Sightseeing

STRELNA Nowadays Strelna is a luxurious architectural complex comprising Constantinovsky Palace and a number of richly decorated cottages bearing the names of the Russian cities called "The Consular Village". But several years ago the site was dilapidated and no one could foresee this wealth and beauty. Initially Strelna was one of the ancient settlements on the Southern shore of the Gulf of Finland populated by Russians and Finns at the times of Great Novgorod and the Russian and Swedes had been fighting for this land for centuries with varying success until in 1617 the area was finally captured by Sweden. But in the course of the Northern War, Russia recovered its outlet to the Baltic Sea and the development of this territory was started. Initially the tsar Peter the Great wanted to found in Strelna an opulent palace and park ensemble with fountains and cascades to rival the French Versailles, but later on he changed his mind and drew his attention totally to the construction of Peterhof leaving the Strelna undeveloped with only a few canals dug and several trees planted. Although the tsar planned Strelna to be the main naval residence and the prominent architects - Leblon and Rastrelli worked out the project of the future edifice, only a modest wooden palace was constructed here in the beginning of the 18th century. In 1720 it was transformed into a proper residence by the architect Nikolo Miketti and later on the work was continued by a group of Russian architects headed by M. Zemskov - the altered palace was presented to Tsar’s daughter Elizabeth, but nevertheless it was used not as a royal residence but as utilities, while the gardens and hothouses of Strelna supplied Russian emperors with best fruits and vegetables and the giant vaults of the palace were used as wine-cellars. After the edifice was rebuilt by architect Voronihin in 1803, the palace became a residence of Catherine II, and in the long run after the reconstruction supervised by the architect Stakenschneider (the Great Palace that was tremendously damaged by fires of the 1830s), the edifice was presented to Constantine, the son of Nicholas I (since then the palace and the park were officially called Konstantinovsky). Belonging to the imperial family until the October Revolution of 1917, when palaces and parks of Strelna were nationalized and the personal possessions of the august persons, books, documents, luxurious collection of paintings and pottery were dispersed to different museums of Petrograd, the palace with all the premises was burnt during the World War II. The terrifically damaged palace was restored between 1949–1955, but remained abandoned. Only in 2002 by the celebrations of the 300th anniversary of Saint Petersburg foundation, when the President of Russia Vladimir Putin decided to make his official residence in Strelna, the palace undergone complete reconstruction and obtained the status of the State Complex "Palace of Congresses" that is used as a State residence, museum and business center at the same time.

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