Babolovsky park - the most big park city ​​of Pushkin, its area is 28.8 hectares. It is located to the west of the Catherine and Alexander parks. There are no monuments or cafes on the territory of Babolovsky Park. Only forest, meadows and paths for walking, as well as the first water pipe in Tsarskoye Selo and the ruins of the former Babolovsky Palace.

History of Babolovsky Park

The name of the park and the palace was given by the now non-existent village of Babolova. The first work on this area began in 1748-1749. Vittolovsky aqueduct passed here. In addition to it, the Menagerie bastion "entered" the territory of the future park. Approximately in these years, the Babolovskaya clearing appeared. In 1772, the famous Taitsky aqueduct passes here to supply Tsarskoye Selo with water from the Taitsky springs. Catherine II drank exclusively this water, considering it good for health. By 1775, they dug out the Babolovsky pond and blocked the Kuzminka river with a dam bridge.

Soon, Catherine the Great showed interest in this area, presenting the Babolovsky manor to Prince G. A. Potemkin-Tavrichesky. And in 1780 the first wooden house. Soon the beauty of the place and the seclusion of the building convinced the empress to build a stone building instead. So the Babolovsky Palace with a bath was built, around which they arrange an English landscape park (that is, with a landscape close to natural nature).

Jacques Delisle, one of the theorists of landscape gardens, justifies the place for a bathhouse as follows: “Under the shade of willows, where healing water beats, there should be a secluded bathhouse.” The park is laid out by the architect Neyelov and garden master John Bush. They made a dense network of landscape paths, and arranged a winding road around the perimeter. The border of the garden was decorated with a rampart and a ditch. They dug another pond, called Silver, which received water from the Taitsky water conduit.

The first decorated park occupied a small area near the palace, and a dense spruce forest grew around. Since 1820, the development of this territory began - roads were laid. In the 1850s and 1860s, the drainage of swamps began, the felling of a part of the spruce forest and the planting of deciduous forest. A circular road was laid around the boundaries of the park, and clearings were cut inside. All this is done for the convenience of hiking and riding. Huge sums are spent on the improvement of the park. As a result, we have a landmark park with beautiful groves and meadows. This park was a favorite place for walking emperors Alexander II and Nicholas II.

Deciduous trees grow in the park - linden, oak, maple, ash, birch, alder, aspen. In some places, larch, pine and fir are found. Here you can find bushes of mountain ash, bird cherry, Ivan-tea and Corydalis. In the park you can meet tits, squirrels and hedgehogs. Many residents of the Pushkinsky district in August-September find in the park a large number of mushrooms.

Sights of Babolovsky Park

• The ruins of the Babolovsky Palace with the Tsar Bath.
• Starokrasnoselsky Gates by architect A. Menelas, moved from the White Guards to the western border of the park.
• Taitsky water pipeline with a length of about 16 km (at that time it was a very long water supply system). Currently not active.
• Operating in a slightly different form, the School Garden Establishment, established in 1845 for the cultivation of trees and shrubs.
• Pink guard at the entrance to the park.
• Three abandoned houses made of betonite, built by engineer Griboyedov for disabled people - park watchmen (there were originally 10 of them).

• Oryol water tower built in 1887 by architect A. Vidov. Address: st. Parkovaya, 62. In total, there are two historical water-lifting towers in Tsarskoye Selo.
• Ruined monk's grotto.
• A small spring at the Babolovsky Palace.
• Concrete pillbox near the bridge over the Kuzminka, built during the war.
• The grave of the Red Army soldier Yulik Chakhursky.
• Boarding house of the Izhora plant, built in 1970.

modern time

During the war, the park was seriously damaged: many trees died from explosions, craters remained, the palace was badly damaged. In the post-war period, the park was not looked after, and as a result, the swamps began to return to their places, and even groups of trees were overgrown with self-seeding. But even in this state, the park has not lost its attractiveness and remains a favorite place for walking for many. In 2012, they wanted to give part of Babolovsky Park for the creation of a golf club. The investor promised to reconstruct the Babolovsky Palace and the Taitsky Conduit. However, the project did not take place.

The editors of the site Pushkin.ru

IN summer months the city of Pushkin resembles a real green oasis. Residential buildings are surrounded by squares and flowering flower beds. In that small town there are also several fairly large well-maintained recreation areas, and one of them is Babolovsky Park, about which a lot has been written interesting stories and legends.

