believed to be as of August 2008.-Overview:*132nd Central Communications Center, Balashikha, Zarya airport, Moscow Oblast...
.
Transportation
Pushkin region has a well-developed system of commuter trains and buses, with 24 municipal and 17 commercial bus routes. A major railway line St. Petersburg – VitebskVitebsk
Vitebsk, also known as Viciebsk or Vitsyebsk , is a city in Belarus, near the border with Russia. The capital of the Vitebsk Oblast, in 2004 it had 342,381 inhabitants, making it the country's fourth largest city...
passes through the city. Saint Petersburg Ring Road
Saint Petersburg Ring Road
The Saint Petersburg Ring Road is an 88-mile orbital freeway encircling Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the only beltway around the city. The St. Petersburg Ring Road in the Russian road numbering system is listed as the federal public road A-118.-Construction:The need for the construction of a...
and three major international highways run near Pushkin, namely M10 E105
European route E105
The E 105 is part of the International E-road network, which is a series of main roads in Europe.The E 105 starts from Hesseng, , Norway and runs along the Russian route M18, Russian route M10, Russian route M2 and Ukrainian route M18 to Yalta, Ukraine.Major towns and cities on the...
, M20
M20 highway (Russia)
Russian route M20 or Pskov Highway is a Russian federal motorway St.Petersburg—Pskov—border with Belarus. It is part of the European route E95. Since Soviet times it is sometimes called "Kiev Highway"....
E95
European route E95
The European route E 95 is a road in Europe and a part of the United Nations International E-road network. Approximately long, it connects St Petersburg with Merzifon in north central Turkey. Between its northern terminus in Russia and its southern end, it passes in addition through...
and M11
M11 highway (Russia)
Russian Route M11, also known as Narva Highway is a Russian federal highway from St.Petersburg to Ivangorod up to the border with Estonia by the Narva River, with the Estonian city of Narva on the opposite bank, which explains the name of the highway. It is part of the European route E20....
E20
European route E20
The European route E 20 is part of the United Nations International E-road network.It runs roughly west-east through Ireland, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden, Estonia and finally Russia. The length is . The road is not continuous, at three points, a sea crossing is required. ...
. Pushkin is connected with St. Petersburg via Pulkovo, Moscow and Vitebsk highways.
Museums
- Pushkin Museum is located in the one-story historical wooden house (1827, Pushkinskaya Street, 2/19). Here Pushkin spent the summer of 1831 with his wife NataliaNatalia PushkinaNataliya Nikolaevna Pushkina-Lanskaya , , was the wife of the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin from 1831 until his death in 1837 of a duel with Georges d'Anthès...
. The exhibition contains his office and describes work of the poet at that time. - Historical museum of the town (1977) features about 30,000 exhibits related to the history of Tsarskoye Selo and its inhabitants.
- Museum of the painter Pavel ChistyakovPavel ChistyakovPavel Petrovich Chistiakov was a Russian painter and teacher of art.He studied at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts under Petr Basin. He was a pensioner of the Academy of Arts in Paris and in Rome...
is valued not only by its exhibition, but also by its location in a historical Russian wooden house. - Museum "Tsarskoselskaya Collection" (1909) exhibits modern and traditional artworks created by leading masters of pictorial and plastic realism from 1910 to the present. It is housed in an Art Nouveau building with gothic elements.
- Museum-exhibition "Anna AkhmatovaAnna AkhmatovaAnna Andreyevna Gorenko , better known by the pen name Anna Akhmatova , was a Russian and Soviet modernist poet, one of the most acclaimed writers in the Russian canon.Harrington p11...
