Pushkin, Saint Petersburg

Establishment of a settlement memorial coin of the Bank of Russia In 1609–1702, on the place of Catherine Palace stood a Swedish estate, which in Finnish was known as Saaren moisio (). Traditionally Ingrian Finns have called the area as Saaren kylä (village of Saari) or Saari, meaning "island" in Finnish (). After the expulsion of the Swedes from the area Peter the Great gave the manor to Alexander Menshikov. Later, by an official decree of 13 June 1710 the whole area including 43 villages was assigned to Marfa Skavronskaya, wife of Peter who later became Empress Catherine I. This date of 13 June 1710 is considered as the founding date of the city. In 1717–1724 the architect Johann Braunstein built here a two-storied stone palace surrounded by ancillary buildings, and Y. V. Roozen created a garden with two ponds at the palace. Imperial residence in Tsarskoye Selo (Eugene Lanceray, gouache, 1905) During the reign of Elizabeth, Tsarskoye Selo became the imperial residence. In 1740-50s the modest palace of Catherine I was rebuilt into a luxurious summer residence, the Catherine Palace. Between 1751 and 1756 the reconstruction was led by Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli, The inflow of people to the area in the 1770s urged Catherine II to separate the Tsarskoye Selo from the urban area. By the decree of January 1780 she established a town Sofia nearby with a separate administration. Town meets deputies after the consecration of the Fyodor Cathedral (1912) A new park which later became Alexander Park was established in the 1770s to the west of the Catherine Palace, and in 1792–1795 Giacomo Quarenghi built the Alexander Palace at the north-eastern border of the park for the future emperor Alexander I. By 1817, Tsarskoye Selo had 15 streets, 354 buildings and a population of 4,000. The first public railway in the Russian Empire, Tsarskoselskaya Railway, was laid in 1837 and connected Tsarskoye Selo with the capital St. Petersburg. The prominent Catherine Cathedral was built in 1840. The town was expanding and by 1855 had 44 streets, 10 churches, 400 houses, 8 military barracks, 3 hospitals and a female seminary. After the start of World War II, on 17 September 1941, the town was occupied by the German troops. Several buildings of the palace complex were destroyed or damaged Post-Soviet period Since the early 1990s Pushkin became a luxury housing development area. Notable festivals are conducted every year on the weekend after the City Day (24 June). Large scale cleanup and reconstruction of the town was conducted before the celebration of the 300th anniversary of the town (24 June 2010). In April 2004 vandals pushed the monument of Lenin from its pedestal breaking the statue. The reconstruction of the Catherine Cathedral began on the place of the monument on 7 December 2006. Another monument of Lenin was heavily damaged on 6 December 2010 in an explosion staged by an unknown group. Coat of arms The coat of arms of Tsarskoye Selo was adopted on 12 March 1831 as a crowned monogram of Catherine I. It was however not the emblem of the city, but only of the imperial residence. Two town emblems were proposed by Baron Bernhard Karl von Koehne, one in 1859 and another in 1882, but neither was accepted. In Soviet times the town had no coat of arms. In 1990, the coat of arms of 1831 was registered as the emblem of Museum "Tsarskoye Selo" and for this reason could not be approved as a symbol of the city. The Decree of Pushkin City Council of 15 March 2001 approved the following coat of arms. It featured an oval shield with the monogram of Catherine I on red background. The shield was topped with a golden crown and had golden laurel branches underneath. On 25 March 2010, Pushkin Municipal Council approved the current four-panel coat of arms. Two of its panels feature identical crowned monograms of Catherine I on red background, and the other two parts depict a black double-headed eagle of the Catherine II era on a purple background. The eagle has a red tongue, golden beaks and claws and three crowns. In its right paw the eagle holds a silver torch burning with gold flame and in the left paw it has a two-legged silver anchor without a cross bar. The eagle's breast is covered with a blue oval shield with a silver cross on it; the rim of the shield is formed by a snake biting its tail. This 4-part coat is named as "extended" or "big" () whereas its one part with the Catherine I monogram is called "small" () and is also an official coat of arms of Pushkin. ==Geology==

The town is located on the Neva Lowland, on the left bank of the river Neva. The landscape is quite varied and contains hills, ridges and terraces intermixed with valleys, plains, forests and farmland. Numerous springs give rise to streams and feed ponds. In the Paleozoic era, 300–400 million years ago, the area was covered by a sea. Sediments of that time form a layer thicker than on top of the Baltic Shield consisting of granite, gneiss and diabase. The modern topography was shaped by the glacier retreat some 12,000 years ago which created the Littorina Sea. About 4,000 years ago the sea receded and formed the valley of the Neva River which has not changed much over the last 2,500 years. == Geography ==

