Governor Palace in Tobolsk
The Governor Palace was built on the site of the Order Chamber at the Tobolsk Kremlin. It was built by Remezov in the Warlord`s part of the Kremlin. It was just there that the governing bodies of the vast Siberian territories were located.
After the Pugachev rebellion Catherine II decided to conduct a reform of provincial administration. It was decided to abolish provinces in the remote part of Siberia. They were replaced by three governorships: Tobolsk, Irkutsk and Kolyvanskoye. Tobolsk vice-regency played a key role in this structure.
Therefore, the construction of the Governor Palace began on the brink of the Alafeyevskaya Gora in 1780. It was officially announced about the establishment of vice-regencies on August 30, 1782. By that time the palace was a whole ready to accommodate the new state governing bodies.
To further stress the importance of Tobolsk governorship in 1782 Catherine II sent to Tobolsk the imperial throne as the symbol of the power of Tobolsk over the vast territories of Siberia. There were only three such throne in Russia – in the Winter Palace of St. Petersburg, at the Moscow Kremlin and at the Tobolsk Kremlin.
However, the governorships didn’t exist too long and already the following emperor, Paul I, abolished them and restored provinces in 1796. And by that time the Governor Palace hadn’t yet been restored after the fire of 1788. The palace was restored only in 1831. It was then rebuilt in the strict style of late classicism and had neither columns nor pilasters nor other decorations.
Presently, the Governor Palace is occupied by the most interesting expositions of the Tobolsk Museum-Reserve. One of the expositions includes the gift of Catherine II — the imperial throne. The ground floor of the museum is devoted to the voivode rule from the conquest of Siberia by Yermak to the second half of 18 century, including the construction conducted by Semen Remezov in Tobolsk. The expositions devoted to the Siberian governorship are on the first floor of the museum.
