Home » Estonia » Park of the Forestry Academy: history, how to get there. Forestry Institute

Park of the Forestry Academy: history, how to get there. Forestry Institute

Forestry Academy Park is one of most picturesque places St. Petersburg from interesting story and a lot of attractions. The park is one of many examples of how popular it was among foreigners Russian Empire. At the beginning of the 19th century. British officer A. Davidson arrived in St. Petersburg to build a farm in accordance with all the rules of English agricultural science. Tsar Alexander I allocated the foreigner a plot on Spasskaya Manor, as well as a loan from the treasury.

Davidson turned out to be an adventurer. Having wasted money, he never built anything. In 1809, the Englishman fled from Russia, and the plot allocated to him again became state property.

In 1811, it was decided to transfer the Tsarskoye Selo Forestry Institute (now the Forestry Academy) to Spasskaya Manor. It was this event that played a key role in the history of the park.

Large-scale development of the territory began in 1827. Cedars, pines, spruces were planted on an area of 65 hectares, and several fruit nurseries, a greenhouse and a botanical garden were built. The famous botanist D. Bush was appointed head of the future park.

In 1830, the construction of new buildings of the Forestry Institute was completed, and two years later several canals were dug in the park.

In 1913, despite public protests, a branch of the Finnish Railway was built through the southern end of the park.

During the siege, the Germans subjected the park of the Forestry Academy to massive bombing, because according to their information, the bunker of the Red Army General Staff was located here. Some bombs were so powerful that ponds formed in the craters they left behind.

There are many different monuments installed in the park of the Forestry Academy, the most famous of which are the memorial in memory of the duel between V. Novosiltsev and K. Chernov and the granite obelisk in honor of the workers of the New Lessner plant who died in a clash with government forces in 1917.

Park attractions

The uniqueness of the building of the Forestry Academy is that it is a prefabricated structure consisting of houses of different years of construction, connected into a single complex. The first two houses were built in 1831; they housed the apartments of the director and teachers of the Forestry Institute.

In 1833, a brick one-story outbuilding was added to the complex, which was used as a student dormitory. Over the course of 10 years, new parts were added to the building and old, dilapidated ones were demolished.

The general architectural appearance of the building of the Forestry Academy was formed by 1840. It was a large building of 4 buildings with a large yard. The main facade was the southern one, to which three wings adjoined. A church was established on the mezzanine, which was replaced by a lecture hall in 1917.

In 1885, the building of the Forestry Institute was completely restored. During the renovation work, the main feature of the premises configuration was preserved - the combination of lecture halls with living rooms.

Nowadays, the building houses the St. Petersburg Forestry University.

Water tower

In 1909, the architect A. Dietrich completed the construction of a water tower in the park of the Forestry Academy. Work on its construction lasted 2 years. It was planned that the facility would supply water to the building of the Forestry Institute, however, later another water supply solution was found. As a result, the tower was never used for its intended purpose, turning into an important architectural object of the park.

The tower is made of red brick, decorated with porticoes and false columns. The structure is distinguished by its austere beauty and resembles the towers of medieval fortresses.

Memorial in memory of the duel between Chernov and Novosiltsev

A monument with one of the most dramatic backstories is installed in the park of the Forestry Academy. This is a simple granite monument with an inscription stating that on this place on September 10, 1825, a duel between adjutant V. Novosiltsev and lieutenant K. Chernov took place.

The young people were 20 years old, both received mortal wounds. The death of Chernov, who was a member of the secret society of Decembrists and a relative of K. Ryleev, led to the first mass demonstration in Russia.

The reason for the duel was very banal at that time: V. Novosiltsev, belonging to a wealthy family, refused to marry K. Chernov’s sister, despite the promise made earlier. Novosiltsev's refusal was caused by his mother's dissatisfaction.

Ryleev pushed Chernov into the fatal duel in every possible way, playing almost the key role in it. Chernov and Novosiltsev shot from a minimum distance of five steps. According to the terms of the duel, the duel was to continue until someone was killed. The very first shots turned out to be fatal for both the lieutenant and the adjutant.

A monument dedicated to this event appeared in the park already in 1834, but in Soviet era it was demolished. In 1988, a new monument by architect V. Vasilkovsky was erected here. The descendants of K. Chernov took part in the opening of the stele.

