Russian empress Catherine II was a highly educated and romantic figure. Her love to Western literature gave her an idea of constructing underground city beneath Tsarskoe Selo (nowadays the city of Pushkin).

The contemporaries said that the empress was mad about the idea. There were also various secret sketches and diagrams depicting an underground city with roads, benches, fountains and small houses.

Sure it was a nice idea, but the calculations showed that such constructing was impossible: it would be very expensive and technologically unfeasible.The Empress also wanted to make underground passage from a tower in the Royal Palace to the Hermitage pavilion in the park, where she received various mysterious guests.

Under Nikolay II it was decided to build an underground railroad. Countless project described construction of the tunnels under the Neva and various underground streets and terraces. In the beginning of the 20th century great digging operations were started in Tsarskoe Selo. According to the official version it was the construction of a new railroad line. But the construction process looks very odd: the park was fenced and closed. It is said that workers dug every night for several years. Then the fence disappeared and the park was opened. It looked as if nothing had happened.

But there was an immaculately designed metro station with a resplendent platform underneath the park. There were also passageways leading to Nikolay's various personal rooms, including the Romanov family treasure repository.  But soon water swamped all the underground tunnels and empty space. It was decided not to restore the “royal metro”. But the legend of the resplendent underground station remains.