Video tour of Pr. Lev Mikhailovitch’s palace in St. Petersburg (early 20th century)

Video Link: https://youtu.be/9pjFR1lTUVw

interior_salon
Interior of Mikhail Victorovitch’s home. Notice the portraits of the Leuchtenbergs on the wall.

This magnificent mansion on the English Embankment has an impressive history. The original stone house dates to the 1740s and was built for Grand Duke Mikhail Golitsyn. In 1802, the house was acquired by Nikolay Rumyantsev, son of Ekaterina Golitsyna and was reconstructed. The architect, Vasily Glinka retained the proportions of the original building, but completely changed the appearance of the facade, which was decorated with a massive 12-column portico with an elaborate pediment with an alto-relievo of Apollo on Parnassus and other figures. The interior spaces housing the vast art collection of the Rumyantsev family, becoming, in 1831, a museum, open to the public. In 1861 the whole collection was moved to Moscow and the mansion changed hands several times, in the course of which, was altered by the architect Alexander Stepanov. At the beginning of the 20th century, the mansion passed into the hands of Prince Lev Kotchubey, son-in-law of the Duke of Leuchtenberg, who became the last owner of the mansion. It is from this time that the photographs were taken. In 1916 the mansion was again sold and was almost certain to be demolished. The 1917 Revolution stopped this from occurring.
In 1938, the mansion was gifted to the Museum of the History and Development of Leningrad, which until then had been housed in the Anichkov Palace. Restoration of the state rooms was carried out in 2003. It is now home to a branch of the Museum of the History of St. Petersburg . ( by Nigel Fowler Sutton and posted on youtube)