Michael Castle (Engineers’ Castle)

The imposing red brick edifice of Mikhaylovsky Castle overlooking the Fountain river is also known as the Engineer’s castle. It was erected in 1797-1801 by Vincenzo Brenna and Vasily Bazhenov for the Tsar Paul I. The Tsar’s obsessive fear of being assassinated led him to surround his new residence with moats and drawbridges by all sides and to build a secret passage way to the barracks on the Field of Mars. All these precautions turned to be futile. Paul managed to live in his impregnable residence only 40 days, when he became the victim to a military conspiracy which resulted in his murder. Self-evidently the family of the assassinated monarch refused to continue living in the castle thus it stood abandoned for almost 20 years. In 1823 the fortress was acquired by the Guards corps of Engineers and was renamed. The school’s most prominent graduate was the author of world-famous “Crime and Punishment” Feodor Dostoevsky. Recently the castle has been maintained and at present functions as a branch of the nearby Russian Museum where temporary exhibitions are held on a regular basis. In front of the castle stands a bronze equestrian statue of Peter the Great on the horseback, designed by Carlo Rastrelli in 1747.

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