The Chinese Village in the Alexander Park of

Tsarskoye Selo Tsarskoye Selo ( rus, Ца́рское Село́, p=ˈtsarskəɪ sʲɪˈlo, a=Ru_Tsarskoye_Selo.ogg, "Tsar's Village") was the town containing a former residence of the Russian imperial family and visiting nobility, located south from the c ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

was Catherine the Great's attempt to follow the 18th-century fashion for the

Chinoiserie (, ; loanword from French '' chinoiserie'', from '' chinois'', "Chinese"; ) is the European interpretation and imitation of Chinese and other East Asian artistic traditions, especially in the decorative arts, garden design, architecture, lite ...

. Probably inspired by a similar project in

Drottningholm Drottningholm, literally "Queen's Islet", is a locality situated in Ekerö Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden, with 398 inhabitants in 2010. It is on the island Lovön in lake Mälaren on the outskirts of Stockholm. Drottningholm Palace, the ...

, Catherine ordered Antonio Rinaldi and Charles Cameron to model the village after a contemporary Chinese engraving from her personal collection. The village was to consist of 18 stylized Chinese houses (only ten were completed), dominated by an octagonal domed observatory (never completed at all). After Catherine failed in her ambition to procure a genuine Chinese architect, the Russian ambassador in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

was instructed to obtain a replica of William Chambers's Great Pagoda in the

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,10 ...

for Tsarskoye Selo, a central structure of the Chinoiserie architecture. Catherine's death in 1796 led to the works being suspended. It was not until 1818 that

Alexander I of Russia Alexander I (; – ) was Emperor of Russia from 1801, the first King of Congress Poland from 1815, and the Grand Duke of Finland from 1809 to his death. He was the eldest son of Emperor Paul I and Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg. The son o ...

asked

Vasily Stasov Vasily Petrovich Stasov (Russian: Васи́лий Петро́вич Ста́сов; 4 August 1769 – 5 September 1848) was a famous Russian architect, born into a wealthy noble family: his father, Pyotr Fyodorovich Stasov, came from one o ...

to overhaul the village in order to provide accommodation for his guests. Although much of the original orientalizing decor was lost as a result, the renovated village provided habitation for such eminent visitors as

Nikolai Karamzin Nikolay Mikhailovich Karamzin (russian: Николай Михайлович Карамзин, p=nʲɪkɐˈlaj mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ kərɐmˈzʲin; ) was a Russian Imperial historian, romantic writer, poet and critic. He is best remembered for ...

who worked on his ''History of the Russian State'' in one of the houses between 1822 and 1825. The Chinese Opera Theatre was constructed not far from the village in 1779. It was there that an Italian composer

Giovanni Paisiello Giovanni Paisiello (or Paesiello; 9 May 1740 – 5 June 1816) was an Italian composer of the Classical era, and was the most popular opera composer of the late 1700s. His operatic style influenced Mozart and Rossini. Life Paisiello was born in T ...

would present his new operas to the Russian empress. The première of

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...

's ''The Fruits of Enlightenment'' was also produced there. The theatre was burnt to the ground on 15 September 1941 and has never been rebuilt. Three remarkable bridges lead to the village. The Dragon Bridge, so named after four zinc figures of winged dragons, and the Large Chinese Bridge, noted for pink granite vases and imitation coral branches, were completed in 1785. The Cross-Shaped Bridge had been constructed by the Neyelov Brothers six years earlier (''illustrated, to the right''). The village was renovated under the direction of Ippolit Monighetti in 1859-61. The cottages sustained serious damage during the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

occupation but were restored in the 1990s to provide lodgings for VIP guests.

See also