Palace of GDss Xenia Aleksandrovna

[Mike]

Is your picture taken from the Moika or from Dekabristov street?  

Neither. It is from within the courtyard that may be entered from Moika, just opposite the New Holland complex. The building can be seen from the enbankment through a fine gate with Xenia's monograms.

[BobG]

Mike,
Thanks so much for the great picture of Xenia's gate.
I cannot imagine how I walked down the Moika embankment looking for her palace and did not see this beautiful gate.  I wonder if it was covered or being restored when I was there in 2002?
I'm really disappointed that the picture I took wasn't Xenia's palace, but at least now I'll know for the future.
Appreciate all your help.
BobG

[Mike]

 I wonder if it was covered or being restored when I was there in 2002?

Very probably. The gate looks suspiciously intact, I think is was installed quite recently.

[Reco]

The Yussupov Palace : view from the roof of the St Isaac's Cathedral. I suppose the Knesia Palace was
in the dirextion I make one X in a "cercle"...

[rgt9w]

Bob G,

Don't feel too terrible. I made the same mistake with the same guidebook that listed Xenia's palace as #108.
I ended up with essentially the same photo as you.

I wish I had found this thread prior to visiting St. Petersburg.

RGT9W

[BobG]

RGT9W
I didn't even see this gate, or the palace behind it, and as I was looking purposefully for a palace, I can't imagine that I would miss it.
I do remember the 108 building seemed in the middle of renovation.  I did walk into the courtyard next to 108 and I can't remember if the small Xenia palace (106) was part of it.  Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos in the courtyard.
Do you remember seeing this gate?
Bob

[rgt9w]

Bob,

I don't remember seeing the gate either. However, the day I was looking for the palace, the street was fairly crowded with teenagers. Perhaps the schools had just let out when I got there. Plus, I was very focused on finding #108 since that was what the guidebook listed as the address. But as you mentioned, the building at #108 looked like a palace, so I assumed it was the correct one. Plus it was undergoing renovation. It wasn't until I returned home that I found out Xenia's palace was located at #106.

If I ever have the opportunity to go back to Petersburg, I'll have to look into this again. Obviously, I missed out.

I will look through my photos to see if I caught the gates on film.

Roy (RGT9W)

[BobG]

Roy,
Exactly my experience.  I've always assumed the photos people were posting of Xenia's palace (the real one) were on the courtyard side of the building I had photographed.  Also, since many address in Russia seem to have double numbers, I assumed the 106/108 wasn't a big deal.
I did get further down the Moika and saw Grand Duke Alexei's palace,  though.  I even went around the back to see the garden facade.  So it wasn't a total loss.
Let me know if you find some pictures of the gate.
Thanks,
Bob

[Arleen_Ristau]

I love the picture taken from the roof of St. Isaac's!!  Can anyone point out any more landmarks??  In the foreground there seems to be a palace or mansion behind the large statue.....and that seems to be a rather large street too.  Anything at all that can be pointed out is so thrilling!!
..Arleen

[rgt9w]

Bob,

I looked through my pictures last night. I had one angled shot down the street, but could not discern the gates to the courtyard. I've noted a couple of people saying the gates to the courtyard sit directly across the New Holland Complex. I remember crossing the street the look at the New Holland Arch. There was a crowd of people on the opposite side of the street. Perhaps they were standing in front of the gates and I didn't realize it.  If memory serves me correctly, the numbering on the street was a little confusing so I was mainly looking for numbers (at the time Building 108  ) and it is possible I walked by it since it set back from the Moika Embankment Roadway. Sorry, I couldn't find a pic of the gates.

Roy

[gleb]

This the extract of a map I found (if someone has a better one....)

As you can see there are the 106 Moika enbankment and under it there is 35 Dekabristov ulitsa.

As far as I have understood Ksenia's palace has two facades, one in the Moika with that marvellious gate and forecourt we saw in the pics. And another one in the Dekabristov ulitsa.
But as the Dekabristov facade is coloured dark brown, that makes me think that maybe it is the main facade of the palace.

Is it possible? Are there pics of this side?

Another thing I notice is how deep the palace must be, as you can see from the map.

What is that structure in the centre of this block?

[Mike]

The Xenia's mansion is not shown at all on this map. The sand-yellow colored area denotes the sports academy's inner territory that contains backyards and several buildings, including the mansion. The pink ellipse is the academy's athletic hall.

[gleb]

Thanks Mike,

In fact I thought that  several buildings were missing in the map. Anyway the palace has the space to be very large and wide.

[Valmont]

The house seems rather small compared to other palaces. This is one thing I do not get. Most palaces are from Grand Dukes and they are HUGE.They were really wealthy and I know Romanov women sometimes married and  left Russia, but what about the ones who stayed and married within Russia?? (were there any?)
On the oher hand,  Sandro was a Wealthy GD and Xenia was also the daugther of an Emperor.... Any  clues why they did not built a bigger palace??

[xirbis]

Valmont, the place is HUGE. The sand-colored building with the porch is just a small part of the Palace. Or, rathewr , not the Palace but a palatial compound...Unlike other GD palaces (Nicholas Palace, New-Michael Palace, Vladimir palace etc.), this one was not erected as a single unit. It is a combination of different buildings, streching over a block - from Angliiskii prospect to Decabristov Ulitca. A kind of a smaller version of Hofburg in Vienna. I visited the place few years ago - rememeber passing it through few inner courtyards sorrounded by the buiding of different height - the structure starts as 1.5 - storey mansion-like building overlooking the main courtyard on Angliiskii Pr. and gradually "grows" to 3-4 storeys buildings toward the Decabristov St.