History of the Babolovsky manor

Prince G. A. Potemkin was a favorite of Catherine II and one of the most beloved, as he actively participated in the conspiracy of 1762, after which the empress came to power. The history of the palace in Babolovo begins in 1783. Catherine II never regretted gifts for her loved ones, and this residence became one of the royal presents to Count Potemkin. The first house built in the Babolovskaya manor was wooden, but after 5 years a stone mansion was erected in its place. The summer residence was relatively small, it was notable for its asymmetrical layout, and thanks to the Gothic design of the facade, it soon became known as a palace. In the central, largest room, there was a marble bath for bathing in summer.

Granite bath in Babolovo

Despite its beauty and originality, the Gothic palace was not very popular. Due to the lack of constant attention and care, the building is deteriorating, and already in 1791 the residence does not look very presentable. The architect V.P. Stasov undertakes the reconstruction of the palace in 1824. The oval hall is expanded, and the marble bath is replaced with an incredible bath, made of granite monolith. Looking ahead, it should be said that the Tsar Bath in Babolovsky Park has survived to this day. This incredible bath was created by the then-famous master Samson Sukhanov. A bathtub was carved out of a block of red granite interspersed with a greenish hue of labradorite, weighing more than 160 tons. The dimensions of the finished bath are amazing: the depth is 152 cm, the height is 196 cm, and the diameter is 533 cm. An interesting fact is that a huge bath was originally installed, and after that a room was built around it.

Legends about the Tsar-bath and the palace in Babolovo

In the first half of the nineteenth century, granite baths were ordered and installed in their homes by many members of the royal family and just very rich people. However, the royal bath in Babolovsky Park, installed in a palace originally built for Count Potemkin, was unusual due to its size. The bath amazed even noble people who saw it for the first time. Gradually, legends began to form about the granite pool. There were rumors that Catherine II bathed in it in goat's milk. Some sources also contain information that the future emperor, Alexander I, was baptized in the Tsar-bath. They also say that the bath was used for love pleasures and for occult purposes. During the Great Patriotic War, the Germans saw the Tsar-bath and wanted to take it to Germany, but they could not think of a way to move the heavy bowl carved out of granite.

The fate of the palace today

The last full owner of the palace and park complex in Babolovo was Alexander I. The further fate of the Gothic palace with the Tsar Bath is not so rosy. Babolovsky Park and all the buildings located on its territory were badly damaged during the Great Patriotic War. Many trees were cut down, and the palace turned into a miserable ruin. After the end of the war, the recreation area was partially cleared and ennobled. No one was involved in the restoration of the palace. The abandoned walls of the once majestic and luxurious residence were dilapidated more and more, but through the ruined one could still see the majestic bath.

Modern Babolovsky Park

Today, the recreation area resembles a mixed forest. On this moment The park covers about 30 hectares. Today it is a neglected forest and meadows with paths and a few sights. There are no cafes or attractions here, moreover, even benches can be counted on the fingers. However, this corner of nature is quite popular among city residents and tourists. Many visitors are interested in the ruins of the palace and the granite bath in Babolovsky Park. However, today what remains of the central building of the complex is surrounded by a high fence, and it is not so easy to look at the royal bath. There are some other outstanding buildings on the territory of the recreation area. For example, the Pink Guardhouse, located immediately at the entrance to the park, (1887), a concrete pillbox built during the war. Less interesting "sights" are the houses made of betonite, in which the guards once lived, and the boarding house of the Izhora plant, built in 1970. It is quite possible that the palace will soon be restored, or another modern hotel or SPA center will appear in its place.

How to get to the park with Tsar-bath?

Babolovsky Park is one of the least known in Pushkin. Often, even the indigenous inhabitants of St. Petersburg only indirectly know the legends about the Tsar Bath, but they have no idea where this attraction is located. If you decide to see with your own eyes the ruins left from the past greatness, you need to get to the city of Pushkin. Where exactly is Babolovsky Park located, how to get to it? From railway station or you can get there by buses No. 188 and No. 273. You need to get off at the stop "Starogatchinskoye Highway". On foot you can walk along Parkovaya street along

The history of the creation of Babolovsky Park.

