How to quickly pass the queue in Tsarskoye Selo. Catherine Palace

Museum Reserve "Tsarskoye Selo" - probably one of the most famous sights of St. Petersburg. I think that almost every tourist who visited northern capital, was here.

Tsarskoye Selo is beautiful parks, luxurious palaces - a huge territory, permeated with the history of pre-revolutionary Russia.

Why I love Tsarskoye Selo

I have been here many times. This place is a pleasure to visit again and again. Most of all I like to walk in the Catherine Park. I talked about it in more detail in. It is divided into regular and landscape parks. For me, its last part is more interesting, but for beautiful photos, of course, the Regular Park is more popular with tourists. Its strict symmetry and abundance of all kinds of ornaments produce the most vivid impression for the guests of the village.

But most of all, Tsarskoye Selo is known for its palaces. Of course, first of all - Catherine Palace. Its luxury and beauty are difficult to convey in words. This is a must see! The wealth and chic of that era is the best way to convey the decoration and appearance palace.

Of course, the Alexander Palace is less pompous. But he attracts guests in a completely different way. If the Catherine Palace is more official, its halls and rooms do not give the impression that they once lived here (I talked about the Catherine Palace in more detail), then the interior decoration of the Alexander Palace, the preserved interior items make you believe and plunge into the home life of the imperial family.

I was lucky enough to visit the palace even before it closed. The cabinet of Nicholas II made the greatest impression on me.

A very cozy and truly homely atmosphere reigns in all rooms. It is easy to imagine that all the things that have survived to this day (and there are a lot of them) were used in everyday life by members of the Romanov family. Read separately about the palace.

Now let's plunge into history, I will tell you about how Tsarskoye Selo appeared. And then I will list all the most interesting places.

A bit of history

Tsarskoye Selo appeared thanks to Tsar Peter I. It was he who presented the land of the Sarskaya manor to his wife Ekaterina Alekseevna (future Catherine I). The generous gift was greatly appreciated. Since 1710, the history of Tsarskoye Selo began as a royal country residence. This place was loved by almost all subsequent Russian emperors. Ekaterina Alekseevna ordered to rebuild a small two-story summer palace on the territory of the Village, as well as to lay out a park around it.

Later, Tsarskoye Selo was given the status of a reserve. And since 1990, it has received its modern name - the State Museum-Reserve "Tsarskoye Selo".

How to get there

The Museum-Reserve is located at: , Pushkin, st. Sadovaya d. 7.

You can get there in the following ways:

FROM Vitebsk railway station there is an electric train in Pushkin to the station "Tsarskoye Selo":

The ticket price is 40 rubles.
Travel time - 30 min.
From the station to the museum can be reached using fixed-route taxis No. 371, 377, 382, buses No. 371, 382 or take a walk.
The walk will take about 30 minutes.

From metro station "Moscow" Shuttle buses go directly to the park:

Taxi No. 286, 287, 342, 347, 545.
The stop is located behind the House of Soviets.
Usually there are many fixed-route taxis with large signs "Tsarskoye Selo", "Parks of Tsarskoye Selo", "Palaces" at once.
A fixed-route taxi will reach you in 40 minutes, provided that there are no traffic jams.
The fare will be about 40 rubles.

Tsarskoye Selo can be reached from Moscow Avenue:

Bus number 187 stops in front of McDonald's.
Here you can also catch fixed-route taxis from the ring from the House of Soviets.
The bus goes to the station (Pushkin).
The fare is 30 rubles.

From metro station "Kupchino" can be reached by taxi:

Taxi number 545, 286, 287, bus number 186.
Travel time is 30 minutes if there are no traffic jams.
The ring of minibuses is located on Vitebsky Prospekt from the side of the metro.

How to get to Tsarskoye Selo by taxi:

The trip will cost about 500-600 rubles one way.
Travel time is approximately 30 minutes if there are no traffic jams.

I like to get to Tsarskoye Selo by minibus from the Moskovskaya metro station. Due to the fact that there are always a lot of minibuses, you can slowly approach, take seat and quickly and comfortably get directly to the museum. Along the way, you can admire the city landscapes.

