35th album
(Translated by Sergey A. Maslyakov)

I think it is a good tradition to visit again and again the suburbs at different seasons or to present them from other point of view. Today we will visit Gatchina again but it will be other Gatchina. I was glad being invited by the management of "Gatchina" SMR and I made several interesting shots inside the cathedral. There is some chance for these photos to be not the last I make here.

So, the last winter album for this year...

On this picture you can see the cathedral (the part of it, even) from the outside. The comments about the location that I used to make this shot will be given below.

We are in. I should mention that Gatchina cathedral may be called the castle. All these thick walls, peculiar corridors, towers cannot be called as common for the cathedrals of St.Petersburg and its suburbs. Excluding maybe Mikhailovsky castle only.

One of the halls. Let's come closer to the table to see what is behind the door.

The table is made of jasper.

The clock. One of the rosettes is absent and I had recovered it in Photoshop :)

Very interesting combination of the sun rays and inner lights. It seem like one statue on the left under the lighting appliance is missing.

Pretty strange figure on the ceiling. It seems like it is looking directly at you :)

The maid is looking at her reflection in the mirror. Hmmm, was the author thinking about such composition...

Another clock. I don't remember exactly but it has some name, like "Teaching" or something. I hope I will be given with the correct name :)

It is interesting that many chandeliers and lightning appliances were kept in their original construction despite to the replacement of the candles to the electrical bulbs. For example, in the corridors the flame is being "protected" from the wind with the glass. In many places above the bulbs are made special things that prevent sooting of ceiling.

The gun exhibition. The strange construction of the handle is explained by the way of rifle holding. The shooter should clasp it to the neck but not to the shoulder :)

Five-barrel rifle. It can make five shots per 90 seconds - it is five times faster than in case of ordinary rifle. All five shots are made simultaneously with corresponding recoil...

Chinese lantern.

Spiral staircase in one of the towers of the castle-cathedral where I was allowed to get in (as an exclusion).

This shot shows the real situation pretty good. I should say that the staircase does not make the sense of the solid and reliable building, especially on this height.

This is the sight from the tower (the location mentioned in the very beginning).

The bells on the next (the same) tower ring each hour.

The park, islands, channels and lakes that are familiar to us according to the 30th album. Across the biggest of these lakes is made the pathway. Some people even ride the bicycles there, I had seen this. But the front wheel was drowning often in the snow... Two lakes do not freeze because of water springs and it is possible to see there about one hundred of the fat and joyful ducks :)

And this is the full controversy - the underground passage going to the coast of Serebryanoe lake. I should say was going because it is closed nowadays and one can take a look through the crack in the door.

At the end I want to express my kind gratitude to the employees of the museum and to Leonid Krasil'nikov, provided to him we became acquainted. So, from left to right: Andrey Spaschansky Leonid Krasil'nikov Natal'ya Babkina Natal'ya Evgen'evna Timokhina. Thanks to them!