Mikhailovsky Palace
The palace currently houses the main building of the Russian Museum and displays its collections of early, folk, eighteenth, and nineteenth century art.
The new emperor resurrected the idea for a new palace by the time Michael was 22, and plans were drawn up by Carlo Rossi to develop a new site in Saint Petersburg.
Grand Duke Michael carried out some of his military duties there, while his wife hosted salons that brought together many of the leading members of Saint Petersburg society and culture.
By the time of Grand Duchess Catherine's death in 1894, the staterooms were no longer in regular use—the family resided for the most part in the palace's wings.
He died before this could be arranged, but the negotiations were carried out on behalf of his son Emperor Nicholas II, by Minister of Finance Sergei Witte.
Nicholas gave it to the newly established Russian Museum, in honour of his father, with the remit that it collect and display domestic art.
[3] The site eventually chosen was a space that had previously seen little development, between the confluence of the Fontanka and Moyka Rivers, the Griboyedov Canal and Nevsky Prospect.
It had been used as garden and hunting space, with Empress Elizabeth's Summer Palace, and later Emperor Paul's Mikhailovsky Castle being located nearby.
[1][3] Grand Duke Michael married Princess Charlotte of Württemberg, who took the name Elena Pavlovna, in February 1824, and by the middle of the following year the work on the palace was largely completed.
Its facade consists of a rusticated lower floor below the piano nobile portico, a loggia with a three-quarter eight-columned Corinthian colonnade supporting a triangular pediment with armour decorations by Stepan Pimenov and Vasily Demut-Malinovsky.
[4][3] The Blue Gallery was entered through a doorway flanked with caryatides by Stepan Pimenov, which led on to the large dining room, with a vaulted ceiling with grisaille coffers.
Ambassador Leveson-Gower wrote that "The only place the Grand Duke allowed splendour and luxury was in a rich and varied collection of weapons, armour, helmets, equipment, artillery and other guns in perfect condition.
"[1] Albert Nikolayevitch Benois noted that "In the [Grand Duke's] Study and Library were collections of rare books, gravures, numismatics, lots of magnificent art ...
[3] Another guest was Nicholas Miklouho-Maclay, who, with the help of Elena Pavlovna and Anton Rubinstein, established the Russian Musical Society and the Saint Petersburg Conservatory.
The Marquis de Custine recalled that "Grand Duchess Elena for each of the festivities she arranges, invents, as I was told, something new, original, not familiar to anyone ... Groups of trees, illuminated from above with a covered light, made a fascinating impression ... One and a half thousand tubs and pots with the rarest flowers formed a fragrant bouquet ... Luxurious palm trees, banana trees and all sorts of other tropical plants, whose roots were hidden under a carpet of greenery, seemed to grow in their native soil, and it seemed that the procession of dancing couples had been transferred from the wild north to a distant tropical forest ...
[1] This created a political quandary as while the children were technically subjects of the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the Mikhailovsky Palace was intended to be a possession of the Romanov family.
[3][5] Emperor Alexander III decided to buy the palace at public expense and establish the Kseniinsky Institute there, after his daughter, Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna.
[3][5] Alexander died suddenly in 1894 before this could be carried, and it was his son and successor as Emperor Nicholas II who instructed Minister of Finance Sergei Witte to arrange the purchase of the Mikhailovsky Palace.
[3] Witte then suggested that the Mikhailovsky Palace would make a suitable home for a museum of Russian art in honour of Emperor Alexander III, which Nicholas agreed to.
25 April] 1895 Nicholas II established the "Russian Museum of Emperor Alexander III" and placed the Mikhailovsky Palace complex in its possession.
Fireplaces, mantelpieces and mirrors were removed, as were wall paintings and mouldings, and smaller rooms were combined to create larger exhibitions spaces.
Concrete ceilings were also fitted to protect against attic fires, and the central heating system was overhauled, as well as measures to improve the ventilation and water supply.
[3] A detached building was constructed between the Freylinskiy wing and the Griboyedov Canal between 1910 and 1912 by architects Leon Benois and Sergei Ovsyannikov [ru], for temporary art exhibitions.
[3] A statue of Alexander III that stood in the palace courtyard was also hit by a bomb during the war, but had been covered with sand and logs, and escaped damage.
[7] The Mikhailovsky Palace houses the main building of the Russian Museum and is used to display its collections of early artworks, and those from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
^ Two dates have been identified for the laying of the foundation stone: 17 April in The River Moyka Flows by Georgy Zuev and 14 July in Great Architects of Saint Petersburg by Yuri Ovsyannikov [ru].
