Alexander Palace

Built by Giacomo Quarenghi (1792–96) at the request of Catherine the Great as a wedding present for her eldest grandson, the future Tsar Alexander I, who married Princess Luise of Baden (1793). After Alexander’s death, it was inherited by Tsar Nicholas I, followed by his widow, Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna (until 1860). After her death, it was inherited by the future Tsar Alexander III. After the 1905 revolution, became the permanent residence of Tsar Nicholas II. Nicholas was born in Tsarskoe Selo and reigned from the palace for twenty-two years. The imperial family was exiled from here to Tobolsk (1 August 1917).