On February 13 and 14, the Tsarskoye Selo Museum-Reserve will open free access to the Catherine and Alexander Palaces for visitors with the names Valentin, Valentina, and Lyubov (“love”).
People with one of these three names will be given a free ticket at the ticket office upon presentation of an identity document. This action is introduced to the date of February 14 which is Valentine’s Day, or the “day of all lovers”. This day is considered one more reason for expressing love to your soulmate. Regular presents on this day in Russia are sweets, festive postcards, red roses or a romantic dinner.
As specified, all visitors to the museum on a festive day are required to present either a QR code about vaccination or a previous disease (COVID-19), a certificate of medical withdrawal from vaccination, or a negative result of a PCR test taken not earlier than 48 hours before the visit to the museum. Both palaces will be open from 10 am to 6 pm on these days, with the ticket offices being open until 4.45 pm.
Previously, Tsarskoye Selo (“Tsar’s Village”) was the town containing a former residence of the Russian imperial family and visiting nobility, located 24 kilometres south of the centre of St. Petersburg. The residence now forms part of the town of Pushkin.
In the Soviet Union the nickname “Tsar’s Village” came to apply to blocks and small neighbourhoods that housed the Soviet elites. Their stores were better stocked, although they were still affected by Soviet-era shortages. However, the buildings in the neighbourhoods were still better designed, constructed, and maintained.
Ru-Main, 10.02.2022
Source: Museum’s Official Website
