Castle
Sheremetiev Palace
Fontanka River Embankment, 36, Sankt-Peterburg, 191025
Riverside baroque-and-classical palace where a count secretly married his serf soprano, who died there weeks later.
This guide to Sheremetiev Palace in Saint Petersburg follows Count Nikolai Sheremetev, one of Russia's richest men, and Praskovya, a serf girl trained to sing on his family's private stage until Empress Catherine the Great herself asked to meet her. You'll hear how Nikolai fell for her, why he had a false noble lineage invented before he could marry her, and what it took to free her and her family from serfdom in 1798. Stand by the Fontanka river as the guide traces a secret that Saint Petersburg society was never told.
Audio guides are written and narrated by AI.