Monument to Emperor Paul I in the courtyard of St. Michael's Castle in St. Petersburg

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St. Michael's Castle (Russian: Миха́йловский за́мок, Mikhailovsky zamok), also called the Mikhailovsky Castle or the Engineers' Castle (Russian: Инженерный замок, Inzhenerny zamok), is a former royal residence in the historic centre of Saint Petersburg, Russia. St. Michael's Castle was built as a residence for Emperor Paul I by architects Vincenzo Brenna and Vasili Bazhenov in 1797-1801. The castle looks different from each side, as the architects used motifs of various architectural styles such as French Classicism, Italian Renaissance and Gothic. St. Michael's Castle was built to the south of the Summer Garden and replaced the small wooden palace of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. Afraid of intrigues and assassination plots, Emperor Paul I disliked the Winter Palace where he never felt safe. Due to his personal fascination with medieval knights and his constant fear of assassination, the new royal residence was built like a castle around a small octagonal courtyard. The building with rounded corners was surrounded by the waters of the Moika River, the Fontanka River and two specially dug canals (the Church Canal and the Sunday Canal), transforming the castle area into an artificial island which could only be reached by drawbridges.

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Size: 4471px × 3218px
Location: 2, Garden Street.; St. Petersburg; Russia
Photo credit: © Pavel Blyumenberg / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: architect, architectural, bazhenov, brenna, buildings, castle, center, city, cityscape, classicism, courtyard, emperor, engineer, historic, imperial, michael, mikhailovsky, monument, palace, paul, petersburg, postcards, romantic, st., , vasily, views, vincenzo