🖼 Mikhailovsky Castle

Садовая ул., 2

Paul I's fortress castle surrounded by rivers and canals, with the high golden spire of its house church.

The castle was built in 1797–1801: the project was begun by Vasily Bazhenov and completed by Vincenzo Brenna.
Paul I lived in the castle for about 40 days: he moved in on 1 (13) February 1801 and was killed here on the night of 12 March.
The castle stands on the site of Elizabeth Petrovna's wooden Summer Palace, where Paul himself was born in 1754.
The copper letters over the gate — “Holiness becometh thine house, O Lord, for ever” — were first made for the Smolny Cathedral, then for St Isaac's.
According to legend, the colour of the walls was chosen after the glove of Paul's favourite Anna Lopukhina; restorers found a pinkish-orange paint under the plaster.
The castle got its second name, “Engineers' Castle”, from the Main Engineering School that took it over in 1819.
In front of the castle stands the monument to Peter I after a model by B. K. Rastrelli, with the inscription “To the great-grandfather from the great-grandson” — Paul put it up in 1800.
Since 1994 the whole building has belonged to the Russian Museum.