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Catherine the Great Palace
Catherine's the
Great Palace is the most ornate,
luxurious and grandiose summer palace in
St.Petersburg famous for its precious Amber Room. Originally a small 2-storey building
presented by the loving husband (Emperor Peter the Great) to
his tsarina Ekaterina, it later became a grand baroque
palace striking foreign guests with
over-the-top Imperial decor. The palace reconstruction
lasted for 4 years. In 1756 the architect Bartolomeo
Francesco Rastrelli presented the brand-new 325-meter-long
palace to Empress Elizabeth.
The French diplomat noted then, the palace still missed one
detail: "a glass case for extra protection".
More than 100
kilograms (200 pounds) of gold were used to gild the
sophisticated stucco façade and numerous statues erected on
the roof. It was even rumored that the palace's roof was
constructed entirely of gold. On a bright sunny day the
palace seemed sparking.
The English traveler called it "the
completest triumph of barbarous taste".
Until WWII Catherine's the Great palace
boasted of its legendary
Amber
Room.
Original amber panels were made in 1713
for Frederick William I's “tobacco club“ in Berlin palace
and 3 years later presented to Russian tsar
Peter the Great. The amber panels were never installed until
Peter's daughter Elizabeth commissioned Rastrelli to design
the Amber room for her in Catherine palace.
After Elizabeth's
death many changes were made in the interior design. Empress
Catherine the Great
regarded the "whipped
cream" palace architecture as old-fashioned and blamed her
predecessor of the reckless extravagance.
Gilded parts were
painted yellow, some old interiors
remodeled in
Classicism, palace area enlarged with the Bath house and
Cameron gallery.
Upon Catherine's death in 1796, the palace
was abandoned in favor of
Pavlovsk palace,
residence of Emperor Paul. Catherine palace was later used
just for official receptions.
Following the Bolshevik Revolution,
Catherine's Palace and Park were taken over by the state and
nationalized. The Palace became an art history museum while
the Park became an area of rest and recreation for the
public.
In 1937, the town of Tsarskoye Selo, was
renamed Pushkin to honor the famous Russian poet, Alexander
Pushkin who had graduated from the Imperial Lyceum right
next to Catherine's Palace.
In 1941 the palace was
taken over by Nazi forces,
ransacked and used
as army barracks. When Nazis finally retreated in January
1944, the palace was blown up and burnt. The amber room was
taken to Germany and traces of it disappeared.
After many years of futile seeking, the
Soviet government ordered to start the amber room
recreation. In 2003 it was publicly opened by President
Putin and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.
Today 29 of the 52 palace rooms have been
restored.
open:
summer
-
10.00 - 17.00 (prior entrance reservation required),
Tuesdays - closed, special entrance can be arranged for
cruise tourists
winter 10.00-17.00,
Tuesdays - closed
Tourists' Remarks
" ... The other suburban
palace that we found breathtaking was Tsarskoye Selo
(translation: Czar’s village), located in the town of
Pushkin. This spectacular mansion is home to the famous
Amber Room – that’s right, a room made entirely of amber –
that has been called the “Eighth Wonder of the World” by
many. The sight is also full of not only Czarist
history, but also World War II history, as the building and
its grounds were practically destroyed during the war ... "
" ... The highlight of the
next day was a drive outside the city to the town of Pushkin,
a summer haven for the czars, and a visit to the Palace of
Catherine the Great. The palace may be even more impressive
than the Hermitage. Its blue exterior with white trim and
gold decoration is striking. The palace is fronted by
extensive formal gardens. Inside, the richness of the
decoration is almost overwhelming. A woman in our group
actually gasped as we entered one room. It was a ginger
bread of gold and silver. Could anyone really live here in
such opulence ?.. "
" ... Pushkin park is a vast area of ponds,
canals and bridges, terraces, pavilions and buildings
exquisitely designed by the architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli
for Empress Elizabeth. The town of Pushkin was renamed after
Russia’s most distinguished poet in 1937. It was originally
called Tsarskoye Selo but for political reasons was changed
... "
" ... As we moved on to Catherine’s Palace,
or Tsarskoe Selo as it is sometimes known, I was reminded of
my first visit to St Petersburg some years earlier in deep
winter with snow all around—another variety of the region’s
White Nights. This time, however, the palace, all white and
gold pillars, was bathed in the midday sunshine. We moved,
rapt in admiration, from room to room, an endless enfilade
of what Catherine the Great later deplored as her
predecessor’s rococo excesses of “whipped cream and gilt”.
We, however, delighted in its exuberance, until we reached
the newly reconstructed Amber Room, its walls made up of a
mosaic of amber panels, in shades ranging from burnt umber
to pale yellow, reputed to be 50 million years old and
extracted from deep mines.
To me, it resembled temptingly lickable
toffee ... "
" ... The palace was extraordinary! It was
like a mini-Versailles! This palace was actually even more
impressive as we learned that during World War II I had been
burned and what we were seeing was the restoration from the
last 50 years! The Amber room was the most impressive as
everything inside the room was cut and decorated with amber!
Each of the other rooms was decorated with gold leaf and
mirrors were used extensively to capture as much light as
possible. The ball room was extravagant. It reminded me of
Versailles on a smaller scale !.."
" ... This palace was amazing. This is the
stuff we came all the way to St. Petersburg to see. This
palace contains the famous Amber Room, which was gutted by
the Nazis and only completed restoration a few months ago. I
think one other member of our group summed it up when he
said that now he knows why there was a revolution. It's
amazing how extravagantly the Czars lived off the backs of
the "people". It was only a matter of time before the
"people" couldn't take it any more ..."
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