Where is the winter palace in which city. Winter Palace. Interiors of the Winter Palace

The largest palace building in St. Petersburg is the Winter Palace. The large size and magnificent decoration make it possible to rightfully classify the Winter Palace as one of the most striking monuments of the St. Petersburg Baroque. “The Winter Palace as a building, as a royal dwelling, perhaps has nothing like it in the whole. With its vastness, with its architecture, it depicts a powerful people that has so recently entered the environment of educated nations, and with its inner splendor it reminds of that inexhaustible life that boils in the interior of Russia ... The Winter Palace for us is a representative of everything domestic, Russian, ours, ”- so V.A. Zhukovsky wrote about the Winter Palace.

History of the Winter Palace

Varfolomey Varfolomeevich (Bartolomeo Francesca) Rastrelli (1700-1771) - the largest representative of Russian baroque. By origin. In 1716 he came with his father to Petersburg. Studied abroad. In 1730-1760 he was appointed court architect. His brainchildren include the Cathedral of the Smolny Monastery, the Grand Palace in Peterhof (now Peterhof), the Great Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo, the Strogonov Palace, the Vorontsov Palace and, of course, the Winter Palace.

The Winter Palace was built immediately with the goal that it would be the main residence of the kings. The palace was built "for the united glory of all Russia," Rastrelli emphasized. While the palace was being built, the royal court was located in a temporary wooden palace built by Rastrelli in 1755 at the corner of Nevsky Prospekt and the Moika Embankment. In 1754 the project of the palace was approved. Its construction lasted eight long years, which fell on the decline of the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna and the short reign of Peter III. In the autumn of 1763, Catherine II returned from Moscow to St. Petersburg after the coronation celebrations and became the sovereign mistress of the new palace.

At first, the Winter Palace was built as a small two-story house, covered with tiles, with two ledges along the edges and a central entrance. But later another floor was added.

The construction of the Winter Palace required a huge amount of money and a huge number of workers. About 4 thousand people worked at this construction site. The best masters from all over the country were gathered here.

Construction was completed in 1762, but for a long time, work was still underway to finish the interior. Interior decoration was entrusted to the best Russian architects Yu. M. Felten, J. B. Vallin-Delamot and A. Rinaldi.

In the 1780s-1790s, I.E. Starov and G. Quarenghi continued the work on altering the interior decoration of the palace. In general, the palace was remodeled and rebuilt an incredible number of times. Each new architect tried to bring something of his own, sometimes destroying what had already been built.

Galleries with arches ran along the entire lower floor. Galleries connected all parts of the palace. The rooms on the sides of the galleries were of a service nature. There were pantries, a guardroom, employees of the palace lived.

The ceremonial halls and living quarters of members of the imperial family were located on the second floor and were built in the Russian Baroque style - huge halls flooded with light, double rows of large windows and mirrors, lush rococo decor. The apartments of the courtiers were mainly located on the upper floor.

The palace was destroyed many times. For example, a strong fire on December 17-19, 1837 almost completely destroyed the beautiful decoration of the Winter Palace, from which only a charred skeleton remained. The interiors of Rastrelli, Quarenghi, Montferrand, Rossi perished. Restoration work continued for two years. They were led by architects V.P. Stasov and A.P. Bryullov. According to the order of Nicholas I, the palace was to be restored the same as it was before the fire. However, not everything was so easy to do, for example, only some interiors, created or restored after the fire of 1837 by A.P. Bryullov, have come down to us in their original form.

At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century, the interior design was constantly changing and adding new elements. Such, in particular, are the interiors of the chambers of Empress Maria Alexandrovna, wife of Alexander II, created according to the designs of G. A. Bosse (Red Boudoir) and V.A. Schreiber (Golden Living Room), as well as the library of Nicholas II (author A.F. Krasovsky). Among the renovated interiors, the most interesting was the decoration of the Nicholas Hall, which contained a large equestrian portrait of Emperor Nicholas I by the artist F. Kruger.

For a long time the Winter Palace was the residence of Russian emperors. After the assassination of Alexander II by terrorists, Emperor Alexander III moved his residence to Gatchina. From that moment on, only especially solemn ceremonies were held in the Winter Palace. With the accession to the throne of Nicholas II in 1894, the imperial family returned to the palace again.

The most significant changes in the history of the Winter Palace took place in 1917, along with the coming of the Bolsheviks to power. A lot of valuables were stolen and damaged by sailors and workers while the palace was under their control. A direct hit by a shell fired from a cannon of the Peter and Paul Fortress damaged the former quarters of Alexander III. Only a few days later, the Soviet government declared the Winter Palace and the Hermitage to be state museums and took the buildings under protection. Soon, valuable palace property and the Hermitage collections were sent to Moscow and hidden in and in the building of the Historical Museum.

