Catherine Palace and Park, St. Petersburg (must see)

Catherine Palace and Park form a former imperial residence at Tsarskoye Selo. The estate dates to 1710, when Peter the Great granted the lands to his future wife, Catherine I. An early palace was built for her, but the residence acquired its monumental appearance mainly during the reign of Empress Elizabeth.

Architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli carried out a major reconstruction in the 1750s, completing the elaborate Baroque palace in 1756. The palace is distinguished by its long blue-and-white façade, extensive gilded decoration, and ceremonial interiors arranged along Rastrelli’s grand enfilade. Principal spaces include the Great Hall, designed for receptions, balls, banquets, and court celebrations. The best-known interior is the Amber Room, incorporating amber panels presented to Peter the Great by King Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia in 1716. German forces dismantled and removed the original room during the Second World War, and it subsequently disappeared. A detailed reconstruction was completed and formally opened in 2003. The surrounding Catherine Park combines the formal Old Garden with a landscape park developed and expanded under Catherine II. Major architectural features include the Cameron Gallery, Cold Bath with the Agate Rooms, Chesme Column, and Rastrelli’s earlier Grotto Pavilion, representing different stages of eighteenth-century landscape and architectural design. The palace and park suffered extensive damage during the Second World War, beginning decades of restoration that continue today.

Reconstructed ceremonial rooms now stand alongside surviving eighteenth-century architecture, monuments, gardens, ponds, bridges, pavilions, and landscaped areas. Visitors can explore both palace interiors and extensive park grounds shaped by successive generations of Russian rulers and architects.