Creaking Pagoda

The Chinese Village in the Alexander Park of Tsarskoye Selo, Russia was Catherine the Great's attempt to follow the 18th-century fashion for the Chinoiserie. Probably inspired by a similar project in Drottningholm, Catherine ordered Antonio Rinaldi and Charles Cameron to model the village after a contemporary Chinese engraving from her personal collection. The village was to consist of 18 stylized Chinese houses (only ten were completed), dominated by an octagonal domed observatory (never completed at all). After Catherine failed in her ambition to procure a genuine Chinese architect, the Russian ambassador in London was instructed to obtain a replica of William Chambers's Great Pagoda in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew for Tsarskoye Selo, a central structure of the Chinoiserie architecture. Catherine's death in 1796 led to the works being suspended. It was not until 1818 that tsar Alexander I of Russia asked the famous architect Vasily Stasov to overhaul the village in order to provide accommodation for his guests. Although much of the original orientalizing decor was lost as a result, the renovated village provided habitation for such eminent visitors as Nikolai Karamzin who worked on his History of the Russian State in one of the houses between 1822 and 1825. The Chinese Opera Theatre was constructed not far from the village in 1779. It was there that an Italian composer Giovanni Paisiello would present his new operas to the Russian empress. The première of Leo Tolstoy's The Fruits of Enlightenment was also produced there. The theatre was burnt to the ground on 15 September 1941 and has never been rebuilt. Three remarkable bridges lead to the village. The Dragon Bridge, so named after four zinc figures of winged dragons, and the Large Chinese Bridge, noted for pink granite vases and imitation coral branches, were completed in 1785. The Cross-Shaped Bridge had been constructed by the Neyelov Brothers six years earlier (illustrated, to the right). The village was renovated under the direction of Ippolit Monighetti in 1859-61. The cottages sustained serious damage during the Nazi occupation but were restored in the 1990s to provide lodgings for VIP guests.

The Large Chinese Bridge (Russian: Большой Китайский мост) is a small bridge over the Krestovy Channel located in the Chinese Village in the Alexander Park of Tsarskoye Selo 25 km south of the centre of Saint Petersburg. The bridge is located near the Chinese Theatre, opposite the central gates of the Catherine Palace. It is one of the entrances to Alexander Park. The bridge is named Large so to distinguish it from two Small (or Iron) Chinese Bridges located in the park. The Large Chinese Bridge was commissioned by Catherine the Great as part of her plan to create a Chinoiserie in her park. Catherine ordered Antonio Rinaldi and Charles Cameron to model the village after a Chinese engraving from her personal collection. The village was expected to consist of 18 stylized Chinese houses (only ten were completed), shadowed by an octagonal domed observatory (not completed). The Large Chinese Bridge is constructed out of pink granite. The most original features of the bridge are the low wall barriers stylishly decorated with tall, granite vases which have intertwining branches of red iron "coral" iron. Originally, in addition to the vases and iron coral, the Large Chinese Bridge was decorated with four painted plaster Chinese figures sitting on short pedestals and holding Chinese lanterns on long poles. However, these Chinese figures have not survived to the present day. To the left of the Large Chinese Bridge stand two Small Chinese bridges leading to the Chinese Village. At first these little bridges constructed by Charles Cameron in 1781 were wooden. In 1786 they were replaced with iron ones forged at the Sestroretsk Armory. The Large Chinese Bridge is one of three bridges that lead to the village. The Dragon Bridge, and the Large Chinese Bridge were completed in 1785 and the Cross-Shaped Bridge (Krestovoy Most) had been erected six years earlier.Catherine's death in 1796 led to the village being suspended until 1818 when Alexander I asked Vasily Stasov to remodel the village to provide accommodation for his guests. Although much of the original decor was removed, the renovated village provided a place to live for such important visitors.

