The history of Pushkin/Tsarskoe Selo

Pushkin and Pavlovsk both have equally fascinating histories, intertwined as they are with Imperial excess and intrigues. Though both cities represented exactly what the Soviets hated about the aristocrats and their rule, they were declared national properties and preserved as museums following the October revolution and remained remarkably untouched until the Nazis came along sowing destruction and raiding the palaces for their artworks. Restoration works began even before the war had ended, but the diligence taken and extent of the damage meant decades would pass before the palaces regained their complete and former glory.