Pushkin (Russian: Пу́шкин) is a municipal town in Pushkinsky District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, Russia, located 24 kilometers (15 mi) south from the center of St. Petersburg proper,[5] and its railway station, Tsarskoye Selo, is directly connected by railway to the Vitebsky Rail Terminal of the city.

After the October Revolution, the town was renamed to Detskoye Selo (Russian: Де́тское Село́, romanized: Children's Village).

[6] In 1609–1702, on the place of Catherine Palace stood a Swedish estate, which in Finnish was known as Saaren moisio (Estonian: Saare mõis).

[8] It was a small estate, which consisted of a wooden house, household annexes, and a modest garden divided by two perpendicular avenues into four squares.

This estate originated from an earlier settlement, which was mentioned in church inventories of 1501 and marked on maps drawn for Boris Godunov as Saritsa (Russian: Сарица).

Later, by an official decree of 13 June 1710[11] the whole area including 43 villages was assigned to Marfa Skavronskaya, wife of Peter who later became Empress Catherine I.

A canal was dug from Vittolovsky Springs (6 kilometres (4 miles) from the Tsarskoye Selo) to provide water for the park ponds, and several stone houses were built on the Perednyaya Street.

[5] Further construction works without imperial orders were banned in Tsarskoye Selo and most merchants and clergy were moved to Sofia.

A wooden church of Saints Constantine and Helen and then the stone Sophia Cathedral (1788) were raised in the town center.

It had a number of stone buildings, a church resembling Hagia Sophia of Constantinople, and a factory in the suburbs producing paper for state bank notes.

[12] In 1808, Alexander I merged the Tsarskoye Selo with Sofia and proclaimed it a town and the seat of Tsarskoselsky Uyezd.

Heste compiled a master plan for Tsarskoye Selo, with division into quarters and associated gardens and orchards.

Between 1811 and 1843 a wing of the Catherine Palace hosted the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum where Aleksandr Pushkin studied between 1811 and 1817.

In 1910, an Imperial garrison camp was established to the north of the Catherine Palace, on the border of Alexander Park and the city.

Several buildings of the palace complex were destroyed or damaged[10] and many artworks were abducted, including the entire inner decoration of the Amber Room.

[9] In 1975, the town was equipped with a new water system and modern sewage treatment facilities, which were upgraded in 1999–2005 within a joint Russian-Finnish-Swedish project.

In 1990, the coat of arms of 1831 was registered as the emblem of Museum "Tsarskoye Selo" and for this reason could not be approved as a symbol of the city.

Sediments of that time form a layer thicker than 200 metres (660 feet) on top of the Baltic Shield consisting of granite, gneiss and diabase.

Between May 25 and July 16, white nights are observed when the sun only briefly goes over the horizon and the day lasts nearly 19 hours.

[33][34] Prior to the founding of the town the area was covered by temperate coniferous forests (mostly pine and fir) with an admixture of broad-leaved trees and fens.

Intensive economic activities changed the original forest landscape to agricultural land with small groves of aspen, birch, alder and willow.

The northeastern part (old Tsarskoye Selo) contains the oldest streets of the city, such as Sadovaya, Srednyaya and Malaya, and has the Cathedral Square in its center.

This palace and park ensemble of 18th–19th centuries served as the royal residence and was converted into a museum after the nationalization in March 1918.

The original palace of 1717–1723 was rebuilt in 1743–1756, first by Mikhail Zemtsov, A. V. Kvasov and Savva Chevakinsky and then by Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli.

Other attachments to the palace include Zubovsky wing on the southern side (architect Y. M. Felton) and Cameron's Gallery, cold saunas and a hanging garden to the southeast.

It consists of a regular part (the New Garden, 1740s, N. Girard) and the Landscape Park (1790s) with three ponds and artificial mounds.

[9] As of January 1, 2010, there were 741 companies in Pushkin, including 165 in foodservice, 358 in trade and 53 in small retail sales, 162 in household services, as well as 8 supermarkets and one market.

Pushkin region has a well-developed system of commuter trains and buses, with 24 municipal and 17 commercial bus routes.

[16] There is a large number of clubs for all major sports, two swimming pools, and a town stadium for 1,500 spectators.

[73][78] The stadium holds track and field athletics competitions and hosts the local football club "Tsarskoye Selo" founded in 2009.