Pavlovsk

The palace of Pavel I

The town's history started in 1777 when Catherine II granted some 362 desyatinas of land along the Slavyanka river to her son Pavel upon the birth of his first child.

In 1780, the fashionable Scottish architect Charles Cameron was made responsible for construction activities in Pavlovsk. His Neoclassical design for the Grand Palace was approved by Pavel two years later. Around the palace a huge English park was laid out, with numerous temples, collonades, bridges, and statues.

When Pavel ascended the throne in 1796, a settlement near the palace was large enough to be incorporated as city. After Pavel's death the palace was proclaimed a residence of his widow, Maria Feodorovna. Then it passed to the Konstantinovichi branch of the Romanov dynasty.

Later history

Prior to the revolution, Pavlovsk was a favourite summer retreat for well-to-do inhabitants of the Russian capital. The life of Pavlovsk dachniki was described by Dostoyevsky in his novel The Idiot.

To facilitate transportation, the first railway in Russia was opened between St Petersburg and Pavlovsk on Oct. 10, 1837. The railway station was used as a sort of concert hall, with Johann Strauss II, Liszt and Schumann among many celebrities that have performed there. The impressive 'Vauxhall Pavilion' is also used to attract customers to the railway line. Strauss' finer pieces result around the time he held his concerts there.

The Pavlovsk palace is probably the best preserved of Russian imperial residences outside the capital. The sumptious neoclassical interiour of the palace was faithfully restored after the great fire in 1803. A damage sustained by the palace during the German occupation in 1941-43, though considerable, was not so devastating as in the case of Peterhof and Tsarskoe Selo.

External links