Board of Foreign Affairs

In the 1750s, this place belonged to Prince B.A. Kurakin. For him, architect M.A. Bashmakov built a large two-story house on the embankment and an exterior wall on Galernaya Street. Its facade was distinguished by magnificent ornaments. The parapets and pediments were decorated with statues and trophies. The entrance to the courtyard from Galernaya Street was decorated in the form of a gate with columns. Later, the building was taken over by the State Treasury, which housed the Board of Foreign Affairs. The building facing the Promenade des Anglais housed the Secretariat and the Office of the Prime Minister, while the wing facing Galernaya Street housed staff apartments. The building was reconstructed for the University of Foreign Affairs; in 1782-1783, architect D. Quarenghi removed the Baroque ornament of the facade. The walls were smoothly plastered, and the center of the facade was decorated with a colonnade of eight Ionic columns. In 1802, the Collegium was transformed into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.