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# The Catherine Palace during restoration in 1976
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/ekaterininskii-dvorets-vo-vremia-restavratsii-v-1976-godu/
- Published: 2026-09-22T08:04:25.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T05:25:07.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Saint Petersburg, Heritage, Architecture, Museums, Archive

The Catherine Palace suffered severely during the German occupation of Pushkin. The Germans first plundered Rastrelli's Baroque masterpiece, then turned it into barracks and garages, and, retreating in January 1944, mined it and set it on fire. It was from its charred and mutilated walls that the Amber Room vanished.

In the first years after the war it seemed that the palace was beyond restoration. But the gradual labours of the Soviet restorers first revived several rooms, which were opened to visitors as early as 1959, and then, metre by metre of frescoes, stucco, ceilings, walls and parquet, brought back the whole palace, in which even the Amber Room was recreated in 2003.