Beyond the Concert Hall, on the same island, is the Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna's, Little Farm House, which was built in 1861 by the architect Monighetti.

The farm house consists of two "izba" stables, and a poultry yard, all erected in miniature for the Grand Duchess when she was a child in Russian style. The clean izba contains one room and a kitchen; in the rooms there is a stove of light Dutch tiles with the monogram M. A. Here the furniture is of carved oak and in a corner-cupboard are dishes while in the parade comer is an ikon of the Miraculous Apparition in an oak frame with a drapped Russian embroidered towel. On a shelf stand dishes and among them a glass jug of the Empress Elizabeth's time. The walls and ceilings are carved in the Russian style: and all the furniture, both in the clean izba, and in the dairy izba and kitchen, are of a miniature size. Under the roof of the clean izba is an attic which communicats with the yard via a staircase. In the dairy izba is a clean room with ordinary furniture and a dark store room with different kinds of oak pails for keeping milk. Under the store room is a small ice cellar and behind the dairy izba stands a tiny stable house. In the yard there is a hen roost and dovecote; the clean izba has two covered balconies.

Along the shore of the island runs a toy railway with tunnels, bridges, and barriers leading to a port on the bank. Here the August children of the Emperor Alexander II used to play. A place for gymnastics and nine pins was made in the garden for them.

A little to the right of the Rampovaya Road, on the bank of a stream opposite the Concert Hall, stands on an island an almost round old building, called the Turkish Kiosk which is surrounded with old wooden benches. A hall with alcoves and divans (with rotten coverings) occupies the interior. The central part of the kiosk is a little higher, than the rest of the hall and has a row of thin palm like columns while under the ceiling columns are adorned with tin palm-leaves.

This building is an exact copy of a kiosk, standing in the Sultan's parks at Constantinople, and was erected during the reign of the Empress Catherine in memory of the embassy of Prince Repnin. It was then furnished just like the kiosk in Constantinople, the divans and floors were covered with precious carpets, brought from Turkey.

Now there is nothing left of the carpets but a few tatters, while the wood of the divans is quite rotten. On the walls are traces of paintings, representing views from Constantinople.

Immediately beyond the Small Butovy Bridge, the Rampovaya Road turns to the right and leads to the dam at the Vittolovsky Canal. On the right you have a broad meadow, stretching to the Podkaprizovaya Road. This meadow is the celebrated Field of Roses. Here, close to the Rampovaya Road, covered with bushes of wild roses, are the remains of a round marble summer house which was built in 1793. On a plinth of polished granite rose 32 marble columns supporting a granite cupola. The floor was of marble slabs and this summer house was planted round with rose bushes. It was built by the architect Nilov.

The Field of Roses was a favorite walk of the beautiful young wife of the Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich, she would linger there on a summer evening thinking of her far-away homeland. She lived at Tsarskoe Selo under the protection of her August Grandmother, happy in her youth and in her success at court. Here she used to make endless confidences to the Countess Golovina, wife of the Marshal of her court. The young people, whom Catherine particularly loved, used to amuse themselves on the lawn. And she watched them playing at the Russian games "piatnashki", "gorielki" and "cats and mice", having grown tired of sliding down the hills or turning on the merry-go-round. Here the famous Rostopchin, who was then a Gentleman of the Bed Chamber and had just married Miss Protasova, distinguished himself in swiftness and mirth.

Years passed, and on this field planted with rose bushes during Catherine's reign which had grown wild, appeared a group of students from the Lyceum; they were the sons of the "most illustrious families" and they used to play round the granite foundations of the beautiful rose arbor. Among these youths not the least forward in games was the young genius Pushkin. This field, where as a child and youth the Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich had spent so many jolly hours, once he had become Emperor he designated as a playground for the scholars of the "alma mater", he had formed, whence were to come Russia's most devoted servants.

Vitolov's Canal, by the side of which is a wide avenue with a drive, separates from the Field of Roses a part of the English Garden, occupied by a grove of oak s and Ruins Hill.

Across the canal, which had a mirror-like surface, there used to be in former times a little ferryboat secured by a priest; the two landing places are still to be seen. The oaks are all planted in regular chessboard order. During the reign of Catherine on warm summer evenings a casual supper table was sometimes set here on the grass.

Vitolov's Canal, through which in 1740 water was brought to the Great Lake, was dug out under the supervision of Engineer Ostrovsky, and was filled by the Vitolovo Springs. The water in the canal, as well as all the other waterways of the Tsarskoe Selo parks, comes straight from Taitsy Springs. Beyond the Butovy Bridge, which is a wide dam with a carriage road across it and serves as a continuance of the Rampovaya Road, rise the artificial ruins of a Medieval castle. The tower has a stone arbor on its summit. A road begins at the Sugar Hill, near the cast-iron Gothic Gate, which was made at the Demidovsky works in 1872, and leads to the ruin. They were built by the architect Velten in 1774 in memory of the first Turkish war, begun in 1768 and brought to a close by the peace of Kutchuk-Kaynardjy; a war which surprised Europe by the victories of Catherine's eagles.

