Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
SIGHTS
HIST
HISTORIC
ORICAL B
AL BUILDING
UILDING
GREAT GATCHINA PALACE
(
Большой гатчинский дворец
; adult/student R200/80; 10am-5pm Tue-Sun, closed 1st
Tue of month)
Shaped in a graceful curve around a central turret, the Great Gatchina
Palace certainly lives up to its name - its enormous (if surprisingly plain) facade is
quite a sight to behold, overlooking a vast parade ground and backing onto the huge
landscaped grounds. Built by Rinaldi between 1766 and 1781 in an early classicism
style for Catherine the Great's favourite Grigory Orlov, the palace curiously combines
motifs of a medieval fortress with elements commonly seen in Russian imperial resid-
ences. It's hard to call it beautiful, but there's no doubt that it's extremely impressive.
After Orlov's death in 1783, Catherine the Great bought the palace from his heirs and
gifted it to her son Paul, who redesigned the exterior between 1792 and 1798.
The 10 State Rooms on the 2nd floor are impressive, including
Paul I's Throne
Room
, hung with huge tapestries, and his wife
Maria Fyodorovna's Throne
Room
, the walls of which are covered in paintings. Most impressive of all is the
White Hall
, a Rinaldi creation from the 1770s that was redone by Brenna in the
1790s, on the balcony of which is an impressive collection of sundials.
The walk from the state rooms through the
Chesme Gallery
gives you an inter-
esting insight into how the palace looked after WWII. Do not miss the incredible un-
derground tunnel that leads to the lake, and if you'd like a stellar view of the park,
climb the
Signal Tower
(
Сигнальная башня
; adult/student R30/20)
.
PARK
ARK
GATCHINA PARK
(
Гатчинский парк
; admission free; dawn-dusk)
The palace estate at Gatchina is
more overgrown, less touristy and more romantic than that of any of the other palaces.
The park has many winding paths through birch groves and across bridges to islands
in the large
White Lake
. Look out for the frankly bizarre
Birch House
(adult/stu-
dent R30/20; 11am-7pm Tue-Sun)
, which was a present from Maria Fyodorovna to
Paul I. With a rough facade made of birch logs, the interior is actually very refined,
with a beautiful hardwood floor made from timbers from around the world. Perhaps
unsurprisingly though, Paul I later built a neoclassical 'mask' to hide the Birch
House's facade from the view of casual strollers.