Babolovsky Park is the largest and youngest of the three imperial parks in Tsarskoe Selo. The name of the park comes from a nearby village with the Finnish name Pabola, which eventually became "Babolova". Behind the Babolovsky guardhouse, the prospect of the Podkaprizovaya road continues with the Babolovsky highway - a clearing, at the end of which there was once a village.
About how the park looked in 1911, the author of the famous guide to Tsarskoye Selo S.N. Wilczkowski:
“On both sides of the clearing there is a magnificent and vast Babolovsky park with meadows, groves and endless roads for pedestrians, horseback riders and carriages”. A hundred years later, it is very problematic to recognize Babolovsky Park in this description...

Compositionally, the park was formed mainly in the 1820-1860s. Babolovsky Park is essentially the most "English" park in Tsarskoye Selo. Several generations of the august owners of Tsarskoye Selo took part in its creation, investing huge amounts of money in it. Babolovsky Park was a favorite place for walking emperors Alexander II and Nicholas II with Empress Alexandra Feodorovna.
On the sides of the intricately curving channel of the Kuzminka River, its green massifs are located.

The main landscape technique is the alternation of groups of trees and shrubs with meadow spaces; deciduous and coniferous species are used in plantings. The park is cut through by walking and driving roads - Novo-Babolovskaya, Longitudinal, Horse, Oak, Extreme.
All of them, with the exception of the Babolovsky highway, the direct perspective of which “takes off outside the park, leads to the oldest district - the English Garden and the Babolovsky Palace.

The architectural objects of the park were initially few in number: the Babolovsky Palace, a stone bench near the palace, the Staro-Krasnoselsky and Alexander Gates (lost), the milestone and the Crimean column.
The engineering structures of the park were all the more important: the Baur Canal of the Taitsky Water Conduit, the Monk Grotto, the Silver Pond and the grotto near the Babolovsky Palace, the Babolovsky Pond with a bridge-dam, and numerous bridges.

Before the formation of the park, the low-lying swampy area with a spruce forest in the floodplain of the Kuzminka River belonged to the peasants of the village of Babolovo. In 1748-1749. here they laid the Vittolovsky water conduit, built according to the project of engineers I. Zverev and P. Ostrovsky. The western bastion of the Menagerie was also located on the territory of the future park. Direct roads laid through the swamp led to Krasnoe Selo and St. Petersburg. The Babolovskaya clearing appeared presumably in the middle of the 18th century, but then it was not used for travel.

Then, in 1772, hydraulic engineers F.-V. Bauer, E. Carbonnier, I.K. Gerard and P. Pozdeev began the construction of the Taitsky water conduit. In 1773-1775. under the leadership of I.K. Gerard, they dug the Babolovsky pond and built the Babolovsky bridge-dam on the Kuzminka River. In 1775, through the open Baur Canal, named after its creator, the outstanding military engineer F.-V. Baura, Taitian water, which has been waiting for several decades, has come to Tsarskoye Selo.
Along the route of the water conduit there was a walking path lined with trees. It is known that in 1774 Catherine II inspected all the engineering structures of the water conduit and drove along it to Taits.
The Baur Canal crossed the Babolovskaya clearing in a pipe under the bridge, and then turned at a right angle to the northeast. At the turning point, the channel, enclosed in an underground pipe, crossed a small hill.

A grotto of boulders was built on the slope, in which there was a marble plaque with a commemorative inscription: “In the happy reign of Catherine II, fresh water was brought to Sarskoe Selo, which it did not have / by the zeal of the general. lieutenant von Baver / 1774 ".
In the grotto there was a marble statue of a hermit or a monk (not preserved), so it was called "Monk", and the Baur canal of the Taitsky water conduit was Monakh's ditch. To pass water from the Black Stream, a tributary of the Kuzminka, a stone pipe was arranged under the bed of the canal. Further, an artificial embankment was built through the peat bog so that the swamp water would not penetrate.

The canal ended in a round granite pool in front of the square at the Orlovsky (Gatchinsky) gates, from where water was delivered by an underground pipe to the Vittolovsky water divider bridge and further to the ponds of the Tsarskoye Selo and Pavlovsky parks, as well as for the city's water supply. The monolithic bowl of the pool, covered with debris, can still be seen on the square in front of the Orlovsky Gates.
In 1775, a marble milestone with a sundial was installed near the pool.

