Menshikovskiy Dvorets

This guide to the Menshikovskiy Dvorets palace in Saint Petersburg follows Alexander Menshikov, the baker's-son-turned-confidant of Peter the Great who rose to command armies and govern the city. It traces the roughly seventeen years his architects spent raising this lavish palace on the Neva, while accusations of theft and fraud trailed its owner the whole time. Best heard while standing in the gilded rooms that once impressed a touring French visitor.