2 Sadovaya Street, St. Petersburg (tel.: +7 812 570-51-12), Metro stations: "Gostiny Dvor", "Nevsky Prospekt".
The Mikhailovsky Castle or the Engineer Castle also called the St. Michael's Castle is the largest monument of architecture closing the history of the 18th century St. Petersburg architecture. It replaced the Summer Palace of Empress Elizabeth (by architect Francesko Bartolomeo Rastrelli in 1740s) disassembled by order of Emperor Paul I immediately after Catherine II, his mother, died.
The general idea of the castle and its first design plans belong to Paul I. Construction of his future residence started in 1784. During the design process, which had been lasting for about 12 years, the Grand Duke referred to various architectural motifs he saw while being abroad in 1781 and 1782. At different stages of the project such architects as Henri Francois Gabriel Viollier, Vincenzo Brenna, and Vasili Bazhenov were invited. Gatchina was named as one of possible places to construct the Palace.
The son of Catherine II managed to execute his purpose only after accessed to the throne in November of 1796.
On the 28th of February 1797, the foundation stone ceremony took place. Construction of the Palace was managed by architect Vincenzo Brenna who revised the original design of the Palace and made painterly finishing of the interiors.
On 8th November 1800, the day of St. Michael, the Archangel, considered by Paul I to be his patron, the Palace was solemnly consecrated. However, works on its internal furnishing proceeded until March 1801.
The unique appearance of the Palace combining contradictory architectural tendencies and styles detaches it in the tideway of Russian classicism development. However, the Mikhailovsky Castle is perceived as an expressive symbol of the epoch of Paul I. Artistic taste and the originality of the owner and main creator, Emperor Paul I, took shape in its appearance.
The grand giant "Palace of St. Michael", as the Castle was referred to in documents of the 18th century, towered at the island limited with the Moika River and the Fontanka River from the north and east. The island was washed with specially dug channels, Voskresensky and Tserkovny, from the west and south. The fortification system that rounded the Castle and Connetable Square, lying in front of it, included channels, demi-bastions, drawbridges, and cannons. In the middle of the Square there was a monument to Peter the Great cast in 1745 to 1747 upon the model of Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli designed in the lifetime of the grand great-grandfather of Paul I.
In 1819, the Mikhailovsky Castle was given to Main School of Engineers. This was where it got its second name from. Since February of 1823, the Castle has been officially named the Engineer Castle.
In 1820, Carlo Rossi redesigned the area around the Castle. The channels were buried.
In 1991, one third of the Castle rooms was bought by the Russian Museum. And it purchased the whole Castle in 1995. Today, permanent expositions are opened in the rooms. The Voskresensky Channel and Tryokhproletny Bridge were reconstructed and opened on the 300th Anniversary of St. Petersburg.
The fate of the building is amazing: built in 1888 in the very centre of Moscow, it hosted the first city power plant for only a short period of time and after that it was "forgotten".
The new reincarnation of the building, as an exhibition hall, is full of different kind of events.
In the late 19th century, Moscow was a mix of antiquity and ...
The history of the Mikhaylovsky Palace (the Palace, for short) started when Grand Duke Mikhail, a son of Emperor Paul I, was born 1798. On this occasion, Paul I ordered to set aside several hundreds of roubles each year for future construction of a palace for his youngest son; the palace was supposed to match in sumptuousness and comfort the grande...
The building of the Academy of Arts (the Academy, for short) was constructed in 1764 to 1788 to a design by Jean-Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe (also involving Aleksandr Kokorinov). Three wooden houses having various owners were situated in this section of the Vasilievsky Island, between the 3rd Liniya Street and 4th Liniya Street. In 1759, by order o...
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