Pushkin (town)

Infobox Russian city
EnglishName= Pushkin
RussianName= Пушкин
OtherName= Tsarskoye Selo Царское Село
LatDeg=59
LatMin=43
LatSec=00
LonDeg=30
LonMin=25
LonSec=00




CityDay= June 24
FederalSubject= Saint Petersburg
InJurisdictionOf= Saint Petersburg
SelfGovAsOf= September 18 2008
Charter= Regulation of municipality of Pushkin town (April 27 2006)
MunStatus=
LeaderType= Chairman of Urban Council
LeaderName= Nikolay Yakovlevich Grebnev
Legislature= Urban Council
Area_km2= 201
Population= 109.000
PopulationRank=
FoundationDate= 1710 (1808)
Event1= Peter the Great decided to hand over the part of the Menshikov's ownership "Sarskaja Myza" to Ekaterina Alexeevna
Event2= "Sarskaja Myza" officially became the Tsar's village "Sarskoye Selo"
Event3= "Sarskoye Selo" became "Tsarskoye Selo"
Event4= The integration of village "Tsarskoye Selo" and town Sofia
Event5= "Tsarskoye Selo" became "Soldatskoye Selo" (Soldier's Village)
Event6= "Soldatskoye Selo" became "Detskoye Selo" (Children's Village)
Event7= The town got the name "Pushkin'
Event1Date= 1710
Event2Date= 1724
Event3Date= 1780
Event4Date= 1808
Event5Date= 1917
Event6Date= 1918
Event7Date= 1937
PostalCode= 196600
DialingCode= 812
Website= http://www.pushkin-town.net/.pushkin/eng/index.htm

Pushkin ( _ru. Пу́шкин) is a town under jurisdiction of St. Petersburg, Russia, that is located 24 verst south from the center of St. Petersburg, at coord|59|44|N|30|23|E|. Population: 84,628 (2002 Census); 95,415 (1989 Census).

Imperial residence

The town was founded in the 18th century as the summer residence of the Russian tsars under the name "Tsarskoye Selo" (Royal Village). Nicholas II of Russia and his family lived in the Alexander Palace until they were moved to Tobolsk on July 31, 1917.

After October Revolution the Catherine Palace became a museum, while some other mansions of the nobility were conveyed to various educational and sanitary institutions. On that account, the town was renamed "Detskoye Selo" (Children's Village) in 1918. In 1937, the name was changed to "Pushkin", to commemorate the centenary of the tragic death of the great Russian poet Alexander Pushkin who had studied in the Imperial Lyceum there.

Other sights

Apart from the imperial residence, the town of Pushkin includes several other historic districts, notably Sophia, which was founded by Catherine the Great as an uezd town but lost its town status in 1808. The main monument in this part of the town is the Sophia Cathedral (1782-88).

Another part of the town is occupied by the half-ruined Fyodorovsky Townlet, built in the Russian Revival style to mark the tercentenary of the House of Romanov in 1913. The highlight of the townlet is the charming white-washed Royal Cathedral, dedicated to the Theotokos of St. Theodore and intended to serve as a domestic church of the reigning family.

In the garden close to the Tsarskoe Selo Lyceum stands the Church of the Sign, the oldest in the town, built in 1734-36 to a discreet Baroque design by Mikhail Zemtsov. The church was decorated in 1747 and slightly remodelled in 1865. The Soviets all but destroyed it; but the building was restored in 1961 and reverted to the Russian Orthodox Church in 1991.

The Egyptian Gate leading to the town from Saint Petersburg was designed by Adam Menelaws, a Scottish architect. This structure, erected in 1827-32 and intricately covered with hieroglyphics, bears testimony to the Egyptomania of the 1820s, triggered by Champollion's "Précis du système hiéroglyphique" (1824).

ister Cities

*flagicon|Denmark Aalborg, Denmark
*flagicon|United States Kalamazoo, Michigan, U.S.A.
*flagicon|Germany Zerbst/Anhalt, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany
*flagicon|Germany Frankenthal, Rheinland-Palatinate, Germany
*flagicon|France Versailles, France
*flagicon|United States Worcester, Massachusetts, U.S.A.

External links

* [http://www.virtualpushkin.com/ Tsarskoye Selo, Pushkin town, historical facts of the city, map, direction from Saint Petersburg]
* [http://pushkin-town.net/ Official website of Pushkin's business of commerce]