Its design differed from others, wooden, placed along the main water conduit to the Taitsky keys. Since the Sofia postal yard was located near it, the first on the road from St. Petersburg to Moscow, on the “marble verst pyramid”, in its appearance reminiscent of the first verst post of the Tsarskoye Selo road on the Fontanka, the distance to St. Petersburg and Moscow was indicated. From him got the name, which began right there, the Stolbovaya Road (now - Parkovaya Street and the road to Aleksandrovka).
The historical appearance of this Milestone is depicted in one of D. Quarenghi's drawings with a view of the Great Caprice. Currently, the pole is located on the side of Parkovaya Street.

Not far from the Milestone (behind the fence of the "NIDOI named after G.I. TURNER") you can see the Crimean Siberian column. The graceful column is made of a single piece of blue Ural marble with white veins, which explains its second name.
It belonged to the artistic and architectural ensemble of monuments dedicated to Russia's victories in the war with Turkey. At first, the column was located on the outskirts of Catherine's Park, part of which was attached to Babolovsky in 1817.

Babolovsky Palace. History of creation.

To the right of the Babolovsky glade, a 5-minute walk along the Baur Canal, there are the ruins of the Babolovsky Palace.
Before the war, the Babolovsky Palace housed the school of the 100th Aviation Assault Brigade of the Leningrad Military District, which was based at a nearby airfield, so the palace was severely bombarded and badly destroyed from the first days of the war.

The palace is located on the very edge of the park, at the Kuzminka river, turned here with the help of a dam into a small lake from once picturesque shores- Babolovsky pond.
The palace owes its appearance to Catherine II. In 1780 she ordered to build here a small wooden house with services. However, after three years it was ordered to break it down and build in its place a stone building with 7 rooms and a marble bath in a round room.
It was also ordered to breed the English Garden, to surround it with a shaft and a ditch to drain the place. Opposite the palace, on the other side of the river, it was planned to build a residential outbuilding and stables with a carriage house for the palace servants.

In 1783-1785. designed by architect I.V. Neyelov erected a stone building. Garden foreman John (Johann) Bush, together with Neelov, at the direction of the Empress, planned the landscape English Garden. An underground stone pipe was built around the palace in 1786 to prevent dampness, and it was also connected to the Taitsky water conduit.
The compositional solution of the small palace was dominated by red-brick facades in the spirit of English Gothic and an asymmetric layout. All rooms had access to the garden. The English garden occupied a small area of ​​trapezoidal shape, which did not reach the Babolovskaya glade and was limited in the north to the picturesque coastline Babolovsky pond. An earthen rampart with a ditch and a straight line of the Baur Canal separated the garden from the surrounding Babolovsky state forest, which then occupied the space from the Gatchina road to the Kuzminka River. A walking path along the canal connected the palace with Catherine's Park.

In front of the southern facade of the palace was excavated Silver Pond, and a grotto was built on the shore of the Babolovsky pond. The perimeter of the garden smoothly went around a winding road, in the center a network of landscape paths was arranged, leading to the windows and doors of the palace.
According to S.N. Vilchkovsky, in 1785 Catherine II granted the Babolovsky Palace, which was not originally intended for housing, to Prince Grigory Potemkin, thereby removing him to the outskirts of the palace residence. At the same time, the building remained under the jurisdiction of the Tsarskoye Selo palace administration and was never considered the property of the prince, like the Babolovskaya manor itself.

Under Alexander I, the palace with the English Garden was included in the newly created 7th part of the Tsarskoye Selo Garden, which was later called the Babolovsky Park. The park occupied the space from the large Stolbovaya road towards the village of Babolova. This road later became the planning border between Babolovsky, Ekaterininsky and Aleksandrovsky parks.

Formation of Babolovsky Park

Work on the creation of Babolovsky Park began with the dismantling of the western bastion with the walls of the Menagerie, overlooking the future park, and the layout of the area. The pillar road, which used to go around the Menagerie bastion, was straightened from the stone bridge built in the 1820s. instead of a wooden one across the Kuzminka River, to the intersection with the old highway near the village of Aleksandrovka. The swampy areas located on the right side of the Kuzminka River had to be drained.
The preliminary work took several years. By order of Alexander I, land reclamation was entrusted in 1817 to a specially invited Englishman Daniil Wheeler. The swampy peatlands leased to Wheeler were drained by him with the help of reclamation ditches. Then a fertile soil layer was formed, grasses were sown and trees were gradually planted. The meadows in this area were later called the Peat Field.

