Marble Palace
The Marble Palace, like the Small Marble Palace, has a facade entirely covered in marble. This material can also be found in the inner decoration. Architect Antonio Rinaldi was put in charge of the construction of this building that started in 1768.
It was meant for Grigory Orlov, favorite of Catherine II. However the earl didn’t have time to enjoy it: he died in 1783, two years before the work was completed.
Marble palace is also called Konstantin Palace. This is because from 1796 it belonged to Grand Duke Konstantin. It stayed in the family until the Bolshevik Revolution. An imperial residence is also called “Konstantin Palace”. It is located outside of Saint Petersburg, in Strelna.
Ministry of Labor from 1917 to 1919, it then hosted the Russian Academy of History and Material History. It became Lenin’s museum in 1936. Since the collapse of the USSR, the Marble Palace is a branch of the Russian Museum.