Kadriorg Palace

Tallinn, Estonia

Catherinethal ("Catherine's valley") is a Petrine Baroque palace of Catherine I of Russia in Tallinn. It was built after the Great Northern War to Nicola Michetti's designs by Gaetano Chiaveri and Mikhail Zemtsov. In the 20th century the Estonian version of the name, Kadriorg, gained currency and came to be applied to the surrounding district.

After the successful siege of Reval in 1710 Peter the Great of Russia bought a Dutch-style manor house at Lasnamäe for his wife Catherine. The house today is the result of a drastic renovation ordered by Nicholas I of Russia in 1827.

The new palace was started on 25 July 1718. Peter and Catherine visited the unfinished residence on several occasions, but after the emperor's death in 1725 Catherine showed no interest in the seaside property. The great hall with Catherine's initials and profuse stucco decor (attributed to Heinrich von Bergen) survives, but many other interiors have been altered. The gardener Ilya Surmin was responsible for the flower garden with two fountains and the so-called mirage garden on several levels. The layout of the park shares similarities with that of Strelna.

The palace currently houses an art gallery. The KUMU Museum is sited in the park.

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Details

Founded: 1718
Category: Palaces, manors and town halls in Estonia
Historical period: Part of the Swedish Empire (Estonia)

Rating

4.6/5 (based on Google user reviews)

User Reviews

Winson Lee (7 months ago)
It is the art collection museum in Tallinn. As i was running out of time, i didn't manage to visit it. However i like the architecture design of the building, the garden is well organized and decorated.
Helen WithAnE (9 months ago)
Really pretty castle with a nice cafe. With some kind of Wednesday sale, we got the tickets for just 3€. Worth the trip!
Eric J (9 months ago)
Extremely rude man at the entrance scolding at us! We have been on a road trip visiting different museums and palaces in Baltic countries, and this museum is on our list before travelling to Finland. We came here with a great expectation, but our good mood suddenly disappeared before even entering. We bought three tickets from the vending machine (12 euros per person), and one of us went to the toilet. While waiting for my friend, I saw the scanner to validate tickets. I thought I would validate our tickets first (we were not ready to enter first). Then, this old man with the white hair, who must be a security guard rudely shouted and asked me to leave the coat and turned to my other friend and scolded him to put his bag in the locker. We were shocked by his attitude, but tried to comply with what he said. The first locker room we saw were small, but my friend tried to use it (we didn’t know that there were other lockers in the other room - by the way, how could we possibly know it?). Then, this man shouted again and said big ones. He sounded so angry, and I even had to talk to him “Please talk nicely!”. We didn’t come here to be treated like criminals, and our experience wasn’t really pleasant. Is it worth to pay 12 euros to be treated like this?
Ricardo Garcia Tejera (10 months ago)
Beautiful palace!! The entrance fee for students was reasonable and a lot to see. The temporary exhibition though does not fit the palace at all.
Ivan Kuprijanov (11 months ago)
Unique interior and a magnificent building. The main hall boasts great acoustics due to its lofty ceiling. Beautiful and educational statues on antique themes adorn the space. I had the privilege of attending a performance that blended classical and folk music. The classical pieces, played on flute, piano, and cello, coincided with Beethoven's Epiphany on December 17th. Additionally, the Liszt Institute in Tallinn invited a skillful Hungarian musician who masterfully presented Hungary's traditional woodwind instruments.
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