TSARSKOYE SELO  , a

town of north Russia, in the government of St Petersburg, and an imperial residence, 15 M. by rail south of the capital . Pop . (1885), 15,000; (1897), 22,353 . The town stands on the Duderhof Hills and consists (1) of the town proper, surrounded by villages and a German colony, which are summer resorts for the inhabitants of St Petersburg; and (2) of the imperial parks and palaces . The former is built on a regular plan, and its houses nearly all stand in gardens . The cathedral of St Catherine is a miniature copy of that at Constantinople . The imperial parks and gardens cover 168o acres; the chief of them is the " old " garden, containing the " old palace," built (1724) by Rastrelli and gorgeously decorated with mother-of-pearl, marbles, amber, lapis lazuli, silver and gold; the gallery of Cameron adorned with fine statues and entrance gates; numerous pavilions and kiosks; and a bronze statue (1900) of the poet Pushkin . A second palace, the Alexander, was built by Catherine II. in 1792, and has in its park an historical museum and an arsenal . When Peter the Great took possession of the mouth of the Neva, a Finnish village, Saari-mois, stood on the site now occupied by the town, and its Russified name Sarskaya was changed into Tsarskoye when Peter presented it to his wife Catherine . It was especially embellished by the tsaritsa Elizabeth . Under Catherine II., a town, Sophia, was built close by, but its inhabitants were transferred to Tsarskoye Selo under Alexander I . The railway connecting the town with St Petersburg was the first (1838) to be constructed in Russia .