Description of the attraction
Babolovsky Park is one of the five well-known parks in the city of Pushkin (together with Aleksandrovsky, Ekaterininsky, Buffer, Otdelny parks and Fermsky parks that once existed). It is an object of cultural heritage of the Russian Federation. Babolovsky Park is one of the largest parks in Pushkin, its area is 286.6 hectares.
Babolovsky Park was originally intended for leisurely carriage rides or long and secluded walks. Compared to the Yekaterininsky and Aleksandrovsky parks, overflowing with various architectural "ideas", Babolovsky Park looks very modest. There are no museums, no monuments, no cafes with attractions.
The history of the park dates back to the 18th century, when the Russian Empire waged numerous wars and, in parallel, in difficult conditions and with losses, continued the construction of St. Petersburg and the imperial residences in the vicinity of the Northern capital. The history of the formation of Babolovsky Park is closely intertwined with the Babolovskaya manor, which existed in this area, which was donated by Empress Catherine the Great to Prince Grigory Alexandrovich Potemkin Tavrichesky (1739-1791). Here in 1780 the prince erected a wooden manor-type house. This building was then located near the village (manor) of Babolovo on the outskirts of a forest about three kilometers from Tsarskoye Selo. And the name of the park came from the name of this Finnish village.
Babolovsky Park was designed in accordance with the fashion of the time when the "English" parks became a thing of the past, and instead of them, there appeared parks with a "natural" landscape styled after the Italian landscape.
Behind the bridge-dam along the Kuzminka River, there is a grove of broad-leaved trees, which has a compositional center in the form of a kitchen building, which existed before the start of the Great Patriotic War. Further beyond this site is a picturesque alley of silvery willows, which are more than 150 years old. This alley surrounds a large clearing with groups of trees.
The Babolovsky Palace is located on the territory of the park, and initially the park occupied a small area near it, a significant part of the present park was occupied by an impenetrable spruce forest. In the 20th year of the 19th century, the first attempt was made to develop this territory: a road was laid from the Krasnoselsky gate to the palace and the Novobabolovskaya road.
In the years 1850-1860, systematic work began to drain swamps, to cut down and uproot part of the forest with planting birches, oaks, lindens, maples and other species of shrubs and trees, and create picturesque meadows. A wide circular road was built along the boundaries of the park, and glades for carriages and walking appeared in the park.
The old sights of Babolovsky Park include the grandiose stone bath of Sukhanov, located in the Babolovsky Palace, Vittolovsky and Taitsky water conduits, a dam bridge, Staro-Krasnoselsky gates, A. S. Suvorin and others.
The Babolovsky palace and park were mentioned in their works by A. S. Pushkin, V. S. Pikul, E. Shvedov.
Currently, some sources have information according to which part of the Babolovsky Park may turn into golf courses. The public of Pushkin is actively fighting against this, relying on the expert assessment of historians, ecologists, culturologists, the society for the protection of monuments.
