Catherine Park / Ekaterininsky Park, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 196601
Originally, a wooden hall with galleries was built on the island located in the middle of the Large Pond. The pavilion "Hall on the Island," located, as its name suggests, on the island of the Large Pond, was rebuilt in the late 1740s according to Chevakinsky’s design into a new, luxuriously decorated Baroque-style pavilion adorned following Rastrelli’s drawings.
Concerts were held in the "Hall on the Island" pavilion, and it was a place for boaters to relax. On festive occasions, dinners were arranged in the hall, and therefore a small kitchen was built nearby. Access to the island was possible by a small boat moving along a cable. In winter, warming pans intended for ice skaters on the lake were stored inside the pavilion.
At the end of the 18th century, architect Giacomo Quarenghi rebuilt the pavilion in the classical style: its height was increased by adding a parapet, and the facades and interiors lost the lavish decoration characteristic of the Baroque style.
During the reign of Catherine II, celebrations were held here, or a military orchestra played. On these days, the Empress liked to sit in the grotto with a book in her hands, listening to military marches.
Several decades later, in 1817–1820, new works on the Hall on the Island were carried out by Stasov.
In the 18th and early 19th centuries, the pavilion, intended for concerts and relaxation of boaters, was occasionally used for court dinners. For this purpose, a small kitchen was built next to it, which was destroyed in the early 20th century and has now been restored. According to memoirs, in the 19th century, warming pans used to heat ice skaters on the lake rink were stored in the Hall on the Island. In 1911, in connection with the organization of the Tsarskoye Selo Jubilee Exhibition, a restaurant was opened in the hall, for which the island was connected to the shore by a pontoon bridge.
To date, the kitchen destroyed in the early 20th century and the historic crossing connecting Catherine Park with the island have been restored. Since 2008, the "Hall on the Island" has been used for concerts and ceremonial events of the Tsarskoye Selo Museum.
Sources:
https://www.spb-guide.ru/pavilon-zal-na-ostrovu-tzarskoe-selo.htm
https://www.tzar.ru/objects/ekaterininskypark/landscape/island
https://pushkin.spb.ru/encycl/parks/zal-na-ostrovu.html
