The Menshikov Palace (russian: Меншиковский дворец) is a
Petrine Baroque
Petrine Baroque (Russian: Петровское барокко) is a style of 17th and 18th century Baroque architecture and decoration favoured by Peter the Great and employed to design buildings in the newly founded Russian capital, Saint Petersbu ...
edifice in
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, situated on
Universitetskaya Embankment of the
Bolshaya Neva
The Great Neva or Bolshaya Neva () is the largest armlet of the river Neva. It starts near the Spit of Vasilievsky Island
Vasilyevsky Island (russian: Васи́льевский о́стров, Vasilyevsky Ostrov, V.O.) is an island in St.& ...
on
Vasilyevsky Island
Vasilyevsky Island (russian: Васи́льевский о́стров, Vasilyevsky Ostrov, V.O.) is an island in St. Petersburg, Russia, bordered by the Bolshaya Neva and Malaya Neva Rivers (in the delta of the Neva River) in the south a ...
.
[It is not to be confused with the Menshikov Palace in Oranienbaum, Russia, built by the same architects around the same time. ''Menshikov Palace'' can also refer to the Lefort Palace in ]Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...
. It was the first stone building in the city. Since 1981, it has served as a public museum, a branch of the
Hermitage Museum.
The palace was founded in 1710 as a residence of
Saint Petersburg Governor General Alexander Menshikov and built by Italian architects
Giovanni Maria Fontana, and, later, German architect
Gottfried Johann Schädel. It was opened in 1711, but the construction continued until 1727 (assisted by
Domenico Trezzini,
Bartolomeo Rastrelli,
Georg Johann Mattarnovy and
Jean-Baptiste Le Blond), when Menshikov with his family was exiled to Siberia and his property was confiscated.
In 1731 the
First Cadet Corps
The First Cadet Corps was a military school in Saint Petersburg.
History of creation
The initiative to create cadet corps for noblemen in Russia belonged to Count Pavel Yaguzhinsky. By the decree of Empress Anna Ioannovna of July 29, 1731, the Se ...
were established and occupied the palace and neighboring buildings. At the end of the 19th century the Menshikov Palace was restored and became the museum of the Corps. In 1924, its collections were moved to the Hermitage and other museums. From 1956 to 1981 the Menshikov Palace was restored again and finally opened to the public as a branch of the Hermitage Museum with a collection of Russian art of the late 17th-early 18th century.
See also
*
List of Baroque residences
References
Sources
* Калязина Н. В. Меншиковский дворец-музей. 2nd ed. Leningrad: Lenizdat, 1989. .
External links
Menshikov Palace (Saint Petersburg)
{{Authority control
Palaces in Saint Petersburg
Hermitage Museum
Houses completed in 1727
Museums established in 1981
Art museums and galleries in Saint Petersburg
Historic house museums in Saint Petersburg
Universitetskaya Embankment
Baroque architecture in Saint Petersburg
Domenico Trezzini buildings and structures
1981 establishments in the Soviet Union
Cultural heritage monuments of federal significance in Saint Petersburg