St. Petersburg (Part 2)

Catherine's Palace, the summer residence of the Russian imperial family, has a long history that has its beginnings in the early 18th century.

Before Catherine's Palace came into existence, the spot of land on which it was located was a dairy farm 26 km from St. Petersburg (the capital of Russia from 1713-1918). The farm had a Finnish name, Saari Mojs (Dairy Farm on the Hill or elevated place). In 1708, Peter I gave Saari mojs to his second wife whom the Great Palace would later be named after, Catherine I. The area was then renamed "Saarskoje Selo" and later, in 1725, "Tsarskoye Selo" (Czar's Little Village). The first palace to be built on the land was a two story stone palace, The Palace of the 16 Rich Rooms. The construction of this Palace took place from 1717 to 1723 under the direction of architect Johann Braunstein. The stone palace was built along with gardens in the front of the house and an orange grove and greenhouses in back (later to be known as Catherine's Park). Peter the Great died in 1725 and Catherine I died in 1727 after holding the position of Empress of Russia for two years.

Little is known about the Palace during the reigns of Peter II, Anna Romanova, or Ivan VI (1727-1741). It wasn't until Empress Elizabeth Romanova, the daughter of Catherine I, came into power that more work was done to the Palace in Tsarskoye Selo. The Palace was completely rebuilt several times under Elizabeth. She used the skills of many talented Russian architects including Alexei Kvasov and Savva Chevakinsky to build the Palace from 1744 to 1756. Previously, the Palace was a modest stone building, but she had the area modernized and enlarged. Elizabeth brought in an Italian architect, Bartholomew Rastrelli, to oversee the expansion in 1756. The style of the Palace was changed to an exquisite baroque style and he expanded the main facades to stretch more than 300 meters (985 ft). He added the main courtyard in the front of the great Palace with large iron gates. Rastrelli was also responsible for the installation of the amber panels into the famous Amber Room in 1755. It was during this time that the present day Catherine's Palace began to take form. To achieve the desired renovation, during the 1740's - 1750s, much of the labor on the parks and the Palace was done by serfs, workers, soldiers, and sailors.

Although the Palace was transformed under Empress Elizabeth, the Palace took on its present form under Catherine the Great. Much of the history and architectural design of the Palace is credited to Catherine the Great. After a short reign by her husband, Peter III, Catherine II became the Empress of Russia in 1762. Catherine the Great had the interior of the Palace remodeled in the Neoclassical style, but she left the facade designed by Rastrelli unaltered. Her interior alterations were made between 1760 and 1790 by two architects, a Scotsman, Charles Cameron, and an Italian, Giacomo Quarenghi. Some of the changes made to the Palace and the surrounding Park include an extra story built on the side wings, entrances added to the wings, refurbished rooms, expanded grounds, and several smaller buildings were added to the Park grounds.
The Palace was Catherine's favorite residence and she lived in her own wing of the Palace. Catherine II died in 1796 leaving behind a greatly changed and very impressive Palace.

Peterhof is perhaps St. Petersburg's most famous and spectacular Imperial estate. Nestled on the shore of the Gulf of Finland (part of the Baltic Sea), the palace was built by Peter the Great initially as a resting place en route to the Imperial naval base at Kronshtadt. But the Tzar was quick to recognize the attractiveness of the area and masterminded a vast estate intended to rival the famous gardens of Versailles.

The Grand Palace, filled with fascinating and elaborate interiors, sits on top of a high seashore ridge overlooking the vast Lower Park. The original palace was built between 1714 and 1725 by the architects Braunstein, Zemtsov and Leblond. Later that century the palace was extended to its present size and redesigned by the court architect Francesco Bartholomeo Rastrelli, the creator of the Winter Palace, the Catherine Palace, Smolny Cathedral and many more of St. Petersburg's major landmarks. The original Baroque decor was preserved in some of the rooms, while others were redesigned throughout the 18th and early 19th century. During WWII the palace was seriously damaged but most of the rooms have now been restored to their former glory.

The palace at Peterhof sits amidst an enormous park, adorned with fountains, statues and pavilions. The Upper Garden, located between the St. Petersburg highway and the Grand Palace, is a typical French-style formal garden with five fountains including one depicting Neptune, the God of the Sea. The estate's Lower Park lies between the Grand Palace and the seashore and boasts the world's largest system of fountains, earning it the title the "Russian Versaille". The park's unique fountain system was designed in the 18th century by the engineer V. Tuvolkov, and doesn't require the use of any pumps to operate the fountains. There are three major cascades and over 120 fountains in the park. The most impressive is the Grand Cascade, located directly below the Grand Palace and featuring an impressive golden statue of Samson grasping the mighty jaws of the lion. The park's other cascades feature black and white chess board designs, Chinese dragons and numerous other features, as well as several joke fountains which are guaranteed to delight your children!

The park features numerous pavilions and small palaces, amongst which is Peter the Great's favorite, Monplaisir. Built by the architects Braunstein, Leblond and Zemtsov between 1714 and 1725, Montplaisir sits right on the sea shore and provided the perfect vantage point for Peter to spend hours watching the ships sail by. Among the park's other pavilions are the Hermitage, designed and built specifically for holding Imperial dinner parties, and the two-story residential Marly Palace, built in 1723 by the architect Braunstein. Away from the luxury of the Lower Garden in the overgrown Alexandria Park stands the modest English-style Cottage Palace, built in 1829 by the architect Adam Menelas.

On a quiet stretch of the Moika River stands a long yellow building, which was once the residence of the wealthy and respected Yusupov family and which saw one of the most dramatic episodes in Russia's history - the murder of Grigory Rasputin. In 1916 a group of the city's noble elite, including one of the Grand Dukes and led by the prominent anglophile Prince Felix Yusupov, conspired to kill the one man who they felt threatened the stability of an already war-torn Russian Empire. Grigory Rasputin, a peasant and self-proclaimed holy man, had gradually won favor with the Tsar's family through his alleged supernatural powers. His control over the decisions of the family and the Russian ruler himself, put him in a potentially manipulative position and posed a very real threat to their power. Consequently, Rasputin was murdered at the Yusupov Palace on the night of December 16-17 1916, and his death proved to be an almost greater mystery than his life had been.

Hard to kill Rasputin (right). He was attemptedly poisoned in this room in the basement

without success. Then he was shot four times and he survived. Eventually, he was