About Me

My photo
Recent retiree--35 year's experience teaching reading, English, adult basic education and volunteer leadership skills. Started this blog to exchange ideas and commentary with friends and others having an interest in joining the discussions. Greatest life accomplishments include: 1.organized my 3rd grade class to check out library books for me to get around librarian's weekly limit--Amazon.com, the Mullins Elementary 3rd Grade Class of 1956 is still waiting for "thank you" notes; 2. volunteered in the Peace Corps, island of St. Kitts, West Indies; 3.taught adults to read, earn their GEDs., and speak English as a second language; 4. bought a border collie puppy for $6, got evicted rather than give him up, and began a life-long love affair with all things "Dog"; 5. joined a physical fitness boot camp in my mid-50s--don't mess with someone who's been doing regulation pushups in wet grass at 5:30 a.m.; 6. walked across Northern England with best friend Sally--over 80 miles from the Irish to North Seas; and 7. travelled to many foreign countries for pleasure and work.

Monday, January 21, 2013

Back to Russia, Part 2 - Macros,Water and Fences at Catherine Palace & Park


Earlier this week I posted photos of the Catherine the Great's Palace and Park near St. Petersburg Russia (see below) with the promise to end the week with a sampling of fences and gates for Friday Fences .  Here is a collage of the ornate gold gilded gates opening on to the front of the palace.  Next there are wrought iron fences in the classic French motifs of arrows, scrolls, and flowers.  Also included, living fences of precisely trimmed hedges accented with white benches.  Finally, as we were leaving the palace grounds we were treated to an impromptu flute concert on the side of the palace grounds.  I'm calling the benches surrounding the area where the flautist is playing a "fence" just as an excuse to include this photo!  BTW, this is my first attempt at making a photo collage, so hope you can click on individual photos, if you want to see the detail of the fences.

--Photos of Palace and Park--



Catherine Palace and Park in Pushkin
September 2012

Last week I started a series of posts from my trip to Russia last year with a tour of Peterhof, Peter the Great's palace just across the Gulf of Finland from St. Petersburg.  This week we'll travel southeast from St. Petersburg for a look at Catherine the Great's Palace and Park, first built in the mid-1700s.

The palace itself is an example of opulence and excess built for the tsars of Russia on the backs of the Russian people.  As one friend commented, after seeing examples of ruling class wealth, it is not surprising that there was a bloody revolution in Russia.  There's so much to see that this week will concentrate on the exterior of the palace and the French-style park surrounding it.

Catherine the Great is said to favor this shade of blue seen on the palace--and accented with an abundance of gold gilded features on the facade and roof of the palace and the ornate gate into the palace grounds:


Architectural columns, called atlantes with standing or kneeling figures, are along the front facade of the palace:

In front of the palace the upper garden is laid out in the French style with clipped grass and scrolling gravel stone beds in contrasting colors bordered by walkways:


And then to the water features, first here's a statue showing off Venus' strong swimmer thighs :-):


Moving down into the park, on the left you see the Cameron Gallery reflected in Great Pond and on the right is yellow Upper Bath, which was reserved for the imperial family.  Lesser beings had to use the Lower Bath!


Further on out in the park, you can see the brick Dutch-designed Admiralty with the Chesma Column adorned with ships' prows just visible.  Then on the far side of the pond is the 
Turkish Bath with its pink/gold dome and minaret:


Again, a very long post and this is only the outside of Catherine Palace and Park.  Check back on Friday for a great variety of Friday Fences.  Linking to the following memes:

9 comments:

Jan n Jer said...

Wow...$$$$$$$ beautiful but...where is the cozy/warm room that is inviting and quaint??? I would have to have that! Great pics Faye

TexWisGirl said...

go, venus, go! :)

NatureFootstep said...

I´m not that interested in old castles, but I have to admire the work done to create it. So much art created.

George said...

I think 'opulent' is a major understatement. But the palace and grounds are amazing.

Heather @ Simple Wives said...

Gorgeous pictures! What an amazing place to visit.

Deborah Carr (Debs) said...

I'm stunned by all the incredibly beautiful places you've visited. Great pictures.

A Colorful World said...

I am blown away! I love Catherine the Great's era and I have never seen pictures of her palace. All I can say is WOW! I would be more than thrilled to live in that "little" yellow bathhouse....the palace is soooo much more opulent!

Magical Mystical Teacher said...

Those are some elegant fences!

Tangled Fence Wire

Grandma Barb's This and That said...

Beautiful photos of the palace and park! Those are some fancy fences!