Anhalt-Zerbst was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire ruled by the House of Ascania, with its residence at Zerbst in present-day Saxony-Anhalt. It emerged as a subdivision of the Principality of A
Ruins of Zerbst Castle
Coswig Castle
Dornburg Castle (near Gommern)
Jever Castle
Catherine the Great
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Catherine II, commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the Empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after a coup d'état against her husband, Peter III. Her long reign helped Russia thr
Principality of Anhalt-Zerbst
…castle at Dornburg built as her thirds from 1750, a lavish baroque palace prepared to host her brother, Adolf Frederick, King of Sweden, or her daughter Sophie Auguste Fredericka, who in 1745 had married the Russian crown prince Peter III, to become empress in 1762, better known as Catherine the Great. However, neither of them…
Portrait, 1780s
Catherine in her childhood, by Anna Rosina de Gasc, 1742
Catherine as Grand Duchess around the time of her marriage (portrait by Georg Christoph Grooth, 1745)
An equestrian portrait of Grand Duchess Ekaterina Alekseyevna from before 1749