Saint Michael's Castle
Mikhailovsky Castle is the royal residence of Monarch Paul I, erected in 1797-1801. The castle is essentially a palace, but after Paul I was elevated to Grand Master of the Order of Malta, he began to call his own palaces castles.
The future ruler conceived the idea of erecting a residence back in 1784. He spent 12 years selecting architectural styles and projects, there were 13 projects for the future palace in total. On November 6, 1796, Paul I ascended the throne, and 22 days later he ordered the construction of a castle on the site of the old Summer Palace. Huge resources were devoted to the construction of the palace, the construction was carried out even at night under the light of torches and lanterns, and the total number of builders reached 6,000 people. People and building materials were imported from neighboring construction sites: marble was taken from the St. Isaac's Cathedral under construction, parquet from the Tauride Palace, pavilions in Tsarskoye Selo were dismantled for decorative stone and frieze. Vasily Bazhenov and Vincenzo Brenna supervised the construction. On St. Michael the Archangel's day, the castle was hastily consecrated, but the interior decoration was carried out until March of the following year.
On February 1, 1801, Pavel and his family moved into the castle, and on the night of March 11-12, as a result of a conspiracy, he was killed by officers of the Mikhailovsky Castle in his bedroom. After these events, the castle was deserted for almost 20 years. It was only in 1819 that it was given to the Main Engineering School, from that moment on the castle had a second name - "Engineering". With the arrival of the cadets, there was a legend about the ghost of Mikhailovsky Castle, which frightened the younger students. In the following years, the castle lost its original appearance, during the redevelopment to accommodate schools. During the Great Patriotic War, a hospital for wounded soldiers was located here. Since 1957, the Central Naval Library has been located in part of the premises. In the 60s, the castle was handed over to the Leningrad Council of National Economy, which housed technological institutes here. In the late 1980s, they gradually abandoned their premises, leaving behind a ruin - everything was blocked up, the wall paintings were painted over. By 1994, the building, except for the library, became the property of the State Russian Museum.
By the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg, Mikhailovsky Castle was restored and it appeared to visitors in almost the same form as Paul I saw it. The cost of a ticket to Mikhailovsky Castle is available to everyone, and tourists who have purchased a "Guest Card of St. Petersburg" can pass for free and without queues.
