Picture House

The Picture House in Lomonosov is one of the two symmetrical "lower" wings of the ensemble of the Grand Oranienbaum Palace, built at the fence of the Lower Garden. In its eastern wing was located the Opera Hall — the first court theater of the residence of Grand Duke Peter Fyodorovich, where the premieres of operas by Francesco Araja and Vincenzo Manfredini took place in 1755 and 1760. After the construction of the new Opera House by Rastrelli, the wing housed a Kunstkammer, a library, and a picture gallery, which gave it its modern name. Thanks to the inventories of Jacob Staehlin from 1762, five paintings from Peter Fyodorovich's collection were returned to their historical places in the building; this collection in the mid-18th century numbered 158 works and was the largest palace collection.