It's the modern version of the Roman upper classes as "escaping the crude city life to be a 'true Roman,' the rustic citizen farmer" that actually means "villa with heated floors and dozens of slaves who work the land I bought from widows and orphans for pennies on the dollar"
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The Czar's summer palace (note: Nicholas II had another palace in Crimea, this is the 'just outside St. Petersburg' summer palace.)