|
Thursday, 19.07.2007
Menshikov Palace
The ochre coloured palace on the university embankment is one of St. Petersburg’s oldest buildings. It was built from 1710 to 1727 and is a typical example of ‘Petrine Baroque’. Its owner was the city’s first Governor-General Alexander Menshikov, one of Peter’s closest associates.
|
|
The Menshikov Palace has been a branch of the Hermitage Museum since 1967 and today houses a permanent exhibition on the history of Russian culture in the first third of the 18th century.
|
The lovingly restored interior gives an eye-pleasing view of the daily life of a Russian nobleman during the times of Peter the Great. The fine wall panelling, the gleaming tiled stoves, beautifully patterned parquets, ornate furniture, as well as profane kitchen utensils, show visitors how the Petersburg upper class lived in the earliest days of the city.
|
|
| Coordinates |
Universitetskaya nab. 15
Nearest metro: Wassiljeostrowskaya
Opening hours: 10.30am - 4.30pm
Closed: Mondays
|
|
At the start of St. Petersburg’s construction, the Tsar gave his bosom friend the whole of Vassily Island as a present, and this was where Menshikov built his residence.
|
The General Governor’s stone house (by the architects Giuseppe Fontana and Gottfried Schädel) was the largest and finest house in the whole city, which at that time was little more than a chaotic collection of wooden houses and mud huts.
|
The Tsar himself lived far most modestly, since he did not value luxury. Instead he used his favourite’s house for hosting state receptions and his famously tumultuous parties.
|
(sb/rUFO)
|
|
