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Moscow’s Koskovo Estate in Autumn

RUSSIAN FEDERATION | Friday, 9 November 2012 | Views [1421]

Beginning of Autumn in Moscow!!

Walking down a tree covered lane to the Estate

I thought I would go for a nice relaxing walk all the way toKoskovo Estate at the beginning of autumn in September. I checked the route on a map and it looked like it would take me about 20 minutes at most to get there from the metro station. But the walk took a considerable bit longer than expected. I arrived at the estate after more than an hour of walking but actually enjoyed the walk along the autumn tree covered lanes. The leaves have all started to turn orange or red creating a mystical autumn world to walk through. There was a bit of a cold wind in the air, just hinting at the cold that lay ahead in the weeks to come.

I love Autumn!

Some graffiti along the way

I entered the estate from the bottom so had to walk through the forest and around the lake before I got to the palace. All along the path through the forest there were artists selling their paintings, people walking their dogs and some fruit sellers so it felt like walking through a mini market.

My first glimpse of Kuskovo Estate across the lake

In Russia it is common for foreigners to pay more to enter places than foreigners. But the ticket seller mistook me for a Russian so I got to pay the local entry price, about half of the foreigner price. I just kept my mouth shut, nodded thanks and walked off before she could realize she had made a mistake.

Little church on the Estate

Angel and cross on top of the Church tower

Kuskovo is almost unique among Russian aristocratic country houses in that it has all its original interiors to match its glorious facades.

Kuskovo was the summer country house and estate of the Sheremetev family. It was built in the mid-18th century.

Unfortunately the little church was locked so couldn’t go inside

The entrance to the little church

The salmon pink Palace

The salmon pink Palace windows

The exterior was made of wooden planks, which were plastered and painted in soft pastel colors. The palace looks out onto a court of honor, formed by the palace, the church and the large lake. The six-column portico at the front of the house was designed with a ramp so that carriages with as many as eight horses could come directly to the front door.

The back of the Palace

The palace gardens were filled with brightly coloured flowers

The palace is a single-storey, salmon pink-and-white structure (it looks like an ice-cream cake!). As I entered the palace I was quite surprised that there were few people inside, it seemed like everybody was out enjoying the huge palace gardens. The first room was hung exclusively with exquisite Flemish tapestries, an abundance of silk wallpaper and an impressive collection of 18th century European and Russian paintings.

Between the tapestries, the windows looked out onto the lake and gardens of the estate.Inside the palace I couldn’t take any pictures but it was definitely worth seeing the luxury in which they lived.

Walking through the Palace Gardens

Path leading from the back of the Palace to the main Gardens

The palace gardenswere filled with wedding parties and I counted about 5 wedding couples all having their photos taken and walking round the estate.

The palace gardens were really very beautiful, even this early in autumn it was still filled with flowers.

Approaching the Hermitage pavilion.

The Hermitage pavilion.

There were eight park alleys that all converged at the circularHermitage pavilion.

Windows of the Pavilion

After walking around for a couple of hours I was too tired to do the hour walk back to the metro station so took a local bus to the nearest metro. Luckily I could get onto any bus as all the busses in Moscow eventually stop at a metro station somewhere.