Yelagin Palace

[1] The isle to the north of the imperial Russian capital owes its name to its former proprietor, Ivan Yelagin (1725–94), a close ally of Catherine II from her early days as Grand Duchess.

[2] Yelagin was fascinated with the idea of extracting gold from ordinary materials and retreated to the villa for his secretive research in alchemy.

Its lavish Neoclassical interiors were decorated by Giovanni Battista Scotti, Vasily Demuth-Malinovsky, and Stepan Pimenov.

Nicholas II leased it to his prime ministers such as Sergei Witte, Pyotr Stolypin, and Ivan Goremykin.

In June 1908 Stolypin lived in a wing of the Yelagin Palace;[5] in July 1914 also the Council of Ministers under Ivan Goremykin convened there.