Climate The climate in Pushkin is temperate and wet, it is transitional between oceanic and continental. The length of the day varies from 5 hours and 51 minutes in the winter solstice to 18 hours and 50 minutes in the summer solstice. Summer is short and moderately warm, whereas winter is long and uneven, with frequent thaws. Air temperatures above prevail from early April to mid-November. The coldest month is February. Winds mostly blow southward and frequently change air mass above the city. Summer is dominated by westerly and northwesterly winds, and the wind direction changes to westerly and southwesterly in winter. The cloudiest months are November, December and January, and the least cloudy are May, June and July. There are at least 240 sunny days per year. Between May 25 and July 16, white nights are observed when the sun only briefly goes over the horizon and the day lasts nearly 19 hours. The area is mostly fed by surface and ground waters. {{Weather box ==Soil, vegetation and wildlife==

Prior to the founding of the town the area was covered by temperate coniferous forests (mostly pine and fir) with an admixture of broad-leaved trees and fens. The soils were mostly podzol, combined with peat and gleysols. Intensive economic activities changed the original forest landscape to agricultural land with small groves of aspen, birch, alder and willow. In the 18–19th centuries, a large park area of 704 hectares has been created in and around the city. Owing to the parks and environment-friendly policies, the Pushkin area has relatively low level of pollution. There is a large number of birds, reptiles and invertebrates; also common are hare and muskrat. ==Population==

Working-age population makes 63% of the total, 13% are younger and 24% are older than the working age. The number of children born in 2008 was 1278; this is 137 more than in 2007, yet this about half of the value required for population replacement; 285 children were born by unmarried mothers. 1471 marriage and 742 divorce acts were registered in 2009. The fraction of women in the total population is 54%, and the difference is especially large (2700 women per 1000 men) for citizen outside of working age. The average age of residents is 40 years and is increasing. During 11 months of 2009, 19,316 foreign nationals were registered in Pushkin, that is 3,500 more than in 2008. ==Local government==

The Pushkin Municipal Council consists of twenty deputies who are elected in municipal elections in four multi-member electoral districts formed on the territory of the municipality, with the number of deputy mandates to be distributed in one district equal to five. As a result of the elections on 14 September 2014, the 5th convocation was elected. All 20 deputies are from United Russia (four resigned). In 2019, 18 deputies were elected to the VI convocation, of which 10 deputies were nominated by United Russia, four by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, two by Yabloko, one by A Just Russia – For Truth, and one self-nominated candidate. ==Layout and architecture of the town==

The modern layout of Pushkin was developed in the early 20th century, it consists of two main parts. The northeastern part (old Tsarskoye Selo) contains the oldest streets of the city, such as Sadovaya, Srednyaya and Malaya, and has the Cathedral Square in its center. At the request of Alexander I this part was surrounded by the Catherine and Alexander parks from the south and west and by the October and Sofia boulevards from the east and north. Yet, this part of the town has been constantly expanding, to the east up to the railroad and to the north up to Detskoselskiy boulevard. The southern part of the town is the former town of Sofia, planned by Catherine II and centered at the Sofia Square. To the north, east and west of this part lie the Catherine, Babolovo and Otdelny parks. The railroad to Pavlovsk and Vitebsk runs through the eastern border of the city. The major attractions of the town are described below. State Museum-Reserve "Tsarskoye Selo" This palace and park ensemble of 18th–19th centuries served as the royal residence and was converted into a museum after the nationalization in March 1918. It received its current status of museum-reserve in 1992. Restoration of the museum is partly supported by the World Bank; about US$4 million has been spent by 2008 and some US$3.2 million more is required to complete the restoration. The museum-reserve includes: Catherine Park The park is named in honor of the Empress Catherine I of Russia. It occupies an area of 107 hectares and consists of the regular Old Garden (1717–1720) and an English garden (1760–1796, architect Vasily Neyelov) separated by large ponds. • Pavel Chistyakov's home located in Moskovskoye Shosse, which is now a museum. Pavel Chistyakov was a realistic painter and teacher of Ilya Repin • Olenins' House, built in 1828 at 1/17 Pushkinskaya Street. • Kitaev's House, built in 1827. • The Cavalry Houses built 1752-1753 Nos. 4, 6, 10, 12 Sadovaya Street. • Court Riding Arena built in 1786, and rebuilt in 1819 at 32/24 Pushkinskaya Street. • Babolovo Park was established in the late 18th century and expanded to an area of 268.8 ha in 1820-1860s. It is connected by a straight lane with the Catherine Park. • Otdelny Park has an area of 100 hectares. It starts on the left side of the Sofia Boulevard and extends to Pavlovsk. The park contains Kolonistsky pond created in 1824–1825 for draining the surrounding countryside. • Fermsky Park is located near the Fedorovskiy town and Alexander Park. It was arranged by Adam Menelaws in 1818–1820 as a grazing area at the nearby imperial farm. A pond was dug in the park for watering. • Buffer Park has been established in the late 1980 – early 1990s. It is situated at the entrance to Pushkin through the Pulkovo highway. The park contains five ponds and is adjacent to Kuzminskoye Cemetery. Tsarskoselskaya Railway was passing through the park and its remains are still visible. • Vuyich's House, originally the garden of a house belonging to Ludwig-Wilhelm Tepper de Ferguson ==Economy==

