To get into the adventure, you just need to move 10 steps away from the road.

We found the palace by accident - we decided to take a walk along the “Lower Road” in Strelna at the end of the holiday weekend (June 12-14). The lower road is a bicycle and pedestrian path that runs through a forest park along the Gulf of Finland. My wife and I left the Lower Road and headed along the path to the south, so on the map in this place, literally a few meters away, ponds or a forest lake were indicated.

Along the way we discovered a gloomy, decaying pond and an old “humpbacked” stone bridge. Then the path went sharply upward. Behind the trees a view of a beautiful palace - an estate - suddenly opened up. The ancient manor, or country mansion of the nobility, looked modern and advantageous in the rays of the evening sun.

It immediately became clear that the palace was uninhabited. First of all, what strikes the eye is the complete desolation and abandonment, the desolation of the place. The area in front of the palace was overgrown with thick, coarse grass. We didn’t see any tourists, only two girls who were taking pictures against the backdrop of a dilapidated “mansion”. Only at the end of the inspection a guard came up to us and said. that “you can’t get close to the walls, because at any moment it (the building) could collapse.”

Позднее в Википедии я прочитал, что дача принадлежала четвёртому и последнему сыну императора Николая I, военачальнику генерал-фельдмаршалу князю Nikolai Mikhailovich(born October 13 (25), 1832) and his wife Alexandra Fedorovna.

Particles of ancient furnishings have been preserved on the territory. С правой стороны (если идти к зданию с севера) есть бассейн или, скорее, ванна больших размеров. There is no water for a long time, because it was supplied here manually.

К дворцу ведет широкая лестница, ступени которой сделаны из цельных каменных плит. The steps to the Mikhailovka dacha have not been cleaned for a long time. And who should take care of the estate? This requires money from private investors. Которые были целевым образом, полностью без остатка потрачены на Дворец Конгрессов в Стрельне ("Константиновский дворец"). The Mikhailovka dacha turned out to be forgotten.

Vegetation (flora) has settled here, on the stone:

Many years later, from the date of construction in 1850, the estate still looks bright and majestic (as was intended by its architect A.I. Stackenschneider).
The tower at the end of the square towards the stairs clearly contains a hint of the palace in Gatchina. And the staircase itself also refers to the palace of Paul I near Olympia Park.

On the left side - the tower (click to view in full screen) together with the building form a variable number of storeys. The architect was thus ahead of his time by 2 centuries.

On the right wing, sculptures attract attention: four women in tunics hold a bunch of daggers or lances in their hands and laurel wreaths in the other hand. Apparently this is an allegory of “weapons and victory.” The number four is based on the number of cardinal directions.

You can click on the photo to enlarge:

The facial expressions of the female sculptures are solemn and confident (the photo can be enlarged by clicking):

The entrance to the dacha building is closed. But we didn’t want to get inside either: the building was clearly in disrepair, there was nothing beautiful inside.

Why did I call an ordinary estate “diamond” - because of the extraordinary proportions and grace. Obviously the architect of the dacha had taste and applied imagination. Something Greek and Hellenic is felt in the forms, because the architecture is light, figured and bright.

And these columns remind me of the temple in Kostroma. (I may be wrong, because I was there a long time ago). Eclectic style?

On both sides of the exit there are centuries-old spruce trees.

This gate faces the kitchen building.

Kitchen building. you can click to enlarge:

(You can compare the architecture of the kitchen building with the main one - it is utilitarian, without frills).

Returning to the dacha. In many parts it reaches 3 floors, and the ceilings are apparently also high. We can say that the royal height of the building is 10 meters.

A birch tree grew on the balcony.

In front of the dacha, instead of asphalt and especially cobblestones, there is basalt or granite. It’s more reliable and durable this way.

And the flooring above the ground was completely rotten. Only the piles remained.

Prince Nikolai Mikhailovich died on December 5 (18), 1909 in France after a serious illness.

The dacha initially passed to his descendants, but after the 1917 revolution it fell into disrepair. A commune for street children was located here for a short time, and after the Great Patriotic War - a rest home for workers of the Kirov plant. Apparently, from the 1960s until 1985, some kind of routine repairs to the dacha were carried out under the USSR, which saved it from destruction. After the collapse of the USSR and the economic problems that began, they did not engage in dachas - there was no time for that. I don’t care about the dacha even now.

There is essentially no security at the dacha, except for a guard and his dog.

I remembered the words of the group “Russian Size”: Man is a dog's friend, the dog has no hands.

From the east side the dacha looks completely dead.

Ship pines near the estate.

In the canal running along the eastern border of the dacha, the water is stagnant and very dirty.

Real swamp:

The mountain is pleasing - like the one in Alexander Park in Pushkin. Somehow you can breathe easier on it!
I read that the Mikhailovka dacha area has a healing microclimate.

The estate is not visible from the top of the hill due to the foliage. Beautiful rays from the setting sun.

This is the unusual fate of the Mikhailovka Palace - like a forgotten “diamond” hidden in the forests.

Afterword:
According to the local security guard, it is unlikely that this dacha will be restored in the near or distant future. If the Mikhailovka dacha is not saved now, then the forgotten historical complex will become completely lost. Then forging, modeling and architecture of the mid-19th century will disappear forever.

Mikhailovskaya Dacha was transferred in 2006 from the Presidential Administration to the management of St. Petersburg State University - a budgetary educational institution whose profile, obviously, is training students, and not managing real estate.

Links:
*History of "Mikhailovka" on Zen.Yandex.ru

Related publications

The menhir stone is a religious building of ancient people

3D photos from a trip to the village of Kirsino

Water source of St. Panteleimon in Kalozhici village in winter on the Eve of Feast of the Baptism of the Lord

Waterfall on the Shingarka River near the village of Bolshoe Zaborod'e

Mount Kivisurya on the Karelian Isthmus