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      The Sheremetevs' pond, palace and grotto at Kuskovo

      ⏱ 1 h 20 min🚶 1 km🍽 1📍 5 stops
      🐢 A little — under 3 km

      A view of the wooden palace across the Great Pond, a formal park and a grotto decorated with shells. An 18th-century summer estate; you can finish with lunch at the café “1715”.

      🏛 History and architecture🌳 Parks and nature⏱ An hour or so
      🗺 Open in Yandex Maps
      1. 1
        🌳 Kuskovo Great Pond
        A large pond dug by serfs, opposite the main house, with a view of the church and bell tower.
        A view of the palace across the pond
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Kuskovo Great Pond
        © Ludvig14 · CC BY-SA 3.0
        Kuskovo Great Pond
        © U51N433 · CC BY 4.0
        Kuskovo Great Pond
        © Александра Михалева · CC BY-SA 4.0
        • The Great Pond received its present boundaries in 1751.
        • Mock naval battles were staged on the pond for guests, and the Sheremetevs had their own flotilla of rowing boats.
        • A 300-metre canal leads off from the pond; in the 18th century a toy fortress with bastions stood there.
        • According to the historian Mikhail Pylyaev, 2,000 crucian carp were netted from the pond at a time.
        • In all, the estate had 17 ponds.
      2. 🚶 on foot
      3. 2
        🖼 Kuskovo Estate Palace
        🎟 ticket · entry to the estate grounds requires a ticket
        The 18th-century Sheremetev estate: a wooden palace, a formal French park, pavilions and ponds.
        A wooden palace with a grand enfilade; we look from outside; inside is separate, another hour
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Kuskovo Estate Palace
        © Mike1979 Russia · CC BY-SA 3.0
        • The ensemble was created in the 1750s–1770s to the design of Count Pyotr Sheremetev by the serf architects Fyodor Argunov and Alexei Mironov.
        • The Great House was built in 1769–1775 under Karl Blank, from drawings by the Frenchman Charles de Wailly.
        • The palace was meant for summer receptions; the halls preserve gift portraits of emperors and several generations of Sheremetevs.
        • Catherine II visited Kuskovo in 1775 and 1787.
        • The estate was divided into the area beyond the dam with the Menagerie, the French formal park and the English park, the Grove.
        • Kuskovo became a museum-estate in 1918.
      4. 🚶 on foot
      5. 3
        🏛 Kuskovo Grotto
        🎟 ticket · on the paid grounds of the Kuskovo estate
        An 18th-century Baroque pavilion with a domed hall decorated with shells and tufa.
        Decorated with shells — a rarity in Russia
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Kuskovo Grotto
        © Mike1979 Russia · CC BY-SA 3.0
        Kuskovo Grotto
        © Mike1979 Russia · CC BY-SA 3.0
        • The stone grotto was built in 1756–1761 under the serf architect Fyodor Argunov.
        • The German grotto master Johann Voigt decorated it with shells for about 14 years, from 1761 to 1775.
        • It is the only pavilion in Russia that has kept its 18th-century grotto decoration.
        • The patterns use 24 kinds of shells; during restoration some of them turned out to be in the Red Book (endangered).
        • The curved steps of the stylobate represent water spreading out in front of the grotto.
        • After restoration the grotto reopened in 2019.
      6. 🚶 on foot
      7. 4
        🖼 Ceramics Museum in the Great Stone Orangery
        🎟 ticket · on the paid grounds of the Kuskovo estate
        An 18th-century stone orangery in Kuskovo with one of Russia's largest collections of porcelain and glass.
        Porcelain from Meissen to Soviet propaganda china; we look from outside; inside is separate, another hour
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Ceramics Museum in the Great Stone Orangery
        © Mike1979 Russia · CC BY-SA 3.0
        Ceramics Museum in the Great Stone Orangery
        © A.Savin · FAL 1.3
        • The Great Stone Orangery was built by 1763 to a design by Fyodor Argunov and is the largest pavilion on the estate.
        • In the centre of the orangery is a "vauxhall", a round dance hall with a gallery for musicians.
        • The State Museum of Ceramics moved to Kuskovo in 1932.
        • In summer the bitter-orange trees from the orangeries were placed along the main avenue; Karamzin compared it to "a corner of Spain".
      8. 🚶 on foot
      9. 5
        ☕️ Café 1715 in Kuskovo
        ул. Юности, 2, стр. 18
        ▮▮▮▯▯
        Lunch after the walk; the café is open Wed–Sun
        🍴 A restaurant with European food and a summer terrace on the Kuskovo estate, open Wed–Sun 10:00–18:00. What to order: ukha (fish soup), pork loin, and for dessert the Three Chocolates cake.

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