The splendour of Imperial Russia, Tsarskoye Selo is in a way the domain of the empresses. Catherine I, the wife of Peter, set the ball rolling when she had a small palace built here in 1711, which her daughter Elizabeth had transformed by Bartolomeo Rastrelli into a lavish residence strewn with pavilions and gardens, renamed the Catherine Palace. Catherine II pursued the interior design with her favourite architects, Charles Cameron and Giacomo Quarenghi, and also had the Alexander Palace built on the estate. The grounds feature spectacular landscaped gardens and gracious pavilions.