Grotto (Tsarskoye Selo)

The Grotto on the shore of the Great Pond in the Catherine Park of Pushkin is a pavilion whose dome is pierced by four lunette windows and decorated with an image of a fountain. The round windows of the pavilion were framed by wooden compositions of putti figures, dolphins, marine plants, and shells, carved by Okhta woodcarvers, and twelve statues and as many vases stood on its balustrade. Among the losses of the war years is a bronze statue of Catherine II in the image of Cybele by J. D. Raschett, and 3D scanning of surviving fragments and archival drawings are used to restore the lost carvings.