Opening hours and ticket prices

Catherine Park

Working hours:

from September to April from 7:00 to 21:00;
from May to July from 7:00 to 23:00;
in August - from 7:00 to 22:00.

Ticket:

from April 25 to October 20 - 120 rubles. At other times admission is free.

Catherine Palace

This tour is the most popular. Here are the longest lines. Therefore, when planning your day, first visit the palace. When buying a ticket, keep in mind that it is valid for an hour.

Working hours:

from June to August - from 12:00 to 20:00;
in May and September - from 12:00 to 19:00;
Please note that the box office closes an hour earlier.
The day off is Tuesday, and from October to April - Tuesday and the last Monday of the month.

The museum offers two types of excursions:

The route passes through: the Great Hall, Dining Rooms, Raspberry and Green Stolbovye, Picture and Portrait Halls, amber room, Chinese living room, Pantry, Waiter's.
Ticket price:
1. adults - 580 rubles;
2. pensioners - 290 rubles;
3. cadets, members of artists' unions, conscripts, members of the unions of architects and designers of Russia - 290 rubles;
4. students over 16 years old and students - 290 rubles;
5. visitors under 16 years old - admission is free;
The route passes through: the Great and Arabesque Halls, the Anti-chambers, the Amber Room, the Picture Hall and the exhibition "Romanovs in Tsarskoe Selo".
Ticket price:
1. adults - 400 rubles;
2. pensioners - 200 rubles;
3. cadets, members of the unions of artists, architects, designers of Russia, conscripts - 200 rubles;
4. students over 16 years old and students - 200 rubles;
5. Visitors under 16 years old - admission is free.

Alexander Palace

AT this moment closed for renovation until 2018.

Museum Lyceum of A. S. Pushkin

Located in the wing of the Catherine Palace. The entrance to the museum is separate.

Working mode:

from 10.30 to 18.00. The box office is open until 17.00.

Tour ticket prices:

adults - 200 rubles;
pensioners - 100 rubles;
students - 100 rubles;
visitors under 16 years old - 80 rubles.

Ticket price without tour:

adults - 120 rubles;
pensioners - 40 rubles;
students - 40 rubles;
visitors under 16 years old - free of charge.

What to watch

A visit to Tsarskoe Selo will take you a whole day. So many places to visit!

Catherine Palace

First of all, head to the Catherine Palace. Groups of 20 people are allowed into the palace every 20 minutes. Having bought a ticket, you must remember that the museum must be visited within an hour.

The palace is absolutely beautiful! I would advise you to take a walk without an excursion, because the guide leads the guests very quickly through the halls, and there is no opportunity and time to examine all the beauty in more detail, admire and admire everything. For myself, I choose going to museums as a “savage”. Moreover, you can always join a group and listen, and then continue to wander in your mode. There are many beautiful halls in the palace, each of them is magnificent in its own way. The most famous - Big hall and the Amber Room.

Big hall

He is simply amazing! The whole room is just immersed in gold! Every detail of the interior is thought out to the smallest detail, elegant and unique in its beauty. As you know, official receptions and luxurious balls were held here.

For this evening it was lit great amount candles, and the walls began to burn, shimmer with gold! The hall made an indelible impression on all the guests.

the Amber Room

Incredibly beautiful room. It is rightfully called one of the wonders of the world. It should not be forgotten that the original amber panels that decorated the room were irretrievably lost during the Great Patriotic War.

Museum Lyceum of A. S. Pushkin

After visiting the Catherine Palace, you can walk to the museum-lyceum of A. S. Pushkin. It is located in the wing of the Catherine Palace, which is adjacent to the park fence.

Highly interesting excursion in the place where the famous Russian poet studied. You will be shown audiences and halls, as well as private rooms of lyceum students. It's amazing how modest the conditions were!

Catherine and Alexander parks

And many more interesting things can be found here.

