Menshikov Palace (Saint Petersburg)

59.939°N 30.296°E / 59.939; 30.296

The Menshikov Palace (Template:Lang-ru) is a Petrine Baroque palace in Saint Petersburg, situated on Universitetskaya Embankment of the Bolshaya Neva on Vasilyevsky Island. Since 1981 it has served as a public museum, 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 architect Giovanni Mario Fontana and, later, German architect Gottfried Johan Schädel. It was opened in 1711, but the construction continued until 1727 (later contributed by Domenico Trezzini, Bartolomeo Rastrelli, Georg Johann Mattarnovy and Jean-Baptiste Le Blond), when Menshikov with his famly was exiled to Siberia and his property was confiscated.

In 1731 Cadet Corps were established and occupied the building, which in the end of the 19th century was restorated and became the museum of the Corps. In 1924 its collections were moved to the Hermitage and other museums. In 1956-1981 the Menshikov Palace was restorated 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.

Sources

Калязина Н. В. Меншиковский дворец-музей. 2nd ed. Leningrad: Lenizdat, 1989. ISBN 5-289-00467-X.