Inside Mariinskyi Palace, the official residence of Ukraine’s Zelenskyy where he hosted PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in Ukraine today.

Modi has travelled to Kyiv at the invitation of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

He is the first Indian prime minister to travel to Ukraine since the two countries established relations in 1992.

The seven-hour trip comes in the backdrop of the Ukraine-Russia war and amid Kyiv making a fresh offensive into Russia.

Modi and Zelenskyy will meet face-to-face and discuss bilateral issues.

India and Ukraine will also hold high-level delegation talks.

Modi’s trip also comes weeks after his high-profile visit to Moscow during which he held extensive talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

But what do we know about Mariinskyi Palace**,** the place where the two leaders will meet? And what about its Indian connection?

Let’s take a closer look:

As per Britannica, the Mariinsky Palace was constructed from 1747-1755 for Empress Elizabeth of Russia.

Elizabeth was the daughter of Peter I The Great and Catherine I.

As per Indian Express, it is located on the right bank of the Dnipro River in Kyiv.

The Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian Parliament, is right next to it.

Mariinsky Palace was built in the Baroque-style by famed architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli, according to the Kyiv tourism website.

Rastrelli modelled his design on the palace of Alexey Razumovsky.

As per Indian Express, Elizabeth passed away before the palace was reconstructed.

Instead, it was her niece-in-law, Empress Catherine II, who became the first senior member of the royal family to live in the palace.

The palace was also used as a residence by other members of the imperial family.

It also served as residence of the Governors-General.

However, a series of fires left it gutted and abandoned for nearly half a century.

In 1870, Emperor Alexander II had the palace rebuilt by architect Konstantin Mayevsky.

The architect used old drawings and watercolours as a reference.

The palace was owned by the royal family until the October Revolution in 1917.

As per Indian Express, during the Russian civil war from 1917 to 1920 the palace was used as the headquarters of the Kyiv revolutionary committee.

It was also converted into a museum.

The palace was extensively damaged in World War II and underwent another reconstruction.

The Tsar (City) Garden later came up around the palace as did Mariinskyi Park.

It was given a new name in honour of Maria Alexandrovna – the wife of Emperor Alexander II – on whose urging the park was built.

It later became a designated place to hold ceremonial receptions.

“It is the face of our country,” city guide and historian Lyolya Filimonova told Kyiv Post. “How it was built is hard for us to imagine because nothing original has remained.”

The palace now serves as the official residence of the president of Ukraine.

What about its Indian connection?

The palace is the place where the Oscar winning song Nattu-Nattu from the movie RRR was shot.

Nattu-Nattu won best original song at the 95th Academy Awards in 2023.

The scene was shot at the palace shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine.

The filmmakers originally planned to shoot the song in India but had to look for a different location due to the onset of the monsoon.

As per Femina.in, the filmmakers were granted permission to shoot at the location because Zelenskyy was an actor himself.

Business Today quoted actor Ram Charan as saying the song took 15 days to shoot on location.

Filmmaker SS Rajamouli told Vanity Fair, “I thought I would have to look for some other location as it was the presidential palace, but they said ‘It is Ukraine, you can get the job done.’ I’m so thankful to the Ukrainian team. The colours of the palace, the size of the palace, the size of the ground for the dancers to be there was the exact right size.”

With inputs from agencies