Kolomenskoye Estate

The old imperial estate Kolomenskoe is one of the most picturesque and pleasant of Moscow's countryside places to visit. It is located about 10km south-east of the Kremlin in Moscow, close to Moscow State University. It covers an area of about 390 hectares and is beautifully set in a natural park full of old trees. It used to be the favourite summer residence of the Russian Tsars. At present Kolomenskoye is a museum in the open air which is now a preservation zone and one of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites. During the 16th century, Kolomenskoe place was chosen as the site of a tsar summer residence. Ivan the Terrible stayed there during his childhood and later with his first wife, Anastasia. Around 1667, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich ordered the construction of a wooden summer palace at Kolomenskoe. It was called the eighth wonder of the world as during its construction no saws or nails were used, but only axes. The palace was considered a marvel of Russian carpentry, however later that century it was turned down by the order of Catherine the Great. Kolomenksoe Estate was also one of the places where the young Peter (later Peter the great) spent a lot of time practising in war games and strategy. Catherine the Great and Alexander I also built their palaces in the estate but much was destroyed after the 1917 Revolution.

One of the earliest buildings is the Church of the Ascension, the first stone church in Russia with "tent" style roof, constructed in 1532. The church was built by the Moscow Grand Prince Vasili III to show his appreciation of the birth of his son and heir to the throne, Ivan, who later became Ivan the Terrible. There are also several other monuments of Russian stone architecture of the 16th-17th centuries. In different years some samples of wooden architecture of the 17th-18th centuries were brought and placed here, including the log cabin of Peter the Great in which he lived somewhere near Archangelsk. There are as well exhibitions of Russian tiles, wood-carvings, metalwork, icons. In addition, the visitors can wander in the oldest oak woods in the Moscow region, with some trees dating as far back as 600 years and some having been planted by the young Peter the Great himself.