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Catherine Palace and Park are located 15 miles (24 kilometers) south of St. Petersburg. The former country residence of the Russian emperors, the ornate monuments now form part of the town of Puskin and the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments.
Stroll through the park which contains a plenty of architectural monuments, from magnificent palaces and grand monuments to intimate pavilions and park sculptures. At the center is Catherine Palace, where exquisite decorative furniture, Russian and Western European paintings, unique collections of porcelain, as well as amber and bronze sculptures all await.
The gem of the Palace is undoubtedly the renowned Amber Room, a vast chamber that contained more then 6 tons of amber in its heyday. Looted by the Nazis during World War II, it has been stunningly recreated, with amber panels, swirling gold leaf and reflective mirrors.
Built in the late XVIII and early XIX centuries, Pavlovsk Palace was used as a summer residence for emperor Paul I and his family. The landscape park, one of the largest in Europe, covers the area of 600 hectares. A plenty of pavilions and statues decorate different corners of the park. The museum in the palace displays an excellent collection of portraits by Russian artists and a number of Pavlovsk landscape paintings and drawings.
Pavlovsk is also closely connected with the name of Austrian composer Johan Strauss who often performed there and even dedicated some musical pieces to Pavlovsk Park. It’s only that a statue of Strauss has recently been put in Pavlovsk.
