Here is a great view of the amazing facade of the palace. It just goes on and on!  I hear they are planning to re-gild much of the sculptural detail so the palace.  If this is so perhaps we will soon see the Catherine Palace as it was in the reign of Elizabeth I, before the ever-economical Catherine II choose to over-paint the palace ornament in bronze, rather than repair the gold which had become chipped and damaged over time.

Bob Atchison