Jora Vision signs contract to develop Pushkin Theme Park “Lukomorye” in St. Petersburg, Russia
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 center 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 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 sqm, that will be opened year round and consists of three main theme zones. Each of the zones contain 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 2 Ha 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.
“We started this project a year ago with a pre-masterplanning study,” explains Floris van Eeden, Project Architect at Jora Vision. “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. By outlining important starting points of the business plan based on research of the local culture, competition and catchment area, together with calculations of the investment, we carefully balance all ingredients in close collaboration with the client team”, continues Floris. “This way we ensure a solid framework of starting points for a feasible plan that will stand the test of time. But moreover actually, we experience this early process as a great way to really get to know the client team and to be able to better understand what the project needs to become successful.”
Following the pre-masterplanning phase, in September this year 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. Last year, 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” explains 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.
