page_title: Anichkov Palace
section_title: 18th century
hierarchical_section_title: Anichkov Palace / History / 18th century
context_page_description: The Anichkov Palace, a former imperial palace in Saint Petersburg, stands at the intersection of Nevsky Avenue and the Fontanka River.
context_section_description: The palace, situated on the plot formerly owned by Antonio de Vieira (1682?-1745), takes its name from the nearby Anichkov Bridge across the Fontanka. Designed for the Empress Elizabeth of Russia (r. 1741–1762) in a dazzling Baroque style, the palace came to be known as the most imposing private residence of the era of Elizabeth Petrovna. Some suggest architects Bartolomeo Rastrelli and Mikhail Zemtsov were responsible for the design, though that is yet to be substantiated. The main frontage faces the river and was originally connected to it by a canal.
  
  Construction works continued for thirteen years; when they finally finished in 1754 the Empress Elizabeth presented the palace to her favourite (and likely spouse), Count Aleksey Razumovsky. After his death in 1771, the palace reverted to the crown, but  Catherine the Great of Russia (r. 1762–1796) donated it to her own favourite, Prince Potemkin, in 1776. The architect Ivan Starov was charged with extensive renovations of the palace in the newly-fashionable  Neoclassical style, which were effected in 1778 and 1779. Simultaneously an English garden architect, William Hould, laid out a regular park. 
  Upon Potemkin's demise (1791), the palace was restored to the crown and adapted to accommodate Her Imperial Majesty's Cabinet.
caption: The colonnade of Her Imperial Majesty's Cabinet (designed by Giacomo Quarenghi)
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