Alexandrovskaya, Saint Petersburg

Babolovo or Babolovka was a dacha (myza) of Prince Potemkin in Tsarskoe Selo. It was in 1780 that Catherine II of Russia presented the grounds adjoining the Catherine Park and the Alexander Park to her then-favourite, Potemkin. A temporary wooden palace was built to house the lovers' trysts. It was rebuilt in stone to a Gothic Revival design by Ilya Neyelov between 1782 and 1785. The Babolovsky Palace was essentially a summerhouse with seven rooms giving on to a park, a quaint octagonal tower and no second floor. Alexander I of Russia used the palace for his furtive rendezvous with Sophia Velho, a court banker's daughter. He commissioned Vasily Stasov to redesign the palace. The tower was replaced with a huge bath hewn from a red granite monolith. Engineer Agustín de Betancourt had it placed within the room before the walls were constructed. The bath weighed 48 tons and was 196 cm high. The palace fell into disrepair after the Russian Revolution and currently stands in ruins. The granite bath mentioned in one of Pushkin's first poems is still in situ. Other structures in the Babolovsky Park (which covers some 300 ha) have disappeared, apart from an aqueduct from the 1770s and Adam Menelaws' gate separating the two parks.

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.

Pushkin (Russian: Пу́шкин) is a municipal town in Pushkinsky District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, Russia, located 24 kilometers (15 mi) south from the center of St. Petersburg proper, and its railway station, Tsarskoye Selo, is directly connected by railway to the Vitebsky Rail Terminal of the city. Population: 92,889 (2010 Census).Pushkin was founded in 1710 as an imperial residence named Tsarskoye Selo (Russian: Ца́рское Село́, lit. 'Tsar's Village') and received status of a town in 1808. The first public railways in Russia, Tsarskoye Selo Railways, were opened here in 1837 and connected the town to the capital, St. Petersburg. After the October Revolution, the town was renamed to Detskoye Selo (Russian: Де́тское Село́, romanized: Children's Village). Its name was further changed in 1937 to Pushkin to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the death of the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin. The town contains an ensemble of the 18th century Tsarskoye Selo. This museum complex includes the Catherine Palace, Alexander Palace and other buildings and associated parks; it is a major tourist attraction in the area and is included in the list of monuments protected by the UNESCO.

The Emperor's railway station or Emperor's Tsarskoye Selo Station, known as the Emperor's Pavilion (Russian: Императорский павильон, transliteration Imperatorsky pavilyon), is a former railway station terminal in Russia, in the town Tsarskoye Selo (now Pushkin, Saint Petersburg), which served the last monarch of Russia Emperor Nicholas II with his family and courtiers over his dedicated Emperor's Tsarskoye Selo Railway that eventually consisted of three lines to link the capital city of the empire, Saint Petersburg, with two of the suburban royal residences in the towns of Tsarskoye Selo (Rus. "Royal Village") and Gatchina. The Tsarskoye Selo Alexander Palace and Park estate was home to Nicholas and his family for their last 13 years. The Russian royal family had two other private railway station terminals named Emperor's Pavilions - one in Moscow and another one at Saint Petersburg Vitebsky railway station.

Pushkin Leningrad State University (Russian: Ленинградский государственный университет имени А.С. Пушкина) is a university in Russia, located in Pushkin, Saint Petersburg. It was established in 1992 as Leningrad Oblast Pedagogical Institute. It provides training at all levels of post secondary education including bachelor degree, master's degree, PhD courses as well as vocational training and continuing education courses. In 1999 the university was given its current name after the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin. It comprises the following Faculties: Faculty of Economics and Investment Faculty of Psychology Faculty of Philology Faculty of Special Education and Social Work Faculty of History and Social Science Faculty of Physical Education Faculty of Philosophy Culture Studies and Arts Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Studies Faculty of Law Faculty of Natural Science Geography and Tourism Faculty of Foreign Languageas well as 12 branches (institutes) and vocational college

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 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 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 Creaking Pagoda (Скрипучая беседка), also known as the Chinese Summer House (Китайская беседка), is a small summer house located between two ponds in Tsarskoe Selo, Russia. It stands in on the boundary separating the Catherine Park of the baroque Catherine Palace and the New Garden of the Alexander Park of the neoclassical Alexander Palace. The pagoda is a long but narrow folly that resulted from the 18th-century taste for Chinoiserie, reflected in other buildings constructed for Catherine the Great. It was constructed near the Chinese Village in 1778 to 1786, designed by Georg von Veldten, also known as Yury Velten, possibly with input from Antonio Rinaldi. Construction lasted from 1778 to 1786. The walls are decorated with figures of dragons and other stylized Chinese motifs. are gilded wooden sculptures of dragons at the corners of the roof, carrying bells in their mouths, and steps from the main entrance lead down to the water. The structure fell into disrepair in the 19th and 20th centuries, and was damaged in the Second World War, but it was restored from 1954 to 1956. Further restoration work in the 1990s, including a new roof, before the 200th anniversary of Tsarskoe Selo. Chinese characters for "Welcome" were added on the main door. The name of the structure refers to a characteristic sound produced by a metal weathervane, shaped like a banner, on the top of the structure which creaks when it is turned by the wind.

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 Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory (Russian: Пулковская астрономическая обсерватория, romanized: Pulkovskaya astronomicheskaya observatoriya), officially named the Central Astronomical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences at Pulkovo, is the principal astronomical observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences. It is located 19 km south of Saint Petersburg on Pulkovo Heights 75 metres (246 ft) above sea level. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments. It was formerly known as the Imperial Observatory at Pulkowo.

The Pulkovo meridian, which passes through the center of the main building of the Pulkovo Observatory and is at 30°19,6‘ east of Greenwich, was the point of departure for all former geographical maps of Russia.This meridian was used as the reference in the Russian Empire before the Prime meridian (Greenwich).