Jora Vision to design Alexander Pushkin literary theme park in Russia

Jora Vision have created a masterplan and concept designs for a new Russian theme park inspired by the literary poems and fairy tales of Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin.

Pushkin is considered by many to be the greatest Russian poet and the founder of modern Russian literature. His fairy tales, which centre around an imaginary land called "Lukomorye", have entertained children for hundreds of years.

Now, Svetoch LLC, a company based in Pushkin City, St Petersburg, has enlisted Jora Vision to design a theme park that will bring the writer's stories to life in a modern, immersive and typically Russian way.

Floris van Eeden, project architect at Jora Vision, said: “We started this project a year ago with a pre-masterplanning study. This early-stage study is an accessible new service that we offer to our clients, in which we provide an attractions selection, creative concepts and basic park planning, combined with a critical analysis of the project’s feasibility."

Jora Vision said its plans contain an indoor area of around 17,000 sq m (55,800sq ft) that consists of three main zones, each offering experiences and attractions based on fantasy places described in Pushkin's stories. These themed settings will be a city, a harbour and a palace.

In addition, a 2ha (5ac) outdoor area will feature another three zones: the Jarmarka (Russian funfair market), the swan lake, and the magical fairy tale forest.

Among the experiences planned are an immersive walkthrough experience based on Pushkin's life, and two dark rides, which Jora Vision says is one of its specialities.

"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," said Jan Maarten de Raad, CEO at Jora Vision.

The park will be called Lukomorye and is expected to open in St Petersburg in 2023.