The Orlov (Gatchina) Gate was erected between 1777 and 1782 on the border of the Catherine Park, at the exit to the road leading to Gatchina, the former estate of General-Field Marshal Orlov. Empress Catherine II honored one of her favorites with this lifetime monument to commemorate the success of the struggle against the plague epidemic that had engulfed Moscow in 1771, led by him. On the facade of the gate facing Gatchina, there is an inscription in the frieze taken from a poetic message to the general by the poet Maikov: “Moscow was saved from disaster by the Orlovs.” Another inscription, on the side of Catherine Park, tells more about this event in detail.

During the 1771 plague epidemic, more than a thousand people died daily in Moscow. The streets were strewn with corpses. The Governor-General Saltykov, unable to cope with the epidemic, left Moscow, followed by the Ober-Policemeister I. I. Yushkov and other high-ranking officials as the dying city was abandoned.

The city was decapitated; death and looting ran rampant in the streets. Catherine II ordered Grigory Orlov to go to Moscow, to whom she had already grown cold by that time. Orlov was granted extraordinary powers. Some contemporaries believed that the Empress hoped to get rid of her tiresome favorite this way. Orlov entered plague-stricken Moscow with a whole staff of doctors and four regiments of Her Majesty’s Life Guards. The headquarters was organized at the home of Eronkin, one of the few military leaders who had not left Moscow.

Count Orlov carried out a whole range of measures to eliminate the plague. First of all, measures to combat robbery and looting were strengthened, up to the death penalty on the spot. Control was established over the import and export of goods from the city. Additional plague hospitals were built on the outskirts of Moscow. The city itself was divided into sanitary zones, each controlled by an assigned doctor. Houses where the disease appeared were boarded up and marked with crosses. Thanks to the measures taken by Orlov and the doctors, the epidemic soon ceased. Life in the city gradually returned to normal.

The author of the architectural project of the Orlov Gate, approved by Catherine II in 1771, is Rinaldi. Construction work was carried out under the supervision of architect Neelov and master stonemason Pinketti.

The Orlov Gate follows the composition of a single-span triumphal arch. In its design, Rinaldi used elements of ancient Roman architecture: columns and pilasters on pedestals are placed on the sides of the high arch; on the attic side facing the park, there is a memorial inscription.

Materials such as gray Siberian marble, Tivdian pink marble, wrought iron, bronze, and gilded copper were used to build the triumphal arch. The stylistic solution of this arch contains ancient Roman elements, such as pilasters on pedestals placed on the sides of the high arch and columns. This is the first triumphal arch in Russia built from permanent materials.

On the side facing the Gatchina road, an inscription is carved on the arch immortalizing Orlov’s feat. Possibly, the text of this inscription belongs to the Empress herself. The arch symbolizes Grigory Orlov’s victory over the “Black Death” in Russia. In 1781, a decision was made that the Orlov Gate should be locked. Six years later, special shutters were cast at the Sestroretsk factories according to the drawings of architect Quarenghi for this purpose.

Between 1784 and 1786, iron grilles were installed on both sides of the gate. A pipe runs under the Orlov Gate, through which water from the Taitsky springs flows, replenishing the ponds and canals in the park.

Sources:

https://pushkin.spb.ru/encycl/town/orlovskie-gatchinskie-vorota.html

https://www.tzar.ru/objects/ekaterininskypark/landscape/orlovgate