Catherine's Palace and Park (Pushkin)

• City
• Hermitage
• St.Isaac's Cathedral
• Russian Museum

• Peterhof
• Pavlovsk
• Yussupov' Palace
• Peter and Paul Fortress

• Marrinsky Theatre
• Alexander Nevsky Monastery
• Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood
• Catherine's Palace and Park (Pushkin)

   Tsarskoye Selo is a former Russian residence of the imperial family and visiting nobility. Located some 16 miles (about 26 kilometres) away from St.Petersburg, the ensemble of the Catherine's Palace and Park are among Russia's top historical recreation complexes visited by hundreds of thousands tourists every year.

   In the seventeenth century there was a Finnish farm here at Dudorovsky eminence called "Saari mois" in Finnish language. In 1708 it became a possession of the Russian Tsar, and the Finnish toponyms word "Saari mois" was transformed into "Tsarskaya Mysa" that sounded more Russian.

   In 1708-1724 Tsarskaya Mysa was the residence of Peter the Great's wife, the Empress Catherine I. From 1741 Tsarskoye Selo became the residence of the Empress Elizabeth and during her reign the architect Rastrelli created a magnificent Emperial Palace, a brilliant masterpiece of Russian baroque. At the same time the Hermitage and Grotto Pavilions were built, regular Upper and Lower Gardens were laid out, and the Lower Garden was decorated with sculptures. Later the ensemble was supplemented by the Cold Bath-house, the Agate Pavilion, the Hanging Gardens with a sloping platform, and the Cameron Gallery.

   In 1811, Alexander I opened the celebrated Lyceum next door to the Catherine Palace. Aleksandr Pushkin was one of the first graduates, followed by Alexander Gorchakov and Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin. The literary traditions of Tsarskoye Selo were continued in the 20th century by such notable poets as Anna Akhmatova and Innokenty Annensky.

   The town escaped the 19th-century industrialization, although it was between Tsarskoye Selo and St. Petersburg that the first Russian railroad was built in 1837. It was also known for its powerful government radio station that was set up here in 1917. In the spring of 1917, Emperor Nicholas II was held under arrest in his favourite residence, the Alexander Palace.

   In 1918, the Tsar's Village was renamed by the Bolsheviks into Detskoye Selo (Children's Village) and in 1937 it was renamed again to the town of Pushkin, thus commemorating the centenary of the poet's death.

   On September 17, 1941 the Nazis occupied the town of Pushkin, destroying and plundering many historical monuments, buildings and other cultural artifacts, including the famous Amber Room. The Soviets liberated the town on January 24, 1944. After the war, reconstruction began on Tsarskoye Selo; many rooms in the Catherine Palace have been restored, but much work on the palatial church and the Alexander Palace is still under way.

   In 1979 a reconstruction effort began at Tsarskoye Selo, based largely on black and white photographs of the original Amber Room. Financial difficulties to the project were solved with USD $3.5 million donated by the German company Ruhrgas AG. By 2003 the titanic work of the Russian craftsmen was mostly completed. The new room was dedicated by Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder at the 300-year anniversary of the city of Saint Petersburg.