PAVLOVSK

Named after Paul I, Pavlovsk was the last of the imperial estates to be built. The grounds were given to Paul by his mother, Catherine the Great, on the occasion of the birth of the future Tsar Alexander I in 1777. Ransacked in World War II, Pavlovsk has been more or less fully restored. Most people flock here to stroll around the fifteen hundred hectare (3750 acre) landscaped park, though the Grand Palace (Bolshoi Dvorets) is worth a quick gander. Tickets are available at the kassa to the right of the statue of Paul dressed in Prussian military uniform.

The horseshoe-shaped Grand Palace, built from 1782 to 1786, expanded from 1796 to 1799, and renovated after a fire in 1803, is, like the other tsarist estate palaces, supposed to be seen with a group. The tour starts in the Egyptian vestibule, so named for its ancient Egyptian decor. From there you go up the main staircase and wind up in the Italian Hall, decorated with classical Roman sculpture and whose ceiling is the palace dome, and the Greek Hall, designed to look like a Greek patio though it's filled with expensive French furnishings. To the right is Paul's wing, containing the War Hall which demonstrates his fascination with military things, and his study, filled with family portraits and busts of Roman Emperors (perhaps Paul, having seen similar busts in the Hermitage, thought they were family too).

Opposite Paul's wing is his wife Maria Fyodorovna's wing, consisting of the flowery and placid Peace Hall, as well as Maria's library, boudoir, bedroom (containing a sixty-four piece toilette that was a gift from Marie Antoinette in 1782), and dressing room. Also on the second floor is an unspectacular picture gallery, the stately Throne Hall, and the Knight's Hall, designed for functions of the Knights of Malta, of whom Paul was Grand Master. On the first floor are more private rooms, decorated in various gold and pastel-colored motifs.

The park consists of the kind of things you've come to expect from parks - trees, grass, lakes, squirrels trading military watches for nuts - and makes for some very relaxed sauntering. Just southwest of the palace you'll find the Pavilion of the Three Graces (Joy, Flowering, and Brilliance holding up a vase), resembling an ancient temple, and northeast of the palace is the Temple of Friendship, a circular pillared structure sculpted into the landscape and best viewed from the other side of the stream. Just off the main road to the west of the palace is the half-ruined Apollo Colonnade. And if you wander far enough along the various paths you may stumble upon the Mausoleum of Paul I, about a kilometer northeast of the Palace. Built seven years after his assassination, nobody is actually buried in here; inside there are sculptured depictions of Paul's family faking grief over his death.