Catherine Palace near St. Petersburg - Site of Amber Room

By Linda Garrison, About.com Guide

Catherine Palace (also called Tsarskoye Selo or the Tsar's Village) is located in the small town of Pushkin, about 17 miles south of St. Petersburg. The palace's ornate, baroque design is breathtaking, and its 740 meter (2427 feet) length is massive. Like many St. Petersburg structures, the Catherine Palace is brightly painted. The exterior is a brilliant robin's egg blue, trimmed in white and gilted with over 200 pounds of gold.

Peter the Great presented the palace's estate to his wife Catherine in 1710, and it served as the imperial family's summer residence until the time of the last Tsar in 1917. During the reign of Peter's daughter, Empress Elizabeth, the size of the palace was significantly increased during the mid-1700's by the famous architect Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli, and it was Rastrelli who gave the palace its baroque style. The Baroque interior design of the palace was changed during the reign of Catherine the Great (Catherine II) to suit her more neo-Classical taste.