On a rise in Pushkin, south of Saint Petersburg, the blue-and-white Catherine Palace stretches across the landscape like a city façade. It is the centrepiece of the Tsarskoye Selo palace-and-park ensemble, but its history is not the work of a single ruler or architect. Catherine I, Elizabeth Petrovna and Catherine II each shaped the residence in the eighteenth century, while generations of architects, artists and gardeners translated changing imperial tastes into rooms, gardens and ceremonial routes.
The Government of Saint Petersburg traces work on the palace to 1718, when architects including Johann Braunstein and Mikhail Zemtsov contributed to the early residence. The structure seen today emerged through a much larger building campaign from 1744 to 1756. The city’s account gives its length as 306 metres and identifies Bartolomeo Rastrelli as the leading architect from 1748. His design expanded the palace and gave its façade a dramatic Baroque composition that remains one of the most recognizable in Russia.
