Review
Rating: ***/5
Tour: Pushkin vs. Dantes
How to get there: by Walking tour
Route: from Torzgkovskaya street
to Kolomiazgsky avenue
We're starting from the Golovinsky Bridge that marks the place where Chernaya Rechka issues from the Big Nevka. The present bridge with granite obelisks with Neptune's tripods dates back to 1976 (eng. Dvorkin, arch. Ivanov ). It owes its name to the Golovin Mansion next to it.
DetailsHow, where and why the greatest Russian poet died.
Chernaya Rechka in mere translation means the Black River. It's a common name for the small shallow rivers we have in plenty in the north-west of the country. Some other minor rivers within the city limits used to be called so. In the national conscious this river is inseparably linked with the gruesome date - January,27th 1837 when the great Russian poet was mortally wounded in a duel with Dantes. It happened not far from Chernaya Rechka and now an obelisk to that extend stands on the spot.
To the right stirs the Vyborg region of Saint-Petersburg. The first settlements appeared here in mid-18th century. Now it's a comfortable and well planned area with public services while still before 1960's it was an outskirt. There used to be vegetable-gardens or waste-grounds in place of modern avenues. The architects have preserved as many trees and parks as possible. A lot of attention was payed to the spaces of inner yards to make them cosy and comfortable.
We're starting from the Golovinsky Bridge that marks the place where Chernaya Rechka issues from the Big Nevka. The present bridge with granite obelisks with Neptune's tripods dates back to 1976 (eng. Dvorkin, arch. Ivanov ). It owes its name to the Golovin Mansion next to it. It is a now rare sample of wooden construction of Classicism with wooden Ionic columns. Built in 1824 to the design of arch. L.Sharlemaigne it served as a datcha to count F.Golovin.
To the right stretches the small Krasnogvardeisky Lane. It's taken by the blocks of N.Struck machine works (machine-building factory) founded in 1878. It was being built up to 1912 by a group of architects and appears to be a typical sample of brick industrial architecture of the turn of the century.
To the right stretches Marten's chemical factory built in early 20th. century to the design of Vladimir Gartman. Now they produce oil paints and have their own shop for painters at the corner of Serdobolskaja street. That's a mid-19th century name after Serdobolu that is Sortavala town in Karelia.
Here on both sides of the river you can see modern blocks of flats intermingled with parks and lakes.
The area behind the bridge on the left-hand side is taken by the Admiral Kuznetsov Military-Naval Academy with its main facade overlooking the Vyborg embankment. It takes up the whole block. The main building was put up between 1938-41 to the design of architects A.Vasiliev and A.Romanovsky and the block overlooking the Chernaya Rechka embankment was built after the war.
The quarter to the right between Starobelskaya and Torzhkovskaya streets includes houses 45 and 49 - brilliant samples of Petersburgian Art-Nouveau built to the design of M.Tseil' in 1906. The corner building (49) stands in place of Miller's datcha which Pushkin rented for the Summer in 1833 and 1835. House 51 is another Art-Nouveau construction that used to dominate the embankment panorama. It was designed by M.Rozenzon in 1902 apparently influenced by Suzor - one of the prominent Art-Nouveau architects. You can find houses built by him in a similar manner broken by an archway in the centre in Kirochnaya or Pestel streets. Now the predominant building is the corner one on Torzgkovskaya street. Its project was developed by a talented architect and painter N.Nazar'in between 1971-80.
The wide Chernorechensky Bridge was constructed in 1969 (eng. A.Gutzeit, arch. L.Noskov to whom we owe many elegant bridges). It takes you to the Chernaya Rechka subway station opened in 1982. Dow there in its vestibule stands one of the best sculptural monuments to Pushkin - a bronze sculpture by M.Anikushin.
Next to it is one noteworthy building -the formerprincess Saltikova country house built between 1837-47 to the design of Peter Sadovnikov - a serf architect of Golitsins, author of many buildings within the city and beyond its limits. The style is Gothic.
This area near the Big Nevka traditionally had country houses of Petersburg aristocracy. Stroganovs had a luxurious datcha, a garden with a descent to the water and a landing stage on the spot of the Naval Academy built in 1790's by Demertsov, reconstructed by A.Voronichin. It was pulled down still before the October Revolution and now you can see this mansion on a painting by Voronichin in the Russian Museum. He has scored a rank of an academician in perspective painting. Nowadays only the Gothic mansion and the garden gate (1830's) remind us of the glorious past of the area. Houses and factories appeared in place of the Chernaya Rechka datchas - change of hands, fires and the 2WW brought to their devastation.
Ahead of us are newly built residential area - Lanskoy highway, Torzgkovskaya street, the New Village. With good town planning and organisation of public services, it mainly took shape after the Patriotic War patronised by the leading Leningrad - N. Nazar'in, N.Baranov, O.Gur'ev and others. The elegant Lanskoy Bridge, also by Noskov, dates back to 1967. Spanning the bridges of Chernaya Rechka it makes part of the Lanskoy highway Here the construction and planning works are still in progress.
Here we have to step off the embankment and follow the Kolomiazgsky avenue that will take us to the public garden known by most every citizen. Here the granite obelisk was put up in 1937 to mark the centenary of A. Pushkin's tragic death. It marks the exact place where the duel occurred on the 27th of January, 1837. From here the poet was taken to 12, Moika embankment to the flat that happened to be his last abode in life. Now there's A.Pushkin flat-museum. The obelisk was created by the architect A.Lapirov and sculptor M.Manizer.
The poet and his family would rent a Datcha (country house) near here two year before the disaster. The spot was chosen by the seconds in this duel because the way here lay through the down-town and they hoped something would happen or they would meet someone who will make the duellists change their minds. As you realize pistol duels were a crime and normally people wouldn’t talk about but we know Pushkin took part in not less than 20 of them. This time the poet’s rival was a handsome young officer who met his wife Natalia at a ball and fell in love with her, rumours say mutually. A while after that Pushkin received an anonymous letter in French claiming his a cuckold. Naturally he called Dantes on a duel. He replied proposing his wife’s sister so the issue was kind of postponed. Soon after their wedding (they had 4 kids later) he still demanded satisfaction and now we all know how this resulted. They stood 20 steps from one another which means very little chance to survive. Pushkin was wounded in his stomach and Dantes in his hand. The poet died 2 days later mainly due to the loss of blood.
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Info
Address: Chyornaya rechka, St Petersburg, Russia, 190000
«Pushkin vs. Dantes » is close to Chyornaya Rechka station
Around
Some bed&breakfasts, cafes and sights we found close to Torzgkovskaya street:
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