The Mariinsky Palace was built by emperor Nikolay I for his daughter Maria as a gift to her wedding with the duke Maksimilian Lejhtenbergsky. Maksimilian was Eugenie dе Bogarne's son who was Napoleon's stepson. Wedding was on 5th December in 1838.
The place for this palace was chosen opposite the Isaakievsky cathedral, on the bank of the Ekaterina channel. Before there was Tchernyshev's house there. The emperor wanted to build a palace which would differ from others. This palace should become the standard of comfort of that time. The builders used modern technical decisions and applied the modern building materials.