A meadow glade was planned around the Crimean column, framed by park roads and open to the side Catherine's Park. In this area, in 1820, a school garden institution was built according to the project of the architect V.I. Geste and under the guidance of the garden master F.F. Lyamina.
There was a nursery for trees, as well as greenhouses for forcing summer flowers that came to decorate the Tsarskoye Selo imperial parks. Two ponds, filled with water from the Taitsky water conduit, were used for the needs of the School Gardening Institution until 1917, and later for the Tsvety greenhouse.
Now, on the site of the former Garden Establishment, some enterprising businessmen (represented by the Swedish company Steelmar Scandinavia AB) are planning to build an elite cottage village.

In the 1820s the layout of the future Babolovsky park was formed mainly by the garden master F.F. Lyamin, who laid the main walking roads to the Babolovsky Palace. The landscape roads Extreme and Horse, Novo-Babolovskaya, Oak and Longitudinal crossed the entire territory of the park, connecting and diverging to the sides.
From the Great Stolbovaya Road to the village of Babolova in 1824, Alexander I ordered the construction of a highway on the Babolovskaya clearing, as well as the removal of unnecessary forest. 30,000 new trees were planted along the sides of the roads, which turned into landscape alleys with landscape groups. Wooden bridges were built across the river and streams on these roads.

In the same 1824, Alexander I, as you know, a great lover of cold bathing, decided to install a huge bathtub made of polished granite, 5 meters high and 6 meters in diameter, in the Babolovsky Palace. It was hewn from a single block of stone by craftsmen of Samson Sukhanov's artel from St. Petersburg, known for its stone-cutting work.
A fifty-ton bath-pool made of Serdobol granite in terms of its size and perfection of forms is now perceived as a miracle, it seems that even time has no power over it.

To install a new bath to replace the old marble one, it was necessary to rebuild the old bathing hall. The project, which included an increase in its size and the creation of a new vaulted dome, was drawn up by the architect V.P. Stasov in 1824. Work to strengthen the foundations and walls in accordance with the thrust of the new dome, as well as to re-lay the walls of the adjacent premises of the pavilion, continued until 1829, and they were supervised by the architect V.M. Gornostaev.
Casting of stairs with railings, columns and platforms near the granite bath was performed by Byrd's iron foundry.
The appearance of the non-plastered facades was not changed during the reconstruction, but the facades of the office premises of the palace were plastered and painted in red-brown color “like a brick” with white paint.

During the reign of Nicholas I, work on the formation of Babolovsky Park was continued. In 1844, the name Babolovsky Park first appeared, but at that time other names were still used - Small Park, the 7th part of the New Park.
The design of the park's borders was completed in 1846, when cast-iron Staro-Krasnoselsky and Alexander Gates (lost) with imperial eagles, identical in architectural and artistic design, were installed. These Gothic monumental gates did not have guardhouses, in contrast to the same Krasnoselsky gates, built back in the 1820s. The gates with poles and wickets were cast according to the design of the architect A.A. Menelas at the St. Petersburg iron foundry and were originally located in other parts of the park.

In 1858, Emperor Alexander II ordered that the neglected roads in Babolovsky Park be put in order, beautified and brought into the same form as the rest of the Tsarskoye Selo parks.
To do this, the French architect-decorator Rondi was summoned from Paris, who presented a project for a completely new public park, with attractions and waterfalls that were fantastic for that time. The project was supposed to double the area of ​​the park and move the canal of the Baur water conduit to another place. It is clear that this could change the character palace park, designed primarily for solitary walks and enjoying nature, in a fundamental way. Rondi's plan was indignantly abandoned and, moreover, recognized as incompetent, which was the reason for sending him back to France.
History often repeats itself and the recent plans to build a golf club in Babolovsky Park are very reminiscent of the plans of an incompetent Frenchman ...

As a result, one road was laid - the Horse. Oaks, lindens, maples and other trees were planted on previously drained areas, before that the forest was cleared. The work was carried out under the guidance of one of the garden masters of the Tsarskoye Selo palace government, presumably the garden master V.I. Miller.

