Antonio Rinaldi designed the palace, which Catherine the Great gave to Count Grigory Orlov. Construction began in 1768 and lasted 17 years, finishing in 1785. It is one of the first Neoclassical palaces in Saint Petersburg, with a trapezoidal plan and four symmetrical but differently designed facades.
The ground floor is rough Finnish granite, and the pilasters are polished pink Karelian marble. White Urals marble was used for the capitals and festoons, and 32 marble shades appear in all. Fedot Shubin and Mikhail Kozlovsky worked on the decoration.
Alexander Brullov redecorated it in 1843, and only the main staircase and the Marble Hall survived that work. It was the Lenin Museum from 1937 to 1991. It now hosts permanent exhibitions of the Russian State Museum, and the article gives no visiting details.
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