Siverskaya: the dacha capital on the Oredezh

⏱ 9 h 20 min🚶 8 km + 🚕🍽 2📍 7 stops

🏃 A lot — over 7 km

The Wittgenstein family's chapel-mausoleum in Druzhnoselye, a red Devonian cliff above the Oredezh, a museum of old dachas and the house of the composer Isaac Schwartz.

🏛 History and architecture🎨 Art🌳 Parks and nature🚆 Out of town

🗺 Open in Yandex Maps (with transit)

Getting there

🏛 Baltiysky Railway Station

наб. Обводного канала, 120

Best to go Wednesday to Saturday: the museums work from Wednesday, and the Grand is closed on Sundays (October 2026 timetable)

🚕 by taxi to Church of St Stephanie in Druzhnoselye

Baltiysky Station: Lastochka 08:37 to Siverskaya (50 min) or trains at 08:43 and 09:36 (≈1 h 15 min); from the station a taxi to Druzhnoselye ≈10 min

1
🏛 Church of St Stephanie in Druzhnoselye
Гатчинский р-н, пос. Дружноселье, парк усадьбы Витгенштейна
A Neo-Gothic church-mausoleum of 1834 by Alexander Bryullov over the grave of Princess Stephanie Wittgenstein.
A Neo-Gothic chapel-mausoleum built to a design by Alexander Bryullov in the 1830s, standing on a hospital's grounds in a former estate. No entry inside, so look from outside and walk along the larch avenue to the pond
📖 More about the placeCollapse
© Гудкова Наталья · CC BY-SA 4.0
- The church stands over the grave of Stephanie Radziwill, heiress of the Nesvizh Radziwills, who died young of consumption in 1832.
- It was built by her husband Lev Wittgenstein, a field marshal's son; his father bought the Druzhnoselye estate for him in 1826.
- After Stephanie's death Wittgenstein inherited her estates, including Mir Castle in Belarus.
- Stephanie's daughter Maria married Chlodwig Hohenlohe — the future Chancellor of the German Empire.
- General Ivan Gorgoli, a former Petersburg police chief, and his wife are also buried on the estate.
🚕 the same taxi back to the village, ≈8 min
2
🏛 Monument to P. Kh. Wittgenstein
Сиверский, Вокзальная ул. (у ул. Саши Никифорова)
A monument to the victories of Count Peter Wittgenstein, who defended Petersburg in the Patriotic War of 1812.
A monument to the field marshal, the “savior of Petersburg” in 1812 — the owner of these lands
📖 More about the placeCollapse
- The monument opened on 9 May 2016.
- Wittgenstein was nicknamed the "Saviour of Petersburg" after the battles at Klyastitsy and Polotsk in the summer of 1812, where he was wounded twice.
- In 1812 Wittgenstein's corps covered the roads to Petersburg, at first with only 20,000 soldiers.
- In 1813 Wittgenstein took Berlin, and he became a general field marshal in 1826.
- The lands here — Druzhnoselye, Vyritsa, Belogorka — belonged to his descendants, the Wittgenstein princes, until the early 20th century.
🚶 on foot
3
☕️ Grand Café
Сиверский, ул. Строителей, 7
▮▮▯▯▯
Lunch: a three-course set lunch for about 300 ₽. Open Mon–Sat 10:00–20:30, closed on Sundays
🍴 A simple café with home cooking and set lunches by the station. What to order: a three-course business lunch, the soup and hot dish of the day.
🚶 on foot
4
🖼 Dacha Capital Museum
Сиверский, Красная ул., 30В
🎟 ticket · free entry at weekends
A local-history museum in an old dacha — about Siverskaya as a fashionable dacha resort for Petersburgers of the 19th–20th centuries: the Wittgensteins, Demidovs, Shishkin, Kramskoy.
About 2 km on foot through the village. Open Wed–Sun 10:00–17:30. Authentic items, photos and a story about the dacha dwellers — from Shishkin to the Demidovs
📖 More about the placeCollapse
© Serko · CC BY-SA 3.0
© Serko · CC BY-SA 3.0
© Serko · CC BY-SA 3.0
- The settlement's dacha history began in 1857, when Siverskaya station opened on the Petersburg — Warsaw line.
- In 1885, at a dacha in Siverskaya, Ilya Repin worked on the painting Before the Confession, now in the Tretyakov Gallery.
- In 1925 Siversky officially received the status of a dacha settlement.
- There were about five dacha theatres for such a small settlement.
🚶 on foot
5
🌳 Siversky Cliff and the "School of Life" Eco-Trail
Сиверский, берег Оредежа у Красной ул.
A high bank of the Oredezh with pines and a view of the winding river in the Siverskaya forests.
The eco-trail starts by the museum and descends to the river: red cliffs of Devonian sandstone up to 8 meters high, “Lyalin Meadow”, the “Wishing Stone”. A loop of about 1.5 km, with dirt and no boardwalk in places
📖 More about the placeCollapse
© Екатерина Мухортова · CC BY-SA 4.0
© V lad · CC BY-SA 4.0
© Екатерина Мухортова · CC BY-SA 4.0
© Uz1awa · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Red Devonian sandstones are the Oredezh's "calling card": they stretch along its banks for many kilometres.
- The Oredezh is the longest tributary of the Luga, at 192 km; it is first mentioned in the chronicles in 1240.
- The "Oredezh Bank" eco-trail passes the Linden Alley, Baron's Hill, the Fountain of Youth, Hot Countries, Devonian Cliff and Bear Hill.
- Downstream, near Belogorka, fossils of armoured fish are found in the Devonian outcrops.
🚶 on foot
6
🖼 Isaak Schwartz House Museum
Сиверский, Пушкинская ул., 4А
🎟 ticket
The house where the composer Isaak Schwartz, author of the music for White Sun of the Desert, lived for 45 years: a piano, scores, photographs, and concerts on Saturdays.
About 2.5 km along the Oredezh, or a taxi. Open Wed–Sat 11:00–18:00, Sun until 17:00. The piano on which the music for “White Sun of the Desert” was written; concerts almost every Saturday
📖 More about the placeCollapse
© Vaija · CC BY-SA 4.0
© Vaija · CC BY-SA 4.0
© Vaija · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Schwartz lived in Siverskaya from 1964 until his death in December 2009 — more than 45 years.
- The museum opened in 2011 in the composer's second, "guest" house; it has a 45-seat chamber hall.
- Schwartz wrote music for 125 films, including Kurosawa's Dersu Uzala, which won an Oscar in 1976.
- The composer himself named his scores for The Stationmaster and The Star of Captivating Happiness among his favourites.
- The museum is run by the composer's widow, Antonina Nagornaya.
🚕 taxi to the station ≈10 min
7
☕️ Khlebnaya Usadba Bakery
Сиверский, ул. Строителей, 1
▮▯▯▯▯
Pastries and coffee for the road, until 20:30
🍴 A bakery-café by Siverskaya station, open until 20:30. What to order: fresh pastries and coffee to go.

↩️ Getting back: From Siverskaya to Baltiysky Station: Lastochka at 17:49 (54 min), trains at 18:14, 18:48, 19:41 and 20:47 (≈1 h 15 min) (October 2026 timetable)