The Marble Bridge (or "Siberian Marble Gallery") is a decorative pedestrian roofed Palladian bridge (gallery walkway) in Empress Catherine Park in the former royal residence Tsarskoye Selo (now town of Pushkin) near Saint Petersburg, Russia. It connects the Swan Islands — an artificial archipelago of seven islets in the landscape park of Tsarskoe Selo — spanning a rivulet flowing between several ponds. The bridge was modelled after the Palladian Bridge (1736) in the park of Wilton House, in England, and served as a showcase for Ural marble. All the details of the bridge — including the granite Ionic colonnade — were produced in Yekaterinburg, transported to Tsarskoe Selo and then assembled in the workshop of Vincenzo Tortori in 1774. It is probably called Siberian due to its construction with marble from the Urals.

The Ruin Tower (Russian: Башня-руина) is an 18th-century monument in Ekaterininsky Park of Tsarskoye Selo - now Pushkin, a suburban town in eponymous borough of St. Petersburg, Russia. It was designed and constructed in 1771-1773 by German-Russian architect Yury Felten.

The Kagul Obelisk in Tsarskoye Selo is one of several such structures erected on behest of Catherine II of Russia in 1772 to commemorate Pyotr Rumyantsev's victory in the Battle of Kagul. Designed by Antonio Rinaldi, the dark grey-and-red marble obelisk stands in the landscape park of the Catherine Palace. The inscription on the pedestal reads: "In memory of the victory at the Kagul River in Moldavia, July 21, 1770, under the command of Count Peter Rumyantsev the Russian army of seventeen thousand caused the Turkish Vizier Galil-Bey and his army of one hundred thousand and a half to flee to the Danube".

The Chesme Column (Russian: Чесменская колонна, romanized: Chesmenskaya kolonna) is a rostral column (a type of victory column) in the Catherine Park at the Catherine Palace, a former Russian royal residence at Tsarskoye Selo, a suburb of Saint Petersburg. The column commemorates three Russian naval victories in the 1768–1774 Russo-Turkish War: the Battle of Chios, the Battle of Chesma and the Battle of Mytilene. It was constructed from 1774 to 1778 in the large pond of the landscape park of the Catherine Palace to Antonio Rinaldi's designs.The column is decorated with the rostra of three ships' bows, and crowned by a bronze figure of an eagle (a symbol of Russia) crushing a crescent (a symbol of Turkey). The column stands on a grey marble pedestal, on three sides of which are bronze bas-reliefs illustrating the Russian victories, while the fourth side is inscribed with a description of the battles. The bas-reliefs were destroyed by the Germans during World War II, and subsequently replaced using old photographs. The column was reopened in June 1996, commemorating the 300th anniversary of the Russian Navy. The pedestal rests on a stepped pyramid-like granite platform, with an arched opening with a grille leading to a flight of steps providing access to the pedestal.

The Amber Room (Russian: Янтарная комната, tr. Yantarnaya Komnata, German: Bernsteinzimmer) was a chamber decorated in amber panels backed with gold leaf and mirrors, located in the Catherine Palace of Tsarskoye Selo near Saint Petersburg. Constructed in the 18th century in Prussia, the room was dismantled and eventually disappeared during World War II. Before its loss, it was considered an "Eighth Wonder of the World". A reconstruction was made, starting in 1979 and completed and installed in the Catherine Palace in 2003. The Amber Room was intended in 1701 for the Charlottenburg Palace, in Berlin, Prussia, but was eventually installed at the Berlin City Palace. It was designed by German baroque sculptor Andreas Schlüter and Danish amber craftsman Gottfried Wolfram. Schlüter and Wolfram worked on the room until 1707, when work was continued by amber masters Gottfried Turau and Ernst Schacht from Danzig (Gdańsk). It remained in Berlin until 1716, when it was given by the Prussian King Frederick William I to his ally Tsar Peter the Great of the Russian Empire. In Russia, the room was installed in the Catherine Palace. After expansion and several renovations, it covered more than 55 square metres (590 sq ft) and contained over 6 tonnes (13,000 lb) of amber. The Amber Room was looted during World War II by the Army Group North of Nazi Germany, and taken to Königsberg for reconstruction and display. Some time in early 1944, with Allied forces closing in on Germany, the room was disassembled and crated for storage in the Castle basement. Königsberg was destroyed by allied bombers in August 1944 and documentation of the room location ends there. Its eventual fate and current whereabouts, if it survives, remain a mystery. In 1979, the decision was taken to create a reconstructed Amber Room at the Catherine Palace in Pushkin. After decades of work by Russian craftsmen and donations from Germany, it was completed and inaugurated in 2003.

