Wednesday Walk: City Gardens and Yards

Scenery workshop

A rather cold winter came to us this year. I want to confess that I don't like to go for long walks when the temperature drops below minus 10 °C. But I don't like sitting at home all day either. So I chose a compromise solution. I decided to take a short walk to a small city garden, which is less than 1 kilometer from my house.

Scenery workshop

On the way I passed a beautiful red-brick building, which was built in 1900 to make and store scenery. The building was used by the Mariinsky Theater as a scenery workshop, and could have continued to be so, but an accident intervened. There was a great fire in 2003 and the Directorate of the Theatre after its inspection decided not only to restore the building but also to change its purpose. The Concert Hall of the Mariinsky Theater now operates in the newly-renovated building. This building has excellent acoustics, and I recommend attending one of the concerts when you come to St. Petersburg.

Buildings opposite the Concert Hall

Opposite the Concert Hall building are ordinary apartment houses built in the late 19th century. Once all the courtyards of these houses were connected to each other, but now the passageways are closed by bars. To pass through the gate you need a key.

Alexeevsky Garden

The garden at the palace of Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich, son of the Russian Emperor Alexander II, is a little further down the same street. Through the bare branches of the trees you can clearly see the graffiti on the blank wall of the old house. It seems that this white silhouette of a tree is drawn by snow, it fits perfectly into the winter landscape.

Palace of Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich

Fountain near the palace

The paths of the park lead me to the fountain near the Grand Duke's palace. In the summer, the fountain works, on the benches placed around the fountain is very pleasant to relax. Now the fountain is also filled with water, but in a different aggregate state, in the form of snow.

Palace of Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich

Palace of Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich was built by the architect M. E. Mesmacher in 1882-85. After the revolution, the building was nationalized and housed the Pioneer Palace, with various hobby clubs and sports sections, children could engage in clubs for free. But in the second half of the 20th century, the House of pioneer's creativity moved to another building, the palace was used by a scientific institute, which paid little attention to the preservation of the interior. By the 2000s, the building had fallen into disrepair. The tenant was kicked out, and the palace was transferred to the Ministry of Culture. A careful restoration was carried out, after which the St. Petersburg House of Music was located in this building. Concerts of young performers are held here.

Alexeevsky Garden

I walked through the alleys of the garden, but the garden is quite small, so I decided to continue walking, I crossed the street and went into the courtyards of the buildings. The brick wall in the back of this courtyard is decorated with different graffiti.

On the wall of the house you can see the figure of Santa Claus and the inscription next to it: "I'm like a St. Petersburg street art, everyone expects something from me, but I don't exist". I cannot agree with the author of this inscription, he contradicts himself!

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Smartphone	Xiaomi Redmi 3
Location	Saint Petersburg, Russia

This is my entry for the #WednesdayWalk challenge by @tattoodjay.