Tsarskoye Selo

The Alexander Palace, view of the corps de logis from the cour d'honneur

The area of Tsarskoye Selo, once part of Swedish Ingria, first became a Russian royal/imperial residence in the early 18th century as an estate of the Empress-consort Catherine (later Empress-regnant as Catherine I, r. 1725–1727), from whom the Catherine Palace takes its name. The Alexander Palace (built from 1792 onwards) originated as the home of Catherine the Great's grandson, the Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich, who later became Emperor Alexander I (r. 1801–1825). After his abdication, Nicholas II and his family, were under house arrest here until 13 August 1917.[1]

The Royal Forestry School, perhaps the first such school in Russia, was founded in Tsarskoye Selo in 1803; it was moved to Saint Petersburg in 1811, to become the Imperial Forestry Institute.[2]

According to Robert K. Massie, "Tsarskoe Selo was a magnificent symbol, a supreme gesture, of the Russian autocracy. At the edge of the great St. Petersburg plain, fifteen miles south of the capital, a succession of Russian tsars and empresses had created an isolated, miniature world, as artificial and fantastic as a precisely ordered mechanical toy. Inside the park, monuments, obelisks and triumphal arches studded eight hundred acres of velvet green lawn. An artificial lake, big enough for small sailboats, could be emptied and filled like a bathtub. At one end of the lake stood a pink Turkish bath; not far off, a dazzling red-and-gold Chinese pagoda crowned an artificial hillock." The two palaces stood five hundred yards apart in the Imperial Park. "Outside the palace gates, Tsarskoe Selo, was an elegant provincial town..." The town included "The mansions of the aristocracy, lining the wide tree-shaded boulevard which led from the railway station to the gates of the Imperial Park..."[1]

Nickname for elite Soviet neighborhoods

In the Soviet Union the nickname "the Tsar's village" came to apply to blocks and small neighborhoods that housed the nomenklatura (Soviet elites). Their stores were better stocked, although they were still affected by Soviet-era shortages. The buildings in the neighborhoods were better designed, constructed and maintained.[3]

One such neighborhood, west of Moscow, contained less industry and more parks than any other neighborhood.[4]

^ a b Massie, Robert (1967). Nicholas and Alexandria. New York: Ballantine Books. pp. 117–130. ISBN 9780345438317. ^ St. Petersburg Encyclopedia. Accessed: May 6, 2012. ^ Compare: Gessen, Masha (2017). The Future is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia. Granta Books. ISBN 9781783784011. Retrieved October 22, 2020. Under the Soviets [...] the name 'the Tsars' Village' began attaching itself to blocks and small neighborhoods that housed the Soviet elites.
The stores here were better stocked, even though they were affected by the shortages. The buildings were better designed and constructed. ^ Masha Gessen, (2017). The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia.