Pavlovsk

Created by Catherine the Great's son and his wife, Maria Feodorovna, in the late eighteenth century, Pavlovsk became a repository for all that was beautiful in the arts during Russia's golden age. Located twenty-six miles south of St. Petersburg (now Leningrad), Pavlovsk remained a residence of members of the Russian imperial family until 1915, as well as a beloved park and concert site until the Second World War. During the nine-hundred-day siege of Leningrad, The Nazis used Pavlovsk as a military headquarters. They looted and destroyed whatever they found, cut down seventy thousand trees in the park, and when they were forced to retreat, burned the palace beyond recognition. Barely recovered from the horrors of the siege, and while the war was still being waged, a group of dedicated museum specialists, helped by thousands of citizens, determined to restore Pavlovsk to its original splendor.--Publisher description.