The Stroganov Palace is a unique monument of 18th-century architecture. There are two principal periods in the history of the building. The first period is connected with the architect Mikhail Zemtsov, who began the construction in the early 1740s. From 1753, the work was continued by the more famous architect Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli who turned the building into a palace in the Baroque style, keeping the original foundation and main walls of the Zemtsov edifice. The palace’s exterior has remained nearly unchanged since that time. This is the three-storey building with facades facing Nevsky Prospekt and the Moika River. The centers of these facades are distinguished with columns supporting a complexly formed entablature, while the Stroganov Coat of Arms crowns the composition.

Among the interiors designed by Rastrelli the Large (Ball) Room decorated with stuccowork and a plafond by Giuseppe Valeriani has been preserved with little alteration. Later on, many famous St Petersburg architects worked in the palace. The most essential reconstruction is attributed to Andrei Voronikhin, who designed the Grand Staircase and Dining Room, Mineral Study, Picture Gallery and Physics Study from 1790 to 1800. This was the second important period in the history of the building.

The Stroganovs were collectors, patrons and benefactors who made invaluable contributions to Russian culture. The most famous representative of the dynasty was Alexander Stroganov (1737–1811), who was a collector of Western European painting and applied art, a benefactor of artists, literary men and composers, the president of the Imperial Academy of Arts and the director of the Public Library. The most important achievement of his life, however, was the construction of the Kazan Cathedral (architect Andrei Voronikhin.)

The palace is an outstanding sample of early Neoclassicism in Russia. Built to the design of the architect Antonio Rinaldy between 1768 and 1785, the palace was commissioned by Catherine the Great. The architect first ever in Russia extensively used granite and various species of marble for decoration of facades and interiors of the palace. Thus later the palace got the name of the Marble Palace.

First the palace was built as a present for Count Grigory Orlov, the favorite of Catherine the Great. However, Grigory Orlov had died before the construction was completed. After his death the palace was a residence of the Grand Dukes. One of its latest owners was Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich. The memorial museum of the recognized poet of the Silver Age Konstantin Romanov (K.R) is located on the ground floor of the palace in the former chambers of the Grand Duke and in the original interiors of that time.

In 2001 the Rzhevsky Brothers Collection permanent exhibition, a gift to the State Russian Museum, was opened in the Marble Palace. In 1994 the equestrian statue of Alexander III was placed in front of the palace. The sculpture of the statue was Pavel Trubetskoi.

In 1995 the Ludwig Museum in the Russian Museum permanent exhibition was opened in the Marble Palace. It was donated by famous German collectors Peter and Irene Ludwig and displays works by European, Russian and American artists. The Ludwig Museum in the Russian Museum is the only permanent exhibition of art of the late 20th century that allows us to trace the development of Russian art in the context of world art culture.

After restoration, the Foreign Artists in Russia permanent exhibition was opened in the halls of the Marble Palace. It shows works by German, Italian, French and other European artists and sculptors who influenced the development of Russian art of the 18th — first half of the 19th centuries.

The castle was designed by Vincenzo Brenna and Vasily Bazhenov (1797-1801) as a parade residence for the Emperor Paul I. The Emperor himself added to the project. It is named after St Michael the Archangel (patron saint of the House of Romanov). This is the only palace building in Russia in the style of romantic classicism.

After the assassination of the Emperor Paul I (on the night of the 11th/12th of March 1801) the castle became the property of the Ministry of the Imperial Court. In February 1823 St Michael''s Castle was presented to the Central College of Engineering and was renamed the Engineers Castle.

A time of vast upheavals came to St Michael''s Castle in the 1990s. In 1994, the building was officially awarded to the Russian Museum. A major reconstruction programme was announced, aimed at restoring the original decor and architecture.

Three of the facades and the adjoining gardens have now been fully restored. Part of the original Resurrection Canal has been recreated. The Chapel of St Michael the Archangel, the private apartments of Grand Duke Nicholas Pavlovich and Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich, the Main Staircase, the Antique Room, the Raphael Gallery, the Dining Room and the Empress Marie Fyodorovna Throne Room have all been restored to their former glory. They now host exhibitions of art from the collection of the Russian Museum — many of them repeating the dreams and ideas of the original owner of the palace, Tsar Paul.

The Summer Garden with its collection of sculpture and the Summer Palace, the first emperor summer residence, form a single museum complex. The Garden was Peter the Great´s favourite creation. It was started in 1704. The Garden has changed greatly through the ages. However, its original regular planning has been completely preserved till nowadays.

The Summer Palace in the north-east corner of the garden was built by Domenico Trezzini between 1710 and 1712. Andreas Schluter and Georg Johann Mattarnovi sculpted the decor on the facades. The twenty-nine bas-reliefs between the windows on the ground and first floors depict, in an allegorical form, the Russian victories over Sweden in the Great Northern War. On the ground floor the quarters of Peter I, and on the first floor the quarters of his wife Catherine were located.

In 1924, the Summer Palace was turned into a museum of everyday objects from the early eighteenth century. Several generations of curators carefully preserved the original purposes of each palace room and the exhibits relating to the life of Peter the Great and the Imperial family.

The Mikhailovsky Garden is one of the rare monuments of the landscape architecture of the 18th – first third of the 19th centuries. It is a unique combination of two different styles of the landscape art: of the regular or French and the landscape or English. It is also a bright example of architectural unity of a building (Mikhailovsky Palace) and a landscape (Mikhailovsky Garden), created after the design of the great architect Carlo Rossi.

The territory of the modern Mikhailovsky Garden at the time of Peter the Great belonged to the so-called third Summer Garden, also known as the Swedish garden.

Having laid Sadovaya street to the Field of Mars, Rossi defined the configuration of the palace garden. Its eastern edge was accentuated by the spear-shaped railing, the western ran parallel to the Catherine Canal (now Griboyedov Canal), the southern was closed by the palace façade, and the northern edge of the garden was closed by the bank of the Moika River. In front of the garden façade of the Mikhailovsky Palace there was a spacious meadow of an uneven oval form, framed with groups of rampant trees. The architect created a landscape garden typical for Classicism, but had carefully preserved its Baroque pond, decorating it with relief cast-iron bridge. According to the same project a pavilion with granite quay edged by a laced cast-iron railing was built at the bank of the Moika River.

In 19th – early 20th centuries the Mikhailovsky Garden was a place for holding various fêtes. After the revolution of 1917 the garden was turned into a park for the city-dwellers.

In 1999 the Mikhailovsky Garden was handed over to the Russian Museum.