In 1918, part of the premises of the Winter Palace was given over to the Museum of the Revolution, which led to the reorganization of their interiors. The Romanov Gallery was completely liquidated, in which there were portraits of sovereigns and members of the Romanov dynasty. Many chambers of the palace were occupied by a reception center for prisoners of war, a children's colony, a headquarters for arranging mass celebrations, etc. The armorial hall was used for theatrical performances, the Nikolaevsky hall was converted into a cinema. In addition, congresses and conferences of various public organizations were repeatedly held in the halls of the palace.

When the Hermitage and Palace collections returned from Moscow to Petrograd at the end of 1920, there was simply no place for many of them. As a result, hundreds of paintings and sculptures were used to decorate the mansions and apartments of party, Soviet and military leaders, holiday homes for officials and their families. Since 1922, the premises of the Winter Palace began to be gradually transferred to the Hermitage.

The Winter Palace was seriously damaged during the war. Shells and bombs damaged the Small Throne or Petrovsky Hall, destroyed part of the Armorial Hall and the ceiling of the Rastrelli Gallery, and damaged the Jordan Stairs. Restoration work required huge efforts, stretched out for many years.

Features of the structure of the Winter Palace

The palace was conceived and built in the form of a closed quadrangle, with a vast courtyard. The Winter Palace is rather large and clearly stands out from the surrounding houses.

Countless white columns now gather in groups (especially picturesque and expressive at the corners of the building), then thin out and part, opening windows framed with platbands with lion masks and cupids' heads. There are dozens of decorative vases and statues on the balustrade. The corners of the building are lined with columns and pilasters.

Each facade of the Winter Palace is made in its own way. The northern façade, facing the Neva, stretches like a more or less even wall, without noticeable ledges. The southern façade, overlooking the Palace Square and having seven articulations, is the main one. Its center is cut by three entrance arches. Behind them is the main courtyard, where in the middle of the northern building there used to be the main entrance to the palace. Of the side facades, the western one is more interesting, facing the Admiralty and the square, on which Rastrelli planned to place the equestrian statue of Peter I cast by his father. Each architraves decorating the palace is unique. This is due to the fact that the mass, consisting of a mixture of crushed bricks and lime mortar, was cut and processed by hand carvers. All stucco decorations of the facades were made on the spot.

The Winter Palace was always painted in bright colors. The original color of the palace was pink-yellow, as evidenced by drawings from the 18th and first quarter of the 19th century.

From the interior of the palace, created by Rastrelli, the Jordan Staircase and partly the Great Church have preserved the baroque appearance. The front staircase is located in the northeast corner of the building. It contains various decorative details - columns, mirrors, statues, intricate gilded stucco, a huge ceiling created by Italian painters. Divided into two solemn marches, the staircase led to the main, northern enfilade, which consisted of five large halls, behind which there was a huge Throne Hall in the northwestern risalit, and the Palace Theater in the southwestern part.

The Great Church, located in the southeast corner of the building, also deserves special attention. Initially, the church was consecrated in honor of the Resurrection of Christ (1762) and again - in the name of the Savior Not Made by Hands (1763). Its walls are decorated with stucco - an elegant pattern of floral ornament. The three-tiered iconostasis is decorated with icons and picturesque panels depicting biblical scenes. Evangelists on the vaults of the ceiling were later painted by F. A. Bruni. Now nothing reminds of the former purpose of the church hall, ruined in the 1920s, except for the golden dome and the large pictorial ceiling by F. Fontebasso depicting the Resurrection of Christ.

Experts call the Georgievsky, or the Great Throne, hall, created according to the project of Quarenghi, the most perfect interior. In order to create the St. George Hall, a special building had to be attached to the center of the eastern facade of the palace. In the design of this room, which enriched the front suite, colored marble and gilded bronze were used. At the end of it, on a dais, there used to be a large throne, made by the master P. Azhi. Other well-known architects also participated in the design of palace interiors. In 1826, according to the project of K. I. Rossi, a Military Gallery was built in front of the St. George Hall, on the walls of which 330 portraits of generals - participants in the Patriotic War of 1812 were placed. Most of the portraits were painted by the English artist D. Dow.

Worthy of attention are the Anteroom, Grand and Concert halls. All of them are characterized by rigor and artistic integrity, which distinguishes the style of classicism. The largest hall of the Winter Palace is the Nikolaevsky Hall (one thousand one hundred square meters). Especially remarkable is the Malachite Hall - the only surviving example of malachite decoration of an entire residential interior. The main decoration of the hall are eight malachite columns made in the Russian mosaic technique, the same number of pilasters and two large malachite fireplaces.

Location of the Winter Palace

Three central squares - Palace Square, Decembrists Square and St. Isaac's Square form a single spatial element on the banks of the Neva. It is on these squares that the main attractions of St. Petersburg are located.

With their northern facades, the Winter Palace, the Admiralty, St. Isaac's Cathedral, the Senate and the Synod face the Neva. Its wide expanses of water are inextricably linked with the prospects of grandiose squares and powerful arrays of buildings located on them.

The official address of the Winter Palace is Palace Embankment, 36.

Today it is difficult to separate the Winter Palace from the Hermitage. Valuable exhibitions and expositions are now located here, and the palace itself has long been perceived as a historical value. Its history is a direct continuation of the history of Russia, St. Petersburg and the imperial dynasty.

