T he Classical austerity of the Alexander Palace, designed by architect Quarenghi in 1792-1796, is in contrast with its baroque neighbors. Its exterior is serene and restrained. Pastel shades tend to dominate and there are no bright colors or excessive moldings. The side wings are attached by white Corinthian colonnade. In the late 1830s two bronze statues (by Nikolay Pimenov and Alexander Loganovskiy) were placed in the central part of the colonnade. They depict young men playing traditional Russian games.
    The Alexander Palace was built by the order of Catherine the Great for her favorite grandson, the future tsar Alexander I. It was a present to him on his marriage. Later, however, the palace was the favorite residence of the last Russian tsar Nicholas II, who settled here in 1905 and lived through August 1917, when he and his family were taken away first to Tobolsk, and then to Ekaterinburg where they were shot by the Bolsheviks on July 17, 1918.
In August 1997 an exhibit «Recollections of Alexander Palace» was open in the left wing of the palace, which formerly housed living quarters of Nicholas II (Open Mo, We-Su 10-16:30, closed last We of the month).