. Tsarskoye Selo" (1999) is based on the collection of the honorary citizen A. D. Umnikov.Museum of History and Literature Museum of Pavel Chistyakov Pavel ChistyakovPavel Petrovich Chistiakov was a Russian painter and teacher of art.He studied at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts under Petr Basin. He was a pensioner of the Academy of Arts in Paris and in Rome...Museum "Tsarskoselskaya Collection"
Education and research
Pushkin has 14 secondary schools, 24 kindergartens and nurseries, a boarding school, a high school, gymnasium, art school, music school, several foreign languages schools, cadet school, College of Traditional Culture and the St. Petersburg Railway College. Higher education is provided by the St. Petersburg State Agrarian University, Leningrad State University named after PushkinLeningrad State University named after Pushkin
The Leningrad State University named after Pushkin is a university in Russia, located in Saint Petersburg. It was established in 1992 as Leningrad Oblast Pedagogical Institute....
, Institute of Law and Business, Naval Engineering Institute and a Military Institute of the Mozhaysky Military Space Academy.
The town is a major center of agricultural science hosting a number of research centers and laboratories. They include the Northwestern Scientific Center of Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Genetics and Breeding of Farm Animals, All-Russian Research Institute of Plant Protection, All-Russian Research Institute for Agricultural Microbiology, Institute of Plant Industry
Institute of Plant Industry
The Institute of Plant Industry, Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry or All-Russian Research Institute of Plant Industry , as it is officially called, is a research institute of plant genetics, located in Saint Petersburg, Russia.-History:...
, Research Institute of Chemical Soil Reclamation and many others.
Religion
The town has a large number of churches and chapels. Most of them are Orthodox and are objects of cultural heritage, and only a few are listed below:- Fedorovskiy Cathedral (1909–1912, architect Vladimir Pokrovsky, Academichesky Pr. 34) used to be a home church of the Imperial Family. The priests and servants of the cathedral stayed in the nearby Fedorovskiy Gorodok – a complex built in 1913-1917s in Russian Revival style.
- Znamenskaya Church (1734–1747, architect Ivan Blank) is an acting Orthodox Church and the oldest stone building in the town in the Petrine BaroquePetrine BaroquePetrine Baroque is a name applied by art historians to a style of Baroque architecture and decoration favoured by Peter the Great and employed to design buildings in the newly-founded Russian capital, Saint Petersburg, under this monarch and his immediate successors.Unlike contemporaneous Naryshkin...
style. - Panteleimon Church – an active church.
- Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin (1870–1872, architects Ippolit MonighettiIppolit MonighettiIppolit Antonovich Monighetti was a Russian architect of Swiss descent who worked for the Romanov family.Monighetti attended the Stroganov Art School and then studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts under Alexander Brullov, matriculating in 1839 with a gold medal...
and A. F. Vidov) – an active Orthodox Church in Eclectic styleEclecticismEclecticism is a conceptual approach that does not hold rigidly to a single paradigm or set of assumptions, but instead draws upon multiple theories, styles, or ideas to gain complementary insights into a subject, or applies different theories in particular cases.It can sometimes seem inelegant or...
. - Sorrow Church at the former community of the Red Cross (1912–1914, architect S. A. Danini) – an active Orthodox Church in Russian Revival style.
- Catherine Cathedral (1835–1840, architect Konstantin ThonKonstantin ThonKonstantin Andreyevich Thon, also spelled Ton was an official architect of Imperial Russia during the reign of Nicholas I. His major works include the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, the Grand Kremlin Palace and the Kremlin Armoury in Moscow....
) – an Orthodox cathedral which was demolished in 1939 and restored in 2010 to the 300 anniversary of Tsarskoye Selo. - Sophia CathedralSophia CathedralThe Ascension Cathedral in the town of Sophia in the vicinity of Saint Petersburg, was one of the first purely Palladian churches to be built in Russia. Rather paradoxically, it may also be defined as "the first example of Byzantinism in Russian architecture".- Construction...
(1782–1788, architects Charles CameronCharles Cameron (architect)Charles Cameron was a Scottish architect who made an illustrious career at the court of Catherine II of Russia. Cameron, practitioner of early neoclassical architecture, was the chief architect of Tsarskoye Selo and Pavlovsk palaces and the adjacent new town of Sophia from his arrival in Russia in...
and I. E. Starov) – and active Orthodox cathedral in classic style. - St. Julian's Church, PushkinSt. Julian's Church, PushkinSt. Julian's Church is an Orthodox church in Pushkin , near Saint Petersburg in Russia. It was the church of His Majesty's Cuirassiers Life Guard Regiment.- History :...
