The Marble Bridge of the Catherine Park, Tsarskoe Selo, Pushkin.

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Catherine Park

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Around the Catherine Palace extends the lovely Catherine Park. The main entrance is on Sadovaya ul, next to the Palace Chapel. The park extends around the ornamental Great Pond and contains an array of interesting buildings, follies and pavilions.

Near the Catherine Palace, the Cameron Gallery normally has rotating exhibitions. Between the gallery and the palace, notice the south-pointing ramp that Cameron added for the ageing empress to walk down into the park.

The park’s outer section focuses on the Great Pond. In summer you can take a ferry to the little island to visit the Chesme Column. Beside the pond, the blue baroque Grotto Pavilion houses temporary exhibitions in summer. A walk around the Great Pond will reveal other buildings that the royals built over the years, including the very incongruous-looking Turkish Bath, with its minaret-style tower, the wonderful Marble Bridge, the Chinese Pavilion, and a Concert Hall isolated on an island, where concerts take place every Saturday at 5pm.


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Nearby attractions

1. Grotto Pavilion

0.12 MILES

With a gorgeous location on the shore of the Great Pond, the Grotto Pavilion is sometimes used to host exhibits.

2. Cameron Gallery

0.12 MILES

A two-storey pavilion that houses temporary exhibitions on the ground floor. The upper-storey contains a long colonnade perfect for strolling and taking…

4. Great Pond

0.18 MILES

This large ornamental 'pond' is more of a lake, and forms the centrepiece of the landscaped gardens at Tsarskoe Selo.

5. Catherine Palace

0.18 MILES

The centrepiece of Tsarskoe Selo, created under Empresses Elizabeth and Catherine the Great between 1744 and 1796, is the vast baroque Catherine Palace,…

6. Concert Hall

0.39 MILES

On an island in the middle of a large pond, this concert hall is used for various musical performances.

7. Chesme Column

0.39 MILES

This is a monument to the Russian victory in the Battle of Chesme in 1778.

8. Chinese Pavilion

0.46 MILES

Also known as the Chinese Village, this assembly of buildings was commissioned by Catherine the Great during the craze for Chinoiserie in the late 18th…