View of the Mariinsky Palace, also known as the Marie Palace, on the south side of St Isaac's Square, St Petersburg, Russia. It was built between 1839 and 1844 for Emperor Nicholas I as a wedding present for his daughter, the Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna. It later became a government building, housing at various times the State Council of Imperial Russia, the State Chancellery, the Soviet of Ministers, the Council of the Russian Republic (also known as the pre-parliament), the Leningrad Soviet, and (currently) the Saint Petersburg Legislative Assembly.