Ministry of Finance

Categories / Capital/Superior and Central State Institutions
MINISTRY OF FINANCE, one of the Russian Empire's central public institutions, in charge of financial and economic policy. Established on 8 September 1802, and reorganized in 1810-11. In 1917, it consisted of a Ministerial Council, the General and Special Offices for Crediting, and a number of Departments, including the State Treasury Department, the Salary Dues Department, the Customs and Duties Department, the Department of Railway Affairs, the Chief Administration of Emergency Dues and State Distribution of Spirits, the Central Weights and Measures Board, and a number of permanent Committees and Councils. Most of the Ministry of Finance was originally situated on the Neva River Embankment (Finance Minister's office and residence) and in the so-called Four Colonnades House on 12 Sadovaya Street (where the Departments were accommodated). During Emperor Nicholas I's reign, all the Ministry's departments were moved to the left wing of 8 Palace Square (the Arch of the General Staff also belonged to the Ministry of Finance). In Petrograd, in 1917, the Ministry was principally quartered at 8 Palace Square (the Ministerial Office and Ministerial Council), at 43 Moika River Embankment, at 70-72 Fontanka River Embankment (Department of the State Treasury), at 47 Fontanka River Embankment (the Educational Committee), at 32 Ekaterininsky (present-day Griboedova) Canal Embankment (the State Bank), at Galernaya Street in the building of the Nicholas Palace (Department of Salary Dues), at 6 Makarova Embankment (Chief Administration of Extraordinary Dues), and on Birzhevaya Square (Department of Customs Duties). After October 1917, the Ministry of Finance served as the basis for the People's Commissariat for Finance.

References: Министерство финансов, 1802-1902: В 2 ч. СПб., 1902; Высшие и центральные государственные учреждения России, 1801-1917 гг. СПб., 2001. Т. 2.

D. N. Shilov. Nicholas I, Emperor
Birzhevaya Square/Saint Petersburg, city
Dvortsovaya Square/Saint Petersburg, city, house 8
Fontanka River Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 70
Fontanka River Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 47
Fontanka River Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 72
Galernaya St./Saint Petersburg, city
Griboedova Canal Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 32
Makarova Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 6
Moika River Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 43
Sadovaya St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 12
Министерство финансов, 1802-1902: В 2 ч. СПб., 1902
Высшие и центральные государственные учреждения России, 1801-1917 гг. СПб., 1998 1916