Alexander Palace

The Alexander Palace is a former imperial residence near the town of Tsarskoye Selo in Russia, on a plateau about 30 miles south of Saint Petersburg. The Palace was commissioned by Empress/Tsarina Catherine II in 1792.

Due to the privacy it offered when officially resident in St Petersburg, the Alexander Palace was the preferred residence of the last Russian Emperor, Nicholas II and his family; its safety and seclusion compared favourably to the Winter Palace during the years immediately prior to the Russian Revolution. It was the birthplace of Nicholas II's eldest child Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia, while the rest of his children were born in the Peterhof Palace.