Summer Home of the Tsars
Near St. Petersburg Russia 2009
Tsarskoe Selo means Tsar’s Village and it is here that the royalty of Russia spent the summers. The main architect for the palace was Bartolomeo Rastrelli who came from Italy in 1715 and designed many famed palaces of Russian Royalty.
Rasputin used to visit Empress Alexandra here and after he was murdered, she had him buried on the grounds. Later his remains were disinterred and burned.
Inside the palace are large rooms with gilded baroque decorations. The main ball room has walls lined with gold framed mirrors allowing the dancers, male and female, to admire themselves. (Admiring oneself was a preoccupation of the upper classes of the time.) The floors are laid with intricately designed parquet. Priceless paintings grace sitting room walls. Grand staircases in the huge entrances were designed to enhance the appearance and importance of arriving guests, who would be dressed in the finest clothing from Parisian couturier.