Murino: Discover the Park, History and Art

Murino can be explored through a wide variety of traces: a preserved wooden house, a classical church, the history of a park and works of art give the place several distinct themes. You can decide whether to plan your trip mainly around the park and events, historic buildings, or memorials and sculptures. When looking for a vacation rental in Murino, this offers a practical starting point: first consider which aspects of the place interest you most.

Park history and an old spring

Murinsky Park was established in 1973 at the initiative of the Murino Village Council and ceremonially reopened in November 2015 after extensive renovation. It has sports and children’s playgrounds; festive and sporting events are also held there. This brings together several distinct focal points: exercise, play and community events. If an event is the deciding factor for your trip, check its date in advance. The park also holds a trace of the area’s older history: the holy spring “Rodnik” has been known to local residents for more than three centuries. This long local memory gives a different sense of time from the park’s establishment and subsequent renovation.

A church and a wooden house tell different building stories

The Church of Saint Catherine in Murino is a stone, single-nave building in the classical style. It was built in the late 18th century to a design by N. A. Lvov, who also supervised its construction. In 1988, the church was fully restored and returned to the faithful. On December 6 of the same year, Metropolitan Alexius of Leningrad and Novgorod consecrated it as the first church in the Diocese of Saint Petersburg to be consecrated with the full episcopal rite during the Soviet era. This building thus brings together a specific architectural description and a precisely dated moment in church history.

A different construction style can be seen in the Shagin House at 4 Borovaya Street. It is one of Murino’s oldest surviving wooden houses. The log structure was built in the 19th century, while serfdom was still in force, by Nikolai Shagin, a wealthy Murino peasant. Compared with the stone Church of Saint Catherine, the house conveys a different aspect of the town’s building history: here, traditional log construction takes center stage.

Places of remembrance in Medvezhy Stan

In Medvezhy Stan, the sculpture group “Medvedi dlya Medvezhki” connects a work of art with the area’s older history. It was unveiled in 2015 on the settlement’s day, on Oboronnaya Street. In the second half of the 18th century, a bear-breeding station stood there. Another historic landmark is the water tower: it was commissioned in 1907 and supplied water to the Izhor Regiment. Together, these two motifs are an invitation to consider the different histories of individual neighborhoods, as well as their buildings, when exploring Murino.

Art in the streets

Several works of art in Murino create different points of interest. Eleven small bronze figures by sculptor Denis Tretyakov, a graduate of the Ilya Repin Academy of Arts, are located on Yekaterininskaya Street. The art installation “Son Mendeleeva” stands on the boulevard named after Mendeleev. Inspired by the story of his fateful dream, it depicts Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev on a high pedestal, appearing to hover above it, with chemical elements seemingly surrounding him. The composition thus makes the dream motif the starting point for its own artistic interpretation.

Memorials also tell stories about different subjects. The “Aviatoram Baltiki” memorial at 19 Aviatorov Baltiki Street commemorates the efforts of the defenders of besieged Leningrad. A monument in the form of an actual L-39 “Albatros” training aircraft also stands on Aviatorov Baltiki Street. The contrast illustrates the range of motifs: alongside a memorial to Leningrad’s defenders is an aircraft described as a trainer.

Choose the right focus for your trip

If you are considering Murino as a travel destination and looking for a vacation rental, the park and playgrounds, architectural history or public art may shape what interests you. Families can take the children’s playgrounds mentioned above into account; visitors with a particular interest in history will find a church dating from the late 18th century, a house from the era of serfdom, and memorial sites, each with its own themes. You can plan your stay around the subjects that appeal to you most.

Discover more destinations

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For the main travel overview: Leningrad Oblast.