Orlovsky Park is located on the south side of the St. Petersburg Road, opposite the Travel Palace of Peter I. This Park is a favorite recreation place of local residents, as the entrance is free at any time. The Park was created in the middle of the 19th century on the shore of the Orlovsky Pond.
Orlovsky Park is named after Alexey Orlov, who served under Tsar Nicholas I and owned a estate here. His grandfather, Grigory Orlov, served under Peter I. He had five sons: Ivan, Grigory, Alexey, Fedor, Vladimir. They played an important role in the palace coup of 1762, when Empress Catherine II took the throne.
The most famous of them, Grigory Orlov, was a favorite of Empress Catherine II. His brother, Fyodor Orlov, was never married, but had 5 illegitimate children. Catherine II gave them all count titles and allowed them to serve in the army. Alexey Orlov was one of these 5 children of Fedor.
He began serving in the Hussar Regiment, and then in the Life Guards Mounted Regiment. In the wars with Napoleon, he distinguished himself by bravery. It was a period when the military quickly moved up the career ladder. By 1817, Alexey Orlov received the rank of major General and became the commander of a Mounted regiment and a cuirassier division.
During the Decembrist uprising on December 14, 1825, Alexey Orlov, without receiving an order, personally led the detachments of the Horse Guards, which played a key role in suppressing the riot on Senate Square. Tsar Nicholas I was very grateful to him for this. Since then, Alexey Orlov has become one of the closest person to the royal family. Subsequently, he became a high-ranking diplomat, headed the third department of the Royal Guard.
The horse Guards, commanded by Alexey Orlov, were stationed in Strelna. Nicholas I decided to give him an estate in Strelna. There were no vacant plots of land here, and the tsar bought land plots from the owners in the park on the shore of the Oryol Pond and presented them to Orlov.
The Orlov Palace in Strelna was built according to the project of Joseph Charlemagne and Peter Sadovnikov in the Gothic style. To this day, only the Gothic Gatekeeper`s House at the entrance to Orlov Park on the St. Petersburg Road has survived from the palace.
In the 19th century, sculptures of Peter Klodt`s Horse Tamers were installed in front of the palace. These are author`s copies of the famous sculptures on the Anichkov Bridge. According to contemporaries, the Orlov Palace and Park in Strelna was one of the best nobles’ palaces in the capital.
After the revolution of 1917, there was a tank division in Strelna. During the retreat of the Russian troops in 1941, the Orlov Palace was blown up. Nowadays, Orlov Park is a public park which locals like to visit. Only the Gothic tower (in the form of ruins), the gatekeeper`s house and the tuff bridge on the Island of Love have survived from the Orlov Palace.
