Sightseeing tour Smolensk-Talashkino

I invite you to a tour of one of the oldest and most amazing cities of Russia - Smolensk, which arose on the Dnieper, on the trade waterway "from the Varangians to the Greeks."
I will tell you about the rich history of the city from the 9th century to the present, I will introduce you to the history of the founding of the city. We will plunge into the atmosphere of past centuries. The tour of the city will affect a variety of eras. Numerous architectural monuments of the 16-19 centuries, estates, temples, monasteries, legends, secrets. You will learn about all this during the tour.

We will travel through the streets, squares, parks of the city, feel its originality.
We will see historical monuments preserved from the time of the Polish occupation, the war of 1812 and the Great Patriotic War.

We will start the tour from the historical center of Smolensk. We will walk through the central city park, built on the site of an ancient fortress, with shady gazebos, secluded picturesque corners, with a stone bridge connecting two shafts of the bastion. There are many monuments in the park.

One of them is a monument with a height of 26 meters, dedicated to the battle with the French, which contains a list from the icon of the Smolensk Mother of God.

In the Lopatinsky Garden there is an outstanding defensive structure - the Royal Bastion, erected in the Time of Troubles, when the city was captured by the troops of the Polish king Sigismund.

We will get acquainted with the Smolensk fortress - one of the largest and most powerful fortresses in Russia. You will learn the history and legends of the fortress. Features of fortification. Secrets of the underground passages. What famous historical figures are associated with the Smolensk fortress?

One of the most beautiful places of Smolensk is the Park of the Memory of Heroes, where you will see at the foot of the fortress wall the Banner of Victory, hoisted over the Reichstag by a native of Smolensk Mikhail Egorov.

In the center of the square is one of the most original and memorable monuments - a monument with eagles, dedicated to the victory in the war of 1812. In this place we are transported to the time of the war with Napoleon - here is the alley of the generals of 1812, which is headed by a bust of Kutuzov and a memorial to Denis Davydov.

Estates, merchant houses, museums, the building of the former Noble Assembly - all this awaits us on the way to the Blognier garden.

In the history of not only Smolensk, but all of Russia, Blognier Park entered in 1885, when a monument to the great composer M. Glinka, one of the first in the Russian Empire, was solemnly opened here. The monument is surrounded by an unusual openwork fence with musical lines from 24 fragments of Glinka’s works. All this and more you will learn during the tour.

Then we will pass to Talashkino (18 km from Smolensk) - the estate of Princess Maria Klavdievna Tenisheva. In Talashkino gathers the whole color of Russian art. Together with children in the School of Crafts created Vrubel, Korovin, Repin, Levitan, Nesterov, Malyutin. Here they found shelter and were inspired creatively by Serov and Benois, Chaliapin and Diaghilev, Roerich, Stravinsky. It is here, in Talashkino, the composer Arensky composes and dedicates Tenisheva a magnificent romance on the words of P. I. Tchaikovsky (!) “Landysh”. By the way, Tenisheva was also well acquainted with Tchaikovsky. Contemporaries called the creative association of great geniuses in Talashkino Russian Florence. Inspired by the ideas of the revival of true Russian applied art, Maria Tenisheva erected a stunning temple of the Holy Spirit in Flenovo in 1905. This unique structure was designed by the talented princess herself, in many ways inspired and supported by her close friend, Nicholas Roerich.

Excursion services are included. Travel expenses and tickets to museums are not included.