The Senate and Synod Building is the former headquarters of the

Governing Senate From 1711 to 1917, the Governing Senate was the highest legislative, judicial, and executive body subordinate to the Russian emperors. The senate was instituted by Peter the Great to replace the Boyar Duma and lasted until the very end of the R ...

and the

Most Holy Synod The Most Holy Governing Synod (, pre-reform orthography: ) was the highest governing body of the Russian Orthodox Church between 1721 and 1917. It was abolished following the February Revolution of 1917 and replaced with a restored patriar ...

of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

in the Senate Square, Central

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

and the current headquarters of the Russian Constitutional Court and

Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library () is one of the three national Libraries in Russia. Located in St. Petersburg, its focus is on electronic collections on all topics Russian, not just the life of its namesake. Established in May 2009 by then ...

History

Both the Senate and Synod originally occupied the building of the

Twelve Collegia The Twelve Collegia or Twelve Colleges () is the largest Petrine Baroque, edifice from the Petrine era remaining in Saint Petersburg. It was designed by Domenico Trezzini and Theodor Schwertfeger and built from 1722 to 1744.300 years of Saint Pe ...

. The first building on the current site of these institutions was the

half-timbered Timber framing () and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy Beam (structure), timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and Woodworking joints, joined timbers with joints secure ...

house of Prince

Alexander Menshikov Alexander Menshikov may refer to: * Alexander Danilovich Menshikov (1673–1729), Russian statesman * Alexander Sergeyevich Menshikov (1787–1869), Finnish-Russian nobleman * Alexander Alexandrovich Menshikov Prince Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Mens ...

, who fell from grace and saw his house on the

Neva The Neva ( , ; , ) is a river in northwestern Russia flowing from Lake Ladoga through the western part of Leningrad Oblast (historical region of Ingria) to the Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland. Despite its modest length of , it is the fourth- ...

Embankment (on the portion now known as the

English Embankment The English Embankment (; ''Angliyskaya Naberezhnaya'') or English Quay is a street along the left bank of the Bolshaya Neva River in Central Saint Petersburg. It has been historically one of the most fashionable streets in Saint Petersburg, and ...

) become the property of Vice-Chancellor

Andrey Osterman Count Andrey Ivanovich Ostermann (, ; 9 June 1686 31 May 1747) was a German-born Russian statesman who came to prominence under Tsar Peter I of Russia () and served until the accession of the Tsesarevna Elizabeth in 1741. He based his foreign ...

. In 1744,

Empress Elizabeth Elizabeth or Elizaveta Petrovna (; ) was Empress of Russia from 1741 until her death in 1762. She remains one of the most popular Russian monarchs because of her decision not to execute a single person during her reign, her numerous constructio ...

granted the house to Chancellor Alexey Bestuzhev-Ryumin, who had a

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

building erected for himself. After the accession of

Catherine the Great Catherine II. (born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst; 2 May 172917 November 1796), most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter I ...

, Bestuzhev-Ryumin's house passed to the treasury and the Senate took up residence there, having been rebuilt by architect Alexander Vista. During the 1780s and 1790s, Bestuzhev's Baroque house was rebuilt once again, with its facades receiving a new, classicist architectural treatment. The name of the architect who designed the building reconstruction project is unknown. Based on the drawing of the western façade of the building, which is preserved in the collection of the Museum of the

Russian Academy of Arts Russian Academy of Arts (RAA / rus. РАХ, Росси́йская акаде́мия худо́жеств) is the State scientific Institution of Russian Federation, eligible heir to the USSR Academy of Arts. A founder of RAA is the Governmen ...

, it is believed that the project was created by architect

Ivan Starov Ivan Yegorovich Starov (; 23 February 1745 – 17 April 1808) was a Russian architect from Saint Petersburg, St. Petersburg who devised the master plans for Yaroslavl, Voronezh, Pskov, Dnipro, Mykolaiv, and many other towns in Russia and Ukr ...

. In 1806–1823, with the construction of the Admiralty Building, the previous buildings on Senate Square no longer matched the new appearance. There was a need for reconstruction and a competition was held for the design of new buildings for the Senate and Synod.Здание Правительствующего Сената
на сайте Citywalls.ru On 24 August 1829, construction of the Senate building began, and in 1830, that of the Synod buildings. Construction was completed in 1834 under the supervision of architect Alexander Staubert and designed by Carlo Rossi. From 1925 to 2006, the building was used as headquarters of the Russian State Historical Archive. In December 2005, the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg proposed using the Senate and Synod building for a highest court headquarters or a museum. This idea was initially proposed by then- speaker of the

Federation Council The Federation Council, unofficially Senate, is the upper house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, with the lower house being the State Duma. It was established by the Constitution of the Russian Federation in 1993. Each of the 89 federal s ...

Sergey Mironov Sergey Mikhailovich Mironov (; born 14 February 1953) is a Russian politician. He served as Chairman of the Federation Council (Russia), Chairman of the Federation Council of Russia, Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian parliam ...

, in October of that year. On March 22, 2006, the

State Duma The State Duma is the lower house of the Federal Assembly (Russia), Federal Assembly of Russia, with the upper house being the Federation Council (Russia), Federation Council. It was established by the Constitution of Russia, Constitution of t ...

adopted a law in the first reading to transfer the

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ru ...

from

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

to St. Petersburg. On 27 May 2008, the first session of the Constitutional Court took place in the Senate and Synod building. In May 2008, a project to reconstruct the former Synod building was unveiled to house the

. As part of the project, the library provided for the possible placement of

patriarchal Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of authority are primarily held by men. The term ''patriarchy'' is used both in anthropology to describe a family or clan controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males, and in fem ...

chambers and apartments for the

President of Russia The president of Russia, officially the president of the Russian Federation (), is the executive head of state of Russia. The president is the chair of the State Council (Russia), Federal State Council and the President of Russia#Commander-in-ch ...

, with separate entrances leading to the recreated general presence hall for meetings between secular and religious authorities. The library was opened on 27 May 2009, and since then the building has housed the Patriarch's office, as well as a representative area for the Russian president, including an office and a reception room. On the same day, Patriarch Kirill performed a minor consecration ceremony for the restored house church of the Seven Ecumenical Councils and presided over a session of the

Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church () serves by Church statute as the supreme administrative governing body of the Russian Orthodox Church in the periods between Bishops' Councils. Members Chairman * Kirill – Patriarch of ...

for the first time since it had been held in the Synod building during the synodal era.В Санкт-Петербурге под председательством Святейшего Патриарха Кирилла открылось заседание Священного Синода Русской Православной Церкви
patrirchia.Ru 27 May 2009.

Interior

File:Центральная лестница.jpg, The Grand Staircase File:Большой Конференц-зал Библиотеки им. Б.Н. Ельцина.jpg, The Great Conference Room File:Конференц-зал Библиотеки им. Б.Н. Ельцина.jpg, The Conference Room File:Putin in the Constitutional Court.jpg, The Courtroom

References

{{Coord, 59, 56, 09, N, 30, 18, 02, E, type:landmark, display=title Cultural heritage monuments of federal significance in Saint Petersburg 1834 establishments in the Russian Empire Tourist attractions in Saint Petersburg Buildings and structures in Saint Petersburg Government buildings completed in 1834 Neoclassical architecture in Russia Carlo Rossi buildings and structures

History

Interior

See also

References