Away from town, in a little hamlet named Pushkin, sits a rococo summer house of surpassing size and lavishness. This is Catherine's Palace, designed by the Italian architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli with such a degree of opulence & frothiness that even the palace-smart royals were dumbfounded at what Catherine called its "whipped cream architecture."
A partial side view in a very peculiar December in St. Petersburg. Normally there would be a foot or two of very picturesque snow.
A ballroom made of gold
If you get tired of looking at all that gold, just look up; every ceiling is an astonishment of artistry
Catherine's casual summer dress (with scepter, of course)
The famous Amber Room, with 13,000 pounds of Amber, gold leaf & mirrors. Before the Germans looted it during WWII, it was considered "The Eighth Wonder of the World." No one knows what happened to the original amber panels. This was rebuilt in 2003.
That is to say, this is the reincarnation of Catherine's Palace, as the original was destroyed by the Germans during their occupation of WWII. This restoration has been helped along by fund-raising events in the great ballroom by Elton John in 2001 & a 2005 party with Tina Turner, Sting, Bill Clinton, etc.
Does it lessen the amazement & pleasure of an historic place to know that it's not the original? I guess I'd rather not know.
Amazing little summer retreat. She probably had a dozen ladies in waiting just to help her put that dress on
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