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Aleksandr Menshikov The First Governor of St.
Petersburg On the occasion of the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg, in the Menshikov Palace was opened an exhibition dedicated to Aleksandr Menshikov, the first Governor and organizer of the construction of the Northern capital, presented by the Hermitage and the St. Petersburg Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The exhibition shows unique documents telling about the construction history of the city from its inception (building of the earthen fortress of Petersburg, procurement of materials and workers, etc.), including the participation of the first military commandant Carl E. Renne, senior commandant Roman W. Bruce, heads of the City Chancellery Ulian A. Senyavin and Ulian M. Cherkassky, Vice-governors Yakov N. Rimsky-Korsakov and S.T. Klokachev, Admiral General Fiodor M. Apraksin who was in charge of the Admiralty construction, Vice-admiral Korniliy I. Cruis, Admiral Advisor Alexander V. Kikin, I.Ya. Yakovlev who after 1705 supervised the Admiralty’s work in St. Petersburg, Colonel S.M. Golenishchev-Kutuzov who was in charge of the construction of Peterhof and architects Nicolo Michetti and Carl-Bartolomeo Rastrelli, till 1725, and the Governor’s role in it. Construction of the new capital may be traced from 1706 due to various printed and handwritten drawings and plans of St. Petersburg including a detailed plan of the area along the rivers Karpovka and Malaya Neva dating from 1724, which has never before been displayed. Autographs of Peter I deserve special mention, including his order to Major General Count L.I. Ushakov to assign three battalions for work in the Admiralty, Kronstadt and on the Vasilyevsky Island with the handwritten postscript “Or it might be better to reserve the third. Peter.” Aleksandr Menshikov’s autographs include his order to A. Gudovich with the Prince’s well-preserved red wax stamp on a pink silk ribbon of 1721. The shipbuilder’s certificate of the East India Company issued to Menshikov in 1698 and the 1706 diploma for the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire are especially noteworthy. A little-known portrait of Aleksandr Menshikov will be delivered from the Narva Museum (Estonia) specially for the jubilee exhibition. The illustrated catalogue of the exhibition prepared by the Hermitage has been published by ARS. It includes an introduction written by the Hermitage Director Mikhail B. Piotrovsky, articles about Aleksandr Danilovich Menshikov as a builder of St. Petersburg and his palace, and a review of documents preserved at the Russian National Archive of History and other Russian archives related to Menshikov’s construction activities. |
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