Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

A Corner of a Foreign Field: The British Embassy in St Petersburg, 1863-1918

2010; Maney Publishing; Volume: 88; Issue: 1-2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/see.2010.0025

2222-4327

Anthony Cross,

Central European and Russian historical studies

At the eastern end of Palace Embankment and facing the Trinity Bridge are two mansions that have been linked of recent decades to form what is now known as the St Petersburg State University of Culture and Arts. Both mansions were built during the reign of Catherine II, the first nearer to the Summer Garden was known as Betskoi's House, the second as Saltykov's and was designed by the renowed Italian architect Giacomo Quarenghi. Saltykov, tutor to the Grand Duke Konstantin, was not the first owner, but the house was to remain in possession of his descendants until the October Revolution. In 1863, however, it was leased by the British Government to become the permanent home of the British Embassy during the ensuing fifty-five years. It is to the history of the house in its various transformations and, above all, to its existence as the British Embassy that the present article is devoted.