(1894–1899, architect V. N. Kuritsyn) – an Orthodox church in Russian Revival style, under restoration. - Church of St. Sergius (1903–1904, architect A. Uspensky, Fodder lane 4) – an Orthodox Church.
The town has several churches of other denominations. Their construction is due to the fact that the town was the imperial residence, which always hosted non-Orthodox believers. Currently active are the Church of St. John the Baptist (Roman Catholic cathedral in the classical style) and a Evangelical Lutheran Church built in Gothic Revival style
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
. The Church of Evangelical Christian Baptists is being restored. In addition, there is a parish of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There are two cemeteries: Kazan (area 28.83 hectares) and Kuzminskoye (4.6 hectares).
Sports
From 1947 to 2010 the town has raised 3 Honored Master of Sports, 19 International Masters of Sports and 62 Masters of Sports. There is a large number of clubs for all major sports, two swimming pools, and a town stadium for 1,500 spectators. The stadium holds track and field athletics competitions and hosts the local football club "Tsarskoye Selo" founded in 2009.Media
Pushkin has cable televisionCable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
which is also used, from 1991, for broadcasting the local radio station "Tsarskoye Selo". The local newspapers include "Tsarskoselskaya Newspaper" (published since 1906), which focuses on culture, international relations, government and district events; "Municipal Vestnik" reports the activities of the Pushkin Municipal Council; "Gorodok-info" is a small advertising and information newspaper distributed by hand; "Gazeta + TV" is weekly news advertising edition, and "Nash Pervyi" is a local advertising magazine.
Sister cities
Pushkin is twinned with the following sister cities:Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
Annapolis, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Bitola
Bitola
Bitola is a city in the southwestern part of the Republic of Macedonia. The city is an administrative, cultural, industrial, commercial, and educational centre. It is located in the southern part of the Pelagonia valley, surrounded by the Baba and Nidže mountains, 14 km north of the...
, Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
, since 2005 Brunswick
Braunschweig
Braunschweig , is a city of 247,400 people, located in the federal-state of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located north of the Harz mountains at the farthest navigable point of the Oker river, which connects to the North Sea via the rivers Aller and Weser....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Valance
Valence, Drôme
Valence is a commune in southeastern France, the capital of the Drôme department, situated on the left bank of the Rhône, south of Lyon on the railway to Marseilles.Its inhabitants are called Valentinois...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, since 2010 Valdai, Russia
Russia
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, since 2000 Weimar
Weimar
Weimar is a city in Germany famous for its cultural heritage. It is located in the federal state of Thuringia , north of the Thüringer Wald, east of Erfurt, and southwest of Halle and Leipzig. Its current population is approximately 65,000. The oldest record of the city dates from the year 899...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Versailles, France
France
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Worcester, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, since 1987 Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Grunwald
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Grunwald may refer to:* Battle of Grunwald, a decisive battle fought in 1410 in what is now northern Poland* Grunwald, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, a village near the site of the battle* Gmina Grunwald, a municipality containing the village of Grunwald...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Dzyaotszo, China
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Zielona Gora
Zielona Góra
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, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
Ivrea
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, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
Imatra
Imatra
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, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
Heraklion
Heraklion
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, Greece
Greece
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Kalamazoo
Kalamazoo, Michigan
The area on which the modern city stands was once home to Native Americans of the Hopewell culture, who migrated into the area sometime before the first millennium. Evidence of their early residency remains in the form of a small mound in downtown's Bronson Park. The Hopewell civilization began to...
, United States
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The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, since 1992 Cambrai
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Cambrai is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.Cambrai is the seat of an archdiocese whose jurisdiction was immense during the Middle Ages. The territory of the Bishopric of Cambrai, roughly coinciding with the shire of Brabant, included...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, since 2003 Cumbria
Cumbria
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, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Castel Goffredo
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, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
Kerava
Kerava
Kerava is a town and municipality in Finland.It is located in the province of Southern Finland and is part of the Uusimaa region. The town has a population of and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is...
, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
Corfu
Corfu
Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the edge of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality. The...
, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
Lappeenranta
Lappeenranta
Lappeenranta is a city and municipality that resides on the shore of the lake Saimaa in South-Eastern Finland, about from the Russian border. It belongs to the region of South Karelia. With approximately inhabitants Lappeenranta is the largest city in Finland...
, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
Lahti
Lahti
Lahti is a city and municipality in Finland.Lahti is the capital of the Päijänne Tavastia region. It is situated on a bay at the southern end of lake Vesijärvi about north-east of the capital Helsinki...
, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
Loukhsky District
Loukhsky District
Loukhsky District is an administrative district , one of the fifteen in the Republic of Karelia, Russia. Municipally, it is incorporated as Loukhsky Municipal District. Its administrative center is the urban locality of Loukhi. District's population: 20,128 ; Population of Loukhi accounts for...
, Karelia
Karelia
Karelia , the land of the Karelian peoples, is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for Finland, Russia, and Sweden...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, since 1999 Mantua
Mantua
Mantua is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy and capital of the province of the same name. Mantua's historic power and influence under the Gonzaga family, made it one of the main artistic, cultural and notably musical hubs of Northern Italy and the country as a whole...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, since 1993 Nassau County
Nassau County, New York
Nassau County is a suburban county on Long Island, east of New York City in the U.S. state of New York, within the New York Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,339,532...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, since 1996 Novopolotsk, Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
, since 2003 Neukölln
Neukölln
Neukölln is the eighth borough of Berlin, located in the southeastern part of the city and was part of the former American sector under the Four-Power occupation of the city...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, since 1991 Nürtingen
Nürtingen
Nürtingen is a town in the district of Esslingen in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is located on the river Neckar.-History:The following events occurred, by year:*1046 : First mention of Niuritingin in the document of Speyer...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Ogano, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, since 1999 Olekminsk, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, since 1997 Aalborg
Aalborg
-Transport:On the north side of the Limfjord is Nørresundby, which is connected to Aalborg by a road bridge Limfjordsbroen, an iron railway bridge Jernbanebroen over Limfjorden, as well as a motorway tunnel running under the Limfjord Limfjordstunnelen....
, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, since 1976 Rethymnon, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, since 1996 Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
, since 1995 Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon is a market town and civil parish in south Warwickshire, England. It lies on the River Avon, south east of Birmingham and south west of Warwick. It is the largest and most populous town of the District of Stratford-on-Avon, which uses the term "on" to indicate that it covers...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Tarragona
Tarragona
Tarragona is a city located in the south of Catalonia on the north-east of Spain, by the Mediterranean. It is the capital of the Spanish province of the same name and the capital of the Catalan comarca Tarragonès. In the medieval and modern times it was the capital of the Vegueria of Tarragona...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, since 1997 Tulcea
Tulcea
Tulcea is a city in Dobrogea, Romania. It is the administrative center of Tulcea county, and has a population of 92,379 as of 2007. One village, Tudor Vladimirescu, is administered by the city.- History :...
, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
Heinola
Heinola
Heinola is a town and a municipality of inhabitants located in the Province of Southern Finland. Heinola is perhaps best known for its summer activities such as the Sauna-sitting World Championships.-History:...
, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, since 1997 Zerbst
Zerbst
Zerbst is a town in the district of Anhalt-Bitterfeld, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Until the administrative reform of 2007, Zerbst was the capital of the Anhalt-Zerbst district. Since the 1 January 2010 local government reform, Zerbst has about 24,000 inhabitants.It is not clear when was it founded;...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, since 1994 Szczecin
Szczecin
Szczecin , is the capital city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland. It is the country's seventh-largest city and the largest seaport in Poland on the Baltic Sea. As of June 2009 the population was 406,427....
, Poland
Poland
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