The town of Pushkin (formerly Tsarskoe Selo) is situated 20 kilometres away from St. Petersburg. The town used to be the main residence of Russian emperors. Russian famous poets and writers Pushkin, Karamzin, Lermontov, A. Tolstoy, and Ahmatova have lived there.

The Tsarskoe Selo State Museum Reserve is a brilliant monument of the world architecture and park and garden artistry of the 18th-20th centuries. A magnificent group of architects, sculptors and painters brought the desires of their royal clients to life here. In Tsarskoe Selo a full range of artistic styles is represented, from the Baroque (in buildings by Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli) and Classical eras (buildings by Charles Cameron, Giacomo Quarenghi, Vasily Stasov and others). Imperial rulers from Catherine the Great to Nicholas II have left their cultural heritage in Tsarskoe Selo.

The compositional centre of the ensemble is the Catherine Palace, a magnificent baroque-style palace. The Great Hall of the palace and the Golden Enfilade of formal halls amaze with luxury of their decoration. When you enter the palace halls, you feel the spirit of the eras of Elizabeth and Catherine, and, to a certain extent, the age of Emperor Alexander I. You will be able to see rare objects of applied arts.

More than 100 architectural objects that cover the total area of 300 hectares occupy the territory of the Catherine and Alexander Parks: from the most magnificent palaces and monuments, to pavilions and bridges. Strolling through the alleys of these parks, you will be fascinated with the views of whimsical lodges, elegant classical buildings, many monuments executed in marble, exotic constructions designed to imitate gothic style, and also Turkish and Chinese styled buildings which lend the park a romantic air.

In 1811, a Lyceum for noble children was launched in Tsarskoe Selo. Young Alexander Pushkin had been studying there from 1811 to 1817. The theme of Lyceum, Tsarskoe Selo and its beautiful parks can be found in all Pushkin’s works. There is Pushkin memorial museum in the Lyceum nowadays.