The Catherine Palace (Russian: Екатерининский дворец, romanized: Yekaterininskiy dvorets) is a Rococo palace in Tsarskoye Selo (Pushkin), located 30 kilometres (19 mi) south of St. Petersburg, Russia. It was the summer residence of the Russian tsars. The palace is part of the World Heritage Site Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments.

The Alexander Palace (Russian: Александровский дворец, Alexandrovskiy dvorets) is a former imperial residence near the town of Tsarskoye Selo in Russia, on a plateau about 30 miles (48 km) south of Saint Petersburg. The Palace was commissioned by Empress/Tsarina Catherine II (Catherine the Great) in 1792. Due to the privacy it offered when officially resident in St Petersburg, the Alexander Palace was the preferred residence of the last Russian Emperor, Nicholas II and his family; its safety and seclusion compared favourably to the Winter Palace during the years immediately prior to the Russian Revolution. It was the birthplace of Nicholas II's eldest child Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia, while the rest of his children were born in the Peterhof Palace. In 1917, the palace became the family's initial place of imprisonment after the first of two Russian Revolutions in February which overthrew the House of Romanov during World War I. The Alexander Palace is situated in Alexander Park, not far from Catherine Park and the larger, more elaborate Catherine Palace. After undergoing years of renovation, the Alexander Palace opened in Summer 2021 as a state museum housing relics of the former imperial dynasty.

The Imperial Lyceum (Императорский Царскосельский лицей, Imperatorskiy Tsarskosel'skiy litsey) in Tsarskoye Selo near Saint Petersburg, also known historically as the Imperial Alexander Lyceum after its founder Tsar Alexander I, was an educational institution which was founded in 1811 with the object of educating youths of the best families who would afterwards occupy important posts in the Imperial service. Its regulations were published on 11 January 1811, but they had received the Imperial sanction on 12 August 1810, when the four-story "new" wing of the Great Palace was appointed for its accommodation. The Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum was opened on 19 October 1811. The first graduates included Alexander Pushkin and Alexander Gorchakov. In January 1844 the Lyceum was moved to St Petersburg. During the 33 years of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum's existence, there were 286 graduates. The most famous of these, in addition to the above two, were Anton Delvig, Wilhelm Kuchelbecker, Nicholas de Giers, Dmitry Tolstoy, Yakov Grot, Nikolay Danilevsky, Aleksey Lobanov-Rostovsky, Fyodor Shcherbatskoy and Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin.

The Cavalry Houses are a series of buildings built in Pushkin, Saint Petersburg between 1752 and 1753. They are listed as a cultural heritage site.

Alexander Park (known in Russian as Александровский парк) is a park in Tsarskoye Selo outside Saint Petersburg. The park is located to the west of the Catherine Palace, and comprises almost 200 hectares. It starts off with what is left of the New Garden, a rectangle, and continues to the Cross Canal. It is divided into four smaller squares, each one with a complex geometrical lay-out.Alexander park was developed in the 1740s but during the reign (1741-1762) of Elizabeth, the New Garden became almost completely overgrown. The most visible remains are Mount Parnassus, a small artificial hill covered in birches, and the Mushroom Bed, a convergence of eight small alleys marked by unusually-formed wrought-iron benches that replaced a gazebo in the early 19th century.The Alexander Palace (built in 1792-1796 for the future Emperor Alexander I of Russia) is situated in the Alexander Park.