The palace in the Tsarskoye Garden was founded in 1744 by order of Empress Elizaveta Petrovna. The baroque design was designed by her court architect, Bartolomeo Rastrelli.
At the end of the 18th century and at the beginning of the 19th century, the palace was the residence of the Kyiv governor-general. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Royal Palace burned down as a result of a series of fires. Half a century later, in 1870, Alexander II commissioned the architect Karl Mayevsky to reconstruct the palace based on old plans and paintings. The project of heating and ventilation of the palace was carried out by engineer F. R. Geshvend. The architect M.A. Kanille took part in the decoration of the palace. After the restoration, it was renamed the Mariinsky in honor of Empress Maria Alexandrovna. At her request, a large park was laid out near the south side of the palace.
During the First World War, the mother of Emperor Nicholas II, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, moved to the Mariinsky Palace, who oversaw the dispatch of ambulance trains and the treatment of the wounded who arrived. She spent two years there until the abdication of her son Emperor Nicholas II, which she learned about in the palace.
The Mariinsky Palace was considered a residence for members of the imperial family visiting Kyiv until 1917.
During the Civil War, the Mariinsky Palace was used as a military headquarters. In the late 1920s, the building belonged to an agricultural school, later it became a museum. During the Great Patriotic War, the palace was badly damaged and was restored in the late 1940s.
From 2007 until January 2018, the palace was under reconstruction. The first event after the renovation was completed was the annual diplomatic reception of the President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, with the participation of the heads of diplomatic missions of foreign states and international organizations accredited in Ukraine.