73. St. Petersburg's suburban palaces #1 - Catherine Palace
There are so many palaces in St. Petersburg that they couldn't all fit in the city center! There are at least five "suburban" palaces that are 20-50 kilometers away from the city and are now tourist destinations (I think more than that still exist but the others have not been renovated and restored). These were used as country estates for the Russian nobility, so they are intentionally outside of the hustle and bustle of St. Petersburg. With quicker transportation and the growth of the city over the last 300 years, most of the palaces are located in what are now considered suburban communities.
The first of these palaces that I've visited is Catherine Palace in Tsarkoye Selo (a town now part of the larger community of Pushkin, named in honor of the writer who went to school there). Catherine I began construction on this summer retreat in 1717, but the current building was not finished until the 1750s by her daughter, Elizabeth Petrova. The current structure is the work of four architects active in the middle of the 18th century. They created a huge palace, but only a small portion of it has been renovated and is now open to the public (I'm not sure of the exact breakdown, but it appears to be less than 30%-40%).
Two of the rooms inside are particularly breathtaking: the great hall and the amber room. The great hall spreads across the entire width of the palace, and the wall space that isn't filled with windows is covered in gilding. The entire ceiling features beautiful wall-to-wall paintings, as well.
The amber room is a one-of-a-kind space whose elaborate walls are entirely covered in intricately fitted amber pieces in different shades and configurations. For whatever reason, photography was allowed in every other part of the palace except the amber room, so I was only able to capture an image of a small part of the wall looking back from the next room.
Other rooms in the palace were also extravagantly decorated and in line with the grandeur of any of the palace rooms in the city center (at the Winter Palace, Yusupov Palace, et cetera).
The gardens around the palace are almost an even bigger tourist attraction. They stretch on for kilometers and include formal flower gardens and wild parkland, as well as lakes and several dozen other buildings and monuments worth visiting. There is even another palace (Alexander Palace) which is apparently spectacular, but is currently in the middle of extensive renovations and has been closed to tourists for several years now. It would take days to visit everything in the area so I only had a taste of the buildings and gardens in the immediate vicinity of Catherine Palace. These included the Cold Bath, Cameron Gallery, Upper Bathhouse, Chesme Column, Private Garden, Large Chinese Bridge, and ruins of the Chinese Theater.
The town of Pushkin was occupied by the Nazis for several years during the Great Patriotic War, and much of Catherine Palace was destroyed at that time. For example, the wall panels from the amber room were all looted by the Nazis and have never been recovered. So what you see today is a 20th century reconstruction of the 18th century design, and is the result of five or six decades of consistent rebuilding and renovation work. By many accounts, the recreations are equal to or perhaps even more spectacular than the originals. The first floor includes a photographic exhibit of the destruction as well as the craftsmen and artists at work during the rebuilding project.
Catherine Palace is deservedly one of St. Petersburg's top tourist destination (even though it's not actually in the city), so there were hordes of people there. It's similar to how many tourists who visit Paris make sure to visit Versailles as well. Almost all of the visitors here were attached to organized tour groups and there were relatively few individuals in the palace. This is perhaps due to the complicated way to get to the suburbs if you don't own a car - it's well outside of the city Metro service area, so I rode the Metro to the southern end of the blue line and then took a “marshrutka” (minibus) from there on a 40-minute journey to Tsarkoye Selo. Otherwise, you have to take a regional commuter train or a taxi. So, most people apparently conclude that a charter bus with an organized tour group is the easiest way to manage the trip - and it's probably the only way to see Catherine Palace for people visiting St. Petersburg on a cruise.
In order to control the crowds inside the palace, visitors are required to form a queue and then a limited number of people are admitted inside every 15 minutes. I knew this in advance, but what I did not expect (though I was well prepared for it) was that it would start raining as soon as I arrived at the end of the line, and continue for the 1 hour and forty-five minutes that I waited for admission to the palace. This was the heaviest rain I've seen in a long time, and there were occasional pieces of hail mixed in. I felt sorry for the (mostly Russian) tourists who did not bring an umbrella or rain coat, but it's not too hard to look up the weather report in the morning so they only have themselves to blame for getting drenched.
