Stroganov Palace is magnificent decoration of the Nevsky Prospect. It was built in the middle of the 18th century by the Royal Architect Francesco-Bartholomeo Rastrelli, while the interiors were created by the outstanding Russian architects F.Demertsov, A.Voronikhin, G.Bosse. In 1842 by the order of Princess Elizaveta Saltykova on the southern part of the palace the architect Harold Bosse designed some chambers in Empress Elizabeth's style including the Large (Ball) Room. The palace was reconstructed many times during next two centuries. An extensive art collection of the Stroganovs, including masterpieces by Anthony van Dyck, Nicolas Poussin, Lorraine, Harmensz van Rijn Rembrandt and other famous European masters, as well as the significant collections of minerals, medals and coins, was dispersed after the revolution across various museum, some paintings from the Picture Gallery were sold on the auction in Berlin in 1931.

In 1918 the palace was nationalized and  turned into the " people's house-museum (former Stroganov)"and the formation of expositions was commissioned to the State Hermitage museum. In 1989 the Stroganov Palace was given to the State Russian museum and restoration works were started. After the reconstruction the Stroganov Palace recovered his original appearance. Nowadays, in the Stroganov Palace is opened the Grand Ballroom which has a unique interior created by Rastrelli, besides the permanent and temporary exhibitions of art from the collection of the Russian Museum and other collections are displayed here.