The Turkish bath is one of the historical park pavilions located in the landscape part of the Catherine Park, in the former Tsarskoye Selo (now the Pushkin city of St. Petersburg).
This pavilion was the last building on the territory of the Catherine Park. Its construction on the bank of the Big Pond of the park took place in 1850-1852 by the architect I. A. Monighetti, by order of Emperor Nicholas I.
The Turkish bath was a kind of memorial erected in honor of the victory in the Russian-Turkish War of 1828-1829. The Turkish mosque was used as a model for the construction of the memorial pavilion. For this reason, the Turkish Bath pavilion looks like a smaller Turkish mosque, which fascinates with its whiteness against the background of the waters of the park pond.
View of the Big Pond, Turkish Bath and Chesma Column
The white structure has a golden dome decorated with relief ornaments, and a high figured minaret (tower) topped with a spire with a crescent moon.
The walls of the pavilion are cut through with small windows-lunettes with yellow glass and have a few openwork decorations, made, like the walls of the pavilion, in a light color.
A monumental staircase leads to the entrance to the Turkish Bath.
The interiors of the Turkish bath are made in the "Moorish" style.
The Turkish bath was previously intended for washing and relaxing; it has five rooms: an Entrance Hall( Lobby), a Changing room, a Soap room, a Domed hall and a hexagonal office.
The interior decoration was based on the white marble relief details of the interior decoration of the Turkish Sultana's bathhouse and the sultan's bathhouse from the garden of the Eski Serai Palace in Adrianople, brought as trophies during the Russian-Turkish War from Rumelia (the European part of the Ottoman Empire's possessions with the center in Sofia): columns, wall boards, fountain bowls, door decorations, etc., some of which date back to the 17th and 18th centuries.
The entrance to the vestibule, which leads to the changing room, opens a richly ornamented portal. The lower part of the walls of the changing room is lined with colored mosaics, the upper part is decorated with stucco and ornamental paintings.
In the niche separating the changing room from the soap room, a cascading fountain is arranged.
The soap room (washing room) had natural lighting-it was lit from above. Two bowls with water taps are built into the walls of the room.
A semicircular arch connects the soap room with the central domed hall, in the center of which is a white marble pool, in which there was a painted and gilded fountain. Marble boards with relief ornaments and poetic texts are embedded in the walls.
Adjacent to the domed hall is a six-sided study, which in the time of the emperors served as a place of rest and casual conversations.
During the Great Patriotic War, the Turkish Bath building was damaged. Then it was restored and today it is a museum, which exhibits items from the collection of the State Museum-Reserve "Tsarskoe Selo".
Practical information
The Turkish Bath Pavilion is located in Catherine Park, Pushkin, Saint Petersburg.
Coordinates of the Turkish Bath Pavilion: 59°42'34.0"N 30°23'27.0"E (59.709444, 30.390833).
Catherine Park with pavilions, together with Catherine's Palace, belong to the State Museum-Reserve "Tsarskoe Selo".
In the summer season (somewhere from the second half of April to mid-October), the entrance to the Catherine Park is paid.
Tickets to the Turkish Bath pavilion can be purchased at the ticket office located near the entrance to the pavilion.
In the Catherine Palace you can visit restored halls.
Tickets to the Catherine Park, other pavilions of the park and halls of the palace can be purchased at the box office, or in advance-online on the official website. The cost of tickets to the halls of the palace includes the cost of a ticket to the Catherine Park. Visits to the pavilions-museums of the park are not included in the price of the entrance to the park and in the ticket to visit the halls of the palace - are paid separately.
The opening hours of the park, the park pavilions and the palace, as well as the conditions for visiting and the cost of tickets, we recommend that you check on the website of the State Museum-Reserve "Tsarskoe Selo": tzar.
You can visit Tsarskoye Selo with one of the excursions
In Pushkin, near the Catherine Park and the palace, you can stay
The 5-star Pevcheskaya Tower Hotel features restaurants, a bar, a rooftop observation deck, free Wi-Fi and parking.
Breakfast is included in the room rate. Link to the hotel
The 5-star luxury spa hotel "Tsar Palace Luxury Hotel & SPA"is located in a historic building.
The hotelfeatures a spa area with a swimming pool, a hammam, a salt sauna, a snow fountain, steam baths and a gym; free Wi-Fi, a 24-hour front desk, 2 restaurants, a lobby bar, private parking and meeting and conference rooms.
The rooms are equipped with climate control, a minibar, a safe and a private bathroom.
A buffet breakfast is included in the room rate. Link to the hotel
3-star hotel Ekaterina, located on the territory of the Catherine Palace and Park Ensemble.
At the hotel: 24-hour front desk, cafe, free Wi-Fi and parking.
Each room here will provide you with air conditioning, a TV, a work desk and free toiletries.
Breakfast is included in the room rate. Link to the hotel
All accommodation facilities in St. Petersburg, including in the city center and in Pushkin, can be viewed and booked here