At the moment, the Alexander Palace is closed for renovation until 2018, but you can just admire the building itself. It is really very beautiful and majestic. Alexander Park also has many interesting monuments and structures to be seen. Entrance to the park is free, so it is very popular with locals. Here you can walk, go skiing, spend time with your family on a picnic.

The Big and Small whims unite Alexander and Ekaterininsky parks. They are artificial bridges under which the road to the palaces passes. In this photo, both the Big Caprice and the Small Caprice are clearly visible in the distance.

The Great Chinese Bridge is located in front of the front parade ground of the Catherine Palace and leads to the Alexander Park.

The White Tower is a complex of buildings in the medieval style. It was erected specifically for the children of Emperor Nicholas I. Here the guys studied military affairs, fencing and many other disciplines.

And this is far from all that can be seen here!

I hope my review was interesting.I wish you the most pleasant impressions from your visit to Tsarskoye Selo!

Already 1.5 months have passed since we returned from St. Petersburg, and I just now got around to write about visiting Tsarskoye Selo in the city of Pushkin. I can't help but write about this amazing and very beautiful place. So, in order.

The State Museum-Reserve "Tsarskoe Selo" is located 25 km south of St. Petersburg in the city of Pushkin at the address. Sadovaya, 7. It is very easy to get there on your own in several ways - choose which one is more convenient for you:

By electric train from Vitebsk railway station to the station "Tsarskoye Selo" and then bus number 371, 382 or fixed-route taxi No. 371, 377, 382 to State Museum-Reserve"Tsarskoe Selo".
From the metro station "Moskovskaya" in St. Petersburg:
Shuttle taxi No. 286, 287, 342, 347 and 545 to the Tsarskoye Selo State Museum-Reserve.
From the metro stations "Zvezdnaya" or "Kupchino" in St. Petersburg:
Bus number 186 to the State Museum-Reserve "Tsarskoye Selo".
From the metro station "Kupchino" in St. Petersburg:
On minibuses K-545a, K-286, K-287, and K-347a.

We traveled from metro station "Moskovskaya" by bus. Travel time is 40 minutes, then walk to the entrance.

To enter the territory, you must first buy tickets to the park. There are few cash registers, but there are a lot of people. If you want to buy tickets faster, you need to walk 300 meters ahead along the fence to the red building "Hermitage Kitchen" and buy tickets to the park there. There are practically no people in this box office. At first, a ticket is bought only for the territory of the park; in order to get into the Catherine Palace, one must stand in a separate queue. In summer it is very large, people stand for 4 hours. You can’t immediately buy tickets to enter the park and the Catherine Palace, you have to stand in two lines.

Entrance to the park is paid only from April 25 to October 20 from 9 to 18-00. The rest of the time the entrance is free. From September to April, the park is open from 7 am to 9 pm.

Park ticket prices:

adults - 120 rubles.
Pupils (from 16 years old), students, members of the unions of artists, architects, designers of Russia, cadets, conscripts - 60 rubles.
Pensioners of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus - 30 rubles.

Tickets to the Catherine Palace are sold upon presentation of an entrance ticket to the park (from April 25 to October 20, 2016). A ticket to the Catherine Palace Museum is valid for entry to the exposition for one hour after the sale.

Entrance fee to the palace:

Adults (preferential rate - for tax residents of the Russian Federation) - 500 rubles.
Pensioners of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus - 290 rubles.
Cadets, conscripts, members of the unions of artists, architects, designers of Russia - 290 rubles.
Pupils (from 16 years old), students - 290 rubles.
Visitors under 16 years old - free of charge.

We bought tickets and went to the park. I must say right away that we didn’t get to the Catherine Palace, since there was a huge queue, so we decided next time to go with a tour, and this time take a walk in the park and visit various exhibitions and expositions, of which there are many in Tsarskoye Selo.

Walking in the park, you can visit exhibition “Agate Rooms. The path to revival.

Exhibition ticket prices:

Adults - 300 rubles.

Visitors under 16 years old - free of charge.

They provide an audio guide for free.

The exhibition is open in the Cold Bath pavilion.

