Strelna, one of the oldest suburbs of St. Petersburg, is located in 19 kilometers from the city, on the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland

In the years of the Swedish dominion on this place there was a baronial estate under the name Strelingof. After during Northern war Ingermanlandiya has departed to Russia, the estate Strelingof (or "Strelina Myza" as the estate in "The marching magazine" of Pyotr is called) has passed into personal property of the Russian tsar. In 1707 in Strelna the wooden Putevoy palace has been built.
   Inspired by picturesque vicinities of Strelna, Petr has conceived to create here, as well as in Petergof, the country residence which had to surpass the most known residences of the European monarchs in magnificence. It was planned to build in Strelna the magnificent palace, to arrange cascades, grottoes, to lay out a huge garden. Projects of future residence were developed by the famous architects Jean-Baptiste Le Blond and Bartolomeo Rastrelli, but, having attentively got acquainted with both options, Peter I has preferred more courageous project of Le Blond. The architect has vigorously started working, but in 1719 has suddenly died. He was replaced by Niccolo Michetti invited to Russia in 1718 at whom in 1720 construction of the Strelninsky palace has begun. In 1723 Michetti has left home, and already Russian architects led by M. Zemtsov completed the palace according to his plans