![Catherinehof](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Catherinehof.jpg)
Ekaterinhof or Catherinehof (russian: Екатеринго́ф < german: Katharinenhof "Catherine's Court") is a historic island park that began as an 18 century empress's estate in the south-west of
St Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
. Its name originated in 1711, when
Peter the Great
Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...
presented the Island and adjacent lands along the eponymous
to his wife
Catherine
Katherine, also spelled Catherine, and other variations are feminine names. They are popular in Christian countries because of their derivation from the name of one of the first Christian saints, Catherine of Alexandria.
In the early Christ ...
(Catherine I of Russia), whose name they memorialize.
The emperor apparently conceived Catherinehof as the first imperial estate located on the road leading from the capital to his main summer residence, Peterhof. He commissioned a two-storey wooden palace, a canal
Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...
, and a harbour
A harbor (American English), harbour (British English; see spelling differences), or haven is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be docked. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is a ...
to be constructed there. For his daughters, the estates of Annenhof and Elisavethof were projected.
A pet project of Peter I, the estate was abandoned following his death. His niece Empress Anna
Anna Ioannovna (russian: Анна Иоанновна; ), also russified as Anna Ivanovna and sometimes anglicized as Anne, served as regent of the duchy of Courland from 1711 until 1730 and then ruled as Empress of Russia from 1730 to 1740. Much ...
(reigned in 1730-40) added two wings to the palace, but these were demolished in 1779. As the succeeding monarchs preferred to develop Tsarskoe Selo
Tsarskoye Selo ( rus, Ца́рское Село́, p=ˈtsarskəɪ sʲɪˈlo, a=Ru_Tsarskoye_Selo.ogg, "Tsar's Village") was the town containing a former residence of the Russian imperial family and visiting nobility, located south from the cen ...
as their alternative summer residence, Catherinehof suffered from neglect until 1800, when Emperor Paul
Paul I (russian: Па́вел I Петро́вич ; – ) was Emperor of Russia from 1796 until his assassination. Officially, he was the only son of Peter III and Catherine the Great, although Catherine hinted that he was fathered by her l ...
donated it to his mistress, Anna Gagarina.
Four years later, the estate passed to the City of St Petersburg, which developed it as a municipal amusement park, with many garden pavilion
In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings:
* It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...
s and a "vauxhall
Vauxhall ( ) is a district in South West London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. Vauxhall was part of Surrey until 1889 when the County of London was created. Named after a medieval manor, "Fox Hall", it became well known for ...
" for musical exercises constructed on the grounds. The main palace housed a library and a museum dedicated to Peter I. The Petrine park was considerably expanded and became so popular with St Petersburgers that allusions to it may be found in such works as Casanova
Giacomo Girolamo Casanova (, ; 2 April 1725 – 4 June 1798) was an Italian adventurer and author from the Republic of Venice. His autobiography, (''Story of My Life''), is regarded as one of the most authentic sources of information about the c ...
's memoirs
A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobiog ...
and Dostoyevsky
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 ...
's novels.
With the onset of the Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
, the formerly quiet and reclusive neighbourhood became an industrial suburb
An industrial suburb is a community, near a large city, with an industrial economy. These communities may be established as tax havens or as places where zoning promotes industry, or they may be industrial towns that become suburbs by urban spra ...
of the Russian capital. The park fell into neglect after the palace had been destroyed by fire in 1924. Several years ago, a private fund announced plans to rebuild the derelict palace
Three years after the World War II that greatly damaged the city the park was revived under a new name commemorating 30th anniversary of the national youth Communist league Komsomol, and in 1955 its front half was decorated with a large sculpture portraying the recently famous group of martyred young anti-Nazi underground resistance members of Young Guard (Soviet resistance), Young Guard cell from the Soviet Ukraine's southeast coal mining town of Krasnodon
Krasnodon (Ukrainian language, Ukrainian, Russian language, Russian: Краснодон) is a city in Luhansk Oblast (Oblast, region) of eastern Ukraine. It is incorporated as a city of regional significance (Ukraine), city of oblast significanc ...
, whose heroic struggle was described in a famous novel, named after the group, by Alexander Fadeeyev.
Apart from the garden, which goes back to the 18th century, places of interest around Catherinehof include the Narva Triumphal Gate
The Narva Triumphal Arch (russian: На́рвские триумфа́льные ворота, lit. ''Narvskie Triumfal'nyye vorota'') was erected in the vast Stachek Square (prior to 1923 also known as the Narva Square), Saint Petersburg, in 1814 ...
, the metochion
A ''metochion'' or ''metochi'' ( gr, μετόχιον, metóchion or gr, μετόχι, metóchi; russian: подворье, podvorie) is an ecclesiastical embassy church within Eastern Orthodox tradition. It is usually from one autocephalous or ...
of the Valaam Monastery
The Valaam Monastery (russian: Валаамский монастырь; Finnish version: ''Valamo Monastery'') is a stauropegic Orthodox monastery in Russian Karelia, located on Valaam, the largest island in Lake Ladoga, the largest lake in Euro ...
, and a granite column reputedly commissioned by Catherine I to commemorate her executed lover William Mons.
St. Catherine's Church was founded in Catherinehof in 1703 and, as local lore has it, witnessed the secret wedding of Peter I and Catherine in 1707. Konstantin Thon
Konstantin Andreyevich Thon, also spelled Ton (russian: Константи́н Андре́евич Тон; October 26, 1794 – January 25, 1881) was an official architect of Imperial Russia during the reign of Nicholas I. His major works includ ...
replaced the old church with a much larger structure in his hallmark Russo-Byzantine style; but the massive five-domed building was overhauled in the 1890s before being torn down by the Soviets in 1929
Notes
References
*
* Дубяго Т. В. Русские регулярные сады и парки 'Russian Regular Gardens and Parks'' Leningrad, 1963.
{{coord, 59.903, N, 30.26, E, type:landmark, display=title
Gardens in Saint Petersburg
Royal residences in Russia
Palaces in Saint Petersburg
Geography of Saint Petersburg
Auguste de Montferrand buildings and structures
Cultural heritage monuments of regional significance in Saint Petersburg