• Gatchina, castle of Paul & Park

Private tour to Gatchina, a picturesque suburb, located in 42 km from the St. Petersburg. Professional local guide will show you the main attraction, the residence of the Imperial family - the Palace and the beautiful Park surrounding it. Once this city belonged to the Swedes, then became the property of the Royal family.

The castle of Paul the First

The majestic building with beautiful strict architecture was a kind of a gift - compliment from Catherine the Great  to her favorite count Orlov, who helped to organize a historic palace coup in 1762 that brought her to power. Later the castle moved to Emperor Nicholas, then to Alexander and finally to Paul I, who turned it into his permanent residence and founded a city around it. Each of the owners rebuilt and decorated the Palace according to his taste.

Individual guide will pay your attention to the Marble dining room with spectacular reliefs on the walls depicting the festivities of Dionysus, the "ceremonial" boudoir of the Emperor with a huge Royal bed, the Throne room of the wife of the monarch Maria Feodorovna (today you can admire the collection of paintings by European artists), the Throne room of Paul the Great with a gilded chair of the monarch, the Arms gallery, which collected more than 1000 exhibits. The most exciting will be the walk through the underground tunnel with unique acoustics – echo here repeats as many as four syllables.

Gatchina park

Then you will enjoy the private excursion in the park. The Park is a complex including English garden, Upper and Lower Botanical Garden, island of Love, Flower hill, Upper and Lower Dutch garden, two labyrinths – water and forest. It is worth stopping on the island of Love: a small but very spectacular pavilion of Venus is built here. Inside it is decorated with rich tapestries with gold embroidery depicting mythological heroes and animals. The center of the composition is a plafond depicting Venus in a Golden chariot. In the Park there is another pavilion – "Birch house" that really looks like a woodpile.