Sergievka park in peterhof. Ten legends of the stone head in Sergievka park Where is the stone head

The Sergievka estate park has the status of a State Natural Monument, but it is famous not only for its beautiful oak forests and picturesque ponds.

At the end of the eighteenth century, the estate became the property of the imperial family. In 1839, Nicholas I presented it to his daughter Maria Nikolaevna on the occasion of her marriage to Duke Maximilian of Leuchtenberg. To give the estate a look worthy of the new owners, the architect A.I. As a result, a palace and park ensemble appeared in Sergievka, pleasing to the eye to this day, although not to the extent that it was during the life of Maria Nikolaevna.

However, back to the stone. Where he came from in the ravine, no one knows. But about how it turned into a head, something is known. The sculpture was made by an unknown master according to the design of the architect Franz Brouwer in 1799 or 1800. The same Franz Brouwer, who participated in the creation of the Roman fountains in Petrodvorets. According to various sources, the stone was supposed to represent the head of a sleeping warrior and be called "Rusich".

It is believed that he once wore a helmet like a Russian hero, most likely a metal one. This is confirmed by the hole on the nose - supposedly it remained from the fastening of the vertical protective plate, typical for the helmets of Russian warriors. Subsequently, when the helmet disappeared, the original name of the sculpture was also forgotten.

Now the stone head has several names. Different authors call the stone "Warrior", "Old Man", "Samson's Head", "Man's Head". BiNII employees and students usually refer to the stone as Adam.

Landscape Park Sergievka in Peterhof is a natural monument of regional significance. Together with the Leuchtenberg estate, the park forms a palace and park ensemble, which is included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites "Historical Center of St. Petersburg and Associated Complexes of Monuments".

The area of ​​the Sergievka Park is 120 hectares. More than 200 plant species grow on its territory. The forests are home to 185 species of birds and 35 species of mammals, among which there are very rare specimens - the Green Woodpecker and the Sparrow Owl.

The drainage system of the park's paths, created in the 19th century, still works perfectly. Even in heavy rain, the paths remain dry. Sergievka is ideal for family holidays and outdoor walks. In addition to the forest, the park has several ponds with bridges and dams.

Natural monument "Park" Sergievka ": google-panorama

History of the park

The land on which the Sergievka Park is located became part of the Russian Empire after the Northern War and the annexation of Ingermanland. At the beginning of the 18th century, Peter I transferred this territory into the possession of his associate, Alexander Ivanovich Rumyantsev. Subsequently, the estate was inherited by his grandson - Sergei Petrovich, in whose honor the park was named Sergievka.

After 1822, the estate was owned by Kirill Naryshkin, and after his death, the land with the landlord's house was acquired by Nicholas I and turned Sergievka into a country estate for his daughter and her husband, the Duke of Leuchtenberg.

In 1839-1842, the architect Stackenschneider built a country palace for the Leuchtenberg family. In the 19th century, active work was carried out to decorate the park - benches and sculptures from stone blocks were cut down and other landscape work was carried out. At the same time, according to experts, a giant stone head appeared - a unique monument that is a symbol of Sergievka.

After the October Revolution, the park was transferred to the state, and Sergievka was given the status of a natural monument. The Leuchtenberg Palace was placed at the disposal of the Faculty of Biology and Soil Science of Leningrad University. During the Great Patriotic War, the estate was badly damaged, restoration work continued for many years, but some buildings were lost forever. Among them: the church of St. Catherine, the Chinese house, a water-lifting machine and a Catholic chapel.

Stone head in Sergievka park

Head or Sculpture at the Source Is a monument carved out of a granite block by an unknown master. Its height reaches 2 meters. The sculpture represents the head, presumably of a male warrior, which is only half visible from the ground. The master worked only part of the face, the occipital part remained intact.

The monument is located on the territory of the former Leuchtenberg estate and has not only the status of an object of cultural heritage of federal significance, but is also the hallmark of Sergievka. There are several versions of the creation of the Head: the main one says that this is a monument to an ancient Russian warrior and a metal helmet was previously on the head. The poet A. Pushkin allegedly wrote the poem "Ruslan and Lyudmila" under the impression of this monument. According to another version, the sculpture at the source depicts an unknown Swedish king and was created during the reign of the Swedes in this area.

Leuchtenberg Palace in Peterhof

Leuchtenberg manor refers to the style of late classicism. It was built in 1839 in the northeastern part of Sergievka Park (western part of Peterhof). The construction of the building took only 2.5 months, but the finishing of the premises took almost three years.

The palace has two floors, its architecture is carefully thought out. The furnishings of the rooms have not survived to this day. The elements of the sculpture and stucco were restored during a lengthy reconstruction. The Leuchtenberg manor had four facades, each of which was unique. In general, the palace resembled a Roman building; on the facades there were many ledges, open terraces and galleries. In the post-war years, the palace in Sergievka Park was restored, and today you can see it during walks.

