Mariinsky Palace

Mariinsky Palace
Мариинcкий дворец
The 99-metre-wide Blue Bridge spans the Moika in front of the Marie Palace.
General information
Town or city	St. Petersburg
Country	Russia
Coordinates	59°55′51″N 30°18′34″E / 59.93083°N 30.30944°E / 59.93083; 30.30944
Completed	1844

Mariinsky Palace, also known as Marie Palace (Russian: Мариинcкий дворец), was the last Neoclassical imperial palace to be constructed in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It was built between 1839 and 1844 to a design by the court architect Andrei Stackensneider.

The palace stands on the south side of St Isaac's Square, just across the 99-metre-wide Blue Bridge from Saint Isaac's Cathedral. In the 18th century, the plot belonged to Zakhar Tchernyshov and contained his mansion (1762-68), which was occasionally let to Prince of Condé and other foreign worthies visiting the Russian capital. In 1825-39, the Tchernyshov mansion housed a military school, where Mikhail Lermontov studied for two years.

Stackensneider's palace was conceived by Emperor Nicholas I as a present to his daughter Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia on the occasion of her marriage to Maximilian, Duke of Leuchtenberg, Eugène de Beauharnais's son. Although the reddish-brown facade is elaborately rusticated and features Corinthian columns arranged in a traditional Neoclassical mode, the whole design was inspired by the 17th-century French Baroque messuages. Other eclectic influences are apparent in the Renaissance details of exterior ornamentation and in the interior decoration, with each main room designed in a different historic style.