During my short visit to St Petersburg, our tour group managed to visit only 2 art museums (not counting the one inside the Winter Palace). Today’s post will focus on the Mikhailovsky Palace, which houses the Russian Museum of Russian fine art. This one of the film locations in BBC’s War and Peace (2016).
The State Russian Museum
The Mikhailovsky Palace was a Neoclassical residence for Grand Duke Michael Pavlovich, the youngest son of Paul I and Maria Feodorovna, and his family (and later, his grandchildren). It was constructed between 1819-25. During the 1890’s, Czar Nicholas II bought the palace and turned it into a museum for Russian fine art to house the collection his father, Alexander III, had acquired. The museum was established in 1895 and dedicated to Alexander III. Three years later, the museum opened its doors to the public. Today, the Mikhailovsky Palace and Benois Wing house the permanent collections from the Byzantine period of icon paintings to early 20th Century art.
The photos I took of the rooms are but a fraction of what’s on my camera. For a virtual tour of every room, I recommend visiting virtualrm.spb.ru/rmtour.
Ceiling corner detail from Room 1
Room 4
Painting Ceiling in Room 4
Long mirror in Room 7
Ceiling of Room 7
Ceiling of Room 8
Room 8
Panorama of Room 10
Part of the White Room
Ceiling of Room 12
Room 14
Entrance to Room 16
Ceiling of Room 35
Mosaic portrait of Catherine the Great
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Ceremonial Meeting of the State Council on May 7, 1901 by Ilya Repin
Further reading
State Russian Museum (saint-petersburg.com)
Address: 4 Inzhenernaya Str.
Opening Hours:
Mon: 10-20:00
*Closed Tuesdays
Wed, Fri-Sun: 10-18:00
Thurs: 13-21:00
Tickets: 450 Rubles (Mikhailovsky Palace & Benois Wing)
The Lady and the Rose 
