Tsarskoye Selo State Museum-Reserve
About museum
Tsarskoye Selo palace and park ensemble is the greatest monument of world architecture and garden-park art of the 18th–20th centuries. It was erected in the environs of Saint Petersburg and was given to Empress Catherine I by Peter I. The site was taken from the Swedes and received the name 'Saare Myza', which means 'manor on a height'. The first Grand Palace was laid down in 1717 under the direction of the German architect Johann Friedrich Braunstein. In 1743 Empress Elizabeth commissioned Russian architects to enlarge the palace and park, leading to the construction of many other buildings. Legend has it that Catherine II noticed a beautiful white rose and ordered a sentry posted beside it so that nothing would happen to it. This post was maintained until the reign of Nicholas I.