Menshikov Palace on Kotlin Island

Francesco Fontana began building up the south-east of Kotlin Island (1712). Besides the three-storey Palace of Peter I (burnt down in the late 18th century), one of the first buildings on the island was Prince Alexander Menshikov’s Italian Palace, designed by Francesco Fontana and, probably, Johann Friedrich Braunstein (1711–16). Matched the prince’s other residences on Vasilyevsky Island and at Oranienbaum in luxury and opulence. After Menshikov’s arrest, awarded to the Navigational College (1727) and the Naval Academy (1771). Paul I returned the Naval Academy to St Petersburg (December 1776) and the palace was restored to the Navigational College. Rebuilt at the command of Nicholas I (1843). The Navigational College was merged with the Engineering College (1872) and the building became known as the Emperor Nicholas I School of Naval Engineering on its centenary (1898).