Znamenskoye-Sadki is one of the oldest country estates of Moscow. It lies in the southern section of

Bitsa Park Bitsevski Park (), or Bitsa Park, is one of the largest natural parks (forests) in Moscow, Russia. The park, traversed by the Chertanovka River and the Bitsa River, sprawls for some from north to south and covers an area of . The park is el ...

in the South-South-West of Moscow, outside today's

MKAD The Moscow Automobile Ring Road (), or MKAD (), is a ring road running predominantly on the city border of Moscow with a length of 108.9 km (67.7 mi) and 35 exits (including ten interchanges). It was completed in 1962. The speed lim ...

. Since the middle of 18th century and almost until the October Revolution (1917) this estate belonged to the

Trubetskoy family The House of Trubetskoy, (; ; ; Ruthenian: ''Trubetsky''; ; ; ; ; ; ) is a Russian gentry family of Ruthenian stock and Lithuanian origin, like many other princely houses of Grand Duchy of Lithuania, later prominent in Russian history, science, ...

. In the second half of the 18th century the main house, the church and the other buildings were built. At that time the system of ponds was constructed there. Znamenskoye-Sadki was visited by many prominent men of letters and arts, the Grand Princes and Tsars. In 1787, Empress

Catherine II of Russia Catherine II. (born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst; 2 May 172917 November 1796), most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter I ...

came there with her grandsons. One of them was the future Emperor

Alexander I of Russia Alexander I (, ; – ), nicknamed "the Blessed", was Emperor of Russia from 1801, the first king of Congress Poland from 1815, and the grand duke of Finland from 1809 to his death in 1825. He ruled Russian Empire, Russia during the chaotic perio ...

Pyotr Vyazemsky Prince Pyotr Andreyevich Vyazemsky (, ; 23 July 1792 – 22 November 1878) was a Russian poet and a leading personality of the Golden Age of Russian poetry. Biography His parents were a Russian prince of Rurikid stock, Prince Andrey Vyazemsk ...

and

Fyodor Tyutchev Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev (, ; – ) was a Russian poet and diplomat. Ancestry Tyutchev was born into an old Russian noble family in the Ovstug family estate near Bryansk (modern-day Zhukovsky District, Bryansk Oblast of Russia). His f ...

used to stay in the estate. On the second day after their wedding, the future parents of

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using Reforms of Russian orthography#The post-revolution re ...

visited there. They were married in the church of Yasenevo on 9 July 1822. Historian

Mikhail Pogodin Mikhail Petrovich Pogodin (; ) was a Russian historian and journalist who, jointly with Nikolay Ustryalov, dominated the national historiography between the death of Nikolay Karamzin in 1826 and the rise of Sergey Solovyov in the 1850s. He is ...

stayed and worked there in the 1820s. He spent a lot of time in the large library of the estate. In 1918 the main house of Znamenskoye-Sadki estate passed to a workers' cooperative. In 1929 the church was dismantled. Currently the estate is a neglected park with remaining ponds, the central house and ruins of the stables. In the restored central house there is the Institute of Nature Preservation. The constructions are closed for the general public as of 2010.

Sources

* Усадебное ожерелье юго-запада Москвы. М.:Мосгорархив, 1997 * Двинский Э. Кольца и радиусы Москвы. М:Московский рабочий, 1986. * Романюк С. По землям московских сёл и слобод. М.:ЗАО «Сварог и К», 1998. Buildings and structures in Moscow Cultural heritage monuments of federal significance in Moscow {{Russia-struct-stub