Among suburban palatial-park ensembles of Leningrad the palaces-museums of the town of Lomonosov take a special place. Neither beauty of Peterhof, nor refined magnificence of Pushkin, restrained nobleness of Pavlovsk cannot be compared to elegant charm of the palaces of Oranienbaum.

Breath of time, charm of antiquity and, the most important, authenticity – this is that gives them incomparable originality. Reserved during the Great Patriotic War owing to the defenders of the legendary Oranienbaum "patch", happily avoided the sad destiny of all other suburbs of Leningrad destroyed by fascists, the palaces of Lomonosov town (former Oranienbaum) are alive witnesses of the highest achievements of Russian national culture of the XVIII century. Lomonosov - the modern name of the town – was given to it in 1948 in honour of the great Russian scientist Mikhail Vasilievich Lomonosov founded a stained glass factory near Oranienbaum, in the village Ust-Ruditsa in 1754 . Creation of the palatial-park ensemble goes back to the beginning of the XVIII century. In 1710 on the southern coast of the gulf of Finland , forty kilometers from Petersburg, close to Peterhof, Alexander Danilovich Menshikov, a large statesman and an associate of Peter the Great, begins construction of his residence, which did not yielded to Peterhof in scale and pomp. The Great Palace was completed in 1727.

At the time of construction of the palace, the park was started, subsequently received the name of the Lower, - a characteristic sample of regular parks created in Russia in the first half of the XVIII century in French style. Menshikov named his estate Oranienbaum meaning “orange tree” if to translate from German (orange -orange, baut-tree).
The large village grown not far from the palace manor populated mainly by "working people", in 1780 was transformed into the chief town of a uyezd. The city was given the emblem: a tree with orange fruit on a silver shield.

After disgrace of Knyaz Menshikov palace construction stopped and was resumed only in the beginning of 1740th, when Oranienbaum becomes an aestival ceremonial residence of the Grand duke Peter Fedorovich (the future emperor Peter III), declared the heir to the throne by the empress Elizaveta Petrovna. But construction work reached its biggest scope in 50-70s of the XVIII century, during creation of the so-called Upper park and palace constructions in its territory. These years under the projects of Antonio Rinaldi (1709-1796) the amusing fortress Peterstadt with the palace (Peter's III palace ), included in its complex was built for the Grand duke Peter Fedorovich, and the ensemble of the" Proper residence" with the Chinese Palace and Rolling hills for the empress Ekaterina II was under construction.
Sensitive to spirit of the times, the architect A. Rinaldi in the palace constructions in Oranienbaum extraordinary tactfully managed to combine features of archaic celebratory, brilliant baroque with nobleness, restraint and strict logic of classicism. In architecture and decor of Oranienbaum palaces the style developed in the West of the Europe, - rococo (from the French term "rocaille" - a bowl, a curl) was reflected.

During the Great Patriotic War Oranienbaum suffered greatly: in September, 1941 the town was surrounded by fascists and during two years and a half was cut off from Leningrad and blocked from land. Nevertheless the legendary Oranienbaum "patch" became the major strategic bridgehead of the Soviet armies joined the troops attacked from Pulkov in the area of Ropsha in January 20, 1943. The blockade ring was broken off.

In the first months of the war the most valuable art collections of museums were evacuated to hinterland. Unique palaces and parks suffered very slightly owing to courage of the defenders of Oranienbaum “patch".

At once after the Great Patriotic War was completed restoration work began in palaces and parks of Oranienbaum. In June 9, 1946 the Upper Park, then the Chinese Palace-museum, in 1953 the palace of Peter III, and in 1959 – the pavilion of the Rolling hill were opened to visitors.
Restoration work was conducted under direction of Leningrad architects K. D. Halturin, A. E. Gessen, I. N. Benua, I. I. Varakin, E. V. Kazanskaya. Special merits in this noble business belong to the architect M. M. Plotnikov, awarded the title of Laureate of State Prize.