The Menshikov Palace was built between 1710 and 1727 on the orders of Prince Aleksandr Menshikov, the first governor of St Petersburg, making it one of the oldest surviving buildings in the city. It first became a museum in the 1880s, but this was closed in 1924. After the building was extensively restored, it was reopened as a museum in 1981 as part of the State Hermitage Museum displaying the palace's interior and items of the Russian emperors and noble families, including items confiscated from Aleksandr Menshikov after his fall from grace.