The first of these palaces that I've visited is Catherine Palace in Tsarkoye Selo (a town now part of the larger community of Pushkin, named in honor of the writer who went to school there). Catherine I began construction on this summer retreat in 1717, but the current building was not finished until the 1750s by her daughter, Elizabeth Petrova. The current structure is the work of four architects active in the middle of the 18th century. They created a huge palace, but only a small portion of it has been renovated and is now open to the public (I'm not sure of the exact breakdown, but it appears to be less than 30%-40%).
Two of the rooms inside are particularly breathtaking: the great hall and the amber room. The great hall spreads across the entire width of the palace, and the wall space that isn't filled with windows is covered in gilding. The entire ceiling features beautiful wall-to-wall paintings, as well.
The amber room is a one-of-a-kind space whose elaborate walls are entirely covered in intricately fitted amber pieces in different shades and configurations. For whatever reason, photography was allowed in every other part of the palace except the amber room, so I was only able to capture an image of a small part of the wall looking back from the next room.
Other rooms in the palace were also extravagantly decorated and in line with the grandeur of any of the palace rooms in the city center (at the Winter Palace, Yusupov Palace, et cetera).
The gardens around the palace are almost an even bigger tourist attraction. They stretch on for kilometers and include formal flower gardens and wild parkland, as well as lakes and several dozen other buildings and monuments worth visiting. There is even another palace (Alexander Palace) which is apparently spectacular, but is currently in the middle of extensive renovations and has been closed to tourists for several years now. It would take days to visit everything in the area so I only had a taste of the buildings and gardens in the immediate vicinity of Catherine Palace. These included the Cold Bath, Cameron Gallery, Upper Bathhouse, Chesme Column, Private Garden, Large Chinese Bridge, and ruins of the Chinese Theater.
The town of Pushkin was occupied by the Nazis for several years during the Great Patriotic War, and much of Catherine Palace was destroyed at that time. For example, the wall panels from the amber room were all looted by the Nazis and have never been recovered. So what you see today is a 20th century reconstruction of the 18th century design, and is the result of five or six decades of consistent rebuilding and renovation work. By many accounts, the recreations are equal to or perhaps even more spectacular than the originals. The first floor includes a photographic exhibit of the destruction as well as the craftsmen and artists at work during the rebuilding project.
Catherine Palace is deservedly one of St. Petersburg's top tourist destination (even though it's not actually in the city), so there were hordes of people there. It's similar to how many tourists who visit Paris make sure to visit Versailles as well. Almost all of the visitors here were attached to organized tour groups and there were relatively few individuals in the palace. This is perhaps due to the complicated way to get to the suburbs if you don't own a car - it's well outside of the city Metro service area, so I rode the Metro to the southern end of the blue line and then took a “marshrutka” (minibus) from there on a 40-minute journey to Tsarkoye Selo. Otherwise, you have to take a regional commuter train or a taxi. So, most people apparently conclude that a charter bus with an organized tour group is the easiest way to manage the trip - and it's probably the only way to see Catherine Palace for people visiting St. Petersburg on a cruise.
In order to control the crowds inside the palace, visitors are required to form a queue and then a limited number of people are admitted inside every 15 minutes. I knew this in advance, but what I did not expect (though I was well prepared for it) was that it would start raining as soon as I arrived at the end of the line, and continue for the 1 hour and forty-five minutes that I waited for admission to the palace. This was the heaviest rain I've seen in a long time, and there were occasional pieces of hail mixed in. I felt sorry for the (mostly Russian) tourists who did not bring an umbrella or rain coat, but it's not too hard to look up the weather report in the morning so they only have themselves to blame for getting drenched.
Comments
Post a Comment