Gatchina -- a very romantic castle with fairy tale towers and a secret passage, set in beautiful countryside. (Large jpg - 60K)
If you were asked to imagine a fairy tale castle you probably would picture those impressive medieval and Gothic buildings in England, Scotland and Germany.
Russia, you would imagine, would be the last place on earth to find a castle, especially one that looks suspiciously like Osborne House on the Isle of Wight or Balmoral Castle in Scotland.
But Russia does have a castle -- the not-so-well-known palace at Gatchina, located 40 minutes by train from classical St Petersburg.
If Gatchina looks like a fortress, that's probably because it was intended to be one. It was originally built as a country residence by Count Grigory Orlov and the house later became a fortress to protect Crown Prince Paul during the "exercise in patience" while he waited for his famous mother Catherine II to die.
Marble relief of architect Antonio Rinaldi with a pair of compasses in hand, by the sculptor Fedot Shubin. (Large jpg - 40K)
Count Orlov selected Antonio Rinaldi (1709-1794) as the architect for his castle and its interiors. Rinaldi had gained experience in castle architecture while studying during his travels in England.
Gatchina is a very romantic castle -- the kind of castle where Sleeping Beauty would feel at home. It has numerous towers and an underground secret passage perfect for kids to explore. The passage was constructed for amusement, but in 1917 it was used by Alexander Kerensky, the ex-chairman of the Provisional Government, as a getaway when mutinous soldiers took Gatchina by storm.
The south facade overlooking the garden reminds one of Richmond Palace in London, or of Powderham Castle in the South of England -- at least that's what Stanislau Poniatovsky, last King of Poland, thought when he came here in 1797.
During the palace's construction, the Empress Catherine the Great frequently popped in to stay with her "Gatchina Landlord" and lover, Count Orlov.
According to the court register, which noted how the Empress spent every minute of every day, "endless meals were served and they spent their time boating, strolling along pathways, playing cards, falcon hunting and shooting game."
After Orlov's death in 1783, the whole of the Gatchina estate was bought by Catherine from Orlov's family by decree at the price of 1,500,000 roubles. She then gave it to her son Crown Prince Paul on the occasion of his daughter Alexandra's birth.
Paul was over the moon with his present, although he usually hated his mother and everything connected with her, including her lovers and their taste in architecture.
Orlov was the exception, as he treated Paul with sympathy. Barred from politics, Paul found Gatchina the ideal place to indulge his obsession with the military, and his small, private, Prussian-style army was based there.
Few of Paul's successors were fond of Gatchina. Nicholas I made the castle his headquarters during seasonal maneuvers at neighbouring Krasnoye Selo, and in 1857 Alexander II transferred the ceremonial Tsar's Hunt from Peterhof to the forests of Gatchina.
But the castle suited the simple and bear-like hunting enthusiast Tsar Alexander III, who lived a quiet lifestyle there even though 5,000 employees were required to look after the estate. The tsar chose this residence after the assassination of his father Alexander II because security was easier to enforce there.
After the Revolution, the castle was turned into a museum, but some of its superb collections were sold off by the Soviet government or were stolen. Even so, when visitors saw what remained, they were amazed by the sumptuous grandeur of the palace.
The Germans caused incalculable damage to the castle in World War II, and before they retreated they set fire to it and cut down the trees in the park. When the Soviets arrived to liberate Gatchina they found graffiti on the walls which read: "We have been here; we'll never return. When Ivan comes, everything will be empty."
After the war the government patched up the castle, put a roof on it and made it habitable. It was then given to the army, which was eventually forced out in 1977 thanks to the determined efforts of people wanting to restore it.
Today, only six of the rooms have been restored to their former glory, and work on a further six is going on. The beauty of the newly restored rooms echo the words of King Poniatovsky of Poland, who said, "Pavlovsk was only a small treasure in comparison with Gatchina, where everything was grandeur."