A prominent Russian architect, Savva Chevakinsky (1713 – c. 1774-1780) worked in the mid-1700s, when the Baroque style flourished in Russia. His most renowned creation was the Nikolsky Naval Cathedral (1753–1762) in St. Petersburg. Like his peer and co-worker Andrei Kvasov, Savva Chevakinsky planned to expand the palace at Tsarskoe Selo. Aware of Empress Elizabeth’s church-going habit, he designed a church to be built on the right from the grand palace. Upon the newly built galleries, he placed hanging gardens that “likened the Russian empress to the legendary queen Semiramis of Babylon.” Elizabeth greatly enjoyed the gardens, but that almost lead to a catastrophe when the gallery ceiling started to fall after the water from the gardens percolated through the roof. The Empress entrusted her palace reconstruction to the senior court architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli, reducing Chevakinsky to his assistant.