Dutch Admiralty, Architectural folly in Catherine Park, Pushkin, Russia.

The Dutch Admiralty is a three-pavilion complex with Gothic-style details positioned on the shore of the Great Pond in Catherine Park. Today the central building hosts rotating exhibitions while one former service building now serves as a restaurant and departure point for boat excursions.

The project was approved on 20 March 1773 and construction took place that summer under architect V. I. Neelov, replacing a wooden boathouse; finishing works ended in 1777. The central pavilion stored Catherine II's rowing fleet, and in 1901 the Gottorp Globe (1654) was installed in the Dutch Hall. During World War II the boats were lost and the globe was taken to Germany; after the war the building long stood empty.

The central pavilion's upper hall held 166 English landscape engravings ordered from England, where Neelov studied in 1770–1771. From 1901 it housed the Gottorp Globe (1654), brought to Russia by Peter I; after World War II it was taken to Germany and is now in the Kunstkamera. The hall opens onto a balcony overlooking the Large Pond, its railing decorated with flat garlands rather than forged ironwork.

You can explore exhibitions in the main building then grab food at the restaurant or arrange a boat tour on the pond. The location right on the water's edge makes it easy to move between buildings and spend time along the shore.

The fence linking the central pavilion to the two bird pavilions was made by the Mint, not of metal railings but as a wrought fence; the balcony grille of the Dutch Hall carries flat garlands that look cut rather than forged. The side towers hide round granite staircases leading up to the hall.