Description of the attraction
The Bicycle Museum is located in the oldest stone building of Peterhof (Pravlenskaya Street, 1), built in 1796, not far from the central entrance to the Lower Park. Its main exhibits are bicycles. Shown here are 12 bicycles that belonged to the once great Russian emperors and their family members. They once rode on them along the alleys of the country parks of Peterhof.
Visitors to the museum will learn that Emperor Nicholas II preferred the two-seater Tandem model; at the beginning of the 20th century, ladies rode tricycles, and the first exercise bike was made of cast iron and wood.
The bicycle museum consists of six rooms. The exposition unfolds in them according to the chronology. Passing from hall to hall, one can trace the true evolution of this type of transport. Here you can see the earliest bicycle with a funny name "Kostotryas", made in Paris in 1867 especially for Alexander II (the authorship of this bicycle belongs to the firm "Michaud Liliman") and examine in detail the three-wheeled friend of Tsarevich Alexei, made by English craftsmen.
In addition to the imperial bicycles, the museum displays famous examples of bicycle technology. For example, here is the Spider bike, famous for its participation in the filming of the film "Circus". In this museum, you can also see the children's bicycles of the great dukes, which have survived to our time in the form in which they were left by the former owners.
The Bicycle Museum in Peterhof also presents to its visitors a hall with an exposition of photographs and posters, which presents the entire history of the development of bicycles. This sport has been popular at all times, and now, with the increase in the availability of this transport, it has also become ubiquitous. The museum displays rare examples of medals, stamps, playing cards, inkpots, cufflinks, knife stands, in which, one way or another, the image of a cyclist is used.
Of interest are bicycle accessories dating from the 19th century: bicycle bells, numbers, lights. These exhibits leave no one indifferent.
Sometimes the Peterhof Bicycle Museum is called the Museum of the Imperial Bicycles, which fully reflects its content. To leave a memory of this museum as a souvenir, you can take a picture by the old imperial technique.
