Gatchina, town

Subject / Topography/Cities
GATCHINA (Trotsk in 1923-27, Krasnogvardeisk in 1927-44), a town in Leningrad Oblast, adm. center of Gatchina District. Population: 82,900 (the largest town in the Leningrad Oblast.) First mentioned in the Novgorod scribe roll of 1499 -1500 as Khotchino village, Dyaglino Pogost, Vodskaya Pyatina. According to one of the versions, the name originates from the Novgorod name Khot (Khochen.) Town from 1796. Since 1927, the center of Gatchina District. In 1996-2005, a separate municipal entity. In the 1st half of the 18th century, the Gatchina country house was owned by Natalia Alexeevna, sister to Peter I; after that, by Court Physicians R. Erskine and I. Blumentrost, and Prince A. B. Kurakin. In 1765, Catherine II purchased the farmstead and granted it to Count G. G. Orlov, who started construction of a landscape park, and next a palace (see Gatchina park and palace ensemble) . In 1783, the estate was repurchased by the Treasury, became property of Tsesarevich Paul, heir to the Russian throne (later Emperor Paul I) and his favorite residence. The reign of Paul I (1796–1801) was the time of active construction in G. (see Priorate Palace, “Connetable”, the obelisk.) In the 2nd half of the 18th century, the Gatchina downtown began to develop. Among the architectural monuments of the19th century are classicist buildings erected in the 1820s-1850s according to designs or under control of A. M. Baikov (Chief Architect of G. in 1824-52), the Ingerburg Gate and Smolensk Gate (1831-32, arch. V. A. Glinka), and building of the Roman Catholic Church of the Carmelite Virgin. In the 2nd half of the 19th century (after construction of two Gatchina-SPb railway branch lines in 1853 and 1859) G. and its environs became a favorite summer recreation place for SPb residents. From the 1880s G. became a center of aeronautics where pilots were trained and new airplane models tested. During the Civil War and WWII, the military operations took place on the territory of G. and greatly damaged the town. In the Soviet period, G. became a large industrial center. At different periods, among the residents of G. were writer A. I. Kuprin, poet I. Severyanin, musicians M. A. Balakirev, A. K. Glazunov, M. M. Ippolitov-Ivanov, cartoonist P. E. Scherbov, painters A. K. Beggrow and F. A. Vasiliev, chess player M. I. Chigorin, electric engineer M. O. Dolivo-Dobrovolsky, aviator P. N. Nesterov, and other figures of science and culture. A museum-reserve, based on the park and palace complex, was established (see Gatchina, State Museum-Reserve); there are also Gatchina town museum of regional studies, Museum of Aviation Engineering, Museum of Nuclear Energy Development, and historical and memorial museum-estate of P. E. Scherbov. Kolyady folklore ensemble, Akvarel folk academic choir, children’s Ensemble of Gusli Players, “Za Uglom” folk theater studio, and Grotesque folk circus were established at the town house of culture . G. has “Katyusha” Costume Theater, “Vstrechi” Municipal Theater for children and youth (founded 1988), “Harmonica” accordion orchestra , children’s school of arts (founded 1959) and Folk Philharmonic established on its base in 1967, which regularly arranges music and art events; municipal Creative Development School (est. 1991), M. M. Ippolitov-Ivanov Children’s School of Music, A. I. Kuprin Gatchina central town library, Gatchina town children’s library, Gatchina central district library. The magazine Vest and over ten newspapers, incl. “Gatchinskaya Pravda”, “Gatchina-Info”, and “Spektr-Gatchina” are published in the town; also, Radio Gatchina and AriT and Oreol TV broadcast in the town . G. hosts international theatrical festivals “Avant-garde and Traditions”, “Friend Reunions”, “Theater Island”, Russian cinema festival “Literature and Cinema”, CIS Cup ballroom dancing tournament, international competition of organists, town children’s creativity festival “The Star Rain”, choral festivals incl. sacred festival “Christ Is Born, Glorify Him!” Since 1989 annually, every third Saturday in September, the Town Day is celebrated as “Gatchina Be Praised” feast. There are some parishes registered in G.: Russian Orthodox parishes of the Cathedral of Apostle Paul, of the Cathedral of Intercession of the Holy Virgin , of the Church of Intercession of the Holy Virgin in Marienburg, of the Trinity Church in the Gatchina Museum-Reserve, parish of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria at the Lutheran Church of St. Nicholas.
