Tsarskoye Selo

Tsarskoye Selo (Russian: Ца́рское Село́, "Tsar's Village") was the town containing a former Russian residence of the imperial family and visiting nobility, located 24 kilometers (15 mi) south from the center of Saint Petersburg. Now part of the town of Pushkin. Tsarskoye Selo forms one of the World Heritage site Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments. The Catherine Palace (Russian: Екатерининский дворец) is a Rococo palace located in Tsarskoye Selo (Pushkin). It was the summer residence of the Russian tsars. More than 100 kilograms of gold were used to gild the sophisticated stucco façade and numerous statues erected on the roof. In front of the palace a great formal garden was laid out. It centres on the azure-and-white Hermitage Pavilion near the lake. The Neoclassical interiors are superb manifestations of late 18th-century and early 19th-century taste. The palace is best known for the grand suit of formal rooms known as the Golden Enfilade. It starts at the spacious airy ballroom, the "Grand Hall" or the "Hall of Lights", with a spectacular painted ceiling, and comprises numerous distinctively decorated smaller rooms, including the reproduced Amber Room.