Yelagin Island
| Yelagin Island | ||
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| Waters | Neva | |
| Geographical location | 59 ° 58 '46 " N , 30 ° 15' 37" E | |
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| length | 2.1 km | |
| width | 800 m | |
| surface | 94 ha | |
| Highest elevation | 18 m | |
Yelagin Island ( Russian Елагин остров , Yelagin Ostrov ) is an island in the mouth of the Neva in the urban area of St. Petersburg , Russia . There is the Yelagin Palace, which is surrounded by a landscaped garden.
geography
The island is flat and lies in the delta of the Neva between two of its arms and was originally very swampy. It has an area of 94 hectares . In the west-east extension it is about 2100 meters long. In north-south direction, it extends over a maximum width of 800 meters.
history
Beginnings
Originally the island was called Melgunow . Today it is named after Count Ivan Jelagin (1725–1793), steward of Tsarina Catherine II , who brought Freemasonry to Russia. In 1786 he had a manor house and a first park built in the baroque style in the eastern part of the island . Upper-class families in St. Petersburg had summer houses on the island.
The lock
In 1817 the Tsar bought the island for 350,000 rubles . From 1818 to 1822 the palace was rebuilt by the architect Carlo Rossi for Maria Fjodorowna ( Sophie Dorothee von Württemberg ; 1759–1828), the widow of Tsar Paul I , in the classical style . The interior decoration came mainly from Giovanni Battista Scotti , Vasily Demuth-Malinovsky and Stepan Pimenov . The main facade faces east because the only bridge that led to the island was located there. The west facade, on the other hand, opens onto the park and a ground floor . The farm buildings (kitchen building, stables , greenhouse) of the castle stood on the north side of the ground floor and were artistically designed in their fronts pointing there.
The park
Rossi redesigned the park into an English landscape garden , removing all axial elements, for example the avenues , except for one. This was a visual axis that opened up from the castle to the western tip of the island and the Gulf of Finland adjoining there . A chain of canals and ponds was created along the south and north sides of the island. These are not only decorative elements for the park, but also serve to drain the originally marshy area. The earth movements that were carried out were quite considerable. Bridges were built, grottos laid out and pavilions erected. However, this took much longer than the castle renovation and was implemented in several steps from east to west of the island. The last major expansion measure did not even take place until 1924, when the western tip of the island was designed with a stone terrace after a flood and decorated with a lion figure from the 19th century.
Use after 1917
As the Tsar's private property, the island was initially not open to the public. At the end of the 19th century it became accessible to the general public: the Tsar's court had not used the Yelagin Palace for decades. In the course of the industrialization of Leningrad in the 1930s, Yelagin Park was also increasingly used for the leisure needs of workers. Summer theaters, a cinema , coffee houses, restaurants and exhibition pavilions were built. Those in charge dealt with the existing existing building relatively carefully: The new buildings were predominantly made of wood and thus had a provisional character. In addition, the central line of sight west of the castle to the Gulf of Finland has now been converted into an avenue that also served as an ice rink in winter . Several kilometers of walking paths, some of which were originally laid out as bridle paths, run through the island. With the growth of Leningrad, the city now comprised an island and green space. It was no longer on the outskirts, but in the middle of the metropolis. It was now a "culture park", a people 's park , and very popular as a recreation area. The "Culture Park" was named after Sergei Mironowitsch Kirow . Due to the enormous pressure of visitors, further walking paths had to be created and the lawns were badly damaged. In the 1970s the plant was worn out and should be modernized. At that time, scientific research into the history of the park was carried out for the first time and it was established that it was a valuable historical facility. The preservation of monuments was able to prevail and no further new buildings were made in the park. Corresponding uses were accommodated in adjacent areas. From the 1990s, the subsequent installations in the park were also partially removed.
Todays use
park
But even today the park is part of St. Petersburg's leisure activities: boats can be rented and the ponds and canals can be navigated. Bicycles and roller skates can also be rented, there are children's playgrounds , pony riding is offered and there are garden railways.
lock
After the October Revolution, the castle served as a museum for historical living culture. It burned down in World War II in 1942, but was rebuilt from 1952 to 1960. After it was initially used for residential purposes, it became a museum again and shows temporary exhibitions, mainly art from the 18th and 19th centuries.
photos
literature
- Danja Demidova: The Park on Yelagin Island in St. Petersburg . In: Die Gartenkunst 4 (2/1992), pp. 307–316.
- Елагин остров: Императорский дворец: История и архитектура . Сост. Б. Е. Шмидт. СПб., 1999.
- Elagin Palace . In: The Encyclopaedia of St. Petersburg .
- Д. И. Немчинова: Елагин остров: Дворцово-парковый ансамбль . Л .: Искусство, Ленингр. отд-ние, 1982. (DI Nemchinov: Yelagin Island: The palace and park ensemble . Leningrad 1982.)
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Jelagin Island on Google Maps .
- ↑ Demidova, p. 307.
- ↑ Demidova, p. 308.
- ↑ Demidova, p. 308.
- ↑ Demidova, pp. 308f.
- ↑ Немчинова / Nemchinov, p. 136.
- ↑ Demidova, p. 307.
- ↑ Demidova, pp. 308, 315.
- ↑ Demidova, p. 308.
- ↑ Demidova, p. 315.
- ↑ Demidova, S. 316th
- ↑ Elagin Palace . In: The Encyclopaedia of St. Petersburg.