The palace was built to the design of Carlo Rossi in 1825 for the Grand Duke Michael - the son of the Tsar Paul the First. The Russian Museum was opened in The Michael Palace, by decree of the Tsar Nicholas the Second, on March 7(19) 1898.

The State Russian Museum contains the world's largest collection of Russian fine art. The Museum collection consists of oil paintings, sculptures, graphics and applied arts. About 1500 units came chiefly from the Hermitage, the Museum of the Academy of Arts and from Royal palaces. The Russian Museum collection was almost doubled in size during the first ten years of its existence.

Academy of Arts also transferred its collection of Christians antiques - five thousands units - including Novgorod's icons, wooden sculpture and examples of middle-centuries church art. The presented Lobanov-Rostovsky collection included the 95 portraits of Russian statesman of the 18-19 centuries. Another source of acquisitions was the collection housed at the Alexander I Palace in Tsarskoye Selo (later it was added by the collection from Anichkov Palace).

It is necessary to say that the Russian Museum did not suffer from the October Revolution. All the nationalized private collections and individual works were placed in the charge of museums. During first decade after the Revolution the Russian Museum collection, including its picture gallery, were enlarge several times over their original size. In our days the collection of the Russian Museum numbers some 400,000 works and covers the entire history of Russian fine art from the tenth century to the present day. It reflects virtually every form and genre of art in Russia, including a unique collection of Old Russian icons, works of painting, graphic art and sculpture, decorative and applied art, folk art and numismatics, as well as the world's finest collection of Russian avant-garde.