On the history of the St. Michael’s castle

12 November 2021—14 February 2022

St. Michael’s Castle is an outstanding monument of history and architecture of the turn of the 18th - 19th centuries. The building, erected at the will and under the direct supervision of Emperor Pavel I, had a difficult fate. Initially, it was a luxurious imperial residence, which became the most expensive building in Russia in the 18th century. After the death of the emperor, the departure of the royal family and the resettlement of the Central College of Engineering., the building turned into a state institution, which received a new name - "Engineers’ Castle". In Soviet times, housing at first various military organizations, and then several design and technological institutes, the castle became a kind of huge communal apartment. Only in 1994 was the building transferred to the management of the State Russian Museum. A full-scale study of the monument building, restoration and museuification began. The exposition "On the history of the St. Michael’s Castle", which is offered to the attention of visitors, makes it possible to see the research being carried out. It shows the original design drawings of the building of the late 18th century by the architect Vincenzo Brenna from the archives of the Committee for State Control, Use and Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments of St. Petersburg, presented for the exhibition; a drawing of the silver spades used by the imperial couple in the ceremony of laying the castle, from the State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg; engraved drawings of the Pavel’s time; documents, photographs and items from the collection of the Russian Museum and private collections related to the initial period of the building's existence and the time spent by military engineers in it in the 19th century. Special attention should be paid to the unique, known in only two copies, a miniature album of engraved drawings of the St. Michael’s Castle from the Russian Museum, made around 1800 based on drawings by the architect Carlo Rossi, with his inscriptions and the author's watercolor painting. All items were revealed during the study of the premises during the restoration work on the territory of the castle. A separate showcase displays rare copies of books, old postcards and medals dedicated to the former residence of Emperor Pavel I.

Exhibitions

From Peter the Great to Elizabeth Petrovna

1 June—23 September 2024

This exhibition, unique in its scale, covers the period from the death of Peter the Great to the accession to the throne of his daughter Elizabeth Petrovna (1725–1742). The main events of the internal Russian life in the time of struggle for Peter the Great’s legacy shown on the material from the collections of 21 museums, including State Hermitage Museum, the State Historical Museum, the Moscow Kremlin Museums, the Tretyakov Gallery, the Museum of the History of St Petersburg, the Peterhof State Museum and Reserve, the Pavlovsk State Museum, the Arkhangelskoye State Museum and Reserve and others.

Master of Painting. 325th Anniversary of Ivan Vishnyakov’s Birth

26 April—1 July 2024

Ivan Vishnyakov is one of the leading artist of the 18th century, portraitist, mural painter, restorer and teacher. However, not much of the artist’s vast legacy, the result of thirty years of untiring creative activity, has survived to the present day. All the more valuable are the eleven surviving portraits in the collections of the Russian Museum, the Tretyakov Gallery, the Museum of Vasily Tropinin and Moscow Artists of His Time, art museums in Tver and Rybinsk, and the National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus.

Also in the Russian Museum

15 March—13 May 2024 > Mikhailovsky Palace Mstislav Farmakovsky. 150th Anniversary of the Artist’s Birth
21 February—13 May 2024 > Benois Wing Anna Golubkina (1864–1927). 160th Anniversary of the Artist's Birth

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