The Agate Rooms are the apartments of Empress Catherine II, which have preserved their original historical decoration to this day. In the 1780s, the court architect Charles Cameron created unique exquisite interiors on the second floor of the Cold Bath pavilion - rooms for recreation and entertainment, which became the empress's private chambers, in which she looked through state documents in the morning hours, answered letters, and was engaged in literary works . On the first floor there were rooms for water procedures. The exhibition opened in 2013 after a 3-year restoration.

After visiting this exhibition, you can further walk through the park and see the gardening art. The park is very magnificent, with many flower beds, beautifully trimmed trees and shrubs, a neat lawn. In good weather, it is very pleasant to walk on it.

You can also go to many exhibitions and expositions located in the pavilions of the park.

An interesting exhibition is shown in Pavilion "Hermitage".

4 times at 12-00, 12-30, 15-00 and 15-30 when visiting this pavilion, the operation of the lifting table is shown. The mechanism of the lifting table was designed so that the servants do not interfere with the owners and guests to rest, and do not go back and forth.

Visit cost:

Adults - 350 rubles.
Pensioners of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus, cadets, conscripts, members of the unions of artists, architects, designers of Russia - 180 rubles.
Pupils (from 16 years old), students - 180 rubles.

If without lifting table demonstration:

Adults - 300 rubles.
Pensioners of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus, cadets, conscripts, members of the unions of artists, architects, designers of Russia - 150 rubles.
Pupils (from 16 years old), students - 150 rubles.
Visitors under 16 years old - 100 rubles. (excursion service)

We did not get to the demonstration, but we did not want to wait for the next excursion and went for a walk further.

We managed to get into a demonstration of unique acoustics.

We listened to a performance by a group of choral singers called Antem. They were just on tour in St. Petersburg and demonstrated their skills and wonderful room acoustics in the Grotto.

Group "Antey"

When the weather is good, you can have a very good time in the park. It is so big that a day is not enough to go around it and see everything, so we will come here again.

To come to St. Petersburg and not visit Tsarskoye Selo is a mess! Decent tourists don't behave like that. My Italians were decent tourists, but unlucky: the quota for visiting the Catherine Palace as organized tourists they didn't get it. This meant that they were not destined to come to the museum at the appointed time and see the sights without a long push in line. So they went with me as "wild" tourists. This doomed them to a long, at least two hours, standing at the box office for tickets.

Features of the organization of the work of the Museum of Tsarskoye Selo (Catherine's Palace). This year the museum switched to new methods of work. For travel agencies at 00.00 on the 20th day of the previous month, reservations are opened and travel companies, who know the exact dates and the number of tourists doomed to visit Tsarskoe Selo, are trying to book places for themselves. After 5 minutes, all free places for travel companies are over. Those who did not get a seat hope that three days before the scheduled visit, someone will return - it's no secret that large companies book places "for the future", just in case and immediately big blocks. And they sometimes overestimate the number of prospective tourists. Then, in three days, free places are formed, which managers guard on the Internet in the hope of grabbing. Another important point: during the official work of the museum from 10 o'clock, tickets for "wild" tourists begin to sell from 12 o'clock. From 10 a.m. to 12 a.m., travel companies that have booked and bought places enter. From 12 to 16 ticket offices for unorganized visitors are open, from 16 to 18 - travel agencies and unorganized visitors pass again, if there are few travel agencies. I note that since this year the museum has turned its face to the "non-organizers": the time for buying tickets at the box office has increased by 2 hours, because even last year they were selling tickets according to the schedule: 12.00 - 14.00 and 16.00 to 17.00.