As of January 1, 2010, there were 741 companies in Pushkin, including 165 in foodservice, 358 in trade and 53 in small retail sales, 162 in household services, as well as 8 supermarkets and one market. There are also large retail chains in the town. Mechanical engineering is the core industry of Pushkin. It is represented by such enterprises as plant "Sophia" (railway equipment), Pushkin's Engineering Works (road construction equipment), NGOs STIGMASH (boiler equipment), plant "Astra" and "DVT" (woodworking machinery). Several companies produce medical equipment. The town has an asphalt plant, a stone processing plant Medved' ("Bear"), and several woodworking and furniture production factories. The town has well-developed food industry which produced prefabricated frozen meat ("Daria"), beer (Tinkoff brewery is part of Anheuser-Busch InBev – the biggest beer producer in Russia), bread ("Tsarskoselsky bread"), among other products. The factory "СЛАВЯНСКИЙ" is one of the largest Russian producers of frame-panel houses. The Sofia area of Pushkin hosts a military garrison with several aircraft and artillery units and the military cooks school No. 228. Outside the town there is military airfield and an aircraft repair plant, which is part of Forces of central subordination of the Russian Air Force. ==Transportation==

Pushkin region has a well-developed system of commuter trains and buses, with 24 municipal and 17 commercial bus routes. A major railway line St. Petersburg – Vitebsk passes through the city. Saint Petersburg Ring Road and three major international highways run near Pushkin, namely M10 E105, M20 E95 and M11 E20. Pushkin is connected with St. Petersburg via Pulkovo, Moscow and Vitebsk highways. ==Culture==

Museums • Pushkin Museum is located in the one-story historical wooden house (1827, Pushkinskaya Street, 2/19). Here Pushkin spent the summer of 1831 with his wife Natalia. The exhibition contains his office and describes work of the poet at that time. • Historical museum of the town (1977) features about 30,000 exhibits related to the history of Tsarskoye Selo and its inhabitants. • Museum of the painter Pavel Chistyakov is valued not only by its exhibition, but also by its location in a historical Russian wooden house. • Museum "Tsarskoselskaya Collection" (1909) exhibits modern and traditional artworks created by leading masters of pictorial and plastic realism from 1910 to the present. It is housed in an Art Nouveau building with gothic elements. • Museum-exhibition "Anna Akhmatova. Tsarskoye Selo" (1999) is based on the collection of the honorary citizen A. D. Umnikov. Education and research Pushkin has 14 secondary schools, 24 kindergartens and nurseries, a boarding school, a high school, gymnasium, art school, music school, several foreign languages schools, cadet school, College of Traditional Culture and the St. Petersburg Railway College. Higher education is provided by the St. Petersburg State Agrarian University, Pushkin Leningrad State University, Institute of Law and Business, Naval Engineering Institute and a Military Institute of the Mozhaysky Military Space Academy. The town is a major center of agricultural science hosting a number of research centers and laboratories. They include the Northwestern Scientific Center of Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Genetics and Breeding of Farm Animals, All-Russian Research Institute of Plant Protection, All-Russian Research Institute for Agricultural Microbiology, Institute of Plant Industry, Research Institute of Chemical Soil Reclamation and many others. Religion The town has a large number of churches and chapels. Most of them are Orthodox and are objects of cultural heritage, and only a few are listed below: • Fedorovskiy Cathedral (1909–1912, architect Vladimir Pokrovsky, Academichesky Pr. 34) used to be a home church of the Imperial Family. The priests and servants of the cathedral stayed in the nearby Fedorovskiy Gorodok – a complex built in 1913-1917s in Russian Revival style. • Znamenskaya Church (1734–1747, architect Ivan Blank) is an acting Orthodox Church and the oldest stone building in the town in the Petrine Baroque style. The Church of Evangelical Christian Baptists is being restored. In addition, there is a Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). There are two cemeteries: Kazan (area 28.83 hectares) and Kuzminskoye (4.6 hectares). ==Sports==

From 1947 to 2010, the town has raised 3 Honored Master of Sports, 19 International Masters of Sports and 62 Masters of Sports. The stadium holds track and field athletics competitions and hosts the local football club "Tsarskoye Selo" founded in 2009. ==Media==

Pushkin has cable television which is also used, from 1991, for broadcasting the local radio station "Tsarskoye Selo". The local newspapers include is a small advertising and information newspaper distributed by hand; "Gazeta + TV" is weekly news advertising edition, and "Nash Pervyi" is a local advertising magazine. ==Twin towns – sister cities==

Pushkin is twinned with: • Aalborg, Denmark (2005) • Bălți, Moldova (2015) • Cambrai, France (2003) • Kalamazoo County, MI, United States (1992) • Mantua, Italy (2000) • Nassau County, NY, United States (1996) • Neukölln (Berlin), Germany (1991) • Novopolotsk, Belarus (2003) • Semey, Kazakhstan (1995) • Valence, France (2017) • Veria, Greece (2015) • Worcester, MA, United States (1987) • Zerbst, Germany (1994) ==References==