Ekaterina Shulman about palaces
The meaning of the palace is not that the owner "lives in luxury", as poor Soviet children think, and drinks tea directly from a whole sugar loaf, having hollowed out a hole in it. The meaning of palace, court life is ritual, protocol, ceremonial, in other words, the public administration of the functions of power. NB to citizens making comparisons with Versailles (Winter, Sanssouci, Schönbrunn): you don't understand what the very concept of a "palace" is.