|
|
| One of the most important places in Anna Akhmatova's
life is Tsarskoe Selo, just 25 km (18 miles) ouside of St Petersburg.
Tsarskoe Selo (the czar’s village) served as a getaway for the Imperial
family since Peter the Great and until Nicholas II.
The town that stands next to the parks and palaces at Tsarskoe Selo
was mainly developed as a summer resort for the aristocracy and upper-classes
of St. Petersburg in the 19th century.
During the comunist era, Tsarskoe Selo was renamed Pushkin, and many Russian of the older generations refer to it by that name. Anna Akhmatova grew up here in the formative years of her childhood, between 1891 and 1905. |
 |
| Tsarskoe Selo has two main parks, the Catherine (old) and the Alexandrine
(new)
parks. The English style gardens, parks and palaces of Tsarskoe Selo display baroque influences from the days of Empress Elizabeth. These include the Catherine Palace,
|
Anna Akhmatova had a lifelong connection with the town of Tsarskoe Selo outside St. Petersburg. Tsarskoe Selo came to play an important role in Akhmatova’s works, as it had for other Russian writers before her. Anna Akhmatova returned to Tsarskoe Selo at times of great trials and tribulations during her illustrious life. |
Lyceum at Tsarskoe Selo, built by Catherine the Great. Poet Alexander Pushkin studied here between 1811 and 1817. |
The Lyceum at Tsarskoe Selo was originally intended for the education
of the grandchildren of Catherine the Great.
It is a triangular-shaped building with a chapel to the left and Catherine Palace to the right. Link to Stephany Gould's "Pushkin Page" at James Madison University. |
|
Created mostly during the 18th and early 19th centuries, the gardens of Tsarskoe Selo represent a significant era in the imitation of different European models. Many of the paths and walks in the gardens at Tsarskoe Selo are lined with neoclassical statues. Other writers and poets who drew inspiration from the grandeur and unique sense of isolation of Tsarskoe Selo were Zhukovsky, Tiutchev and Saltykov-Schedrin, a satirist. |
Take a virtual tour of the interior of the Palace by Pallasart Web Design. |
|
Among other works that Rastrelli constructed at Tsarskoe Selo during Elizabeth's reign are the Hermitage and the Grotto, principal features of the Old Garden. To the right is a picture of ladies in period costumes, walking in next to the Grotto. Link to Russia For Visitors, by Andrey Sebrant Tsarkoe Selo's gardens achieved the height of their grandeur in the reign of Catherine the Great (1762-1792), who introduced and keenly promoted landscape gardening in Russia. |
 |
The Cameron Gallery at Tsarskoe Selo. |
Under Catherine the Great, the English architect Charles Cameron was
appointed and he executed many improvements to the gardens.
He was responsible for the construction of the Chinese Buildings, the Turkish pavilions, some of the statue collections mentioned above and an arsenal. Catherine the Great was a playful ruler, who built the first roller coaster at Tsarskoe Selo. |
 |
at Tsarskoe Selo, by Ilya Repin. Link to George Mitrevshky's
|
St. Petersburg
| Anna Akhmatova lived with second husband Vladimir Shileiko between
1918 and 1928. They were never officially married, but lived together at
Mramornyi Dvorets in St. Petersburg.
Between 1926 and 1952, Akhmatova lived in Nikolai Nikolaevich Punin's apartment at the Shremetev Palace in St. Petersburg. The picture below shows the wing of the Palace in which Akhmatova shared an apartment with Punin's family. |
 |
 |
 |
| When she died in 1966, Akhmatova's
funeral service was held in the St. Nicholas Cathedral, seen below. She was buried at Komarovo. |
(Above) Picture of author Anatoly Nayman with Anna Akhmatova at her house in the village of Komarovo outside St. Petersburg, where she moved to after her last apartment in the city. |
The Baroque Architecture
of St. Petersburg from Little Russia in San Antonio, TX. |