Moscow Guide
Zamoskvareche and the south
Tsaritsyno
Address: Tsaritsyno is 3km south of Kolomenskoe. Alighting at Tsaritsyno station, use the exit at the front of the train, turn left and go on to the end of the underpass; bear right beneath two railway bridges past an electronics market and follow the road round to the right until you see the woods, then left along a road past two ponds
Telephone: 322 68 43
Website: www.tsaritsyno-museum.ru
Opening time: The grounds are open day and night; the Great Palace and the Bread House are open Wed– Fri 11am–5pm and Sat & Sun 11am–9pm
Price: No tickets are required to enter the grounds; the two sights that do require tickets are the Great Palace (R200) and the Bread House (R150)
The ruined palace of Tsaritsyno is an Imperial summer retreat that never was: a grandiose project that consumed resources for decades, only to be aborted as it neared fruition. Its history goes back to the sixteenth century, when Irina, the wife of Tsar Fyodor, had an estate here, which passed eventually from Peter the Great to the Moldavian Prince Dmitri Cantemir, whose writer son sold it back to Catherine the Great for 25,000 rubles in 1775.
Almost all the buildings at Tsaritsyno have been restored and the best time to arrive is the evening when the lights in the buildings and grounds turn the ponds and walkways into a magical wonderland.
One of the most imposing structures is the Great Palace (Bolshoy dvorets), whose twin wings stretch for 130m, replete with pilastered corner towers and rows of lofty pointed arches. Inside, it houses a museum, displaying some of Tsaritsyno's vast collection of antique tapestries, Russian and Central Asian folk art, contemporary glassware, ceramics and naive paintings.
By following a paved path back into the woods you'll reach the ornamental Bread Gate (Khlebniy vorota), leading into what was to have been the palace courtyard. Adjacent is the reconstructed Bread House (Khlebniy dom), an enormous oval structure that was meant to be the palace kitchens. Its name comes from the white-stone images of a loaf of bread and a salt cellar on its walls, and the building now houses art exhibitions and musical concerts.