GARDENS OF THE RUSSIAN MUSEUM 1944

In January 1944, the fascist blockade of Leningrad was completely lifted. On January 27, a salute was fired in honor of this victory. And on January 28, Pyotr Kondratievich Lobanov (gardener of the Summer Garden and the Garden of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry) submits his project for the restoration of the Summer Garden to the Arts Department of the Executive Committee of the City Council. In the spring of 1944, restoration work began in the Summer Garden and the MOPR Garden (Mikhailovsky Garden), though not according to the design of Peter Kondratievich. In 1944, these gardens were subordinate to the Joint House of the House of Entertaining Science, in addition to them there also included the Buff Garden and the Tauride Garden (it was also sometimes called the First Five-Year Garden in war documents). In August 1944, the MOPR Garden was transferred to the Dzerzhinsky District, and the Summer Garden was in this structure until the summer of 1945.

In the spring, the leadership of Leningrad decides to open as many gardens and parks of the city for visiting as citizens. To do this, it asks the Lenfront Military Council to oblige unit commanders to vacate occupied gardens and parks and to clean and partially repair them. But naturally, the bulk of the work fell on the shoulders of garden workers. As Peter Lobanov recalls, he had to carry out restoration work with personnel, the number of which was four times less than in the pre-war period. Therefore, ordinary townspeople who performed not tricky but very hard work were actively involved in the revival of the gardens.

And there was a lot to do. Repair the tracks, level the lawns on which the gardens were in 1942 and 1943, and sow. Fill the shelter slots with which the gardens were dug. Level funnels from bombs and shells. Naturally, all the work was not done during the spring training and they continued throughout the summer season. In addition to these works, a porphyry vase and a monument to I.A. Krylov. Work was carried out to examine the state of the Summer Palace of Peter I and the House of Peter (at that time they were the introduction of the Joint Museum Economy). During the summer of 1944, scientists at the Joint Museum Museum were able to prepare an exhibition in Peter’s Lodge, and in September it was open to visitors, it worked until the end of October. And this time, under the guidance of the architect of St. Isaac’s Cathedral Nikolai Ustinovich Malein, a partial disclosure of the earthen shelter of the sculptural group “Nishtadt Peace” was conducted. These works were carried out in order to plan the mass extraction of the Summer Garden sculpture next year.

The planned work to restore the gardens for the summer season of 1944 was done and Peter Kondratievich Lobanov was thanked for entering into the work book and was awarded 500 rubles. Throughout the summer season, the gardens were open and the townspeople enjoyed walking along them.

Happy holiday!

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