Catherine Palace, Tsarskoe Selo, today

[BobAtchison]

those pictures are GREAT....

[Margarita Markovna]

On 'Reply 12' it is possible to see the roofs of the Alexander Palace.   It is behind and slightly left of the Golden Domes of the Cathedral of the Catherine Palace.

tsaria

I see it! I see it!

[hikaru]

I have an wonderful news - in near future outside sculptures of the  Big Old Palace will be gold - plated (gilded)  too.
(As it was at Elizabeth 's times)
Our Dear President Mr. Putin gave to the Palace the necessary amount of gold as present.

[ChristineM]

How interesting Hikaru.   I had not heard about this.  

Isn't it amazing that what was considered by Catherine the Great to be too ostentatious - she had the gilding removed and the caryatids painted the colour we see today -   two hundred and fifty years, various wars, three revolutions, civil war, famine and genocide later, President Putin, with thousands on the breadline across Russia, decides to reinstate them to the state which was too over the top for that remarkable woman who lived life truly 'over the top'.

tsaria

[divine_grace]

Nicely put tsaria. I think instead of President Putin giving those gold to regild the statues, they should rather fix up the Alexander Palace and all of those other historic palaces to attract tourist which will draw in income to Russia. Really, why they don't think of this.

[ChristineM]

Welcome to the Forum, Divine_Grace.  

What an excellent idea.   Wouldn't it be wonderful if Divine grace would intervene and President Putin would awaken to the fact that it is the Alexander Palace which could make best use of his 'pot of gold'.

tsaria

[hikaru]

This gold could be used only for statues.
I think that this is very good.
Renewed 3 Anticameras of Big Palace are wonderful too.

There are quite a lot of new things ( I mean exhibits) in Alexandr palace .
So it is not so bad.
When the part of Alexandr Palace was renewed , the model was the Alexandr Times Rooms not the rooms of
the Last Nicholas's time.
As for tourist 's income - the schedule of the tourists is not enough to see Ekaterina and Alexandr palaces together, so the main attraction will be Ekaterina Palace.

[hikaru]

I think that the point in the financing of the Ekaterine Palace and Alexandr Palace is the information.
We ( in Leningrad schools) were  raised in the Hermitage and Pushkin . We had a lot ot excursions , we had the school and University lessons in Palaces ( For Example, We had our East History Lessons in the University in the Library of Nicholas in Hermitage) etc.
We knew a lot about Ekaterina Palace and Hermitage. But we knew nothing about Alexandr Palace.
Our Dear President gave the gold only because he remembered what his teacher said them
once time, that the Big Palace was gilded outside.
Maybe if an good interesting book about AP will be issued, somebody of Our Monopolists could give money.

[ChristineM]

According to what I have recently heard from Tsarskoe Selo Museums, the number of visitors to the Alexander Palace has increased considerably this year.

This can only be for the good of the long term future of the Alexander Palace.

tsaria

[helenazar]

According to what I have recently heard from Tsarskoe Selo Museums, the number of visitors to the Alexander Palace has increased considerably this year.

This can only be for the good of the long term future of the Alexander Palace.

tsaria

Yes, I believe that this is true. I can see a difference between when I visited last year and this year, it seems a lot more people are coming to see the AP. Maybe it is getting more publicity now. They have just came out with a new book with photos and text about the AP, it was literally published last month, but has not been translated into any other language but Russian yet. It looks very interesting.

I think that once the ownership of the building itself is transferred over to the TS museum, and more of it is restored, and other areas of it are opened to the public, the AP may become even more popular than the CP. The staff think that this will happen some time soon, but no one seems to know exactly when it will happen. Hopefully "soon" means months and not years!

[Antonio_P.Caballer]

They have just came out with a new book with photos and text about the AP, it was literally published last month, but has not been translated into any other language but Russian yet. It looks very interesting.

Hi Helen!

Well, i´ve been so amazed with the above! It must have been published right after we left Petersburg, how unlucky!
Would you please tell us more about that new book??

Many thanks in advance!

Antonio.

[helenazar]

Hi Helen!

Well, i´ve been so amazed with the above! It must have been published right after we left Petersburg, how unlucky!
Would you please tell us more about that new book??

Many thanks in advance!

Antonio.

Hi Antonio,

This book literally just came out last month. The lady who sold it to me at the AP told me that they only have the Russian version right now. It is a soft cover, about 35-37 pages long, with lots of illustrations, it is simliar to other books like this, liek the one for CP, but less thick. The text was written by Larisa Bardovskaya who is one of the directors at the TS State Museum.

Sooner or later this book will be translated I am sure (in fact I am going to ask them if I can do it for them), and the next time you come here you may be able to get it in English, and possibly some other languages too. But they move kind of slow, so it may be a few years!  

[helenazar]

P.S. I asked again to clarify when they think AP is going to be transferred over to TS Museum so that they can open other wings, and seems that "soon" is more like several years rather than several months!  

[Antonio_P.Caballer]

Hi Antonio,

This book literally just came out last month. The lady who sold it to me at the AP told me that they only have the Russian version right now. It is a soft cover, about 35-37 pages long, with lots of illustrations, it is simliar to other books like this, liek the one for CP, but less thick. The text was written by Larisa Bardovskaya who is one of the directors at the TS State Museum.

Sooner or later this book will be translated I am sure (in fact I am going to ask them if I can do it for them), and the next time you come here you may be able to get it in English, and possibly some other languages too. But they move kind of slow, so it may be a few years!  

Thanks so much for your kind response, Helen.

Have you noticed that the roof right above the Marble Hall has collapsed? I was so shocked when i saw it. It´s very easy to see when you approach the palace from the garden side. The ballaustrade is partially destroyed as well. So shameful. I cannot think of any other word to describe the present estate of the palace. And it will remain so as long as arbitrariness reigns in some of the russian museums.

[NAAOTMA]

Antonio, has there been any attempt to at least keep the water out of the roof area that collapsed? A tarp or plastic, or anything? Or is that hoping for too much. So sorry to hear the news your post contained.