Located 250 km from Moscow, Bogoroditsk is known for its palace and park ensemble of the 18th century with the first landscape park in Russia - "a little paradise", as its first owner called the estate - the illegitimate son of Catherine II, Alexei Bobrinsky. It is the estate and its history that becomes the main reference point in this project to revitalize the historic city center, located on the opposite bank of the Bolshoi Bogoroditsky pond.
The Novaya Zemlya team carried out a comprehensive analysis of the territory, developing on its basis a phased integrated development of the city. The functional programming of the territory and the service functions of the objects proposed by the authors of the project reveal the intangible heritage of the city, largely associated with the Russian scientist of the 18th century Andrei Timofeevich Bolotov, who was the manager of the Bogoroditskaya volost under Catherine II.
The project was developed by an interdisciplinary team "New Land" + NEFA architects + ARTEZA with the participation of AB SNoU. NEFA architects worked on the architecture of the objects and their ideological and figurative solution, and ARTEZA connected the historical landscape of the place with modernity.
Background
The second half of the 18th century was the heyday of Bogoroditsk, founded in the 17th century on the southern borders of the Moscow state. In 1771, the construction of a large-scale palace and park complex began here, intended for the residence of the family of the illegitimate son of Catherine the Great, Alexei Bobrinsky. The palace was designed by the architect Ivan Yegorovich Starov.
The layout of the park was entrusted to Andrey Bolotov. A writer, scientist, thinker, artist and economist, he is also the author of the master plan of the city, the compositional center of which was the Bobrinsky Palace. Five radial streets of Bogoroditska fan out and the vanishing point of these lines are the geometric centers of the palace oval halls and the belvedere. The town is separated from the territory of the estate by the Bolshoi Bogoroditsky Pond, also created according to the project of Bolotov.
Between the city and the pond, according to his plan, there was a large meadow, which later became the Market Square (nowadays - the city garden). The trading square looked like an irregular hexagon, which, according to contemporaries, opened from the windows of the palace as a "giant amphitheater."
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zooming A. T.'s plan Bolotov and the current state © "Novaya Zemlya" + NEFA architects + ARTEZA
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zooming The town planning plan of Bogoroditsk, developed by Andrey Timofeevich Bolotov © Novaya Zemlya + NEFA architects + ARTEZA
The estate, destroyed during the Great Patriotic War, was restored back in the 1960s, and became a place of attraction for tourists - today it is visited by more than 80 thousand people a year.
Intangible heritage
The revitalization project of the historical center of the city touches upon the vast territory of the right bank of the Big City Pond, and develops the concept of a “city-theater”, which is based on the planning structure of Bogoroditsk, laid down by Bolotov, and its intangible heritage.
“We did not design architecture or landscaping, we were looking for a form of materialization of heritage, a necessary resource for the development of the economy of impressions,” says Grigory Solomin, managing partner of Novaya Zemlya and chief architect of AB SNoU, “and the main asset of the city is the work of Andrei Timofeevich Bolotov, the interdisciplinary genius of the Enlightenment, became the source of our inspiration. In addition to the fact that Bolotov was the town planner of Bogoroditsk, he was widely engaged in educational activities: he founded the first gymnasium, in 1779 he organized a children's theater, for which he invented plays. The theater was set up right on the territory of the estate, and the park with a pond became a natural backdrop for performances. And it is theater and performing arts, education and culture, according to the authors of the project, that should become the basis for the development of the city, the very planning structure of which will become an element of its identity. To do this, you just need to return the original meanings, and then fill them with new content.
Well forgotten old
In Soviet times, the Torgovaya Square, the very "amphitheater" in the Bolotov concept, was turned into a city garden: trees were planted here, and views of the city's ray system from the palace side were lost, as were the prospects for Starov's masterpiece, the main house of the estate. opening from the city side. Proposing to return the species characteristics by crowning the trees of the city garden and through the organization of species pockets along the main beams of the streets, the authors of the project distinguish a pedestrian route with points of attraction that form a new identity of the city, restarting its service economy. That is, the return of the “grandiose amphitheater” is only part of the territory development project. Its tasks are broader: it is the creation of high-quality services, and the development of human potential, and marketing based on the unique heritage of the city.
The developed route covers the coastal part of the Bogoroditsky pond and Proletarskaya street, where the main objects of architectural heritage are located. It is also planned to reconstruct the Pryvokzalnaya Square - the place from which acquaintance with the city begins: the traffic movement and the structure of the territory are optimized.
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zooming 1/4 Connection between objects of the walking route and views from the estate © "Novaya Zemlya" + NEFA architects + ARTEZA
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zooming 2/4 Objects of cultural heritage on the route © "Novaya Zemlya" + NEFA architects + ARTEZA
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zooming 3/4 © Novaya Zemlya + NEFA architects + ARTEZA
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zooming 4/4 © Novaya Zemlya + NEFA architects + ARTEZA
On the other hand, the Youth Cultural Cluster is developing: several educational institutions are already located here. By the way, the students of one of them, the recreation center "Marusya", also became participants in the project - as part of the study, they developed functional programming of the surrounding area. Nearby, on the shore of a pond, the lost functions of the 18th century are being recreated: a beach, a pier, a barbecue area, which becomes an important point of attraction along the route for both tourists and townspeople.
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zooming © Novaya Zemlya + NEFA architects + ARTEZA
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zooming © Novaya Zemlya + NEFA architects + ARTEZA
The semantic center of the route according to the project is the territory of the dam, directly adjacent to the estate and the park. It will connect the Pryvokzalnaya Square with the estate with a convenient walking route. The amphitheater being recreated in this place is the main theatrical stage of the city, and the landscapes of the city pond serve as scenery for the floating stage.
The promenade has a mezzanine, a parterre by the water, a benoir box with swings. There is also a greenhouse with Bolotov varieties of apple trees (Andrei Timofeevich became famous as an agronomist) and a theater cafe, whose menu includes Bolotov's favorite dishes.
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zooming 1/6 Activities on the promenade © "Novaya Zemlya" + NEFA architects + ARTEZA
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zooming 2/6 View of the embankment © "Novaya Zemlya" + NEFA architects + ARTEZA
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zooming 3/6 The elements of the embankment improvement on the dam interpret the heritage of A. T. Bolotova © "Novaya Zemlya" + NEFA architects + ARTEZA
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zooming 4/6 View of the embankment © "Novaya Zemlya" + NEFA architects + ARTEZA
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zooming 5/6 Night view of the promenade © "Novaya Zemlya" + NEFA architects + ARTEZA
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zooming 6/6 Night view of the promenade with the Snail © Novaya Zemlya + NEFA architects + ARTEZA
At the entrance to the promenade, near the bus station, an interpretation of one of the lost interactive elements of Bolotov's park, the snake cracker, is being erected, an art object for young townspeople and guests of the “theater city”.
As an example, where the floating stage becomes a point of attraction, you can recall the Austrian Bregenz - the annual theater festival held there, attracts more than 200 thousand people to a city with a population of only 28 thousand. Given the rich history of Bogoroditsk, good transport connectivity of the territory with regional centers and Moscow, as well as the likely construction of the Moscow-Adler high-speed rail with a stop in Bogoroditsk, the city, if the project is implemented, has a chance to become a new modern cultural center of the Tula region, and, possibly, and Russia.
