Dear Steemit Friends:
After visiting The Winter Palace, which is the largest and oldest museum (in my opinion, also the most impressive), I decided to travel outside Saint Petersburg and see the other residences of the Russian tsars.
I started my day by traveling 30 km south of St. Petersburg, to town of Tsarskoye Selo (Pushkin). This quiet and pastoral town was the home of the summer residence of the Russian tsars (Catherine Palace).
On this day the weather was less than ideal and mostly cloudy, but it did not detract from the beauty of the place.
I found myself just staring at the building from the side and forgetting that I haven't even gone inside yet!
Apparently more than 100 kilograms of gold were used to gild the sophisticated stucco façade and numerous statues erected on the roof.
The Catherine Palace interiors are no less spectacular. At the entrance is the State Staircase with ornate banisters and reclining marble cupids
The first room is The Great Hall, also known as the Hall of Light, measures nearly 1,000 square meters, and occupies the full width of the palace. The Great Hall’s walls are decorated with gilded stucco and a spectacular painted ceiling.
Strolling through the various rooms in the Palace I got to see all the furnishings and clothing they wore during her time.
The amber room is the highlight of this palace. The room was used to house a substantial collection of amber-work and Chinese porcelain. In 1941, when German troops took Tsarskoe Selo, they looted, burned and almost destroyed the entire Catherine Palace, including the Amber room. The original amber room was never recovered after the looting, but has been recreated to its original elegance. Unfortunately no photos are allowed in the amber room.
Finally, I'd like to show everybody the Peterhof Park, Often referred to as "the Russian Versailles".
The Peterhof Palace was built by Peter the Great built in suburbs of his new city, Peterhof. The palace became the site for the Tsar's Monplaisir Palace, and then of the original Grand Palace. The Grand Palace and the park were greatly extended by the Peter's daughter, Empress Elizabeth. The Peterhof Park is known for its famous system of fountains, including the truly spectacular Grand Cascade.
Since my visit was off season, the palace itself was closed for visitors, but luckily all the fountains were active. As you can see, they did not spare gold when they designed the fountains.
Hope you enjoyed my tour of the Catherine Palace and Peterhof Park. More blogs about my travels to Saint Petersburg and many more to come!
Super Nice
Thank you
Wow beautiful historical architecture! Nice job capturing all this :) I look forward to seeing the rest of your travels
Thank you :) Stay tuned, I'm already working on my next post
BEAUTIFUL castle!
Thank you @shinidanitv
You totally inspired me to visit Russia. Those pictures were stunning. I may try to get out there for the world cup. Thank you. Cheers.
Thank you so much, I really appreciate it :)
You should definitely visit Russia, the amount of gold and extravagant architecture is unbelievable
The gold was crazy. Imagine yourself there back when it was a bustling court. Extravagant is the perfect word.
Yeah, it was insane. Hahaha, there is no other word to describe it
Such a period of elegance and grandeur. We will look back at the architecture of our time and be very much less impressed. They really took the time and were proud of their work.
Compliantly agree with you!
Thank you for taking us the tour. Those buildings are really something.
Sure, anytime :)