Field of Mars, Saint Petersburg, Russia

The Field of Mars or Marsovo Polye is a large park named after the Mars, Roman god of war. The history of Field of Mars goes back to the first years of Saint-Petersburg. At that time it was called Grand Meadow. Later there were organised solemnities in the honour of the victory in the Great Northern War and the Field was renamed Pleasure Field (Poteshnoe Pole). In the 1740s Pleasure Field for a short while was turned into a walking park with paths, lawn and flowers. Its next name – Tsarina’s Meadow – appears after the royal family commissioned F.B. Rastrelli to build the Summer Palace for Empress Catherine I. But near the end of the 18th century Tsarina’s Meadow became a military drilling ground where they erected monuments commemorating the victories of the Russian Army and where parades and military studies took place regularly.

In 1799 the Rumyantsev obelisk was placed in the center of the Field and in 1801 the monument to A. Suvorov was placed in the south section by M. Kozlovsky. A great military leader was represented as Mars (Roman god of war). In 1805 Tsarina’s Meadow was officially renamed Field of Mars. After the suggestion of Carlo Rossi the monument of A. Suvorov was moved to Suvorova Square. After the February Revolution in 1917 the Field of Mars finally lost its significance as a military drilling ground and became a memorial. In summer 1942 the Field of Mars was completely covered with vegetable gardens to supply the besieged Leningrad.

On 23 May 1917 the participants of February Revolution were buried there. 184 of 1382 citizens who were killed during the Revolution were buried in the common grave. In 1917-1919 a monument “To Fighters of Revolution” was erected above the graves. In 1918 the square was renamed to “The Place of the Victims of Revolution” but in 1944 it was renamed back.

On 6 November 1957 in the center of the Field was lit an Eternal Flame. It was the first in Russia. From here the Flame was delivered to Moscow in 1967 and was placed nearKremlin wall on the Tomb of Unknown Soldier. The Flame from the Field of Mars also burns on Piskaryovskoye Memorial Cemetery and on other memorials in Saint-Petersburg.

References:

Wikipedia

User Reviews

Лютый (6 months ago)
Great place. Great view, I rested there for about 1.5 hours.

The Pawan Shaema (8 months ago)
What park great vibes

BradJill Travels (10 months ago)
The Field of Mars is an open public space that was formerly a marshy area, drained to create a place for military parades and manoeuvres in the 19th century. Named after Mars, the god of war, the area was landscaped and refurbished into a war memorial grounds during the 20th century. Today you find mostly open space, park benches and a few trees as well as the Eternal Flame and the Monument to the Revolutionary Fighters. These are interesting monuments if you enjoy this type of sightseeing. If you are interested in city parks and green space, there are more impressive areas nearby at the Summer Gardens directly to the east as well as Mikhaylovskiy Garden almost directly to the south. In the end, worth a quick pass by to see the memorials. Then make your way to other areas of intended sightseeing in St. Petersburg.

tati s (11 months ago)
Must visit historical place! Opens very nice view to the NEVA RIVER and park itself very nice! The Field of Mars or Marsovo Polye (Russian: Ма́рсово по́ле) is a large park named after Mars, the Roman god of war, situated in the center of Saint-Petersburg, with an area of about 9 hectares (22 acres). Bordering the Field of Mars to the north are the Marble (Mramorny) Palace, Suvorova Square and Betskoi’s and Saltykov’s houses. To the west are the Barracks of the Pavlovsky Regiment. The Moyka River forms the boundary to the south.

Alexander Minkin (13 months ago)
A famous historic place. May be it is not very interesting. It is good for walking.

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The Moszna Castle is one of the best known monuments in the western part of Upper Silesia. The history of this building begins in the 17th century, although much older cellars were found in the gardens during excavations carried out at the beginning of the 20th century. Some of the investigators, including H. Barthel, claimed that those cellars could have been remnants of a presumed Templar castle, but their theory has never been proved. After World War II, further excavations discovered a medieval palisade.

The central part of the castle is an old baroque palace which was partially destroyed by fire on the night of April 2, 1896 and was reconstructed in the same year in its original form by Franz Hubert von Tiele-Winckler. The reconstruction works involved an extension of the residence. The eastern Neogothic-styled wing of the building was built by 1900, along with an adjacent orangery. In 1912-1914, the western wing was built in the Neo-Renaissance style. The architectural form of the castle contains a wide variety of styles, thus it can be generally defined as eclectic.

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Apart from the castle itself, the entire complex includes a park which has no precise boundaries and includes nearby fields, meadows and a forest. Only the main axis of the park can be characterised as geometrical. Starting from the gate, it leads along the oak and then horse-chestnut avenues, towards the castle. Further on, the park passes into an avenue of lime trees with symmetrical canals running along both sides of the path, lined with a few varieties of rhododendrons. The axis of the park terminates at the base of a former monument of Hubert von Tiele-Winckler. On the eastern side of the avenue there is a pond with an islet referred to by the owners as Easter Island. The islet is planted with needle-leaved shrubs and can be reached by a Chinese-styled bridge. The garden, as part of the whole park complex was restored slightly earlier than the castle itself. Preserved documents of 1868 state that the improvement in the garden's aesthetic quality was undertaken by Hubert von Tiele-Winckler.

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