2. Catherine Palace (also called Tsarskoye Selo or the Tsar's Village) is
located in the small town of Pushkin, 25 km south-east of St. Petersburg.
The palace's ornate, baroque design is breathtaking, and its 740 meter
(2427 feet) length is massive. Like many St. Petersburg structures, the
Catherine Palace is brightly painted. The exterior is a brilliant robin's
egg blue, trimmed in white and gilded with over 200 pounds of gold.
Peter the Great presented the palace's estate to his wife Catherine in 1710,
and it served as the imperial family's summer residence until the time of
the last Tsar in 1917. During the reign of Peter's daughter, Empress
Elizabeth, the size of the palace was significantly increased during the
mid-1700's by the famous architect Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli, and
it was Rastrelli who gave the palace its baroque style. The Baroque
interior design of the palace was changed during the reign of Catherine
the Great (Catherine II) to suit her more neo-Classical taste.

75. Images and text: Internet
Music: Tchaikovsky “Swan’s Lake” Adriana