Overview

Catherine the Great's seizure of power remains one of the most dramatic and iconic episodes in Russian history. Oranienbaum, the grandest baroque palace complex to be built in Russia during the 18th century, was the setting for her coup d'etat as well as where she commissioned her first palace as Tzarina. Here, in her Chinese Palace, she would relax in private with her accomplice and lover Grigory Orlov, with whom she had a secret child. Her Chinese Palace exudes her personality and youthful tastes to this day. Its dazzling interiors survive intact from 1762. The palace was designed and built by Antonio Rinaldi, with the help of the great artists and craftsmen of the day, Giovanni Tiepolo, Giuseppe and Serafino Barozzi, and Stefano Torelli, to name but a few. Their work survives in this idyllic rococo retreat, redolent with power and mystery, just a few miles down the coast from Vladimir Putin's new maritime residence at Strelna. The Chinese Palace at Oranienbaum: Catherine's Private Passion provides the reader with an introduction to one of the world's most enchanting 18th century palaces.

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9781593730017

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Will Black is Russian Projects Director and Press Officer at the World Monuments Fund's UK office and is co-ordinating the restoration of the Chinese Palace at Oranienbaum. Simon Sebag Montefiore is an historian and author of the acclaimed PRINCE OF PRINCES, THE LIFE OF POTEMKIN. His new book STALIN: THE COURT OF THE RED TSAR will be published in 2003.

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