Pushkin (pŏshˈkĭn, Rus. pōshˈkĭn) [key], city (1989 pop.
95,000), NW European Russia, a residential and resort suburb of
St. Petersburg. It produces road-building equipment and has an
important botanical institute. Founded in 1708 under Peter I on
the site of a Finnish village, it was first called Tsarskoye
Selo [czar's village] and was renamed Detskoye Selo [children's
village] after the Bolshevik Revolution. Pushkin served as a
royal residence from 1725, with the huge baroque style summer
palace of Catherine II (built 1748–62) and that of Alexander I
(built 1792–96) in the classical mode. The vast park at Pushkin
had innumerable rococo style grottoes, pavilions, canals, lakes,
and bridges. The school where the poet Pushkin studied was
opened is now a museum. In 1837 the city was joined with St.
Petersburg by Russia's first railroad. Heavily damaged during
World War II, Pushkin and its palaces have since been restored.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012,
Columbia University Press.