Catherine Palace
Pushkin, Russia

This stunning Russian beauty was built for Catherine I, in 1717 by her husband, Russian Tsar Peter the Great. It was originally planned to be a modest building. Only two-stories for the entire building. However, anyone who's been there can tell you the place is nothing like that at all.

IT is situated about 20 miles south of St. Petersburg and is designed as an enormous blue, white and gold structure in Pushkin. The original Tsar built it in a simple manner, however, his daughter wasn't thinking along the same lines.

Empress Elizabeth of Russia renovated the entire thing on 1743 and now we can see a 1,066-foot-long Rococo-style fortress featuring a stucco facade gilded with more than 220 pounds of gold. Its most famous room, the Amber Room, once was decorated by nearly 12,000 pounds of amber stones.

However, Catherine II, Elizabeth's niece, didn't like her tastes at all. She remodeled the entire thing again after she ascended the throne. The result is a less Gaudy Classical style building.