Tsarskoye Selo

On Sunday 8th of August our friend Luba took Yoleen, Marta, Stephan, Simon, Christiaan and me to a place outside of Petersburg: Pushkin! In Pushkin you can find the stunning Tsarskoye Selo, of which I am about to tell you.
The huge palace stems from the 18th century. The development started under Catherine I, Peter the Great's wife, the architect was Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli. It wasn't until reign of Elizabeth (1741) that a large scal construction work of the building started, after which the palace was called "Catherine Palace" in honour of Elizabeths mother.

The Grand Hall

The Grand hall is an enormous area, which seems even bigger because of the amount of mirrors. The room feels great and majestic; it is ornamented with lots of gold and the ceiling has major painting. Maybe the most famous room of the palace is the Amber room. In 1717 Peter I was given amber boards and panels by the Prussian king.
The palace is surrounded by a huge parc, full of monuments, one of them being a mosque, the only one in Russia, to celebrate the victory over the Turkish people, around the 1770s and 80s.

Amber room

Of course our group had some "real Russian experiences" that day. I will tell about them in the next post!