The ochre-coloured façade of the Novo-Mikhailovsky Palace is easily identified – decorated with marble Corinthian columns and caryatid statues.
Andrei Stackenschneider built the Novo-Mikhailovsky Palace for Duke Michael, the son of Tsar Nicholas I. It now houses the Russian Academy of Sciences. The palace was a father’s gift to the Duke upon his marriage to the Princess of Baden. But there was already a palace named Mikhailovsky in St Petersburg – the building where the Russian Museum is housed today. So the new palace was named Novo-Mikhailovsky, or New-Michael Palace.
But just as his new palatial home neared completion, Duke Mikhail was named as the new Governor of the Caucasian Provinces. Mikhail set off for his new post, where he remained for nearly 20 years – he was already an aged man by the time he returned to St Petersburg. Finally settled in his new home, the old Duke liked to sit at the Palace windows on the ground floor to watch the passers-by, and took great delight if they noticed him and saluted him. After his death the palace passed to his eldest son, Nicholas.
The new palace owner, Nicholas Romanov, was an extraordinary personality in many respects. Like all Russian princes, he had received a military-style education, but he became interested in Russian history. Even soviet records speak him of a distinguished researched. After he came to power the Bolsheviks initially left the Duke alone. However, he was subsequently arrested and imprisoned in the Peter & Paul Fortress.
The distinguished author Maxim Gorky – later Soviet Minister of Culture – spoke up for Duke Nicholas. But all in vain. Along with three other Grand-Dukes he was shot against the walls of the Trubetskoy Bastion in the Fortress.
Some of the original interiors have been preserved in the Novo-Mikhailovsky Palace. The vestibule and the Grand Hall are especially notable.
Andrei Stackenschneider built the Novo-Mikhailovsky Palace for Duke Michael, the son of Tsar Nicholas I. It now houses the Russian Academy of Sciences. The palace was a father’s gift to the Duke upon his marriage to the Princess of Baden. But there was already a palace named Mikhailovsky in St Petersburg – the building where the Russian Museum is housed today. So the new palace was named Novo-Mikhailovsky, or New-Michael Palace.
But just as his new palatial home neared completion, Duke Mikhail was named as the new Governor of the Caucasian Provinces. Mikhail set off for his new post, where he remained for nearly 20 years – he was already an aged man by the time he returned to St Petersburg. Finally settled in his new home, the old Duke liked to sit at the Palace windows on the ground floor to watch the passers-by, and took great delight if they noticed him and saluted him. After his death the palace passed to his eldest son, Nicholas.
The new palace owner, Nicholas Romanov, was an extraordinary personality in many respects. Like all Russian princes, he had received a military-style education, but he became interested in Russian history. Even soviet records speak him of a distinguished researched. After he came to power the Bolsheviks initially left the Duke alone. However, he was subsequently arrested and imprisoned in the Peter & Paul Fortress.
The distinguished author Maxim Gorky – later Soviet Minister of Culture – spoke up for Duke Nicholas. But all in vain. Along with three other Grand-Dukes he was shot against the walls of the Trubetskoy Bastion in the Fortress.
Some of the original interiors have been preserved in the Novo-Mikhailovsky Palace. The vestibule and the Grand Hall are especially notable.
