russia: gatchina

The way I'd booked my train tickets, I had a day in St Petersburg but wasn't going to sleep there. My trains arrived and departed from the same train station, so I decided to leave my bag in luggage storage, and do a day trip.

Gatchina is a city of more than 90,000 residents, around 45 kilometers south of St Petersburg.

The city was first documented in 1499, when it was known as Khotchino. Then it was known as Gatchina. Then it was called Trotsk. Then it was called Krasnogcardeysk. The name was changed to Lindemannstadt when the Germans controlled the area during WW2. The name was finally changed back to Gatchina near the end of WW2.

By any standards, that is a rather long list of names for just one city. Most of the name changes occurred in the 20^th century, I wonder what those who lived through the changes think of all the names.

During the first couple centuries of documented existence, Gatchina was part of Sweden and Russia, as the two empires were fighting over the area for a loooong time.

In 1765 Catherine the Great bought the town and manor, then gave them to Count Orlov, who is said to be responsible for organizing the assassination of Tsar Peter III. 

The assassination is what made her empress of the Russian Empire, so it was basically a huge thank you gift.

Over the next twenty something years, Orlov built the huge palace (which has 600 plus rooms,) as well as the gardens surrounding the palace. After Orlov died, Catherine bought the palace/estate from the family, and passed it on to her son, the future Tsar Paul I. Paul focused his changes on developing the town from a village, giving it Imperial City status after he was crowned.

After the death of Tsar Paul I, the palace and city stayed in the possession of the royals, most of whom made at least a few changes to the palace. Some of the rulers spent more time in the palace than others, though Tsar Alexander III seems to have made it his main residence, and spent the majority of his life there. It was this tsar who introduced the modern concepts of indoor heating, telephones, electric lights, non-freezing water pipes, and a proper sewage system.

The last tsar of Russia, Nicholas II spent his childhood at Gatchina, but ended up making Tsarskoye Selo his main home.

In the early 20^th century the city was the home of one of the first airfield in the country, and was a center of aviation and engine technology, according to Wikipedia.

After the civil war, and ending of the imperial system in Russia, the palace became a museum, which was open as such until 1941. The Germans who left after controlling the area for around three years looted the palace and vandalized the gardens when they left in 1944.

When initial damage estimates were taken, much of the palace was considered irreparable.

Restoration was done in part of the palace, it took more than 60 years. Wikipedia tells me a good portion of the palace is still closed and unrestored, and this area includes the parts most important to Tsar Alexander III. The government was able to get back some of the looted artwork, though far from all of it.

I took one of the first elektrichkas from St Petersburg to Gatchina, arriving when it was still dark outside. At this time of year, even after the sun has officially risen, everything seems really dark for a few hours. Argh.

The front of the train station has a view of the street leading right to the palace, with the city itself basically behind and off to the right of the palace. I started walking, since I needed to kill a couple hours before the palace opened to tourists.

The city center of Gatchina isn't big. When I say city center I guess I mean the tourist center, which is really close to the palace and grounds. On my way to this area I passed a stelae designating Gatchina as a city of military glory. This stelae was just like most of those I've seen, with the stelae in the middle, and four cubes on four corners, with the sides of each cube showing a 'view' of what has happened in the military history of the city.

I passed a church, but there was a service taking place as I went in, so I took no photos inside. I passed multiple bakeries, most of which were just opening up. I was very tempted to buy multiple items as they all looked good, but for once in my life I used willpower not to do so. All these areas were in a pedestrian area, which was decorated for the holidays.

I took advantage of the lake of people to take a photo of myself sitting on a sled being pushed by a snowman, hee hee. I imagine many of the locals and visitors take the same  photo. 

I found another church, where another service was taking place, so I didn't even go in this one. Even though I'd been walking for a while, and the sun had officially risen, it was still so very dark and gray. This is the kind of light that shows up in photos as blue, yuck. When I looked at my watch I realized it was time to walk back toward the palace and gardens, as opening hours were coming.

I was thrilled to discover that there was no entry fee to the gardens at this time of year. Granted, everything was covered in snow or ice, and the lighting was all flat or dark gray. Sigh. Even so, I wandered around for a while, enjoying the peace and quiet. I didn't explore all of the grounds though, I would consider coming back in summer, as I assume the landscaping would be quite nice. I decided to go in the palace before seeing all of the garden area for one main reason: I was cold. It was windy and cold, and my fingers were not having a fun time with trying to take photos outside.

The entry fee to the palace was only 500 rubles, which I think is a cheaper off season price. There was no foreigner price that I could see, which made me happy. As with other royal palaces in Russia, there is a huge coat check area, I was also able to leave my snack bag there.

In general, Gatchina palace wasn't nearly as fancy as some of the others I've seen, but it was still over the top of anything I'd ever consider for my own home. I wonder what it was like before the Germans looted the place. I did like the Greek Hall, which curves around and was particularly aesthetically appealing.

I'm not sure if there is a specific route for going through the palace, to see everything. I'm pretty sure I missed some areas, as I kept coming to 'intersections' where you had to choose which way to go, and who knows if I went the 'right' way.

In the middle of the palace there is a big marble stairwell, which is quite impressive, if you're into that sort of thing. Even though this palace was less grand than what I've seen previously, there were still grand ceilings and chandeliers, as well as nifty intricate wooden floors.

If you join a tour group through the palace, I'm pretty sure your tour guide will be in fancy dress (costume.) I saw a number of groups following people dressed in period appropriate clothing, none of which looked comfortable. Despite that, they were all smiling, which is impressive in a country where people generally don't smile at strangers.

After leaving the palace, I went straight back to the train station, as I knew there was a train leaving soon. I could've stayed in town longer, but if I'd missed that train, the next one was three hours later, or something like that.

When I got back to St Petersburg I made my way (by metro and walking,) to the Transfiguration Cathedral, which is quite big. The original chuch was built in the mid 18^th century, then was destroyed by a fire in August of 1825. Only the exterior walls and a few sacred objects were saved. A rebuild was done immediately afterward, lasting four years. Further renovation took place on the facades and interior took place from 1946-1948, after WW2 affected the church.

The transfiguration Cathedral is on a short list of churches in Russia that have had religious services through their entire existence, even during the wars, and Soviet times.

This church is dark yellow on the outside, with Greek looking columns in front. Very grand, but not too complicated. Wikipedia tells me this is Empire Style.

After that I walked to another church, but this one was much smaller, and far less grand. Even so, I liked it. From there it was a walk back to the place where I'd eaten dinner the few days earlier. I knew the food was good at reasonably priced, and it was warm enough for me to kill a couple hours.

The walk from dinner back to the train station was long, dark, and windy. Thank goodness for warm clothing :) As always, I know I'll be back, it's just a question of when.