A man was detained in St. Petersburg after illegally entering the Russian Museum – Incidents
SAINT PETERSBURG, November 5. / TASS /. Employees of the Russian Guard in St. Petersburg detained a man who illegally entered the chapel of the Mikhailovsky Castle (part of the State Russian Museum). The alleged purpose of the man was to commit theft, the press service of the Rosgvardia State Administration for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region reported on Friday.
“Together with the arriving detachment of the Russian National Guard’s pursuit officer, a 27-year-old citizen was detained at the scene of the incident, breaking the door, presumably with the intent of stealing,” the message says.
The Rosgvardia clarified that the man was taken to the territorial police department. He was detained at six o’clock in the morning by employees of the Okhrana Federal State Unitary Enterprise, who provide security for the Mikhailovsky Castle. They promptly opened the entrance of an unknown person into the church and pressed the alarm button.
As the press service of the State Russian Museum told TASS, the burglar damaged the historic doors of the church. “The museum curators inspected the exposition of the Church of the Archangel Michael: the historical doors were damaged, the interior and museum items were not damaged,” said a press officer.
The Mikhailovsky (Engineering) castle was built at the end of the 18th century in the center of St. Petersburg next to the Summer Garden for Emperor Paul I, but remained an imperial residence for only 40 days – the creator of the castle was killed there in March 1801. After that, the ceremonial chambers of the palace were adapted for various departmental institutions. The Russian Museum received the Mikhailovsky Castle in 1994, restored part of the premises and placed an exposition in them. In April 2018, the Central Naval Library, which occupied the state rooms, moved from the Engineering Castle, and by 2021 they were also restored.
The home church of the Archangel Michael was founded together with the castle in 1797, in 1800 the construction was completed. After 1917, the church was closed, all items of its decoration entered the museum fund. In the 1920s, the building was used as a warehouse for the Military Engineering School, but it has retained its original architectural design and, to a degree, the original interior decoration to this day. On November 25, 2019, the church was opened for visiting along with other museum halls of the Engineering Castle, except for the time of church services.