Around The World Without Flying: St Petersburg Part 9

Our first visit for our second day was to the Catherine Palace, also known as the Summer Palace since it was the summer residence of the Russian tsars. It is situated in the town of Pushkin, about 30 km south of St Petersburg.

The drive there was really fascinating, because we saw many private separate residences. So apparently many Russians own their own home. We also noticed large tracts of land that were just full of weeds. I presume they are state-owned, but I was surprised this land has not been used for market gardens, though I realise it would be covered in snow in winter.

Again, although we left the ship at 7 am, we still found crowds of people waiting to be admitted to the palace. But we were entertained while we waited by a group of four musicians, who were simply delightful. I shall never forget their rendition of 'The dance of the cygnets' (otherwise known as 'The dance of the little swans') from Swan Lake, moving back and forth in unison like the cygnets do in the ballet.

At last we were admitted and just about overwhelmed by this magnificent, huge palace and the golden domes above its private chapel that glinted in the early morning sun.

We were therefore shocked to find out that during WW2, the German army had used the palace for their military headquarters and when they retreated, they burned it with its precious contents, including all its priceless works of art, to the ground. It took three days to burn out, during which time many locals raced in and saved what they could and buried it to try to protect it.

That is why I really fail to understand how the Soviets could do likewise when they rolled into some of the other countries that were victims of the war and took over. But then, I guess I do understand. They would have known very well how that would hurt the spirit of the people. Current terror organisations apply the same tactics and perpetrate that kind of destruction of icons and other precious buildings and other records of their culture, to bend the people to their will. However, history shows that in the long term, this does not work. The spirit of people will eventually win. But enough of that.

Since then, the palace we saw is a replica of the palace as it was. It is the result of meticulous research, dedication, and a huge investment of skills and money. It is a work still in progress. Only part of the palace is open to the public so far.

Even before that mindless destruction, the palace has had quite a past. It was first built by the Empress Catherine I in 1717 as a pleasure palace for the summer season. Catherine I was the wife of Peter the Great. Ironically, she commissioned a German architect to design the palace. When their daughter, Empress Elizabeth, came to the throne, Elizabeth thought the palace was very outdated and decided to replace it with a magnificent, much larger palace in the rococo style. Where you can see the dark yellow stucco on the replica of the palace in my photo, that and the statues that were present on the roof were originally covered in more than 100 kilograms of gold leaf. The new palace was opened in 1756.

Elizabeth led a most extravagant life in this palace, without any thought given to how she was depleting the country’s wealth. She indulged every whim and fancy. She even demanded that like her, the ladies attending her nightly balls never wore the same dress twice. This was partly to avoid the big problem of that era - body odour - but all the same, the expense must have been horrendous. No doubt their maids and their poor hard-working seamstresses, on the other hand, were paid next to nothing. (No wonder revolutions happen!)

I will continue this story in the next post. For some reason my photo of the golden domes dropped out. I will try to include it in the next post.