Kolomenskoe Park
Even though this last week has not been the best weather wise, today was a beautiful day to walk around Kolomenskoe park and to watch the transition from summer to autumn. The park, situated in the South of Moscow on the bank of the river Moskova, was a former royal estate. During an insurecction, Peter I the Great was brought here for this safety. His daughter, Elizabeth, was born on this same estate.
On the estate are various buildings worth visiting. The chief attraction is without doubt the Church of the Ascension. It was built as an offering of thanks, after Ivan the Terrible, long awaited heir to the throne was born.
It is also possible to visit Alexis’ wooden palace, entirely reconstructed in 2010 (the original construction plans had been conserved.
Kolomenskoe is also a museum of wooden architecture since 1923. Various buildings from all over Russia have been brought on this enormous estate for conservation, including Peter the Great’s house which once was in Arkhangelsk.
If you would rather not visit, Kolomenskoe is a beautiful place to have a walk. Peace, quiet and solitude are guaranteed once you go off the beaten track. Kolomenskoe in this season is a particularly nice place: leaves take all sorts of colours, from chick yellow to deep burgundy, wild apples are ripe and ready to eat, bluetits preparing for winter…
This season is very appreciated by Russians and is a major theme in Russian literature. Poets such as Tyutchev describe all the magic of this period.
There is a spell in autumn early,
One all too brief, of an enchantment rare:
The nights are radiant and pearly,
The days, pellucid, crystal-clear.
Where played the sickle and fell the corn, a mellow,
A warm and breathless stillness reigns supreme;
Spanning the brown and idle furrow,
A dainty thread of cobweb gleams.
The birds have flown, we hear no more their clamour,
But winter’s angry winds not soon will start to blow –
Upon the empty fields there pours the azure glow
Of skies that have not lost the warmth of summer.
