The palace standing on the intersection of the Moika and Nevsky Prospekt is known as the Stroganov Palace as it was built for the rich and successful Stroganov dynasty of merchants who financed Russia's conquest of Siberia.  The Stroganovs had owned this piece of land since the 1720s but the current version of the palace was built for Count Sergei Stroganov between 1753 and 1754 according to designs by architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli.  

The palace remained in the hands of the Stroganovs right until it was nationalised by the Bolshevik government after the Revolution.  It was initially turned into a branch of the State Hermitage, but in 1926 the building was given to the Academy of Sciences and then the Department of Defence. 

In 1988 a decision was made to give the building to the Russian Museum and in 2003, after much restoration work was carried out on its interiors, it was reopened as a branch of the Russian Museum displaying artwork from the Stroganov collection as well as the beautifully restored interiors themselves.