Menshikov palace

Address: University Emb. 15
Nearest metro station: Vasileostrovskaya

Open: 10.30 am – 4.30 pm

Closed: Mondays

This palace is the unique example of a private house of the first quarter of the 18th century preserved till our days, where great banquets and official receptions took place.

This is the first palace in St. Petersburg constructed in the 1710-1720s to the design of G.M. Fontana and J.G. Schaedel; Peter the Great’s close associate, the first governor-general of St Petersburg Alexander Menshikov, owned it.

In 1727 in a struggle for power, Menshikov lost and was sent to Siberia. Since then the palace was home to a military school, but in 1967 it was given to the State Hermitage museum. Now, with the early 18th century interiors restored, it houses a collection of Russian cultural artefacts from the early 18th century.