See also: Gatchina Town, coat of arms. Chistyakov, Anton Yuryevich
Areskin, Robert
Baikov, Aleksey Mikailovich
Balakirev, Mily Alekseyevich
Beggrov, Aleksandr Karlovich
Blumentrost, Johann Deodat (Ivan Bogdanovich)
Catherine II, Empress
Chigorin, Mikhail Ivanovich
Chkalov, Valery Pavlovich
Dolivo-Dobrovolsky, Mikhail Osipovich
Frenz, Rudolf Rudilfovich1
Glazunov, Aleksandr Konstantinovich
Glinka, Vasily Andreyevich
Ippolitov-Ivanov, Mikhail Mikhailovich
Kuprin, Aleksandr Ivanovich
Kurakin, Aleksandr Borisovich, Prince
Natalya Alekseyevna, Tsarina
Nesterov, Pyotr Nikolayevich
Orlov, Grigory Grigoryevich, Count
Paul I, Emperor
Peter I, Emperor
Severyanin, Igor (the real name was Igor Vasilyevich Lotarev)
Shcherbov, Pavel Yegorovich
Vasilyev, Fyodor Aleksandrovich
Leningrad Oblast, the/Gatchina District/Mariyenburg
Historical Toponyms/Vodskaya Land
Пирютко Ю. М. Гатчина: Художественные памятники города и окрестностей. 2-е изд., испр. и доп. Л., 1979
Кючарианц Д. А., Раскин А. Г. Гатчина: Худож. памятники. СПб., 2001
«Гатчина сквозь столетия» | Исторический журнал. URL: http://history.gatchina.ru/
Гатчина - вчера, сегодня... Городской культурно-исторический сервер. URL: http://www.gorod.gatchina.biz
Елкина А.С. Гатчина. – Л.: Художник РСФСР, 1980.
Гатчина: Страницы истории /Сост. Т.Ф.Родионова.-СПб.: «Издат. дом Герда», 2001.-207 с.: ил.
Степанов А.А. Здравствуй, Гатчина. СПб., 2002
Aeronautical Engineering Museum, the
""Around the Corner", the Amateur People Theatre
"Avant-Garde and Traditions", a theatre festival
Creative development school (Gatchina City)
Gatchina Central District Library named after A.S. Pushkin
Gatchina Central Town Library named after A.I. Kuprin
Gatchina children arts school
Gatchina children music school named after M.M. Ippolitov-Ivanov
Gatchina House of Culture
"Gatchina Info" ("Information Bulletin of Gatchina Town"), a newspaper
Gatchina Palace -and - Park ensemble, the
Gatchina Town Children Library, the
Gatchina Town Museum of the Local History, the
"Gatchina", the State Museum-Reserve
"Gatchinskaya pravda" ("Gatchina Truth"), a newspaper
Historic-memorial Museum-Estate of P.E. Shcherbov, the
"Katyusha", the Theatre of Costume
"Konnentable", obelisk, the
"Literature and the cinema", a film festival
"Meetings of Friends", a theatre festival
"Meetings", a theatre
Museum of Nuclear Power Industry Development, the
"Priorat", an information and local historic bulletin
Priorate Palace, the
"Spektr Gatchina", a newspaper
Sport dancing and ballroom dancing competition for the cup of the Commonwealth of Independent States; Gatchina City
"Stars Rain", children art festival
The Cathedral of the Intercession of the Mother of God (Gatchina Town)
The Cathedral of the Apostle Paul (Gatchina Town)
The Church of the Intercession of the Mother of God (Gatchina Town)
The Church of the Noly Trinity at the Gatchina Palace
The Kostel of the Mother of God of Mount Carmel
The Lutheran Church of Sainted Hierach Nicholas (Gatchina Town)
"The Narivity of Christos is glorified!", a church music festival
"The Theatre Island", an international theatre festival
"To the greater glory of Gatchina Town", the day of the city - holiday