Hi everybody!
This is the third post dedicated to my one-day road trip to the city of Bogoroditsk and a visit to the museum-estate of the counts of Bobrinsky.
In this post, I talked about the Bobrinsky family and the construction of the palace
In this post, I talked about the museum exhibition in the halls of the palace
Today I will talk about the sights of the manor park.
This park was founded by the first manager of the estate, Andrei Bolotov, back in the 18th century. A lot of work was invested in its creation, because the park was laid out in a wasteland where there were no water sources. The works of the scientist were not in vain - according to the recollections of contemporaries, the park amazed the imagination. It was called "the miracle of the local region" and it was one of the best parks of its time. Unfortunately, the park, of the 18th century, has not been preserved to this day. One can learn about what he was like only from the album with Bolotov's watercolors, which is currently stored in the State Historical Museum. The modern park in the estate is similar to hundreds of other parks, but you can still find echoes of the past in it.
The central birch alley of the park leading to the palace:
Entrance tower:
A little to the side of the tower stands a monument to the first manager of the estate, a very gifted and versatile person, Andrey Bolotov:
And opposite the monument, in the place where the manager's house was, a memorial plate was installed:
You can still see bosquets in the park:
The bosquets were called that part of the park, which had a clear geometric contour and was limited along this contour by a wall of trees. They were planted in the 40s of the 19th century by the then owner of the estate, Alexei Pavlovich Bobrinsky (great-grandson of Catherine II). Alleys of larches and lindens were given a rectangular layout, and sunny glades inside the contours were used for growing berries.
Before the trip to Bogoroditsk, I downloaded a map of the park into my phone, which marked the main park attractions. I was very interested in the Stone of Love. Therefore, after looking at the bosquets, I went to look for this stone.
It is located in the Echonic Valley. Agree that a very unusual name! Therefore, before showing the Love Stone, I will talk a little about the Echonic Valley.
When Bolotov laid out the park, he drew attention to the natural hollow, which limited the park area from the north. Here he created a cascade of ponds and built a pavilion that looked like romantic ruins, in which there was a bathhouse and a gazebo for relaxation. This pavilion opened up an amazing ability to reflect the sounds of the voice and therefore it was nicknamed "Ehi's Dwelling", and the hollow began to be called the Echonic Valley. This pavilion has not survived to this day, but it can be seen on Bolotov's watercolor, a copy of which is kept in the palace:
The ruins have not survived, and the cascade of ponds, invented by Bolotov, still exists:
At one time, Bolotov, designing this cascade, figured out how to supply water to the ponds from a spring located nearby. But now the capacity of this spring is not enough to fill the cascade, so the ponds, although beautiful, are very shallow in places.
And I didn鈥檛 recognize the Love Stone at first, and only after looking at the map, I realized that I had slipped through the right place. I had to return.
Love Stone:
As far as I understand, this stone is just a bait for tourists. This is an ordinary sandstone stone, looking at which from a certain angle you can see a female body on a bed. When I first examined this stone, not yet knowing its name, I decided that water was falling on it from above, and therefore a hollow formed. But this explanation is too simple and not romantic.
Much more attractive sounds "Stone of Love, next to which you need to make a wish":
There is another natural attraction in the park. This is a pine tree that grows in front of the western facade of the palace. She is almost 200 years old!
The pine was planted on a very sad occasion.
Alexei Bobrinsky, son of Empress Catherine II, had a middle son, Pavel. In those years, it was Pavel, together with his wife Yulia, who managed the estate. In 1830, Julia became a widow - her husband died in a duel. A pine tree was planted in his memory.
Legend has it that immediately after planting, lightning struck the tree and cut off the top of its head. That is why the pine has such a shape:
I completed my tour of the estate in the Holy Kazan Cathedral, which is located in the park.
The construction of this temple began almost simultaneously with the construction of the palace, in 1774.
The author of the project was a young graduate of the Russian Academy of Arts Ivan Starov. Subsequently, he would become a famous Russian architect and become famous for the creation of the Tauride Palace in St. Petersburg, but the estate in Bogoroditsk (the palace was also built according to Starov's design) would be his first major order from Empress Catherine herself.
This church was the center of the spiritual life of Bogoroditsk. Several generations of the Bobrinskys were baptized in it.
During the years of atheism, the temple was closed, but not destroyed. In 1990, the Holy Kazan Church was returned to believers.
On the day of my visit to the estate, Orthodox Christians celebrated the feast of the Descent of the Holy Spirit. On this day, it is customary to decorate temples with birch branches, grass and flowers. This explains what the temple looks like in my photos: