🖼 Menshikov Palace

Университетская наб., 15

One of the city's first stone buildings — Menshikov's yellow palace with Petrine-era tiled rooms.

Construction of the palace began in May 1710 to a design by Giovanni Maria Fontana, who was replaced by Gottfried Schädel in 1713.
Peter called the palace the Embassy House: foreign ambassadors were received here and feasts held.
The future Empress Anna Ioannovna celebrated her wedding to the Duke of Courland in the palace.
In 1727 Menshikov was exiled to Berezov, and from 1731 the palace was taken over by the Land Gentry (later Cadet) Corps.
By 1727 there were 13 rooms here faced with white and blue tiles, of which four survive; some of the tiles came from Delft.
The grand staircase has survived from 1716–1720.
Since 1981 the palace has been a branch of the Hermitage with the exhibition “Russian Culture of the First Third of the 18th Century”.