Zverinskaya gates

Good service & clean

Before us is another mystery of Gatchina - the stone gate to the Orlov Grove, between the Menagerie and the Palace Park. Their name is the Zverinsky Gate (or the Great Iron, or the First Gate): the date of construction is unknown, the author of the project, possibly Vincenzo Brenna, was presumably built by the famous stonecutter Kiryan Plastinin. According to archival documents, this structure, located east of the Bolshoi Kamenny Bridge, is one of the oldest in the territory of the Gatchina Park. Presumably in the 1780s-1790s, at the entrance to the Menagerie territory, a gate made of light Pudost tuff appeared. Apparently, initially they were part of a low stone wall that separated the parks. Unfortunately, only fragments remain of it, and the gate is well preserved. Two massive pylon columns with a rectangular cross section are made of Pudost stone. Their surface is decorated with protruding panels. The columns end with cornices on which the relief supports for the balls are located. The balls, carved from solid stone, are the only decoration of the gate. The total height of this architectural structure is over seven meters. The wall adjacent to the gate was partially replaced in 1796 with a metal grate on stone pillars. The pylons are spaced more than three meters apart. The gate leaves are made of iron rods in the form of copies, fastened with horizontal stripes. The upper parts of the lattices are designed in the form of a semicircular curvature downward from the pylons to the center. The Zverinsky Gate was created in a strict classical style and in its composition resembles similar architectural structures in the parks of Peterhof and Oranienbaum.

The Zverinsky Gate is made in a classic style for a park gate and consists of two pylons - massive, rectangular stone columns. On the side of the walls, the pylons are reinforced with vertical ribs - buttresses. Between the pylons of the two-winged Zverinsky gates there are wrought iron lattices, with rods in the form of spears, which are interconnected by three horizontal belts. The upper part of the grates has a smooth downward curvature, extending from the edges of the gratings to their center. The exact date of the construction of the Zverinsky Gate, located on the border of the Palace Park and the Menagerie Park, is unknown. It is possible that the construction of the Zverinsky Gate was completed in 1798, when the Cascade and Deaf Gates of the same type were also erected. The author of the Zverinsky Gate project is also not known for certain; presumably it is the architect Vincenzo Brenna. However, documents have survived, which say that the master of masonry Kiryan Afanasyevich Plastinin was engaged in the construction of the gate.

They look a little deserted, probably because they are closed. What for? Unclear. The restoration has not reached them yet.

Very beautiful park reserve. Well-groomed, the landscape under the naturalness. There are a lot of birds with babies. There is just paradise for them. and for us ...