The Winslow mail., 1898-07-09
THE PALACE OF GATsCHINA.
a Sanctuary of Safety for the Gear
cf All the Russians in Time
OF Troubles.

The palace of Gatschina cannot be
compared with such castles as Ver-
sailles, Sanssouci or Schoenbru It
has nothing of the artistic embellish
nent OF the one, the historical memories
II the other or the landscape beauty
nj comfort Of the third. Situated in
he middle Of wide and desert plain, it
has 10 pretty surroundings, and, built
without luxury, its exterior does not
make an imposing impression, Cats
china lies between Tsarskoje- Selo and
KrasEoje-Selo, and the roads from each
OF these places to the imperial palace.
which have private court railway sta
tions. are placed under particular su-
pervision, and may not be used except
by the court. a high wall incloses the
park, in the center of which is the
palace, and this wall is protected by
patrols, which never leave the outer
circle nor the park itself for one mo-
ment out Of sight.
Entrance is only permitted by special
order. Though the superintendent is
so strict, it is said that the inhabitants
OF the palace are not, and must not be,
aware Of it. Their pleasures and com
forts are not impaired by it, and all the
amusements that could be agreeable to
the emperor and his family-drives,
hunts, riding and rowing, evening par
ties, theatrical representations, etc
can be partaken of. Adjoining the
well-tended park is an extensive wood
like the park, surrounded by a wall
and guarded. In the park itself are two
lake-like basins Of water; the palace
contains splendid saloons, and two col
oEnades which afford agreeable prom
enades in bad weather; all this aids III
preventing the inhabitants from feel
ing anything of the anxious and never
firing supervision held over them and
the want of more charming surround
ings,
Sometimes the royal family iphabt
Peterhof, but always return to Cats
china. Peterhof is more magnificent,
Oranienbaum prettier, but Gatschina is
considered safer and quieter. For many
years before the accession of Alexander
III. the palace had been unused; hr
caused it to be restored and comfort
ably furnished. 1t has been seldom
spoken of and scarcely more was known
of it than that the imperial hounds were
kept there. The Gatschina race was
celebrated, and dog from the imperial
pack was very valuable, but people
cared little for the castle and park.
Still Gatschina has it's history Peter
the Great made a gift of it to his ia
vorite sister, Natalie; Catherine II. gave
it to her favorite Orloff, who furnished
it at great expense, and built additional
edifices, by which, after the plans of the
italian architect, Rinaldi, it received
quite different form. After Orloff's
death the empires rebought it from his
family and gave it to Archdulze Paul,
who inhabited it for some length Of
time. The palace forms long square,
at each corner Of which is a stately
tower The dwelling rooms are in three
stories. The colonnades run along the
sides, and the pillars are of Finland
marble. The rooms are not architec-
turally beautiful, but are adorned with
valuable pictures and sculpture from
the imperial hermitage in ST. Peters
burg, from the Anitschkow palace and
from the winter palace. The views are
limited by the park and wood, which,
however, have been beautifully laid out
by the celebrated ST. Petersburg land
scape gardener.-London News,