Tsarskoye Selo (Tsar’s Village), a former residence of the Russian imperial family located in St. Petersburg’s suburb of Pushkin, celebrated its 300th anniversary this weekend.

The anniversary was marked by a military parade, performances by military bands and fireworks.

To mark the occasion, the Tsarskoye Selo museum and park complex unveiled the fully restored Hermitage Pavilion. During the tsarist era the pavilion was used by Russia’s rulers for intimate dinners – a mechanized dumb-waiter system allowed them to be served without waiters or servants being present, dishes being raised to them through shafts under the dining table.

The pavilion has now been restored to its original condition.

Russian Patriarch Kirill also performed the consecration of the rebuilt St. Catherine’s Cathedral in Pushkin, close to Tsarskoye Selo.

The 53-meter cathedral is a copy of the original, built in 1840. It took four years to rebuild the cathedral, which was destroyed in 1939 on the orders of the region’s communist administration. A statue of Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin was then erected in its place.

About 30,000 St. Petersburg residents personally contributed to the restoration process by buying bricks for the foundations of the construction.

News source: The St. Petersburg Times
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