Description of the attraction
The building of the Round Riga occupies a special place in the history of Gatchina. The old appearance of the city cannot be imagined without its romantic appearance; it is the oldest monument of the past located on the territory of the city.
The round barn is marked even in the earliest plans of Gatchina from the Oryol period. It is located next to the Kiev highway, not far from the Connetable Square. The Round Riga was built around the 1760s. Its location suggests that this building is the remains of a former Swedish military fortification, which controlled the fork in the road, and was built in the 17th century. This opinion is also shared by N. V. Yakimova, St. Petersburg historian, who in her research says that Count Orlov probably used the remains of an existing building for the construction of Riga.
The building has an unusual composition, it is formed by two concentric rings of stone walls with an outer diameter of 31, 95 m. The cylindrical central part of the building rises above the surrounding massif. Its walls are crowned with a cornice and end with serf battlements in the form of a swallow's tail. This gives the building a gothic style. The walls of the building are made of hewn Paritsa or Chernitsa limestone, like most of the Gatchina buildings.
In Pavlovian times, the Round Riga was part of the complex of economic services in Gatchina. In the Round barn, grain was blown and the sheaves were dried. In the central part of the riga, the units dried the grain and threshed it. A low stone wall built around the middle cylinder forms a narrow circular courtyard. Squat buildings, the so-called "bread shops" - grain storage facilities radiate from the wall in radii.
The romantic appearance of the Round Rig was in perfect harmony with the hunting castle. It is still unknown, according to whose project the Riga was built.
After the fire in 1852, the Riga building was badly damaged, but it was rebuilt. Since 1865, this structure was at the disposal of the Life Guards Cuirassier Regiment. Here the squadrons of the regiment were quartered in turn, the regimental horses were standing on the guard. In 1884, four windows were broken through the walls of the riga, and the lintels were lined with bricks. In the late 19th - early 20th centuries. in the Round barn the storerooms of the Gatchina Palace Administration were located.
Today, most of the buildings of the former Riga are occupied by the Gatchina restoration site. At the same time, the monument of ancient architecture is currently in a rather deplorable state, its restoration is required (despite the fact that certain work has already been carried out here).
Destroyed during the hostilities and negligently used in our time, the Round Riga evokes associations with the architectural monuments of medieval England among residents and guests of the city. The history of this building is of interest to many tourists, recently the Round Riga was included in the new tourist route "Swedes in the Gatchina land".
