Aleksandrovskiy Dvorets, 1812

The Alexander Palace (Russian: Alexandrovskiy Dvorets) is a former imperial residence near the town of Tsarskoye Selo in Russia, on a plateau about 30 miles (48 km) south of Saint Petersburg. The Palace was commissioned by Empress/Tsarina Catherine II (Catherine the Great) in 1792. Due to the privacy it offered when officially resident in Saint Petersburg, the Alexander Palace was the preferred residence of the last Russian Emperor, Nicholas II and his family; its safety and seclusion compared favorably to the Winter Palace during the years immediately prior to the Russian Revolution. In 1917, the palace became the family's initial place of imprisonment after the first of two Russian Revolutions in February which overthrew the House of Romanov during World War I.