Pushkin Theme Park

Bird’s eye view of Pushkin Theme Park.

Design and build firm Jora Vision will develop Pushkin Theme Park “Lukomorye” in St. Petersburg to celebrate the works of greatest Russian poet Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin.

Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin is considered by many to be the greatest Russian poet of all times and the founder of modern Russian literature. His literary poems have entertained and inspired children and adults for over 200 years. A.S. Pushkin’s fairy tales centre around an imaginary land called “Lukomorye” where many wonderful stories take place.

In December 2018 Svetoch LLC, a company based in Pushkin City St. Petersburg, asked Jora Vision Europe B.V. to assist in the development of a brand new theme park that celebrates A.S. Pushkin’s fairy tales. CEO of Svetoch LLC, Mrs. Goloverova, is successfully running Hotel “Natali” (named after A.S. Pushkin’s wife) including a Family Entertainment Centre and Spa. Besides this, for years she has been preparing plans to develop a magical place where one can step into the fairy tales of A.S. Pushkin in a modern, immersive and spectacular way, yet with the typical flair of Russian folklore and tradition.

The main feature of this theme park is an indoor area of around 17,000 square metres that will be opened year round and consists of three main theme zones. Each of the zones contains experiences and attractions based on the fantasy places that A.S. Pushkin describes in his stories: a city, a harbour and a palace. In addition to this year-round indoor area, the park will also feature a two hectare outdoor area with several attractions and activities spread around another three zones: the Jarmarka (Russian fun fair market), the swan lake and the magical fairy tale forest.

Following the pre-masterplanning phase, in September 2019 Svetoch LLC assigned Jora Vision for the full masterplanning and concept design phase to design every ride, experience and guest facility of the new theme park, including some highly themed experiences such as an immersive walkthrough experience based on A.S. Pushkin’s life, and two spectacular dark rides – one of Jora Vision’s core specialities. In 2018, the company received a Thea Award for a dark ride in Poland, also based on a local myth/ legend: The Basilisk (Bazyliszek in Polish) and for next year a dark ride called Popcorn Revenge, made for Walibi Belgium, will receive the same award.

“We are very proud to pave new ways for theme parks to bring their local stories alive,” explained Jan Maarten de Raad, CEO at Jora Vision. “We love unique and meaningful stories, and are excited to harness our skills to bring these local stories to life to an audience which is not yet very familiar with the concept of theme parks and immersive attractions.” “Lukomorye”, as the Pushkin theme park will be called, is expected to open its doors to the public in 2023.

Floris van Eeden. Photo: © Bram Kloos

“The richly described magical places, characters and their adventures in A.S. Pushkin’s fairy tales are truly one of the best sources of inspiration that our creative team could wish for. Our designs for the park’s immersive theme zones and all the buildings and attractions included are inspired by the rich and unique Russian architecture styles of the past, the same that also inspired Pushkin 200 years ago when writing his world famous stories. ”

– Floris van Eeden, Project Architect, Jora Vision Europe B.V.

Immersive & interactive walkthrough experience based on Alexander Pushkin’s life.

Park main entrance lobby.

PROJECT DATA

Project Name: Lukomorye - Pushkin Theme Park Location: St. Petersburg, Russia Client: Svetoch LLC Design & Build Firm: Jora Vision Europe B.V. Total Area: 60,000 square metres of land, including: - main building of 17,000 square metres (contains 3 theme zones, 17 attractions) - outdoor park area of 20,000 square metres (contains 3 theme zones, 10 attractions) Completion: 2023 Artwork: © Jora Vision Europe B.V.

One of the indoor areas, the City, with the Green Oak Tree & Wise Cat from Alexander Pushkin’s most famous fairy tale “Ruslan and Ludmila” as an interactive feature.