Menshikov Palace

Photo: Chezenatiko, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

🏛️ Palaces and Parks

The palace of the "semi-sovereign ruler", more luxurious than Peter's.

Peter gave these lands to his favorite Alexander Menshikov, and in 1711 he began building a palace that surpassed the tsar's Peterhof in scale: the main facade is 210 meters long. The central part is crowned with a crown, from which galleries with pavilions radiate in an arc. Together with the Lower Garden and the Sea Canal, this is the largest surviving ensemble of Petrine Baroque. After Menshikov's disgrace in 1727, a naval hospital was established here. The name Oranienbaum means "orange tree" in German. Legend says that an orange tree in a tub grew in Menshikov's greenhouse.

Tip: Entry to Oranienbaum Park is free from 8 to 10 a.m. and from 6 to 8 p.m. Walk from the palace along the Sea Canal to the gulf — that's how Menshikov used to sail from St. Petersburg.

Coordinates: 59.91520, 29.75330 · 🗺️ Yandex Maps

Walks in Peterhof / Day trips

🏯 Oranienbaum: palaces that never saw war

The only suburb not captured during the war: the authentic Rococo of the Chinese Palace, the pavilion of a giant "American mountain" slide, Peter III's toy fortress and Menshikov's palace.

5–6 h

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