The Mint Works – one of St. Petersburg’s oldest industrial facilities – was founded in the Peter and Paul Fortress in 1724 by order of Peter I.

Originally the “barracks for disseminating the mint business” were in he Ramparts between the Catherine and Trubetskoy Bastions. In 1798-1806 a special building was erected to accommodate the Mint Works.

The drawing made by the architect A.Porto survived thus allowing to acknowledge him as the author of the design.

The central two-storey section of the building crowned by a triangular pediment is higher than the side wings topped by the round towers with flattened domes. The peculiar and magnificent design of the facade as well as the skillful layout of the whole building make the Mint Works on of the best specimens of the Russian industrial architecture of the 18th century.

The rooms on the ground floor of the central section and in left-hand side corner towers have vaulted ceilings, in the second half of the 19th century iron beams were introduced.

The Mint Works produced gold, silver and copper coins as well as medals. In the 18th century such outstanding medal-makers as S.Yudin, T.Ivanov, V.Krayukhin, etc. worked there.

The Mint Works had a great influence on the development of technology in Russia. Closely associated with it are the names of many scholars and inventors: A.Nartov, I.Schlatter, I.Nevedomsky, P.Sobolevsky, B.Jakobi, etc.