Amusement Palace

The Poteshny Palace, often translated as Amusement or Pleasure Palace, is a small 17th-century palace inside the Moscow Kremlin. Built in 1651 for boyar Ilya Miloslavsky, father-in-law of Tsar Alexei I, it is a classic example of late boyar architecture with a stone ground floor and originally wooden upper storeys. After Miloslavsky's death it passed to the imperial family and was used for theatrical performances and masquerades, hence the name. Heavy 19th-century alterations folded it into the brick complex along the Kremlin wall. The building is closed to the public and visible only from outside via the Alexander Garden, one of the few secular Kremlin structures retaining a genuine 17th-century core.