Twelve Colleges

The Twelve Colleges was a special structure intended to accommodate the twelve new government institutions founded by Peter the Great – ten ministries or “colleges” and the Senate and Synod. The long eastern facade was designed by Domenico Trezzini with contributions from Giuseppe Trezzini, Mikhail Zemtsov and Theodor Schwertfeger (1722–42). The nearby square was intended to be the administrative centre of the capital on Vasilyevsky Island. A canal running along the facade was dug at the command of Peter I and partially filled in by the mid-eighteenth century. The building was awarded to St Petersburg University (1819) and partially reconstructed by Apollon Schedrin (1834–38).