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Coordinates: 59°34′N, 30°08′E

Coat of arms of Gatchina

Gatchina (Russian: Га́тчина) is a town in Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located 45 km south of St. Petersburg by the road leading to Pskov. Population: 88,420 (2002 Census); 79,714 (1989 Census. It is part of the World Heritage Site Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments.

It was first documented in 1499 as Khotchino, a village in possession of Novgorod the Great. In the 17th century, it passed to Livonia, then to Sweden, was returned to Russia in 1721 and given by Peter the Great to his sister Natalia. Catherine the Great granted it in 1765 to her favourite Count Orlov who built there a sombre castle with 600 rooms and laid out, for the first time in Russia, an extensive English landscape park. At the entrance to the park from the Gatchina road was erected a triumphal arch to a design by the architect of Gatchina, Antonio Rinaldi (1771, built 1777-82), forming a monumental entrance, the gift of Catherine to Orlov for his efforts during a recent outbreak of plague at Moscow.

Main Gatchina palace

The Rococo interiors were designed by Rinaldi and Vincenzo Brenna and executed by Italian stuccoworkers and Russian craftsmen, with parquetry floors, painted ceilings, and distinctly Italian furniture (illustration, right).

Dressing-Room for Count Orlov, 1770s, seen in a 19th-century watercolor: much of the interior was burned by Nazis

Chesma Gallery for Grand-Duke Paul, in the Neoclassical style of the 1790s

The Empress took such a great liking of the manor that at Orlov's death in 1783 she bought it from his heirs and presented it to her son, the future Emperor Paul. During the 1790s, Paul redecorated some palatial interiors in the sumptuous Neoclassical style (illustration, left) and graced the park with numerous bridges, gates, and pavilions. A remarkable monument of Paul's reign is a small Priory Palace on the shore of the Black Lake. Constructed for the Russian Grand Priory of the Order of St John, it was presented to the Order by a decree of Paul I of Russia dated August 23, 1799.

After Paul's death the grand palace stood deserted until Alexander III of Russia made it his chief residence. Nicholas II, the last Russian tsar, spent his youth there.

According to the Gatchina website, "in May 1918, in the former imperial palace, one of the first museums in the country was opened for the victorious popular masses" of the Russian Revolution.

During World War II much of the palace was destroyed by the retreating Germans. The extent of devestation was extraordinary. Restoration work on the section of the palace lived in by Tsar Paul I is partially completed and certain state rooms are open to the public. Other areas of the Palace, including those of Tsar Alexander III,remain closed and not restored.

In 1923–1929, the town was called Trotsk after Leon Trotsky. After Stalin took control of the Communist Party's Central Committee and exiled Trotsky, the town was called Krasnogvardeysk, or "Red Guard City." It held the name until 1944.

Gatchina Palace. View from the park

Priory Palace

According to this memorial sign Gatchina was the first Russian town with electrical street lights

• Eskilstuna, Sweden
• Espoo, Finland
• Ettlingen, Germany

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Gatchina

• Art monuments & History of former residence of the Russian emperors
• Gatchina Over the Centuries
• Parks of Gatchina
• The October Revolution and Civil War in Gatchina (in Russian)
• Views of Gatchina Park
• 19th-century views of palacial interiors
• (Russian) Cultural, public and scientific life of Gatchina
• Views of Gatchina Park
• Interiors of the Gatchina Palace
• Views of Gatchina

	Cities and towns in Leningrad Oblast
	Administrative center: Saint Petersburg (administratively separate) Boksitogorsk | Gatchina | Ivangorod | Kamennogorsk | Kingisepp | Kirishi | Kirovsk | Kommunar | Lodeynoye Pole | Luga | Lyuban | Nikolskoye | Novaya Ladoga | Otradnoye | Pikalyovo | Podporozhye | Primorsk | Priozersk | Sertolovo | Slantsy | Sosnovy Bor | Svetogorsk | Shlisselburg | Syasstroy | Tikhvin | Tosno | Volosovo | Volkhov | Vsevolozhsk | Vyborg | Vysotsk