 

The Orlov Arch

Close to the ruin is the marble Orlov Gate, through which a road leads to Gatchina, a former estate of Prince Gregory Grigorievich Orlov purchased, after his death, by the Empress Catherine for Paul Petrovich.

A sentinel from H.I.M.'s Life-Guards Hussars always stands on duty at this gate. The court chronicler relates, that once Catherine, annoyed by roses being stolen at night from the Field of Roses, ordered a sentinel to be placed near the rarest kinds. Years passed, the roses grew wild, but a sentinel still stood on this spot. The Emperor Nicholas, hearing of the origin of this post, moved the sentry to the gate and ordered in memory of His August Grandmother, who was the founder of the regiment, that the sentinel should always be a Life Guard Hussar. The marble gate was built by Pinketti in 1772 from plans by Rinaldi.

Part of the gate , like all other marble structures of the reign of Catherine II, was prepared at the works of the Isaac Cathedral, which was being built then in St. Petersburg. The pedestal of the gate is of red Sumersky marble. On the side, facing the Gatchina road, is the following inscription in golden letter "Moscow was saved from misfortune by Orlov". On the park side in similar letters is written: "When in 1771 plague and popular disorder visited Moscow, General Master of Ordinance Orlov - at his own request, was commanded to go to Moscow, where he restored order and discipline, provided means of livelihood for orphans, and stopped the fury of the plague by his good institutions".

The same gate has served for another triumphal entry. In January 1789, when Prince Potemkin of Tauride was expected in St. Petersburg from Moldavia, where he had been with the Russian army, great illuminations were ordered to be prepared for his arrival, the gate of Gatchina was specially brilliantly illuminated and decorated. Facing the road,it bore the inscription. "In triumph shalt thou enter the temple of Sophia". Facing the garden an inscription:

"Fallen, fallen, with a loud noise, are footmen and horsemen, war horses and fleet, and Ochakov itself. Their hedge of strength has fallen at the shouts of the faithful. Today their fortresses are broken; Bug today and Dnieper ring praises to you, the torrent of Dnieper will stream in praise towards the sea".

These verses were chosen by the Empress herself from Petrov's ode to the capture of Ochakov. They were inserted at the Empress' command in the following note to her secretary Chrapovitsky. "Put in the middle, as I said already, a crown of laurel and on one side naval trophies and on the other side military trophies. This is, a reward to Potemkin".

"They can say nothing, for in Sophia there is a temple of Sophia", said the Empress to Chrapovitsky, hinting at the rumors, which arose in society and at court, in consequence of such a distinction and open declaration of their ambitious dreams, "all talk must cease". How far the Empress was convinced that Potemkin would enter Sophia not at Tsarskoe Selo, but at Constantinople, can be seen from Chrapovitsky's diary, where on the day, when the order about the decorations was made, are written Catherine's words: "But he will be in Tsargrad (Constantinople) this year; though when it happens do not tell it to me suddenly".

The oak grove, beginning at the Orlov Gate occupies the whole of the space from the Vittolovsky Pond to the road, leading along the park palisade, it is cut in two by a small meadow and then reaches as far as the issue from the park at the Rose Sentry Box or the Guard House of Bablovo. The guard house has existed in its present state ever since 1848 when it was altered on the erection of a new gate by the architect Stakenschneider, the victor in a competition, arranged by the Emperor Nicholas I between the architects Monighetti, Stakenschneider and Maker.

The gate was made at Berd's, factory in St. Petersburg. From 1825 to 1847 here stood and immense gate with two guard houses and galleries erected by the architect Menelas. It is supposed that it formed a right angle with the present gate and that it faced the opening of Bablovo. It was 147 feet long. The architect Menelas gave a description of the gate:

"The building was commenced in the month of May 1825, and quite finished in 1826; the width of the entrance is 7 arshin 10 vershok wide (17 feet, 9 1/2 inches), two pillars support an arch with windows, 81/2 arshin long (19 feet , 10 inches) and 3 arshin 7 vershok wide (3 feet, 41/2 inches); in the middle of the gate is a door, leading to the gallery. The height of the structure is 18 arshin (42 feet) in the centre and 10 arshin (23 feet, 4 inches) at the sides. In the attic are two Imperial eagles of cast iron.

