The first excursion today is outside St Petersburg to the summer palace of the royals, the Catherine Palace, named after Peter the Great's second, more successful wife. It was radically damaged and set on fire by the retreating Germans in WWII and 70 years later work continues on restoration. It is rather impressive, with a 400 metre facade and much gilding. The recreated Amber Room is a tribute to the skills of the restorers: though not exactly to my taste, the craft is amazing. There was one original panel retrieved, but the final fate of the Amber Room is still the subject of speculation after it was shipped off by the German army and disappeared, bombed or scattered or lining some millionaire's secret study.
The curators of the palace, like the ones in the Hermitage, saw the writing on the wall and got in early, packing up the moveable treasures and shipping them off to Siberia before the invasion.
Blue and sand-coloured facade. Trivia: Catherine the Great liked to swim.
Domes from the palace church
The blue and white tiles cover heaters
Perky
Kilos of gilding
Protection for the parquetry floors
A royal
Packing before the Germans arrived.
Scene of Catherine the G's morning perambulations and from where she allegedly shoved Voltaire's bust off the balcony after hearing about his support for the French Revolution.
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