On 20-21 November 2007, the Menchikov Palace hosted the traditional, annual conference ‘Personalities of Peter the Great's Age, 2007'. Participating in the conference were employees of the State Hermitage Museum, the St. Petersburg Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Science, St. Petersburg University and other museums and scientific research establishments from St. Petersburg, Moscow, Petrozavodsk, Chelyabinsk, and also the Russian Centre for High School Social Studies and the Alexandre Koyré Centre for the History of Science and Technology for High School Social Studies in Paris.

At the conference papers were presented about the search for the grave of A.D. Menshikov (by V.V. Meshcheriakov, V.I. Yelfimov). The personality of Peter the Great and episodes from his reign were discussed in papers by D.Yu. and I.D. Guzevich, M.B. Sverdlova. O.G. Ageeva examined the peculiarities of funeral ceremonies in the Petrine Age. In the papers by Å.À. Andreeva, M.V. Babich, T.A. Bazarova, Å.V. Gusarova, A.G. Kaminskaya, B.S. Makarov and I.A. Novikov the biographies, unknown facts and documents about the particulars of the Petrine period were examined: J.G. Schaedel, P.P. Shafirov, À.À. Vinius, V.I. Gennin, F. de Waal, P.E. Yeropkin and others. P.À. Krotov analysed some unknown details about the naval battle on 7 May 1703. Ì.Yu. Dankov talked about doñuments dating from 1702 which were found while working on the Tsar's Road project. Archaeological research at the Menshikov Palace, Mon Courage, was the theme of a paper by S.Yu. and M.Yu. Kargopoltsev and V.N. Sedykh, while P.E. Sorokin talked about his archaeological findings in the Summer Garden. The programme of allegorically decorating the Grotto of the Summer Garden was included in the paper by N.D. Kareeva. A.E. Ukhnalev dedicated his paper to the history of the Holy Trinity and St Peter's Cathedral. O.G. Kostyuk talked about the history of memorabilia from the State Hermitage Museum Collection: the Casket of Jadwiga Jagiellonka and the Goblet of August the Strong.

At the conference papers were also read by A.A. Mikhaylov, O.S. Andreeva on the history of First Cadet Corps, from 1732 to1918, located in the building of the Menshikov Palace. The paper by A.A. Roshchin and I.V. Saverkina was on a sociological survey carried out at an exposition of the Menshikov Palace.

The material of the conference has been published in another volume of the Work of the State Hermitage Museum.