As I said, my tourists were not lucky in any way: they could not book a quota, there were no extra places for three days. And on June 27 we went to the queue in Tsarskoye Selo. We arrived at 10 am. There were few people in front of the entrance:

But pay attention to empty seats queue. Since Bloch knows some of the peculiarities of forming a queue at museums that are in great demand, she went to clarify - how many people exactly are in front of us. It turned out - about 150. As you understand, there is a queue - there is business: standing in this queue and taking seats. The lady stated that her group was walking in the park. Yep, we know! The group will appear at 11.50 and without painful waiting in the sun will enter the palace. Two strong guys also took the queue, as further events will show - for our Chinese friends who work safely in St. Petersburg without any licenses. Strong guys, anticipating my questions, assertively say: "Where does it say in our Constitution that we cannot take a queue?" Indeed, the Constitution does not say anything about the impossibility to take a queue (neither for free, nor for money). The guide has only one problem: how to explain to his tourists, who have stood for more than two hours in the sun, why 150 "chosen ones" arrive 10 minutes before the opening and, proudly passing the sweaty tired line, come up and stand at the very beginning?

A lady with 100 people "walking in the park".

Strong guys who know the Constitution (in red and dark T-shirts).

We waited for the people who took their places behind us, I showed them my tourists - that they exist, and they are here, got acquainted with the accomplices of standing in line, and I let my sheep into the meadows, on the fresh grass, take a walk in the park. Flea is a waiter in line with experience, so she came to the combat position prepared (there are two bottles of water in the bag, looking ahead, I will say that they were all drunk within three hours).

An hour later, at 11:00 a.m., the line looked like this:

Half an hour later, at 11.30, this:

Finally, we approached the cherished milestone, guys, Moscow is not behind us! Turn:

Of course, 100 tourists walked past us, walking in the park (they only came from the side of the gate, not the park), 20 minutes before entering the palace. The Chinese generally stood at the head of the queue at 11.55. A strong uncle, the guard of the museum, gently pushed them aside, but only so that 100 people from the "lady with an umbrella" calmly entered the palace. But to my tourists-children, the uncle guard was not so affectionate.

I'm telling. From the photos you can see that we are standing in the sun. After 11.30 the queue was packed very tightly, because. those 100 people came to the "lady with an umbrella." It was painful to stand, and we sent our two Italian children to sit in the shade on a bench near the entrance. The front of the queue is fenced off with barriers to give the queue an artistically straight and slender appearance, as well as to prevent elements from entering the queue who want to enter without queuing.

When we finally got to the finish line, these kids just had to come up to us from the side, where there was a small passage. But the strict guard uncle did his job perfectly! Having missed a large group of Chinese from the same side shortly before, he now became very principled. And he thundered in a commanding voice that he would not let anyone in here, and that the children should make their way through the entire line to us, and it was impossible to do this with a density of flow. I explain to him that these are our children, here we are - tourists, and we have a certain love of children, which does not allow us to force children to stand for an hour squeezed among people and under the scorching sun. The guard uncle did his job very well (of course, with two children it is very easy to be principled - this is not a Chinese group accompanied by two strong guys who know the Constitution!): "And if your children come in here, then everyone else in line will be outraged ", - the guard uncle said judiciously (that is, he expressed exactly the thoughts that owned me and the tourists at the sight of almost 200 people going to the front of the queue a little earlier). Two Italian children against 200 tourists who passed 15 minutes earlier! The whole queue standing next to us said that they knew the children, and they were standing here ... But the guard uncle did not give up a single inch.

Dear Directorate of Tsarskoe Selo, please declare to the guard who was on duty at the entrance from the park on June 27 at 12.00, sovereign gratitude! After 200 people were let through to their places, he very conscientiously fulfilled his duties and did not let two younger schoolchildren to their parents, who stood in a stuffy queue! His work is worthy of every encouragement!

Our children, it's good that they are children, eventually climbed over the fence and reunited with their families. Then everything was fine: 2 hours of purgatory in the sun in the queue was compensated by an hour in the paradise of the palace, the tourists left, as they say in the most banal reviews, "tired but happy."

Why this story? Does Bloch really hope that order will be restored in the queue? No way! The business is well established and functions excellently. This is just advice for those who are going to Tsarskoe Selo: take a high chair, an umbrella, a fan and sunscreen with you. And, do not forget to take sedatives: novopassitis or persen. And - have a good visit to Tsarskoye Selo!

“COMPARED TO TSARSKOYE Selo, EVERYTHING ELSE IS FLOWERS!”

