Petrovsky Palace, Moscow

Petrovsky Palace or Petroff Palace, is a palace located in Moscow on Leningradsky Prospect. It was founded in 1780 under the orders of Catherine the Great.

In the 1770s Catherine the Great decided to build a new palace to be used for short stopovers en route from St Petersburg to Moscow. Apart from being of practical use, the erection of the Petrovsky Palace also had a symbolical nature and was connected with Russia's victory in the Russian-Turkish War and with the signing of the Treaty of Kucuk-Kainarji. Construction management was entrusted to Vasily Bazhenov but was soon handed over to Matvey Kazakov.

Thanks to the activity of the chief architect, the work was completed in a relatively short time – the main construction work was completed in 1779 and the interior decoration in 1783. The speed of construction was also evidenced by the architect's project drawings, which depict the palace in the process of an erection and which differ in many details from the actual building. According to the surviving plans, the palace was supposed to have more decorations. Despite these differences, no significant changes were made to the original composition.

Catherine II stayed at the palace only twice: in 1785 she spent four days there on her way from Novgorod and ten days on her way from the Crimea in 1787. After Paul I, Russian monarchs used the Petrovsky Palace as the last stop on their way to the coronation in the Kremlin.

Taking into account the vast future that awaits aviation, I consider it highly expedient to transfer the Petrovsky Palace to the control of the air fleet, especially since, according to my information, this palace has been brought almost completely unfit for habitation and is hardly rational is now in use. Aviaflot could bring this building into a residential state. It is not difficult to agree on permanent monitoring by your department of the building, which in no case would allow damage to it, as a historical and artistic monument. <...> I would strongly insist on the need to dispose of the palace for this very purpose.

Text adapted from “Petrovsky Palace” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Petrovsky Palace, Moscow ranks #1,266 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #49 of the 141 mapped in Russia. Founded 1776, it is older than 15% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 525 atlas entries founded in the 18th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 6,218 times in the last 60 days, more than 87% of the atlas. 13 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Moscow, 6 km away. See how Russia compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