The park of the Forestry Academy (now a university) has been familiar to me since childhood. Unusual hilly terrain, completely unusual for our city, winding paths, picturesque ponds... This park has a long and glorious history associated with the names of outstanding forest scientists and landscape gardeners. I know that this green corner is very loved by residents of the surrounding areas, for them it is best place relaxation and inspiration.

Such “beauty” is very close to the main building. PHOTO by Sergei GRITSKOV

- Have you been to our park for a long time? - Natalya Bolshakova, a teacher at Gymnasium No. 74, who lives not far from him, asked me. - Come see what's happening with us. It’s a sad sight: it’s clear that the park hasn’t been cleared of wild growth for a long time, the paths haven’t been swept... There aren’t even benches anywhere. Everyone who comes here says: the park is wonderful, but how unkempt it is! How sorry for him! It is surprising that the desolation occurs at an educational institution, which is designed to train and educate future foresters...

We started our journey through the green area from the side of Karbysheva Street from the former water tower - a monument cultural heritage federal significance. The tall red brick building, erected by architect Adam Dietrich, is a striking example of early 20th century industrial architecture. The narrow windows at the very top make it look like the keep of a medieval castle.

I remember how some time ago, when the building was leased to the Green Wave environmental movement, life began to boil here. Volunteers were involved in renovations, music concerts were held... However, the cost of rent increased, and the “informals” moved out. Since then, the tower has been empty and began to collapse...

The Committee for State Control, Use and Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments saw this as a violation of the university’s security obligations and, through the Arbitration Court, recovered 250 thousand rubles from the Forestry University. He also ordered that documentation for a technical inspection of the building’s load-bearing structures be completed and agreed upon within six months, and restoration carried out within 30 months.

But it was already too late. The empty tower suffered the same misfortune that usually happens to abandoned buildings: there was a fire. The brick walls survived, but the inside of the building burned out, the roof collapsed...

- Yes, after the fire, a temporary roof was erected, but - please note - its dimensions are smaller than the perimeter of the tower, and rainwater flows under it. It shouldn't be this way , - Nina Adonina, director of the botanical garden of the Forestry University, enters the conversation. - The roof could have been made with an outlet of at least half a meter.

But what a highlight this building could be! The student scientific society, led by Natalya Bolshakova, has prepared a concept for adapting the building for local history museum. There is a precedent: a similar tower on the territory of the Polytechnic University is not only in perfect condition, but also serves as a decoration for the university park. Moreover, it is used precisely as a museum.

Nina Adonina has her own vision:

- It would be possible to make a museum of the Forestry University here - this is the oldest forestry university in the country. He turned 215 this year. There are unique exhibits. The museum would be of interest not only to students and teachers. It would be even better to set up a cultural and educational center here.

Alas, dreams are still shattered by the reality that we have to observe every day. For example, in the area near the 2nd academic building, where the foundation was being repaired this spring and early summer.

- Look for yourself: the work was carried out sloppily, not to say barbarically. After the renovation was completed, the adjacent territory of the park was not put in order. Reinforcement and pieces of concrete were thrown directly onto the protruding tree roots. But these larches are one and a half hundred years old. One of the ones that bent over had some of its roots cut off... I tried to fight, but it was all useless , says Adonina.

Another sad thing is the fate of the old greenhouse in the botanical garden of the Forestry Technical University on the west side of house No. 5, letter C, on Institutsky Lane.

- They decided to renovate the greenhouse, and in principle it was correct. But instead, it was simply demolished, and in its place they erected something like a huge greenhouse with polycarbonate glazing, which is also much larger in size than the previous greenhouse , says Adonina. - They built it quickly and not very well: the foundation is not insulated, there is no waterproofing. From the destroyed greenhouse, only a small fragment of a brick wall, used for heating, survived: air ducts ran inside it.

As it turns out, the greenhouse was dismantled without permission or approval from KGIOP. And although it was not an object of cultural heritage and a subject of protection, it was located within the boundaries of the monument, so they had no right to do so freely with it.

- The demolished greenhouse also had memorial significance , says Adonina. - According to the recollections of the oldest employees of the academy, it operated throughout the blockade and practically not a single plant died in it. In addition, during the first, most terrible winter of the siege, people were warmed up in this greenhouse. The stove here was heated constantly, it gave very good heat...

