Park Zverinets

Park Zverinets in Gatchina

Park Zverinets is an ancient landscape park in Gatchina, located on both sides of the Gatchinka River. The picturesque green zone covers 340 hectares and is very popular with the city residents and tourists. Park Zverinets was founded in the 1770s under Count Grigory Grigorievich Orlov and became a tribute to the ancient tradition when exotic animals were kept at the royal palaces and in the estates of rich nobles.

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Highlights

The regular rectangular layout of the Menagerie was of practical importance. There were seven circular viewing platforms on the twelve main glades. The sagebrush was used to corral animals during hunting, and from the observation decks hunters could see the game clearly and aim accurately.

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Ivan IV the Terrible and Alexei Mikhailovich had their own menageries. Under Peter the Great, a menagerie was located in the Lower Park of Peterhof. Empress Catherine II liked to present live gifts to Count Orlov, who liked noisy entertainment in the bosom of nature. It is known that at the end of the XVIII century in the park contained several species of deer, elk, fallow deer, wild goats, hares and pheasants.

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Nowadays, hikers and nature lovers come to the old park. The menagerie looks very picturesque and is a real monument of landscape art. Visitors to the park get a lot of impressions and pleasure from the opening landscapes – the Gatchinka valley, straight green glades, flowering edges and old bridges.

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History of Zverinets Park

In 1765, Russian Empress Catherine II granted Gatchina to her favorite Count G. G. Orlov. Under him the foundations of the palace and park ensemble were laid – roads, bridges over the river and entrance gates were built. In spacious pens of the park Zverinets the Count kept various, including exotic animals. They were used for shooting during hunts, in which the Empress and her entourage liked to take part.

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In 1783, the son of Catherine II and Peter III – Paul Petrovich – became the owner of Gatchina. Under him, the parks and palaces turned into a luxurious imperial residence. In 1782-1790 the park Zverinets acquired a modern look. According to the project of the garden master J. Geketa, regular alleyways were laid through it, more than 30 thousand linden trees were planted and camels were brought in.

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In the 1840s, six wooden bridges and one lift bridge over the Gatchinka were built in the park. The riverbed was widened and an artificial flowing pond with an area of 1.4 hectares and a depth of more than 1 meter was arranged on it. Ten embankment islands were made on the lake.

In 1838-1844 the hunting reserve was fenced. The new fence was made of cross-bonded spruce stakes, its length amounted to 8 km. The fence completely blended in with the surrounding trees and could only be noticed when approaching up close. This caused astonishment to the guests of the Zoo, so the spruce fence was called “ha-ha”, which corresponded to the Russian exclamation “ah-ah” in the European manner.

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During the reign of Emperor Alexander II, the Zverinets Park was also actively developed. The surrounding swamps were drained, and wooden bridges were replaced with metal ones with stone supports. The reserve was under the Jägermeister’s administration, and its territory was used for hunting by the Emperor and his entourage. Buildings for guests and gamekeepers, a lodge for the emperor and a kennel were erected for this purpose. The park contained 347 animals – several species of deer, bison, wild boars, hares and otters.

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After the February Revolution of 1917, the territory of the Zverinets was opened to all comers. In the park there was a notable Jaeger’s lodge, the furniture inside of which was made of reindeer antlers, and the ceiling and walls were covered with picturesque paintings depicting ruins on a forested mountain. However, this lodge only lasted until the 1920s, and then it was destroyed.

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During the Great Patriotic War, Zverinets Park, as well as the whole of Gatchina, was severely damaged. The bridges across the Gatchinka River closest to the Palace Park were blown up by the Nazis, so in the post-war years, extensive restoration work had to be carried out to restore the palace and park ensemble.

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How to get there

Park Zverinets is located to the north of the Palace Park of Gatchina and the regular Sylvia Park. From Moskovskaya metro station to Gatchina there is bus number 431 and marshrutkas number 18 and 18A. The park can also be reached on foot from the Gatchina Baltiyskaya or Marienburg railway stations, where electric trains from the Baltiyskiy railway station stop.

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