The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-05-24
THE PALACE OF GATscHlNA.
A Sanctuary of safety for The Cars
of All the RussiGs.
From The London Daily News.

Afe-A-a
The palace Of Gatschina cannot he COM
pared with such castles as Versailles Sans
souoi or schoenbrunn. It has nothing of
1he artistic emJelHshment Of the ole. the
historical ne nlories Of the other or the
landscape beauty and comfort Of lie third.
Situated in the nIiGdle of a wide aud de-
sert pl2iu, il has no pretty surroundings.
and built without luxury, its exterior dveS
nor make al; imposing impression Cat
rchna lies between TsarskoJe-Seio and
I,raanOje- SelO. and the roads from each
oi these Places to the imperial palace.
which nave private court railway stations
are placed under particular supervision.
ana may not be used except by the court.
\ hsh Wall encloses the park. in the cen
ter of which is the palace. and this wan is
protected by patrols, which never leave
The outer circle nor the park itself for one
moment cut Of sight. Entrance IS only
permitted by special order Though the
supor.ntendence is SO strict Il is said that
the innabitdRts Of the palace are not ana
must not. be aware of #. Their pleasures
ana comforts are not impaired by il: ana
an the amusements that could be agreea-
Die to the Emperor and his fami!y-slrives.
hunts, riding and rowing evening parties.
theatrical representations, etc.-can &c
fartakcn OF. Adjoining The well-tenGed
-.
surrounded by a wall and guarded in The.
park Itself are two Iake-llke basins OF
water The palace contains splendid So
Icons, and two colonnades which afford
agreeable promonades in bad weather; all
TINS aids III preventing the Inhabitants
ifHm feeling anything Of the anxious AMI
heVer-tirlng supervision held over thsri.
ara the want of more charming surround
ln-s
Sometimes the royal family inhabit Pc
terhof' but always return 70 Gatschina.
Feternof is more magnificent, Oranien-
paum prettier, but Gatschina is consider
ed safer and Quieter. For many years
before the accession of Alexander III the
palace had been unused. He caused il to
be restored ana comfortably furnished 1t
mas been seldom spoken of, and scarcely
more was known of it than that the i'm
perial hounds were kept there. The Cat
selma race was celebrated, and a dog
from the imperial pack was very valuable.
put people cared little for the castle and
park.
Still Gatschina has its history. Peter
the Great made a gift of it to his favo-
rate sister, Natalie; Catherine IL gave
1t TO her favorite Orloff, who furnished
1t at great expense, and built additional
edinces, by which, after the plans of the
Italian architect, Rinaldi, it received quite
a different form. After Orloff's death the
Empress rebought it from his family, and
gave it to the Archduke Paul. who inhab-
tied 1t for some length of time. The pal
ace forms long square, at each corner Of
which is a stately tower. The dwelling
rooms are in three stories. The colon
nades run along the sides, and the pillars
are of Finland marble. The rooms are not
INTELLECTUALLY beautiful, but are adorned
with valuable pictures and sculpture from
the imperial hermitage in St. Petersburg.
from the Anitschkow palace and from tho
Winter palace. The views are limited by
the park and wood. which, however, have
been beautifully laid out by the celebrated
St. Petersburg LANDSCAPE gardener.