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Moving north from the Museum of Ethnography, up Sadovaya ulitsa, you'll come across the idiosyncratic and heavily fortified Mikhail Castle (Mikhaylovskiy zamok; Mon 10am-5pm, Wed-Sun 10am-6pm; $5), begun by Paul I shortly after he came to the throne, to protect him from the assassination attempt he feared. To make way for it he had the wooden palace in which he had been born burnt to the ground, and commissioned Vasiliy Bazhenov to design the castle. In an atmosphere of almost pathological fear, Paul moved into the castle in February 1801, but was murdered in his bedroom there just three weeks later. Now a branch of the Russian Museum, the castle contains displays of portraiture and excellent temporary exhibitions. The Mikhail Garden next door (behind the Russian Museum) is much loved by young lovers, book-readers, football players and all true St Petersburgers for its truly relaxed atmosphere. Between the River Moyka and the Neva embankment, Marsovo pole (the Field of Mars) is a pleasant park, heavy with the scent of lilac in spring. At its northwestern corner lies the costliest palace yet built in the city, the Marble Palace (Mramorniy dvorets; Mon 10am-5pm, Wed-Sun 10am-6pm; $5). Designed by Antonio Rinaldi for Catherine the Great's lover, Count Orlov, the palace is another annexe of the Russian Museum, this time showing works by foreign artists living in Russia in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and contemporary art.
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