Stroganov Palace in Saint Petersburg is a beautiful architectural monument in the Russian Baroque style. The building was designed by the famous Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli, known for his projects of the Grand Palace in Peterhof and the Smolny Cathedral on the banks of the Neva River.
How to Get There
The palace is located in the very center of St. Petersburg at 17 Nevsky Prospekt. The nearest metro station is “Admiralteyskaya.” It takes no more than five minutes to walk from the station to the palace.
The ticket price for foreign adults is 1,000 rubles, and payment can be made by bank card. As the palace is a branch of the Russian Museum, you can buy a combined ticket that includes the Mikhailovsky Palace, Benois Wing, and Stroganov Palace.
I visited the museum in mid-January. Winter is a low tourist season in St. Petersburg, and the weather was not great, so there were almost no visitors, which is undoubtedly a big plus. In summer, however, it’s probably crowded with tourists, like other museums in the historic center.
A Bit of History
The Stroganov family, Russian merchants and industrialists, is well known in our country. At one time, they were the largest landowners in the Urals.
The palace on Nevsky Prospekt was built in 1754, possibly on the site of an old one-story house owned by the Stroganovs. The interiors were designed, as mentioned, by F. B. Rastrelli, but over time, the palace underwent numerous renovations and restorations. The architects responsible for some of these changes were Andrei Voronikhin (the architect of the famous Kazan Cathedral in Saint Petersburg) and Fyodor Demertsov.
Over the palace's history, more than a dozen architects have contributed to its evolving architectural appearance, and to this day, historians have no consensus on the authorship of many of its interiors.
The Stroganovs owned the palace until 1918. The building was subsequently nationalized, and in 1919, a branch of the Hermitage, the People's House-Museum, opened there and operated for ten years. Later, the palace housed institutions far removed from art, such as the Institute of Botany and Electromortrest.
In 1988, the building was transferred to the Russian Museum, and three years later, restoration began. The exhibition was officially opened to visitors in 2003. Today, the palace offers access to 15 rooms, divided by the New Front Hall, which leads to the grand staircase. Many rooms display various art objects, including paintings, statuettes, and tableware.
Not far from the palace are other branches of the Russian Museum—the Marble Palace and the Mikhailovsky (Engineer) Castle. If you have the time, you can combine visits to these sites with a tour of the Stroganov Palace.
In summary:
- Beautiful, majestic interiors;
- Few tourists during the cold season;
- Convenient location: about a five-minute walk from the metro to the palace.
