Great Gatchina Palace

The Great Gatchina Palace in Gatchina was laid down in 1766 and completed in 1781, as a copper plaque on the wall of the central corps reminded until the 1950s. The facades of the building are faced with Paritsky limestone, quarried in the village of Paritsy near the city. In 1835, a signal optical telegraph was installed on one of the towers, and since 1844, the reconstruction of the palace under Emperor Nicholas I was led by architect Roman Ivanovich Kuzmin. The museum opened to visitors on May 19, 1918, and Valentin Zubov became its first director on October 26, 1917; the restoration of interiors destroyed by the fire of 1944 began in 1976 and continues to this day.