Now the security department is trying to get the new greenhouse to be demolished and the old greenhouse recreated through the courts.

As for the park itself, back in September last year the Arbitration Court recovered 200 thousand rubles from the Forestry Technical University “for failure to comply with the requirements of the protective obligation”, and also ordered that landscaping be carried out within nine months from the date the court decision entered into legal force.

In order to be objective, we asked what they thought about this at the Forestry University itself. In previous years, the park was maintained by its botanical garden, and since September last year, by its own gardening and park management. This is a new structure created from scratch. It consists of 22 people - landscapers, janitors, engineering and technical workers, and transport workers. In addition, students are involved in maintaining the park: they provide great assistance during educational and practical training.

As Nikolai Voronkov, director of the gardening and park management, said, the territory is large, 50 hectares, and there are really a lot of difficulties with its maintenance. There is no targeted funding for the park, so the university administration has to find extra-budgetary funds.

- When the park was run by the botanical garden, they only removed garbage there. Now we have a completely different scale of work , Voronkov explained optimistically. - We lead sanitary cabin, we take care of the paths, we work on the drainage system. And a lot more is planned... If previously the main means of “mechanization” were only rakes, now we have mowers, trimmers, and blowers for collecting leaves. True, the mini-tractors for which we submitted an application to the ministry have not yet been given to us, but we will apply again this year.

I really want to believe what was said, but what we saw with our own eyes still suggests that today the park clearly does not have enough maintenance. In ideal condition, only its “representative” and educational parts are within a radius of several hundred meters from the facade of the main building. And if you move a little further, then, alas, you can see a very unsightly picture...

Comments

History of the park

St. Petersburg is famous for its wonderful cultural heritage and especially its parks, which provide shelter from noise and dust big city. They help you stay alone with yourself and your loved ones, and take your mind off things while walking. One of these places was the Forestry Academy Park.

Initially, the land around the institute was a wetland. In 1825, Yegor Kankrin, the Minister of Finance of that time, proposed a project for the development of this territory. Places were planned for buildings, residential buildings, vegetable gardens and a landscaped “English park”. After 5 years, the famous gardener Joseph Bush was offered to develop and lead the park project. The project was developed in two years and already in 1832 canals were dug and the area began to be drained. Over the course of several years, the future Murinsky Avenue, Novorossiyskaya Street and Karbysheva Street were laid on the territory of the park, but the work stopped there. As always, the money ran out. The Forestry Institute decided to sell part of the land for the construction of apartment buildings and summer cottages. In 1911, the Finnish Line began to be laid along the southern side of the park. railway. As a result, the park's area was significantly reduced compared to the original design.

Burials and war years

Here are the graves of the Red Guards of the Pulkovo plant, shot by the White Guards during the revolution. The chief gardener of the park, Egbert Wolf, who was the permanent keeper of the park since 1886 for more than 45 years, until his death, is buried here. Every summer he planted flower beds along the university, which were considered the best in the city.

Not far away are the graves of the phenologist D. Kaigorodov and Doctor of Agricultural Sciences M. Tkachenko.

During the siege of Leningrad, the reserve headquarters of the Leningrad Military District was located in the park, which is why the park was especially often bombed.

Duel between Novosiltsev and Chernov

The duel took place on September 10, 1825 at 6 a.m. and became one of the loudest in St. Petersburg at that time. The reason for her was Novosiltsev’s refusal to marry Chernov’s sister after the engagement. Chernov considered his sister’s honor insulted.

The duelists mortally wounded each other and after a while both died. Subsequently, the funeral of Chernov, who was a Decembrist and a member of the Northern Secret Society, was given political overtones; he was buried by his comrades in the Smolensk cemetery.

The reason for Novosiltsev’s refusal to marry was the tough position of his mother, Ekaterina Vladimirovna Novosiltseva, daughter of V.G. Orlov. From her point of view, Chernova was not a suitable match for her son. Realizing that it was she who was responsible for the death of her son, the countess accepted mourning, which she observed until her death, bought the inn where her son died and built a temple in its place, named in honor of Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir, which was blown up in 1932.

