Builder, Sailor and Hero

The wooden house of the Emperor called “Palace” was built in 1702 on St. Mark’s Island at the mouth of the Northern Dvina River where Peter I spent two months supervising the construction of Novodvinskaya fortress. In 1877, the house was transported to Arkhangelsk and then removed to Kolomenskoe in 1932.

This is the only memorial museum of Peter the Great in Moscow. In the house you can learn about the everyday life of the Emperor and find out in what ways the functional approach to housing had been changing in his times. The construction of the house integrates traditional features of North Russian wooden and Dutch residential architecture.

You will see:

• simple interiors and low doorways;
• a recreated study of Peter I where he was working at a European desk but still kept Russian traditional benches;
• glazed tile stoves of Petrine times;
• European furniture of XVII-XVIII centuries: a Dutch cabinet, carved chairs and tables.

You will find out:

• which items represent the hobbies and interests of Peter I;
• what kitchenware and utensils were in use in the time of the first Russian Emperor;
• what the duties of the Emperor’s orderlies were and how Peter I recruited his servants;
• how milling fabrics helped to retain warmth in the interior apart from their decorative function.