Sightseeing

BELOSSELSKY-BELOZERSKY PALACE One of the most interesting Eclectic architects thanks to attractive combination of Italian Renaissance and Baroque, Andrei Stakenschneider, who also designed the Mariinsky Palace, present day City Hall, supervised the construction of the Grand Duke Nicholas’ mansion on Palace embankment and updated interiors of the Smaller Hermitage, worked out the project of the Belosselsky-Belozersky Palace on the southern corner of Nevsky Prospect and the Fontanka River. For construction of the last private palace on this multi-palatial street (this site was acquired by the wealthy Belosselsky-Belozersky family in 1797) Stakenschneider was drawing inspiration from Rastrelli‘s Stroganov palace on Moika embankment, but some people believe that Rastrelli‘s edifice breathes inner dynamism, while Stakenschneider’s creation utterly lacks dynamism of lines, looking arid and forbidding. Nevertheless, the building looks dramatic and elegant. Completed between 1840 and 1848, the impressive Belosselsky-Belozersky Palace features stunning pseudo-baroque exterior with two front facing façades, west to the Fontanka river, and north to the street, adorned with muscular Atlantes supporting Corinthian columns, while the interior of the large and small Golden sitting rooms, the Purple, the Green and the White Halls and the Great Mirror Hall boasts an extensive blend of composite materials for the rococo décor. Until the Soviet period, this fantastic looking building belonged to Duke Sergei (Alexander III's brutal brother, who was assassinated in 1905) and his wife Grand Duchess Elizabeth, and thereafter it was used as the party headquarters for the Kuibyshev district of Leningrad. Nowadays the palace houses an art gallery, a concert hall, and the Wax Museum with the fine collection of 80 figures, including models of many prominent figures in Russian history such as Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Kutuzov, Alexei, Speransky, Kerensky, various tsars and other members of the Romanov Dynasty. Open daily 11:00-18:30 Address: Nevsky Prospect, 41 Phone: 319-97-72, 315-52-36 Metro: Gostiny Dvor

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