Petroff Palace

The Petrovsky Palace on the northern edge of Moscow was the southernmost of the imperial travel palaces along the road from St. Petersburg to Moscow. Catherine the Great had it built from 1776 to 1780 by Matvei Kazakov in the then-novel Russian Neo-Gothic style: red brick walls, white stone trim, turrets and crenellations that looked romantically medieval but were constructed on neoclassical principles. Here the tsar and court rested before the ceremonial entry into Moscow. In 1812 Napoleon quartered himself here for four nights when the Kremlin became uninhabitable during the burning of Moscow. Today the palace is an event and reception venue of the City of Moscow and houses a small design hotel; the exterior is freely accessible within its surrounding park.