The blue front
White columns and gold.
W. Bulach — CC BY-SA 4.0 · W. Bulach — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Sergey A. Demidov — CC BY 4.0 · Sergey A. Demidov — CC BY 4.0 · Sergey A. Demidov — CC BY 4.0
Catherine Palace is a Rococo palace at Tsarskoye Selo, now the town of Pushkin, 30 km south of Saint Petersburg. It was the summer residence of the Russian tsars and is part of the city's World Heritage Site. It is known for its long blue front with white columns and gold decoration, and for the famous Amber Room inside. Peter the Great gave this estate to his wife Catherine I in 1710. Work on a new palace began in 1744 under their daughter, Empress Elizabeth, with designs by Mikhail Zemtsov and then Andrei Kvasov and Savva Chevakinsky. In 1751 Bartolomeo Rastrelli reconstructed it, giving it its familiar form, with sculptures requiring almost 100 kg of gold. From the courtyard you see a blue front running a long way, broken by white columns and gilded figures. Inside is a white staircase with red curtains, then the Great Hall with mirrors, gold decoration and tall windows on both sides. Other rooms have a blue tile stove and gilded furniture, along with a Chinese Room of porcelain panels, and wide gardens lie around it. It is about 25 km from the Winter Palace in a straight line, reached by bus or train. Ticket numbers are limited, so book early, above all in summer. Photos are usually banned in the Amber Room, so ask as you enter. The park deserves an extra hour, and you may be asked to wear shoe covers in the halls. The UK Foreign Office advises against all travel to Russia, and non-Russian bank cards may not work, so read the current advice before you plan.
White columns and gold.
Mirrors and tall windows.
Red curtains.
Pushkin town, south of Saint Petersburg, Russia
What you see is a modern recreation of the lost original, so ask a guide about its story.
Two separate days are better, as they lie on different sides of the city.