Wednesday Walk in Tsarskoye Selo in search of Old Russian architecture

Hello, friends! This time I decided to go to Tsarskoe Selo and see if the renovation of the Fedorovsky town is nearing completion. Fedorovsky town is an architectural complex in the Old Russian style. Several low buildings were built on the outskirts of Tsarskoye Selo near the Fedorovsky Cathedral in the early XX century. They housed living quarters for clergymen, a museum of Old Russian art, and economic services.

The architect was given a difficult task, he had to create an architectural ensemble in the Neo-Russian style, but this ensemble had to be organically combined with the nearby Alexander Palace. The Alexander Palace was built by architect Giacomo Quarenghi in the Palladian Classicism style in 1792-1796. In my opinion, the architect Stepan Krichinsky was able to fulfill the task only partially: Fedorovsky town looks very nice, and reminds of the architecture of Old Russian cities, such as Yaroslavl or Rostov the Great. But there is not a single detail from classicism in these buildings.

The architectural cluster located on the outskirts of Tsarskoye Selo is best viewed and studied separately, without trying to move here from the opulent palaces of the Baroque period or the more austere buildings of the Classicist era. I would include here, in addition to the Fedorovsky town proper, the Fedorovsky Cathedral, the building of the Imperial Station, the historic educational building of the Agricultural Academy and the building of the Ratnaya Palata.

Perhaps the Imperial Farm building complex can also be included here, it is located nearby. The Imperial Farm was built a hundred years earlier - in 1818-1828, designed by architect Adam Menelas. The farm's buildings are in the pseudo-Gothic style and this style happens to be a perfect match for the architectural experiments of the early 20th century.

I started my walk from Fedorovsky Cathedral and walked along Fedorovsky Town towards the Ratnaya Palata and the Farm. I was convinced that there is still a lot of work to be done before the restoration work in Fedorovsky Town is finished. But the changes for the better are already noticeable, some buildings are already happy with clean whitewashed walls and bright colors of architectural details.

After that I walked further along the same road and came to the Ratnaya Palata. The building of the Ratnaya Palata was restored a few years ago. This building was laid out in 1913, with construction work completed in 1917. There is a museum of the First World War here.

At a modern glance there are no differences in the architecture of Fedorovsky Town and the Ratnaya Palata, but if you carefully examine the buildings and read architectural descriptions (or visit a tour), you can notice different details. The architect of the Ratnaya Palata was oriented not on the architecture of Central Russia, but on the northern Old Russian cities, such as Pskov and Novgorod.

Behind the Ratnaya Palata the territory of the Imperial Farm begins. The Equestrian Complex of the museum-reserve is located there. Here my walk through the architectural sights ended: opposite the Farm there is a wicket leading to the Alexander Park, and I turned into this wicket to rest from impressions on a comfortable bench in the park.

This is my entry for the #WednesdayWalk challenge by @tattoodjay and for the #MakeMeSmile challenge by @elizacheng.