"The garden genius are placed on granite pedestals and ornamental trophies are fixed in hollows under the cornice. Sixteen cast-iron pillars of the Ionic style with eight pilasters at the walls form two galleries, which are 15 arshin (85 feet) long, and with the columns, 5 arshin (11 feet, 8 inches) wide. The columns themselves are 7 arshin (16 feet 4 inches) high, and 13 vershok (1 feet, 10 3/4 niches) wide. Between the columns on the side, facing the Great Road, are cast iron palisades 31/2 arshin (8 feet, 2 inches) high. The gate itself is also of cast-iron, 7 1/2 arshin high (17 feet, 6 inches) and of almost identical form with the palisade between the columns. The rooms of the guard houses measure inside arshin in by 8 1/4 arshin (16 feet, 11 inches by 19 feet, 3 inches) and are 8 1/2 arshin high. They are divided into two stories and in the lower floor is a staircase leading to the upper floor; both stories are heated with Swedish stoves; on the side, facing the Great Road, are double-glazed doors with granite steps in front of them, while leading into the gallery are other double doors unglazed and one window facing the garden. They are furnished with benches, tables, and chairs. The exterior of the walls are rusticated, the plinths of the gate , the gallery, and the guard houses are of granite; the floor of the gallery is also of granite."

In 1847 the Emperor Nicholas I ordered the whole building to be taken down, leaving only one guard house standing.

Beyond the Orlov Gate, on both sides of the broadway of Gatchina, stand the barracks of the 2 Regiment of Life-Guards' Rifles. They were built in 1871. A little farther along the broadway at the corner of the Furaynaya Street stands the Regiment's new church, built in 1904 by Moscow merchant I. A. Protopopov. The work was carried out by the architect Uspensky; the interior of the church is decorated in the style of Russian churches of the 16th century.

Near the Orlov Gate, beyond a small garden which occupies the corner of the Volkonskaya Street and of the broadway of Gatchina, stands the huge building of the local military hospital. It was built in 1837 and a part of the post yard of Sophia, which formerly stood on this spot, which was alongside the new building. At the same time the post house was moved into the town. Beyond the.barracks, between the broadway :of Gatchina and the Park, stand the buildings of Her Majesty, the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna's School for Nurses, which was built in 1904 by the architect Danini.

The school contains 50 pupils, and has a home for 50 infants. Girls over 16 years of age are taken as pupils, and in exceptional cases young married women are sometimes accepted. The pupils are boarded in the school and receive clothes, linen, shoes, and schoolbooks. The yearly tuition is 360 rubles; persons in straightened circumstances are allowed to pay half. There are a few free vacancies for pupils entirely without means. In these cases preference is given to the daughters of soldiers fallen in war. The course is is two years but pupils who show special ability can finish before the expiration of that time. On completing the course the pupils receive certificates. Those who leave the school before full term because of exceptional cases can receive certificates which state exactly the extent of their training. Those who have completed the school course remain under the school's supervision for two years.

The infants' home, which is attached to the school, takes in healthy children from birth. Several wet nurses are at the school for suckling babies. In very few cases mothers who are feeding their children are admitted with their babies. The children remain in the home till their seventh year.

Under the Orlov Gate lies a huge water pipe, through which Taitsy Spring waters enter the Catherine Park and supply the lake and all ponds, canals, and water courses in the park and in the town. A little to the right, beyond the gate on the other side of the Stolbovaya Road, which commences here, stands the lofty Orlov Water Tower.

In 1887, at the initiative of the Chief of the Tsarskoe Selo Palace Administration, Major General V. E. Ionov, the construction of the town water works was begun.For this purpose, water towers, each 98 feet high were erected in two places. Each tower has a reservoir of 10,000 pails (27,000 gal.). Water used to be pumped into these reservoirs by steam pumps straight from the Taitsy Springs canal. At the Orlov Tower are three boilers, two steam pumps of 27,000 gallons an hour, and one (installed in 1896) of 40,500 gallons per hour. Since 1906 the machinery in the water towers was almost entirely out of use, except in cases of injury of the Orlov Water Works, which now give water straight to the towers' reservoirs without the aid of the pumps. The towers were erected by the architect Vidov, while the plans for the water works were made by Engineer Altuchov, and the boilers and pumps were supplied by the firm of F. San-Galli.

It should be noticed, that up to this time the inhabitants of the town were supplied with water from open wells, filled with water from Taitsy Springs, which was led partly through open ditches and partly through wooden pipes.

Near the tower and the Bablovo Park, which begins here, can be seen an open ditch, through which runs the water from the Taitsy Water Works, while close to the broadway of Gatchina run the underground cast iron pipes of the Orlov Water Works which have been in use since 1906.