Mikhailovsky Palace

Categories / Architecture/Architectural Monuments/Palaces
Mikhailovsky Palace (2/4 Inzhenernaya Street), an architectural monument of high classicism. It was constructed from 1819-1825 for the wedding of Grand Prince Mikhail Pavlovich and Grand Princess Elena Pavlovna (architect K.I. Rossi) and dominates the Iskusstv Square ensemble. The monumental building, decorated along the main facade with a Corinthian portico with a three-angled pediment and relief frieze (sculptor V. I. Demut-Malinovsky), is located in the far end of the front yard. The embrasures of the first rusticated floor were decorated with mascarons; the side outbuildings were connected with a cast-iron fence, pylons of the gate were crowned with arms. Bronze lions stand on the wide front staircase. The garden facade is decorated with a loggia-colonnade. The interior decor was worked out by sculptors S. S. Pimenov and V. I. Demut-Malinovsky, painters G and P. Skotti, A. Vigi, B. Medici and others. Only the two-coloured gala entrance hall with the staircase, the white-columned hall and some rooms on the first floor have retained the original decor. After the death of Grand Prince Mikhail Pavlovich the place was owned by Grand Princess Elena Pavlovna, whose salon was attended by many outstanding figures of Russian culture, then the palace passed on to their daughter - Grand Princess Ekaterina Mikhailovna (1827-94), her married name was Countess Mecklenburg-Strelitzkaya. In that period some apartments of the palace were designed by the architect G.A. Bosse. In 1894, Mikhailovsky Palace was bought by the state treasury; and after reconstruction 1895-1898 (architect V. F. Svinyin) it housed the Imperial Museum of Russian Art named after Alexander III (nowadays the State Russian Museum). In 1941-1944, the building suffered damage, but by 1946 had been restored. In 2001-2002, the decor of the palace church was recreated. The Mikhailovsky Palace gave name to Mikhailovskaya Street, a theatre, a manege and a garden.

Reference: see Russian Museum.

S. V. Boglachev. Alexander III, Emperor
Bosse G.A. (see Bosse Yu.A.)
Demut-Malinovsky Vasily Ivanovich
Ekaterina Mikhailovna, Grand Princess
Elena Pavlovna, Grand Princess
Medici Barnaba (Varnava Iosifovich)
Mikhail Pavlovich, Grand Prince
Pimenov Stepan Stepanovich
Rossi Carl Ivanovich (Carlo Giovanni)
Scotti Giovanni Batista (Ivan Karlovich)
Scotti Pietro
Svinyin Vasily Fedorovich
Vigi Antoniо
Inzhenernaya Street/Saint Petersburg, city, house 4/2
Iskusstv Square/Saint Petersburg, city
Mikhailovskaya St./Saint Petersburg, city
Калязина Н. В., Калязин Е. А. Дворец Меншикова в Санкт-Петербурге: История, реставрация, музей. СПб., 1996 Russian Museum, State
Manege
1819
1825