Tower-ruin with an artificial hill

The Ruined Tower with an artificial hill is one of the memorial architectural structures in the Catherine Park of Tsarskoye Selo, dedicated to the victories of the Russian army in the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774. It is one of the artificial imitations of ancient ruins in the park, along with the garden pavilion Kitchen-Ruin by sculptor Conchezio Albani, created in accordance with the European fashion for nostalgia for the beautiful antiquity; other ruined towers in different architectural styles were built in other estates of the 18th–19th centuries, for example, Tsaritsyno near Moscow and Orlovsky Park (Prince Orlov’s Dacha) in the settlement of Strelna in the Petrodvorets district of Saint Petersburg. Artificial ruins are one type of architectural whimsy.

Visually, the Ruined Tower resembles a Doric column sunk into the ground, topped with a large square platform with a round pavilion, whose walls are pierced by pointed arches. The Ruined Tower was erected in the southern part of the park by order of Empress Catherine II according to the project of architect Felten in 1771–1773 in honor of the victories of the Russian army in the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774. The monument was conceived as the remains of an ancient Turkish fortress, consisting of a giant tower and part of a fortress wall pierced by an arch, with a system of defensive devices; crowning it is a gazebo — one of the first Russian park buildings in the "Gothic" style. The wall with the arch transitions into an earthen embankment with slopes covered with shrubs and trees. On the keystone crowning the arch of the ruined tower is carved the inscription: “In memory of the war declared on Russia by the Turks, this stone was placed in the year 1768,” where the year number is given in the pre-Petrine style with letters of old Cyrillic script, interpreted as 1768.

Stone walls adjoin the tower, partly hidden within the mass of the artificial earthen hill. The wall facing the park is pierced by a semicircular arch. On the giant stone locking the arch is carved the inscription: “In memory of the war declared on Russia by the Turks, this stone was placed in the year 1768.” The arch serves as an entrance to a narrow corridor, in the right part of which begins a spiral ramp used to ascend to the upper platform. From here, at a height of 21 meters, there is a magnificent view of the landscape park.

The surface of the walls was artificially "aged" with cracks imitating natural damage and painted over plaster under the guidance of the artist Belsky. Thanks to this, the Tower resembled the ruins of a fortress structure, the interest in which in the architecture of the second half of the 18th century was especially great: architects of that time valued the beauty of the picturesque ruins of Greece and Rome and built artificial ruins that created an atmosphere of melancholy in parks.

In the 1780s, oaks were planted between the Ruined Tower and the nearby Orlov Gates, as well as on the slope of the earthen hill, most of which were cut down during the Great Patriotic War. Today, the slopes of the hill are hidden behind the bright greenery of young trees.

Already in the 18th century, the Ruined Tower became one of the most popular structures of the Tsarskoye Selo parks, frequently depicted by artists.

Sources:

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

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Башня-руина_%28Царское_Село%29