CATHERINE PALACE (Town of Pushkin), an architectural monument of the Baroque period, compositional centre and dominating architecture of the park and palace ensemble of Tsarskoe Selo. In 1717-1723, on this site a small stone palace of Empress Catherine I (architect I.F. Braunstein) was constructed concurrently with the establishment of the Catherine Park. From 1743, work on the palace extension was started (architect M.G. Zemtsov), after his death work continued under the guidance of architects A.V. Kvasov and S.I. Chevakinsky. From late 1748 - architect F. Rastrelli. In May of 1752, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna ordered everything that had been erected earlier to be reconstructed and in 1756 the Catherine Palace was completed. At this stage it consisted only of the western parade court, framed by single-story semicircular buildings - surrounded with splendid wrought railings with gilded details and gates along the central axis of the palace. The facades are decorated with moulded figures of caryatids, cartouche, masks (sculptor I. F. Dunker), marked with ochre colour against the turquoise background (up to the 1770s, the stucco work was gilded). Originally the front staircase was in the south section of the Catherine Palace, on the second floor were also located the "Golden Enfilade", comprising of five "antechambers", double tiered Grand Hall and a number of sitting rooms, their fretwork above the doors created an impression of a gold stream. Among the interiors is the Amber Room. The length of the Catherine palace's facades is over 325 metres. The central part of the building (The Middle House) has retained the parameters of the palace of Catherine I. The side wings that replaced the original open terrace unite the central part with the wings: to the north there is a church (1779-84, architect I.V. Neelov) and to the south - Zubovsky (1778-1784, architect Y.M. Felten). Under Catherine II, in the 1780s, new interiors were added according to the designs of C. Cameron: the Arabesque and the Lyon sitting rooms, the Silver Study and others in the south part of the Catherine Palace, the rooms of the Grand Prince Pavel Petrovich (the Green dining-room, the Bedchamber and others) in the northern part. To the south-eastern side of the Catherine Palace the complex of the so-called Cameron Gallery, the Cold Bath (Agate Pavilion), the hanging garden and the ramp (1780-87; 1792-94) are united. In 1817-20, and in the 1840s architect V.P. Stasov made some changes in the palace's interiors, in 1860-63 architect I. A. Monighetti (Chinese front staircase in the central part). Since 1918, the Catherine Palace has been a palace-museum, in 1941-44, it was practically levelled, restoration following the project of architect A.A. Kedrinsky was launched in 1957. Restoration works continue up to the present. See also "Tsarskoe Selo" article.

A. A. Alexeev. Braunstein Johann Friedrich
Cameron Charles
Catherine I, Empress
Catherine II, Empress
Chevakinsky Savva Ivanovich
Dunker Johann Franz
Elizaveta Petrovna, Empress
Felten Yury (Georg Friedrich) Matveevich
Kedrinsky Alexander Alexandrovich
Kvasov Andrey Vasilievich
Monighetti Ippolito Antonovich
Neelov Ilya Vasilievich
Paul (Pavel) I, Emperor
Rastrelli Francesco de
Stasov Vasily Petrovich
Zemtsov Mikhail Grigorievich