Anichkov Palace

In the 18th century the Fontanka river was lined by palaces accessible mainly by boat. One of them was the Anichkov palace named after the Lieutenant Colonel Mikhail Anichkov who set up a camp on this site at the time of founding the city. Originally it was a gift of Empress Elizabeth to her lover Aleksey Razumovsky and at that period of time it was designed as a typical baroque edifice. Self-evidently in the course of time the palace was rebuilt several times and the interiors were considerably altered due to the tastes of the successive owners. After Razumovsky, Catherine the Great presented it to her lover , Prince Potemkin. Only in the 19th century the palace became the imperial winter residence of the heir to the throne. The imperial family commissioned Carlo Rossi to add Neo-Classical details to the fa?ade’s appearance. The flourishing period in the existence of this imperial residence is closely associated with the tsar Alexander III, who continued to live in the Anichkov Palace despite becoming the emperor in 1881. After his death the dowager empress Maria Fyodorovna stayed in the place till the October revolution of 1917. During the Soviet regime this unique monument of architecture functioned as a palace for children and after being maintained by the 300th anniversary of Saint-Petersburg it is used for different purposes.

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