Menshikov Palace (Saint Petersburg)
59°56′20″N 30°17′46″E / 59.939°N 30.296°E
The Menshikov Palace (Russian: Меншиковский дворец) is a Petrine Baroque edifice in Saint Petersburg, situated on Universitetskaya Embankment of the Bolshaya Neva on Vasilyevsky Island.[1] 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 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
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ 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.
Sources
[edit]- Калязина Н. В. Меншиковский дворец-музей. 2nd ed. Leningrad: Lenizdat, 1989. ISBN 5-289-00467-X.
External links
[edit]| International | |
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- 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