Visiting rules

The park is free to enter, but visitors are asked to follow some rules of conduct.

On the territory of the park strictly prohibited:

• construction, restoration and repair work without approval;
• passage of motor vehicles, except for the Oranienbaum highway;
• collection and damage of rare plant species;
• parking for tourists;
• littering the territory;
• making fires.

During the nesting period of birds (from April 15 to June 15), the park administration asks not to disturb the birds, not to come close to trees, not to make noise, to move exclusively along footpaths, to walk pets on a leash ..

Taxi and transfer

You can call a taxi through the mobile applications Yandex.Taxi, Gett, Uber and Maxim. With their help, you can quickly select a car of the desired class, as well as calculate the cost of the trip and track the route.

For comfortable movement outside the city, we recommend ordering a transfer from the KiwiTaxi company.

Monument of nature "Park" Sergievka ": in Peterhof: video

Peterhof, Sergievsky Park

In the Sergievsky Park, a palace and park ensemble located in Peterhof, to the west of the Leuchtenberg Palace, in a ravine near the Christatelka River, there is a miracle head carved into the ground, carved out of a huge boulder, called "The Old Man" or "Adam's Head".

Official version. A head appeared, according to historical records, in 1800, under the then owner - Sergei Rumyantsev (a descendant of an associate of Peter I - Alexander Rumyantsev). The monument was designed by the architect F.Brower, who worked at the turn of the 17th-18th centuries in St. Petersburg.

It seems that the body of this head (sculpture) is hidden somewhere underground. It is possible that it is already in a damaged, broken state, but still there.

It is difficult to explain the proximity of traces of erosion of the stone and the simultaneous clear lines of the stone craftsman. Or there was something else on the head (a knight's helmet, for example). A hole in the nasal septum indicates this option. Or maybe someone checked - is it hollow?

It is forbidden for amateurs to dig here. This can only be done by "accredited" institutions, archaeologists. But apparently they are in no hurry here.

Perhaps the knight's large metal helmet was attached to the hole on the bridge of the nose.

We can all see the hole.

But no one has seen the big helmet, or at least there is no mention of it.

In July 1818 young Alexander Pushkin with his friend N. Raevsky Jr. visited a shady ravine near the "sleeping" head.

In the poem "Ruslan and Lyudmila", completed two years later, a plot appears, possibly inspired by the impressions of what he saw in Sergievka.

True, according to some oral versions, it turns out that this is the head of some Swedish king, which the Swedes dragged to the sea on a ship, but did not drag it and threw it.

There is also a legend that says that the head was carved by an employee of the Peterhof Lapidary Factory in memory of Peter I, godfather of the daughter (some say - the son) of this master.

The head is also called "The Old Man" or "Adam's Head", or "Rusich" and a very rare name - the sculpture of Svyatogor, also called "Samson's Head".

Such a rare variety of names in itself suggests that many legends are woven into the history of these places.

In the Sergievsky Park, a palace and park ensemble located in Peterhof, to the west of the Leuchtenberg Palace, in a ravine near the Christatelka River, there is a miracle head carved into the ground, carved out of a huge boulder, called "The Old Man" or "Adam's Head".

Official version. A head appeared, according to historical records, in 1800, under the then owner - Sergei Rumyantsev (a descendant of an associate of Peter I - Alexander Rumyantsev). The monument was designed by the architect F.Brower, who worked at the turn of the 17th-18th centuries in St. Petersburg.

It seems that the body of this head (sculpture) is hidden somewhere underground. It is possible that it is already in a damaged, broken state, but still there.
It is difficult to explain the proximity of traces of erosion of the stone and the simultaneous clear lines of the stone craftsman. Or there was something else on the head (a knight's helmet, for example). A hole in the nasal septum indicates this option. Or maybe someone checked - is it hollow?

Digging is prohibited for amateurs. This can only be done by "accredited" institutions, archaeologists. But apparently they are in no hurry here.

Sergievka also has a second unofficial name - the estate of the Duke of Leuchtenberg

Close-up photo. Traces of stone erosion are visible.

The hole is shallow. Tourists leave coins as usual.

On the territory of the park, besides the palace itself and the "stone head", there are also other objects made of stone

Boulders, including specimens with flat faces. Ruined ancient masonry?

The place is very interesting. It is a pity that it is not as widely visited as the sights of St. Petersburg itself, and the cultural monuments themselves (the estate) are not in the best condition.
Moreover, not all residents of Russia, but even St. Petersburg, know about this place. Previously posted similar information on the forum

About three thousand years ago, an Indian culture arose on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, which was called Olmec. This code name was given by the name of the Olmecs - a small group of Indian tribes who lived in this territory much later, in the XI-XIV centuries. The very name "Olmecs", which means "rubber people", is of Aztec origin.

