Park sights in Moscow
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Kuskovo Park & Mansion
When Count Pyotr Sheremetev married Varvara Cherkassakava in 1743, their joint property amounted to 1200 villages and 200,000 serfs. They turned their country estate at Kuskovo, 12km east of the Kremlin, into a mini-Versailles, with elegant buildings scattered around formal gardens, as well as an informal park. It’s a pleasant trip out from central Moscow. The main wooden mansion, Kuskovo Mansion, overlooks a lake where the count staged mock sea battles to entertain Moscow society. Across the lake to the south is the informal park. North of the mansion, in the formal grounds, are an orangery, now housing an exhibition of 18th- to 20th-century Russian ceramics; an open-a…
reviewed
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A
Patriarch’s Ponds
Patriarch’s Ponds harks back to Soviet days, when the parks were populated with children and babushky. You’ll see grandmothers pushing strollers, and lovers kissing on park benches. In summer children romp on the swings and monkey bars, while winter sees them ice skating on the pond. The small park has a huge statue of 19th-century Russian writer Ivan Krylov, known to Russian children for his didactic tales. Once this area contained several ponds that kept fish for the Patriarch’s court (hence the name). Patriarch’s Ponds were immortalised by writer Mikhail Bulgakov, who had the devil appear here in The Master and Margarita. The initial paragraph of the novel desc…
reviewed
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B
Gorky Park
Part ornamental park, part fun fair, Gorky Park is one of the most festive places in Moscow – a perfect way to escape the hubbub of the city. Officially the Park Kultury (Park of Culture), it’s named after Maxim Gorky. The park stretches almost 3km along the river, upstream of Krymsky most. You can’t miss the showy entrance, marked by colourful flags waving in the wind, and the happy sounds of an old-fashioned carousel. Inside, Gorky Park has a small Western-style amusement park, which features two roller coasters and almost a dozen other terror-inducing attractions (that is, aside from the view of the Peter the Great statue). Most of the rides cost around R50 to R100. Sp…
reviewed
