🌳 Alexander Palace and Park

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Quarenghi's classical palace with a colonnade and a landscape park with ponds and quiet paths.

The palace was built in 1792–1796: Catherine II gave it to her grandson, the future Alexander I, for his wedding.
Nicholas II was born in Tsarskoye Selo, and after 1905 made the Alexander Palace his main residence.
After the February Revolution Nicholas II's family was held under arrest in the palace.
The palace became a museum as early as 1918, with an exhibition of the Romanovs' living rooms in the right wing.
During the occupation of 1941–1944 the palace housed a German headquarters and the Gestapo, with a prison in the cellars.
From 1951 the building was occupied by the Naval Department; it was returned to the Tsarskoye Selo museum-reserve only in 2009.
The 37.8-metre White Tower in the park was built in 1821–1827 to a design by Menelas for the sons of the future Nicholas I.
The park preserves a cemetery of the emperors' “own saddle” horses, from Alexander I to Nicholas II.