The place of the duel was initially marked by stone pipes, at a distance of 18 steps, according to the original position of the duelists. Before the Great Patriotic War, the memorial was lost, and in 1960 it was restored in a modified form, with a distance of 8 steps. Subsequently, in 1988, through the efforts of the director of the library of the Forestry Institute T.A. Zueva, a granite memorial was erected with a text describing those events. Architect V.S. Vasilkovsky chose gray granite for the monument, with the inscription “On September 10, 1825, at this place a duel took place between member of the Northern secret society K. P. Chernov and V. D. Novosiltsev. K. P. Chernov’s second was K. F. Ryleev. Funeral of K. P. Chernov resulted in the first mass demonstration organized by members of the Northern Secret Society of Decembrists."

Serdobol Pond

One of the first to be created was the Serdobolsky pond, located along Engels Avenue and Bolshoi Sampsonievsky Avenue. Water lilies grow in the pond, and along the banks there are rose hips and cattails (reeds).

Jordan Pond

Around 1841, the tradition of a procession to Jordan Pond arose. After the revolution, religious processions were stopped, but recently the tradition has begun to revive. On August 14, the Orthodox community of the academy performs a Procession of the Cross and a Holy Moleben from the main building of the academy to the pond.

flower pond

The Flower Pond is the closest to the main buildings of the Forestry Academy. Ducks are almost always swimming in the pond, and at the beginning of summer you can also see broods of ducklings. As in many other ponds located in parks, there are always people on the shore who want to feed the birds. The upper bank of the pond is unpaved, and the lower bank is equipped with wooden logs - stilts, so you can walk close to the water or sit on the stilts while feeding the birds.

Long Pond

The long pond is a long trench that turns into a wide ditch in the middle and ends with a dam with wooden fencing railings. The pond is quite deep and surrounded by a botanical garden.

Water tower

The water tower building was built by architect Adam Dietrich in 1902, a teacher at the institute. The architect planned to provide the territory of the institute with artesian water, but the project failed, although water pipelines for this purpose had already been built. It turned out that the iron content in the resulting water was too high and the water was not suitable for drinking. The completed tower was turned into a meteorological observatory. The famous engineer A.S. Popov conducted radio experiments on the tower, and it still contains a post for determining the groundwater level.

The tower is 30 meters high and built of red brick. The interior is divided by metal ceilings and steep stairs between them. Initially, the tower had a wooden superstructure, which burned down in a fire.

Forestry Academy Park

St. Petersburg Forestry Academy is one of the oldest industry educational institutions in Europe. It traces its ancestry back to the Practical Forestry School, founded in 1803 in Tsarskoye Selo. In 1811, the school received the status of an institute; in 1862, the institute was reorganized and became an Academy.

Modern students of the Academy understand their family connection with the subject of study exclusively literally, and therefore their beloved Alma mater is called nothing more than “wooden wood”, “Sawmill”, “oak college”, “wooden academy”. And they call themselves “bark beetles.” Even the image of a representative of the better half of the student body is associated among young people only with the professional profile of the university: “sex mills from the Sawmill.”

The buildings of the Forestry Academy are located along Institutsky Lane, in the middle of the park, which is known in student slang as the “Bark Beetle Park.”

Forestry Institute, main building. Photos from the early 20th century

Before the revolution, the so-called Novosiltsevskaya Church stood in the park of the Forestry Academy. This is the name given to a small church in St. Petersburg in the name of St. Prince Vladimir, Equal to the Apostles, built in 1834–1838 on the corner of Sampsonievsky Prospekt and Novosiltsevskaya Street according to the design of the architect I. I. Charlemagne. The church and almshouse attached to it were founded at the expense of Ekaterina Vladimirovna Novosiltseva in memory of her son, the young aide-de-camp Vladimir Novosiltsev, who died untimely in a duel with Konstantin Chernov. The duel took place on one of the shady alleys of the Forestry Academy park. Both duelists mortally wounded each other. Chernov died on the spot, and Novosiltsev was carried to the nearest inn and, for lack of other options, laid on the green cloth of a billiard table. A few hours later he died too. They say that the throne of the Novosiltsevskaya Church is located exactly on the site of this table.

There are other traces of that unfortunate duel in the park. On one of the alleys there are still two large round stones at a distance of 25 steps from each other. Stones mark the places where young people stood, aiming at each other before the fatal shots.

