Russia 2019 (57) PUSHKIN - Catherine Palace

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Inside Catherine's Palace (or Tsarskoye Selo) was elegant and opulent, certainly fit for an empress. I'll just drop in a few photos. Not much to tell, just looking is enough.

Here's the grand staircase. Not as grand as the one at the Hermitage, but pretty dang grand. LOTS of tourists here, so hard to get a clean photo. After this stop, it was very organized and not crowded on our interior sightseeing route.

Ceiling detail in a hallway.

A wall clock.

The Grand Hall overlooking the back gardens. It is opened year round and used for public snf private events.

Ceiling murals there.
We fit right in with the imperials. Haha!

In WW II, the city of Pushkin (all but 10 buildings burned) and this palace were devastated by German troops. Although over 54,000 artifacts were evacuated to interior cities or buried in parks, the palace itself was nearly destroyed. For about 2-½ years the Germans used it as barracks for soldiers, offices, and horse stables. Much of the wood from furniture and decor was burned for heat. Here's a painting of what the place looked like after the war. 

This is probably the biggest restoration in history and it is not finished. Floors collapsed and gaps in the roof. Only 10 of 55 halls escaped full-fledged burning. Those last ten were partially burned.

Later the palace was restored, but the two "dark" angels you see here were left in their original post-war condition to remind everyone how bad of shape the palace was. All of the remaining gold throughout the palace looked like the two angels, covered in smoke and soot.

Stories vary, but here's my research account. An attempt was made to evacuate the Amber Room, but in trying to remove panels, the amber facing began to crumble. The decision was made to glue whole panels with gauze and batting and then store in the basement of the palace for protection. After the war, however, those panels were never found.

From 1985-2003, this room was reproduced from scratch as closely as possible to the original. I had always imagined large slabs of amber, but it was more mosaic style with various colors (orange, yellow, red, green, white) and sizes. We could not take a pix of this room, but two rooms down I took a pix looking back and got a tiny slice of the Amber Room in the shot.

You can kind of see how big the amber pieces are. Maybe the size of your hand was the biggest.

There were a number of these amazing Delft ceramic fireplaces throughout the palace. They were  manufactured in the Netherlands. There were two of these in the Great Hall, one on each side of the door. Glad they weren't destroyed.

Portrait room.

Chevaliers' Dining Room.

Yet another dining room, the White State Dining Room.

Porcelain in this dining room.

Yes, one more. This one is the Green Dining. Looked like giant cameos on the walls. 

The Oriental Room.

Details of a few of the lovely items found here. The Romanov imperial crest--double headed eagle.

Chess set.

Wall decor. The red slabs are some kind of stone...maybe rhodonite.

 Spinet.

 Clock.

Gold everywhere. What a time-consuming job. Those gilders must have been very busy.

Of course, on the way out we were directed through the gift shop. Some amazing chunks of amber.

Rings and dice.

More.

Repro Fabergé eggs.

Engraved crystal. This one honoring Empress Elizabeth.

Buttons, if you have a fave Romanov.

There was also a cardboard repro of the Amber Room...and much more to entice any whim.

On to the grounds behind the palace...the back yard, so to speak.

AN ASIDE: Catherine translates in Russia to Ekaterine. The town of Yekaterineburg was named in honor of Catherine I (PtG's wife). It is also the town where Nicholas II (last tzar of Russia) and family were murdered after the Revolution of 1917.