Nanny School in Babolovsky Park

In 1887, according to the project of architect A.F. Vidov, Orlovskaya was built on the outskirts of the park water tower(Parkovaya st., 62), one of the two historical water-lifting buildings of Tsarskoye Selo. The tower was 30 meters high and housed water tanks. Two separate outbuildings were built for the electric machine and the caretaker. The complex was connected to the Taitsky water conduit, and later - to the Orlovsky, and underground storage tanks.
A beautiful plot in a meadow near the Crimean Column opposite the Oak Grove of Catherine's Park, where the Spare Yard was previously located, was allotted in 1905 for the construction of the House of Charity for the Mutilated Warriors of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (64 Parkovaya Street). The idea to create a shelter for charity of the lower ranks, who were injured in the Russo-Japanese War, belonged to Empress Alexandra Feodorovna.

The building was built according to the project of S.A. Danini. In December 1906 the Charity House was consecrated and opened. In 1914-1915. The charity house was expanded with additional outbuildings according to the project of S.A. Danini, the staff architect of this institution, and additionally equipped as an infirmary in connection with the outbreak of the First World War. Here they placed 170 beds for the wounded, set up operating rooms, dressing rooms and an X-ray room that served all the Tsarskoye Selo infirmaries.
The Empress herself took part in the development of the project of the building, designed to accommodate 150 people, according to the idea of ​​which workshops were arranged for the disabled in the shelter. The joiner's workshop had master teachers from the famous Meltzer factory, the tailor's workshop - from Vollenweider, one of the best tailors in St. Petersburg.
Apartments for craftsmen were located in a shelter, but they received a salary from their owners. For the workshops of knitting, basketry, shoemaking, bookbinding, laundry and other craftsmen were hired by the administration. All workshops, with the exception of knitting, were loaded with orders.
Each disabled person from the Charity House was given free of charge all the tools he needed and paid for travel to the house. Those who studied tailoring and knitting were presented with Singer sewing machines at the time of graduation.

In the depths of the park behind the Babolovskaya clearing, small one-story houses made of betonite, completed with gable roofs, were built according to the project of military engineer K. Griboyedov. All this was done using the latest technology at that time - from betonite blocks. The houses were the same and were intended for housing disabled families who were arranged to work as watchmen in the park. By the beginning of 1917, ten such houses were erected, one of them was for the residence of craftsmen from Meltzer and Nenru. Three of these houses in Babolovsky Park have been preserved.
The house of charity for crippled soldiers was closed in 1920, but the institution that occupied it also has a humanitarian and medical profile. Now it is a clinic of the country's largest children's orthopedic research institute named after G.I. Turner.

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna donated in 1903 a site located in Babolovsky Park between Gatchina Highway and the Baur Canal for the construction of the School of Nanny (Krasnoselskoye Highway, 9), which she founded.
The school, which had a shelter for children of poor parents and orphans, trained nannies to care for infants. The building was built in 1904 according to the project of the architect S.A. Danini. The Empress often attended school with the Grand Duchesses, where they could learn how to take care of children. A garden was laid out around the school based on the nursery of the School Gardening Institution that was located here earlier.
At the beginning of the First World War, the Empress organized one of the Tsarskoye Selo infirmaries here. After 1917, the building was adapted for a general education school, which is located here and now.

Babolovsky park after the war.

After 1918, Babolovsky Park was under the jurisdiction of the Directorate of Palaces-Museums and Parks in Pushkin (Children's Village).
During the Great Patriotic War, this monument of national landscape art suffered great damage. From the palace, which burned down as a result of the bombardment, there were brick walls and a granite bath, many trees were lost in the park itself.
In the 1970s, with the condition of restoring the palace and the park, Izhora Plant was given a place in the buffer zone of the Babolovsky Park for the construction of a boarding house for workers to rest, but the condition was not fully met.
The boarding house was built, while destroying a section of the Taitsky water conduit, which until that time still delivered water to park ponds, and the ruins of the palace were only mothballed.

Now the boarding house has been transformed into a hotel with a loud historical name, the workers were transferred as a class, and the palace remains in ruins as a memory of the war and as a symbol of the current government's disregard for its citizens and its own history.

In 2015, the Babolovsky Park was transferred to the Tsarskoye Selo State Museum Reserve and it has tangible prospects for restoration.
The museum's first step in restoring the park was a (formal) ban on everything that the townspeople loved to do here: kindle, bathe, litter... and the pearl of the park, the Babolovsky Palace, was surrounded by a fence and surrounded by round-the-clock security.