In St. Petersburg, the duel between Novosiltsev and Chernov caused a huge public outcry. The funeral turned into a crowded public demonstration, and then a custom arose in the city, which had been cultivated for a long time among the guards. In case of imminent danger, before being sent to the front, an upcoming duel or other extraordinary events in the life of an officer, the guards came to the Novosiltsevskaya Church to pray, confess or simply stand in front of its sacred images.

Park of the Forestry Institute. Photos from the early 20th century

In 1932, the church was blown up, and the almshouse was rebuilt and turned into one of laboratory buildings Forestry Academy. Nowadays it houses a dental clinic in the Vyborg region.

From the book Daily life Russian estate of the 19th century author Okhlyabinin Sergey Dmitrievich

Bogoroditsky Park. Bogoroditsky Park. Watercolor A.T.

From the book 100 Great Sights of St. Petersburg author Myasnikov senior Alexander Leonidovich

Alexander Park It is unlikely that you can find another park whose name would be equivalent to the toponymy of the city, like a street, avenue or square. And Alexander Park became one. Therefore, the seemingly strange address of Aleksandrovsky Park, building No. 4 is the address of the Baltiysky Theater

From the book Air War in the Skies of Western Europe [Memoirs of a Bomber Pilot, 1944–1945] by Tripp Miles

5. Ray Park I knew that Ray came from a village in Norfolk and had a sneaking suspicion that "St Mary" was part of its name. Three such villages actually existed near Norwich, and I decided, when the weather improved, to go there and make inquiries. Search via

From the book Book of Changes. The fate of St. Petersburg toponymy in urban folklore. author

Ekateringof, park 1711. In 1711, on the seaside near the mouth of the Fontanka, where the Russians won their first naval victory over the Swedes on May 7, 1703, Peter built a country estate for his wife Ekaterina Alekseevna. The estate was named Ekateringof, that is, “Catherine’s courtyard,” according to

From the book Streets of the Petrograd Side. Houses and people author Privalov Valentin Dmitrievich

Alexander Park This green area stretches over 18 hectares between the Kronverksky Strait and Kronverksky Avenue. Here are located the zoo, the Baltic House theater, the Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedics named after R.R. Vreden (currently the building is occupied by the State

author

Park named after January 9 The park was founded on May 1, 1920, the day of the first communist subbotnik. The name of the park is due to the fact that the village of Tentelevka was located here, from where on January 9, 1905, on the day of Bloody Sunday, the workers of the Narva outpost came to Winter Palace. This

From the book Leningrad Utopia. Avant-garde in architecture Northern capital author Pervushina Elena Vladimirovna

Park named after I.V. Babushkina At the end of the 19th century, the park, where the hunting lodge of Catherine II was previously located, went to the Kalinkinsky Brewery Partnership and was named “Vienna”, according to the old name of the plant. In 1891, the Vienna Garden was bought by the Nevsky Organization Society

author

Gorky Park of Culture (now Park of Culture) The final station of the First Stage, located under the Crimean Square of the Garden Ring, was called “Crimean Square” in the project. The word "square" in the names of stations was often omitted, and the station should have been

From the book Stalin's Metro. Historical guide author Zinoviev Alexander Nikolaevich

Gorky Park of Culture (now Park of Culture) The Gorky PKiO station opened on January 1, 1950 as part of the first section of the Circle Line. The station received its name from the adjacent radial station, opened as part of the First Phase of the metro. The author of the station is

From the book Heart on the Palette - Artist Zurab Tsereteli author Kolodny Lev Efimovich

RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF ARTS. CHAPTER FOURTEEN is about how Tsereteli was elected president of the Russian Academy of Arts and what he did for it, which almost collapsed into the sovereign academies of Moscow and St. Petersburg. All state academies of the Soviet

author Sindalovsky Naum Alexandrovich

Alexandrovsky Park St. Petersburg residents also loved Alexandrovsky Park, which is closest to the new Trinity Bridge. This is perhaps the youngest park in the city center. It was smashed under the walls Peter and Paul Fortress, between the Kronverksky Strait and Kronverksky Prospekt in August

From the book Legends of St. Petersburg gardens and parks author Sindalovsky Naum Alexandrovich