The Aztecs named them that after the area on the Gulf Coast where rubber was produced and where the Olmecs of their day lived. So the Olmecs proper and the Olmec culture are not at all the same thing. This circumstance is extremely difficult to understand for non-specialists such as G. Hancock, who devoted many pages to the Olmecs in his book "Traces of the Gods". Such publications only confuse the problem, while at the same time not explaining the essence of the case.

The civilization of the ancient Olmecs, the beginning of which dates back to the second millennium BC. e., ceased to exist in the early years of our era and one and a half thousand years before the heyday of the Aztec empire. Olmec culture is sometimes referred to as the "mother of cultures" of Central America and the earliest civilization in Mexico.

Oddly enough, despite all the efforts of archaeologists, nowhere in Mexico, as well as in America in general, have not yet been able to find any traces of the origin and evolution of the Olmec civilization, the stages of its development, the place of its origin, as if this people appeared as if laid down.

Absolutely nothing is known about the social organization of the Olmecs, or about their beliefs and rituals - except for human sacrifice. We do not know what language the Olmecs spoke, what ethnic group they belonged to. And the extremely high humidity in the Gulf of Mexico area has led to the fact that not a single Olmec skeleton has survived.

The culture of the ancient Olmecs was as much a "corn civilization" as the rest of America's pre-Columbian cultures. The main branches of the economy were agriculture and fishing. The remains of the cult buildings of this civilization - pyramids, platforms, statues - have survived to this day. The ancient Olmecs cut stone blocks and carved massive sculptures out of them. Some of them depict huge heads, known today as "Olmec heads". These stone heads are the greatest mystery of ancient civilization ...

Monumental sculptures weighing up to 30 tons depict the heads of people with undoubtedly negroid facial features. These are practically portraits of Africans in tight-fitting helmets with a chin strap. The earlobes are pierced. The face is cut with deep wrinkles on both sides of the nose. The corners of the thick lips are bent down.

Despite the fact that the heyday of the Olmec culture falls on 1500-1000 BC. e., there is no certainty that the heads were carved in this era, since radiocarbon dating of pieces of coal found nearby gives only the age of the coals themselves. Perhaps the stone heads are much younger.

The first stone head was discovered in the 1930s by the American archaeologist Matthew Stirling. He wrote in his report: “The head was carved from a separate massive basalt block.

She rested on a foundation of untreated boulders. When cleared from the ground, the head had a rather intimidating appearance. Despite its considerable size, it is crafted very carefully and confidently, its proportions are perfect. A unique phenomenon among American Aboriginal sculptures, it is notable for its realism. Her features are distinct and clearly of the Negro type. "

By the way, Stirling made another discovery - he discovered children's toys in the form of dogs on wheels. This innocent, at first glance, find actually became a sensation - after all, it was believed that the civilization of pre-Columbian America did not know the wheel. But it turns out that this rule does not apply to the ancient Olmecs ...

However, it soon turned out that the Maya Indians, the southern contemporaries of the ancient Olmecs, also made toys on wheels, but they did not use the wheel in their economic practice.

There is no big mystery here - the roots of this ignorance of the wheel go to the mentality of the Indians and the "corn economy". In this regard, the ancient Olmecs differed little from other Indian civilizations.

In addition to the heads, the ancient Olmecs left numerous examples of monumental sculpture. All of them are carved from basalt monoliths or other durable stone. On the Olmec steles, one can see scenes of the meeting of two clearly different human races. One of them is Africans. And in one of the Indian pyramids, located near the Mexican city of Oaxaca, there are several stone steles with scenes carved on them of the capture of bearded white people and ... Africans by the Indians.

Olmec heads and images on steles are physiologically accurate images of real representatives of the Negroid race, whose presence in Central America 3000 years ago is still a mystery. Where did Africans come from in the New World before Columbus? Maybe they were the native inhabitants of America? There is evidence from paleoanthropologists that as part of one of the migrations to the territory of the American continent during the last ice age, people of the Negroid race did indeed. This migration took place around 1500 BC. NS.

There is another suggestion - that in ancient times, contacts between Africa and America were carried out across the ocean, which, as it turned out in recent decades, did not at all divide ancient civilizations. The assertion of the isolation of the New World from the rest of the world, which for a long time dominated in science, was convincingly refuted by Thor Heyerdahl and Tim Severin, who proved that contacts between the Old and New World could have taken place long before Columbus.

The Olmec civilization ceased to exist in the last century BC. But their culture did not die - it organically entered the cultures of the Aztecs and Mayans.

And the Olmecs? In fact, the only "calling card" they left behind were the giant stone heads. African heads ...