The Amber Room is a tourist Mecca. With the beginning of the high season, millions of guests flock to Tsarskoe Selo to see with their own eyes the miracle of restoration with a mysterious history. The originals of the precious panels disappeared without a trace after the Great Patriotic War, and since then have been shrouded in secrets and mysteries. But tourists are satisfied with the restored version.

Kilometer-long queues stand at the box office of the museum-reserve from morning until late evening. And travel agencies call the Catherine Palace their main headache.

Tsarskoye Selo has entered into an agreement for the passage of organized groups with a limited number of travel agencies. Those who are not included in the list of lucky ones are forced to repurchase tickets. At the same time, the price increases one and a half times: from 700 to 1300 rubles at best, - says Olga, an employee of the city travel agency. - But it's still half the trouble. If we have a group of one hundred people, no one can give so many tickets - we have to get them from different places. Literally collect bit by bit!

When the long-awaited tickets are finally found, the second test strip begins. It's called "stand in line".

The queue to the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoe Selo!. Turn

Recently in Tsarskoye Selo they are not allowed to queue in advance. They say: you have tickets for 15:00, so come at 15:00, - Olga sighs. - And our tourists have trains at six or seven o'clock in the evening. It turns out a comical situation: they stand in line for two hours in order to bypass the entire museum in twenty minutes and run to the station. Some refuse. They say that they do not need beauty at this price. Compared to Tsarskoye Selo, everything else is just flowers.

QUOTAS OUTSIDE THE LAW, BUT "SAVE THE POSITION"

Back in April, Smolny admitted that the museum administration had outlawed quotas. They have no right to restrict visits to cultural property. Vice Governor Igor Albin instructed the Committee for State Control, Use and Protection of Monuments (KGIOP) to force the leadership to abandon such measures. But all summer long, travel agencies continued to be divided into "chosen ones" who were lucky, and all the rest who had to arrange a "rat race" for tickets to the Catherine Palace.

We have no right to give any warnings regarding the organization of tourist flows. We decide how we receive tourists, - says Olga Taratynova, director of the Tsarskoye Selo State Museum Reserve.

According to her, the quotas were “a good thing” and saved the situation in the face of a huge tourist flow, which the palace simply cannot cope with.

Olga Taratynova on quotas for the Catherine Palace

Their goal was to somehow distribute the visit. Small travel agencies had small quotas, large - large, - said Taratynova.

However, from next year, restrictions were promised to be lifted. True, the management of Tsarskoye Selo predicts that this will only worsen the situation.

We will cancel the quota next year out of self-preservation. It is an occasion for disputes and reproaches in our direction. We decided that it would be better to let the tourism business self-regulate. But this will lead to the most severe speculation and the buying of our tickets, the director warns.

"Sorry for Grandmother from Samara"

Now the Catherine Palace can only accept 900 people per hour - and this is the main problem, for which, alas, there is no solution. If even more guests are allowed in, it could become a tragedy for the exhibits.

We monitor the humidity in the rooms, and every year we note an increase. After the end of the high season, fat deposits appear on porcelain and furniture, they have to be cleaned. Despite slippers with double protection, floors suffer greatly. Not all rooms have ventilation and in summer the temperature on the upper floors rises to +29 degrees, Taratynova lists.

In European museums, in such situations, they introduce electronic recording via the Internet, but in Russian reality, such a system will hit hard, first of all, compatriot tourists who come not with firms, but on their own.

Imagine, a grandmother came to us from Samara. She did not know about the electronic recording, she does not even have the Internet. I feel sorry for her,” the leader admits.

In general, whatever one may say, there are only two ways out of the situation: if you want to see the Amber Room, you will have to be patient. Or visit Tsarskoye Selo in late autumn, winter, or spring - when there are not so many tourists.

Our founders ask us to constantly increase attendance, and we will do it, but not at the expense of the Catherine Palace, - Olga Taratynova firmly believes.

NUMBER

1.3 million tourists visited Tsarskoye Selo from May to October. This is 68 thousand visitors more than last year.