Specific Park In 1832, the Specific Agricultural School was founded in St. Petersburg to train managers and caretakers of exemplary country estates. The name comes from the Department of Appanages, which was in charge of the school. After the abolition of serfdom

From the book Legends of St. Petersburg gardens and parks author Sindalovsky Naum Alexandrovich

Piskarevsky Park At the beginning of the 19th century, merchant Piskarev bought a vast wasteland next to Grazhdanka for the subsequent sale of plots for residential development. This is how a village arose, immortalizing the name of an enterprising merchant in its name. In 1941, unremarkable,

From the book Legends of St. Petersburg gardens and parks author Sindalovsky Naum Alexandrovich

Shuvalovsky Park In the 18th century, the lands along the ancient Vyborg road north of Ozerki belonged to the Vyborg chief commandant Shuvalov. TO mid-19th century, in the Shuvalovo forests a park was laid out with an embankment mountain, known in folklore as “Parnassus”, and two

From the book Legends of St. Petersburg gardens and parks author Sindalovsky Naum Alexandrovich

Ekateringofsky Park On May 7, 1703, two Swedish warships - the galliot "Gedan" and the shnyava "Astrild" - entered the mouth of the Neva and stood opposite the Kalinka village. Soldiers of the Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky regiments, led by the bombardier, came out to meet them in thirty small ships.

From the book Wonderful China. Recent travels to the Celestial Empire: geography and history author Tavrovsky Yuri Vadimovich

Yiheyuan Park For me, one of my favorite corners of the Northern capital, as the Chinese name for Beijing (Beijing) is translated, has been the summer imperial park Yiheyuan (Harmony Preservation Park) for several years now. He served the Sons of Heaven and their courtiers throughout

The area where the forestry university park is located was part of the “English farm” of Captain Alexander Davidson at the beginning of the 19th century. In 1809, the farm was transferred to the treasury; in 1811, the Forestry Institute, which moved from Tsarskoye Selo, was located here.
In 1825, the project of the Minister of Finance Yegor Kankrin on the prospects for the development of this territory was approved. This project identified places here for buildings, vegetable gardens and an English park. In 1826–1830, new buildings were built for the Forestry Institute. In 1830, the famous court gardener Joseph Bush was invited here to implement the project. In 1832, large-scale drainage work began here: canals were dug, the largest of which ran along modern Lesnoy Avenue. In 1835, a number of streets were laid on the territory of the park, which in the future became the 1st and 2nd Murinsky Avenues, Novorossiysk and Karbysheva streets.
Since the 1830s, due to a lack of funds, the Forestry Institute began to sell part of its lands, and the territory of the park began to shrink. Dacha farms began to grow on the sold territory.
In 1841, a tree nursery was founded in the western part of the park. At the same time, a tradition arose to organize a religious procession to the Jordan Pond on August 1. This tradition has recently been revived.
In 1911–1913, the route of the connecting branch of the Finnish Railway passed through the southern part of the park.
The fact that Lesnoy Park survived the revolution is due primarily to the outstanding scientist Egbert Ludvigovich Wolf, who was Lesnoy’s chief gardener for forty-five years - from 1886 until his death. Wolf did a great job of improving the park and wrote a description of it. He was the author of more than two hundred scientific papers on dendrology, which were published in four languages. In the city, he was well known not only by specialists: every year in front of the main building of the institute, Wolf planted flower beds, which were rightfully considered the best in St. Petersburg. Egbert Ludwigovich did not leave his park even during the years of devastation, becoming its “guardian angel”.
During the siege of Leningrad, the park of the Forestry Academy was subjected to particularly frequent bombing. According to some reports, there was a bunker of the reserve headquarters of the Leningrad Military District here.

In common parlance the park is called "Lesotechnichka".

They wanted to make the park closed in 2018, and even managed to seal up some of the exits to Novorossiyskaya Street, but after popular outrage they abandoned this idea.
According to the General Plan, the park territory belongs to zones P4 (zone of palace and park complexes and historical parks)
The territory adjacent to the buildings of the institute belongs to zone D (zone of all types of public and business development including residential buildings and facilities engineering infrastructure, related to the maintenance of this zone) There are 2 such zones in the park.