The Nevsky Prospekt is one of the most important streets in St. Petersburg in which there are lots of major commercial buildings, historical structures, religious sites, and palaces from Tsarism era. Nevsky Prospekt begins from the Admiralty Building and ends at the base of Alexander Nevsky Lavra. This street was the home of several notable persons in Russia history which many of them built several palaces inside this street such as the Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace near the Anichkov bridge on Fontaka River.
The Beloselsky-Belozersky family who believed that they were the descendants of Yuri Dolgorukiy, founder of Moscow was not always as rich as they were in the 19th century. The family became quite wealthy following the friendship that they've bonded with the imperial family and several noble marriages, and then they quickly became one of the powerful noble families in St. Petersburg.
The first Beloselsky-Belozersky palace was built in 1747 on Nevsky Prospekt which it wasn’t as glorious as the contemporary palace. It was quite simple and smaller than the present palace. It was built with one small secret garden following the French-style architecture. The palace was enlarged in 1800 when Alexander Mikhailovich began an exceptional friendship with Tsar Paul I and got the Ancient Prince title from him.
Following that event and also several marriages with noble families, the Beloselsky-Belozersky family who were considered as a wealthy family in St. Petersburg decided to expand their estates and improve their properties. The Beloselsky-Belozersky present palace owns its majestic look to Alexander Mikhailovich’ second wife who knocked down the old palace and commissioned Andreas Stackensneider to design their new palace. She needed permission from the imperial court to select him for the job which Nicholas I granted her.
The new Beloselsky-Belozersky palace which its construction completed in 1848 after several heavy reconstructions caught people’s attention on Nevsky Prospekt since it was one of the most opulent palaces in Russia, and it was a bit looked like the Stroganov Palace at the other end of Nevsky Prospekt. The palace was famous for hosting several rich balls and party too.
The new palace was built in 1847, but it got the late Baroque architecture style. The palace contained several rooms including the ballroom, the concert chamber, painting room, church, and several living rooms.
The next heir of the palace was Prince Konstantin who lived most of his time on Krestovsky Island, and because of the palace maintains cost a lot, he sold the palace to Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. Sergei Alexandrovich turned the façade of the palace into nowadays dark pink color. He also renovated the entire interior of the palace.
Following the October Revolution, all the palaces, cathedrals, and other noble’s lands nationalized. The Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace was given to the British Red Cross Volunteer Hospital during the First World War to treat the injured Russian soldiers. After the war finished, the Beloselsky-Belozersky palace turned to the local Soviet government center, and also the house of several small institutes until 1991. In a surprising event, the interior of the palace remained intact completely during the Second World War, and with some small restoration in 1954, it changed back to the original design. The Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace remained in the hands of the Regional Center till 1991 and then turned to the Municipal Cultural Center afterward.
In the 21st century, this palace continued its role as the Municipal Cultural Center and held loads of mini-concerts in its halls, alongside a small museum of Wax Works.
Nowadays, the Beloselsky-Belozersky palace was able to save its late baroque style interior. This interior includes the main room on the second hall, a former library which is now a concert hall, art gallery, living room, dining room, mirror room which used for the balls and dance parties, and the Golden living room.
The palace management provides several different tours for visitors so they can learn about the history of the palace, the architects and architecture of the palace, former owners, and special events in the palace. The Nevsky Prospekt complete visit often included in St. Petersburg tour programs since it’s the most important street of St. Petersburg with loads of significant buildings. So, one can enjoy the exterior of the Beloselsky-Belozersky palace in their regular St. Petersburg tour, but if you want to visit the interior of the palace, you should fix the program with your Russia tour agencies previously. St. Petersburg and especially Nevsky Prospekt has lots of attraction sites which you can’t visit them all in one journey, so we recommend you to research your interest and fix the perfect Russia tour plans for yourself to enjoy your travel to St. Petersburg as much as you would have expected.
