Greetings friends, today I want to tell you about my walk in one of the old city districts. This neighbourhood is one of the areas with historical buildings, and it can be considered one of the central districts of the city. But it is on the periphery of the centre, it is quite a quiet place, there are no crowds of tourists and city life flows at a leisurely pace.
I started my walk near a female sculpture that stands in one of the small courtyards. This sculpture was made by a sculptor who used to work in a workshop nearby. It is a sculptural portrait of his mother. Last year, residents of the neighbourhood noticed that the condition of the sculpture had become depressing, and together they raised money and found restorers. Recently, the sculpture has returned to its place in an updated form. Behind the back of the sculpture you can see an improvised exhibition of ceramic work, located right on the wall of the house.
The historical name of the area where my walk took place is Kolomna. It is believed that in XVIII craftsmen from the village of Kolomenskoye settled here, who took with them not only their tools and skills, but also their habitual way of life and even the name. There are several other versions of the origin of the name, but this one looks the most plausible. Many of us can easily recall stories about the "travelling" of place names to another region, another country or even another continent.
The original buildings of the neighbourhood were mostly wooden, but already in the 19th century the old wooden houses almost disappeared from these streets and were replaced by brick apartment buildings. The neighbourhood was rather peripheral, and there are few opulent buildings with rich decorations, most buildings look relatively modest, but the architects used the available opportunities to give each house a unique appearance. A simple ornament made of bricks makes the entrance to the courtyard look like a fortress tower.
I went into the courtyard to inspect the one-storey brick barn. It is hard to tell what is inside this barn now, but there are documents that tell what it was originally intended for.
It is a former icehouse. In the winter, ice was cut from the surrounding rivers, put in this room, and during the year the occupants of the house could store their supplies here. I walk around the glacier and scrutinise the walls. You can see that the old doorways are now bricked up.
The next courtyard I turned into looked quite simple at first glance. My attention was attracted by a rebar, which at first I thought was a rail. But then I took a closer look and decided that it was part of the reinforcement of the vault under the courtyard. In the basements of apartment buildings they usually arranged firewood storages, but there was relatively little space there, and a lot of firewood was needed to heat a large house. Therefore, additional firewood storage rooms were organised under the yard.
I keep walking and notice that one of the doors to the entrance is open. There are renovations going on inside, and the workers have left the door open so that the smell of paint can escape more quickly. Just outside the entrance is a tall wood oven. During the winter, not only the flats were heated, but also the stairs.
I decided to go upstairs hoping to see something else interesting. Some of the old staircases still have antique lifts, gas lanterns, and stained glass windows. But this time I limited myself to looking at the stair railings and floor tiles.
I went all the way up to the top - that's where the staircase repair work has now stopped. The ceilings in the house are quite high and the walk to the top floor requires a good amount of fitness. On the top floor I took a breath and looked down, the bonus of my walk was the opportunity to see the ornamentation of the stair railings and the smooth curves of the handrail.
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| Smartphone | Google Pixel 3a |
| Location | Saint Petersburg, Russia |