Road to the fairy tale (2024) Fotografia autorstwa Ekaterina Kastalskaya

The picture was taken by photographer Ekaterina Kastalskaya on February 11, 2024 in Tsaritsyno Park, Moscow.
It was an unusually sunny day for the last month of winter. On Sunday there are traditionally many people in the park, despite the frost. Muscovites and tourists are walking and skiing.

The photograph was shot on SFL T-42 ISO 400 black and white negative film. This is Tasma Type-42 aerial film with a large amount of silver.

In this photo we can see the Milovida Pavilion ("Milovidova Gallery") — one of the best constructions of the Tsaritsyn Park of the early 19th century.

It was built in 1803-1804, presumably according to the project of architect Ivan Egotov — a pupil of Vasily Bazhenov. The pavilion stands in the most picturesque part of the Tsaritsyn Park. In the 1800s its walls offered a magnificent view of the bay of the Upper Tsaritsyn pond with an artificial island — hence the "pastoral" name.

The pavilion is a passageway arched gallery with four small corner rooms ("offices") for visitors' rest. In the early 19th century Tsaritsyno became a popular place for pleasure walks and picnics. In this connection some buildings of the ensemble — including pavilions — were converted into coffee houses and entertainment buildings.

From the inventory of I. Zabelin 1825: "The Milovid's Gallery is stone with a wooden plastered partition at the top, covered with iron; on its top there are three statues, four busts, two vases, two swinks, two dolphins at the porch; inside there are sixteen large columns and eight small ones, plastered on wood. On each side there are two rooms with oak doors with latches, and in each two windows with acorns under paint; in the middle of it there are large busts of white marble on the same pedestals on four tubs of white stone. In the above mentioned Milovida there are eighteen chairs with sharpened legs under paint with wicker seats made of ropes covered with yellow paint; the same under wild paint with seats made of reeds - eight; large folding oak tables - three".

However, already in 1838, the caretaker of the village of Tsaritsyno called the pavilion "dilapidated" in his report and closed it. Many sculptures were lost and destroyed by time. In 1870-1880s. "Milovida" (like other pavilions) was adapted to a tea house. A brass band played in the neighboring grove.

Up to 1941 the pavilion was repeatedly repaired. Workers plastered the walls and renewed the wooden structures. In July 1941 a German airplane bomb blast damaged the pavilion's finish. Crumbled cornices. Bas-reliefs were destroyed. The painting disappeared.

In the 1960s the pavilion was restored again. But in 1992 there was a fire - all the wooden structures were destroyed. Only after a large-scale reconstruction in 2000-2007. "Milovida" was returned to the appearance of the early XIX century. The picturesque and sculptural decoration was partially restored. The corner offices now house the guards of the Tsaritsyno Park-Museum.

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