Excursions in St.Petersburg

• Excursions in the city
• Country residences of Russian Tsars

Country residences of Russian Tsars

The Tzarskoje Selo State Museum Reserve (Pushkin)

The Tzarskoje Selo State Museum Reserve is a brilliant monument of world architecture and park and garden artistry of the 18^th-20^th centuries. A magnificent group of architects, sculptorsand painters brought the desires of their royal clients to fruition here.

In Tzarskoje Selo the full range of artistic styles is represented, from the Baroque (in buildings by Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli) and Classical eras (buildings by Charles Cameron, Giacomo Quarenghi, Vasily Stasov and others). Imperial rulers from Catherine I to Nicholas II have left their mark on Tzarskoje Selo.

The compositional center of the ensemble is the Catherine Palace, a magnificent baroque-style palace. The Great Hall of the palace and the Golden Enfilade of formal halls, among which can be found the Amber Room currently under restoration, amaze with the luxury of their decoration. When you enter the palace halls, you will sense the spirit of the eras of Elizabeth and Catherine, and to a certain extent the age of Emperor Alexander I, and see rare objects of applied art. The Alexander Palace is one of the best examples of world architecture executed in the classical style. Passing through the rooms of Emperor Nicholas II and his wife, Alexandra Fyodorovna, in this palace you will come up close to the artistic tastes of the last Romanovs, and view the Emperor's State Study, decorated in fin-de-siecle style.

More than 100 architectural objects with a total area of 300 hectares occupy the territory of the Catherine and Alexander Parks: from the most magnificent palaces and monuments, to pavilions and bridges. Strolling through the alleys of these parks, you will be treated to views of whimsical lodges, elegant classical buildings, many monuments executed in marble, exotic constructions designed to imitate gothic style, and also Turkish and Chinese architecture which lend the park a romantic air. >>>

The State Museum-Reserve Peterhof

The world-famous palace, fountain and park ensemble of Peterhof is an outstanding landmark of Russian artistic culture of the 18-19th centuries. Founded in the very beginning of the eighteenth century by Emperor Peter the Great not far from his new northern capital St Petersburg, Peterhof was intended to become the most splendid official royal summer residence.
Credit for its creation should go to a great number of eminent architects, artists, and anonymous folk craftsmen. Its wonderful parks, 176 fountains of various forms and styles and four cascades, majestic palaces, numerous gilded statues of ancient gods and heroes, remarkable collections of sculpture, painting and works of the minor arts make Peterhof a veritable gem of art, often called "Capital of Fountains", unique in the world.
After 1917 the Peterhof ensemble was taken into state custody and turned into architecture and art museum. Nowadays, due to the unforgettable beauty of its fountains, parks and palaces, Peterhof has become the most attractive for numerous Russian and foreign visitors suburban royal park and palace ensemble of the northern Russia's capital. To feel happy, to make their spirits high, people often come to Peterhof and enjoy its magic charms. >>>

The Museum-Reserve includes the following architectural monuments:
The Great Palace, the Monplaisir Palace, the Marly Palace, the Hermitage Palace, the Cottage Palace, Peter I's Palace, the Grottos, the Benois Museum, the Catherine Block, the Bath House, the Chapel, the Upper Garden, the Lower Park, the Alexandria Park. On the territory of Museum-Reserve there are about 150 fountains, including 4 cascades: the Great Cascade, the Chessboard Hill Cascade, the Golden Hill Cascade, and the Lion Cascade.

The State Museum-Reserve Pavlovsk

A superb palace and park ensemble, dating from the late 18th to the 19th century, Pavlovsk was a summer residence of the Russian emperor Paul I and his family. Its architects were amongst the greatest of the period: Cameron, Brenna, Quarenghi, Voronikhin and Rossi. The landscape park, one of the largest in Europe, covers an area of 600 hectares.

The formation of the Pavlovsk Palace collections was closely connected with the journey by its owners through Europe in 1781-82. They visited workshops of well-known artists, ordering and acquiring paintings, furniture, bronze articles, silk fabrics, china sets, etc. They also brought back to Russia a large number of antique sculptures from Italy, and gifts from European royal courts. Many of these treasures are on view, together with an excellent collection of portraits by Russian artists, and a number of Pavlovsk landscape paintings and drawings.

Following a long restoration, the ravishingly beautiful private rooms of Empress Maria Fedorovna, which were decorated Quarenghi and Voronikhin, are again open to the public. >>>

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