Tsarskoye Selo (Tsar's Village) was the town containing a former Russian residence of the imperial family, located 24km south from the center of
Saint Petersburg. It is now part of the town of
Pushkin and of the World Heritage Site
Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments. After the
October Revolution, the town was renamed Detskoye Selo (Children's Village), and since 1937 Pushkin, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the death of the Russian poet
Alexander Pushkin, who studied in the town’s Lyceum from 1811 to 1817. In the 17th century, the estate belonged to a Swedish noble. After
Peter the Great conquered
Ingermanland, he gave the estate to his wife, the future Empress
Catherine I, who started to develop the place as a royal country residence. All the tsars that have followed have erected something in area, the most important building being the
Catherine Palace and
Alexander Palace.
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