Oranienbaum (sometimes known as Lomonosov, its name after WWII, to emphasize its relationship with Russia rather than Germany), was built in Peter the Great’s time by Prince Menshikov, who sought to one-up his Emperor by building a palace to rival Peterhof. Though Prince Menshikov built Oranienbaum, it wasn’t long before he was carted off to Siberia and his enormous estate passed into government hands. Used for a hospital for a short while, Oranienbaum was then used by Tsar Peter III and Catherine, his wife, who wasn’t “the Great” yet. Catherine was miserable at Oranienbaum, and rather than face a life of torment with her childlike husband or imprisonment in a nunnery, she staged her famous coup, enlisting Count Orlov to help her dispose of Peter.