Chinese Palace of Russia, Oranienbaum (Lomonosov)

The palace sits on a west–east axis and its plan forms a U shape, corresponding to the Cyrillic letter “П.” The building stands on a low terrace faced with local Pudost stone and granite, which raises the main rooms just above the surrounding grounds. The long frontage measures about 79 metres and the tallest interior reaches roughly 7 metres in height.

The northern façade remains close to its mid-18th-century appearance. Its center projects as a three‑angled risalit (a projecting section of a façade) marked by four Ionic pilasters and capped by a pediment and a baroque-style attic that carries three white sculptural figures. Doorways with semicircular tops align with the risalit axes and are finished with small pediments bearing shell and garland reliefs. The southern façade, facing the pond, retains the footprint of two strong projecting risalits that once framed a small courtyard and the main entrance; in the mid-19th century a second storey was added to that side and a glazed gallery installed, and two small antechamber rooms were attached at the eastern and western ends.

Inside, seventeen rooms are arranged around a central sequence of reception spaces. An enfilade (an aligned sequence of rooms) runs through the centre and links the Hall of the Muses, the Blue Drawing-room, the Glass-bead Cabinet, the Great Hall, the Stucco Room, the Small Chinese Cabinet and the Great Chinese Cabinet. The southern projecting sections hold the private suites used by Catherine II and by the future Emperor Paul, each suite occupying the risalit areas on the pond side.

The Glass-bead Cabinet preserves original mid-18th-century needlework panels embroidered with chenille (soft, raised yarn) and glass beads to create chinoiserie landscapes and exotic birds. Twelve panels survive, ten full-size and two over doors, each about 3.63 metres high and 1.5 metres wide. The beads for these panels were made at the mosaics factory established by M. V. Lomonosov in Ust‑Ruditsa. The room also retains its ceiling painting, titled “Generosity and Envy,” by Gasparo Diciani.

Floor coverings throughout the palace reflect the early replacement of the original stone-like surfaces with decorative wooden floors. Parquet flooring (decorative wooden flooring) was executed in the 1760s–1770s by Russian joiners working under European direction, using marquetry and intarsia techniques. Patterned boards used veneers about 5–8 millimetres thick and a wide range of woods, from local species such as maple, linden, birch, pear, walnut, apple, pine, alder and oak, to exotic timbers including ebony, rosewood, boxwood and others, creating rich colour contrasts across hall surfaces.

The palace stands beside a pond and forms part of a balanced group of garden elements. Small parterre gardens sit to the east and west of the main residential rooms, enclosed by openwork metal grilles. Close by are a pergola, two small pavilions and a colonnade that together create a compact, symmetrical ensemble around the palace.

Today the north front shows its original mid-18th-century character while the south front bears the 19th-century superstructure. The Glass-bead Cabinet retains its authentic mid-18th-century decorative scheme and many interiors have been the subject of staged restorations in the 20th and 21st centuries, with major sections reopened after conservation campaigns completed between 2011 and 2024.