The article is written on the basis of materials from the book by G.V. Semenova "Tsarskoe Selo: familiar and unfamiliar".

Babolovsky Park is one of the five famous parks in the city of Pushkin (as well as Ekaterininsky, Aleksandrovsky, Separate and Buffer parks + the once-existing Fermsky). The Babolovsky Palace is located in Babolovka.

The history of Babolovsky Park dates back to XVIII century, when Russia waged numerous wars and at the same time, in the most difficult conditions and with hardships, continued the construction of its northern capital and imperial residences in the vicinity of St. Petersburg. The history of the emergence of the Babolovsky park is inextricably linked with the Babolovsky manor that existed here, donated by Empress Catherine II (the Great) to Prince Grigory Alexandrovich Potemkin Tauride (1739-1791), and where in 1780 a wooden manor house was built. This house was then located near the village (manor) Babolovo on the outskirts of the forest, three miles from Tsarskoye Selo. And the name of the park came from the neighboring (Finnish) village of Babolovo (from the Veps. baboi).

On the image: Babolovsky Palace. Lithograph by V.P. Langer. 1820

In 1783, an English garden was laid out near the palace. At the bottom of the northern facade of the palace was the Bolshoi (or Babolovsky) pond, formed by the Kuzminka river after the construction of a dam on it, and behind the palace was the Mirror (or Silver) pond. The path from the palace to the park passed through the Babolovsky bridge-dam, designed by engineer I. Gerard in 1773-1775, and then rebuilt in 1883 by engineer S. M. Likhardov. After the destruction of the Great Patriotic War, the bridge was rebuilt (1987) according to the project of the Lengiproinzhproekt Institute, under the guidance of engineer A. A. Sokolov.

Further behind the dam bridge along the Kuzminka River, there is a grove of broad-leaved trees with a compositional center in the form of a kitchen building that existed until 1941. Even further behind this site is a picturesque avenue of silver willows (over 150 years old), which borders a large clearing with groups of trees.

Babolovsky park originally occupied a small area near the palace, most of the present park was covered with a dense spruce forest. In 1820, the first attempt was made to develop this territory: the Novobabolovskaya road and the road from the Krasnoselsky Gates to the palace were being laid. After the creation in 1845 near the Gatchinsky (Orlovsky) gates of a special nursery for growing trees and shrubs, called the "School Garden Institution" (the remains of the business of the successors of the institution were destroyed at the beginning of the 21st century, under Governor Matvienko).

On the image: Bridge-dam engineer S. M. Likhardov. Card from the beginning of the 20th century. The inscription on the postcard is wrong.

In the years 1850-1860, systematic work began on draining the swamps, cutting down and uprooting part of the forest with planting oaks, birches, maples, lindens and other species of trees and shrubs. A wide circular road was laid along the boundaries of the park, and clearings were cut in the park for walking and carriages. The total area of ​​Babolovsky Park, the largest of all Tsarskoye Selo parks, is 268.6 hectares.

Of the ancient sights of Babolovsky Park, it should be noted, in addition to the grandiose stone bath of Sukhanov, the Taitsky water conduit and the Starokrasnoselsky Gate. Starokrasnoselsky gates were located on the western border of the park. Cast from iron at the Petrovsky State Iron Foundry according to the drawings of A. Menelas (1753-1831). In 1846, by order of Emperor Nicholas I, they were moved to Babolovsky Park from the White (Krasnoselsky) guardhouses. In 2007, the gate took its old place at the guardhouses in Alexander Park.

The Taitsky aqueduct is a monument of Russian construction technology and one of the largest engineering structures of its kind in Europe at the end of the 18th century.

On the image: Scheme of the Taitsky aqueduct

Empress Elizabeth I (Petrovna) also took care of watering the ponds and canals of Tsarskoe Selo. So, in 1743, the master of the “mill business” Kezeru was called to Tsarskoe Selo, then the “fountain business” master Bolesu to study the surroundings and bring water to parks and gardens. In August of the same year, the engineer-captain Zverev with the architectural student Mylnikov examined the Neva, Slavyanka and Kuzminka rivers to bring the Neva water canal. The result of the research was attention to the keys near the village of Vittelevo. In 1746 the ensign of geodesy Safonov examined the keys, in 1748 the lieutenant engineer Ostrovsky. According to his report, Empress Elizabeth I (Petrovna), by personal decree, ordered the immediate construction of the Vittolovsky Canal, completed in 1749. After creating a project for a new landscape park around Catherine Palace it turned out that the Wittol springs were not enough to feed the dug new ponds and canals.

Under Empress Catherine II (the Great), surveys, design and construction of the Taitsky water conduit (1772-1787) were carried out by hydraulic engineers E.Carbonier and F.Bauer. In 1774-1775, 35 thousand rubles were allocated for the construction of the water conduit at the disposal of Quartimeister General Bauer. Until 1905, the conduit was the only source of water supply for Tsarskoye Selo, its palaces and parks.

The Taitsky water conduit ran for 4.8 versts through open channels, 3.6 versts - with brick pipes, and in the middle part under the hill - an underground, so-called mine gallery 6.3 versts long. The gallery lies at a depth of up to 8 fathoms (16 meters) from the surface of the earth. Under normal conditions, the Taitsky water conduit delivered an average of 5.16 cubic meters to Tsarskoe Selo. feet of water per second (about 102 m³ / h), of which 4 cubic meters. feet / s (about 80 m³ / h) gave the Taitsky keys, and the rest - the groundwater of the mine gallery of the conduit. The Taitsky springs, located in the upper reaches of the Vereva River, a tributary of the Izhora, are also known as Gannibalovsky, Berezovsky and Demidovsky. The height difference between these springs and the Tsarskoye Selo ponds reaches 25 meters.

The park was not ignored by Alexander Pushkin, who twice mentioned it in his works.

On the image: Babolovsky Palace in 20063

According to Saint-Petersburg Vedomosti, a part of the Babolovsky Park may be given over to golf courses. At the same time, the investor promises to reconstruct the Babolovsky Palace and the Taitsky water conduit. The Babolovsky Palace was built in 1785 for Grigory Potemkin in the Babolovsky Park of Tsarskoye Selo. Destroyed during the Great Patriotic War. Known for the "Tsar Bath" - a huge granite bath (height - 192 cm, diameter - 533 cm, weight - 48 tons) by master Samson Sukhanov, designed by engineer Betancourt (1828) in the basement.

Meetings of Alexander I with the daughter of the court banker, Baron Velho, Sophia Iosifovna (1793-1840) took place in the palace.

Babolovsky Park is a landscape park in the city of Pushkin (St. Petersburg), the largest park in Tsarskoye Selo (an area of ​​more than 260 hectares).

Plan-schemesA Babolovsky park:

Park prefabrication

Previously, the Finnish village of Pabola was located on the site of the modern park (later the name was transformed into the Russian-language Babolovo). At the beginning of the XVIII century. the peasants of this village participated in the construction of the Catherine Park. A clearing was laid through the swampy area and the spruce forest, connecting the village and the territory of the Catherine Park.

In the 1770s A dam was built on the territory of the Babolovsky Park and the Babolovsky Pond was dug. In 1780, a wooden estate of the famous statesman and military figure, Prince Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin-Tavrichesky, appeared here. And in 1785 the estate was rebuilt into a brick pavilion-bath in the Gothic style (also known as the Babolovsky Palace, it has survived only in ruins to this day).

Tsar bath

In the 1820s in the pavilion, a huge bath was installed (also known as the "Tsar-bath") according to the project of the master Samson Ksenofontovich Sukhanov. The bathtub was completely carved from a single piece of granite. The diameter of the bath was more than half a meter, and the height was almost 2 meters.

Since the 19th century

In the middle of the XIX century. The park began to improve. The swamps were drained, clearings were laid for walking and driving in carriages. Part of the spruce forest was cut down, but other trees were planted: oaks, lindens, maples, ash-trees, birches, aspens, etc.

After the revolution of 1917

The palace building was nationalized. It housed an aviation school. During the Great Patriotic War, the palace was destroyed by shells, after which it was not restored.

Other attractions of the park

Conduits (Vittolovsky and Taitsky) - the first water conduits that supplied Tsarskoye Selo; dam bridge; cottage of the famous writer, journalist and playwright Alexei Sergeevich Suvorin A; cast-iron Staro-Krasnoselsky gates ; a spring near the Babolovsky Palace; burial of a Red Army soldier of the WWII period ; monk's grotto (destroyed).