We can say that the winter palace is known all over the world, it is also known as the French and as the English Tower. St. Petersburg is one of the most interesting cities in Russia and is very attractive for tourists. And almost all tour groups visit the Hermitage, where they learn the history of the Winter Palace.

The history of the Winter Palace begins with the reign of Peter I.

The very first, then still the Winter House, was built for Peter I in 1711 on the banks of the Neva. The first Winter Palace was two-storey, with a tiled roof and a high porch. In 1719-1721, the architect Georg Mattornovi built a new palace for Peter I.

Empress Anna Ioannovna considered the Winter Palace too small and did not want to settle in it. She commissioned the construction of the new Winter Palace to the architect Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli. For new construction, the houses of Count Apraksin, Raguzinsky and Chernyshev, located on the embankment of the Neva River, as well as the building of the Naval Academy, were purchased. They were demolished, and by 1735 a new Winter Palace was built in their place. At the end of the 18th century, the Hermitage Theater was erected on the site of the old palace.

Empress Elizaveta Petrovna also wished to remake the imperial residence to her taste. The construction of the new palace was entrusted to the architect Rastrelli. The Winter Palace project created by the architect was signed by Elizaveta Petrovna on June 16, 1754.

In the summer of 1754, Elizaveta Petrovna issued a nominal decree on the beginning of the construction of the palace. The required amount - about 900 thousand rubles - was withdrawn from the "tavern" money (collection from the drinking trade). The previous palace was demolished. During construction, the yard moved to a temporary wooden palace built by Rastrelli on the corner of Nevsky and Moika.

The palace was notable for its incredible size for those times, magnificent exterior decoration and luxurious interior decoration.

The Winter Palace is a three-storey rectangular building with a huge front yard inside. The main facades of the palace face the embankment and the square that was formed later.

Creating the Winter Palace, Rastrelli designed each facade differently, based on specific conditions. The northern façade, facing the Neva, stretches like a more or less even wall, without noticeable ledges. From the side of the river, it is perceived as an endless two-tiered colonnade. The southern façade, overlooking the Palace Square and having seven articulations, is the main one. Its center is highlighted by a wide, richly decorated risalit cut through by three entrance arches. Behind them is the main courtyard, where in the middle of the northern building was the main entrance to the palace.

Along the perimeter of the roof of the palace there is a balustrade with vases and statues (originally made of stone in 1892-1894 were replaced by a brass knockout).

The length of the palace (along the Neva) is 210 meters, width - 175 meters, height - 22 meters. The total area of ​​the palace is 60 thousand square meters, it has more than 1000 halls, 117 different staircases.

There were two chains of ceremonial halls in the palace: along the Neva and in the center of the building. In addition to the ceremonial halls, on the second floor there were living quarters of members of the imperial family. The first floor was occupied by utility and service premises. The apartments of the courtiers were mainly located on the upper floor.

About four thousand employees lived here, even had its own army - palace grenadiers and guards from the guards regiments. The palace had two churches, a theater, a museum, a library, a garden, an office, and a pharmacy. The halls of the palace were decorated with gilded carvings, luxurious mirrors, chandeliers, candelabra, patterned parquet.

Under Catherine II, a winter garden was organized in the Palace, where both northern plants and plants brought from the south grew, the Romanov Gallery; at the same time, the formation of St. George's Hall was completed. Under Nicholas I, a gallery was organized in 1812, where 332 portraits of participants in the Patriotic War were placed. The architect Auguste Montferrand added the Petrovsky and Field Marshal's Halls to the palace.

In 1837, a fire broke out in the Winter Palace. Many things were saved, but the building itself was badly damaged. But thanks to the architects Vasily Stasov and Alexander Bryullov, the building was restored two years later.

In 1869, instead of candlelight, gas lighting appeared in the palace. Since 1882, the installation of telephones in the premises began. In the 1880s, a water pipe was built in the Winter Palace. At Christmas 1884-1885, electric lighting was tested in the halls of the Winter Palace; from 1888, gas lighting was gradually replaced by electric lighting. For this, a power plant was built in the second hall of the Hermitage, which for 15 years was the largest in Europe.

In 1904, Emperor Nicholas II moved from the Winter Palace to the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoye Selo. The Winter Palace became a place for ceremonial receptions, ceremonial dinners, and the seat of the king during short visits to the city.

Throughout the history of the Winter Palace as an imperial residence, the interiors were redesigned in accordance with fashion trends. The building itself changed the color of its walls several times. The Winter Palace was painted in red, pink, yellow colors. Before the First World War, the palace was painted red-brick.

During the First World War, there was an infirmary in the building of the Winter Palace. After the February Revolution of 1917, the Provisional Government worked in the Winter Palace. In the post-revolutionary years, various departments and institutions were located in the building of the Winter Palace. In 1922, part of the building was transferred to the Hermitage Museum.

In 1925 - 1926 the building was rebuilt again, now for the needs of the museum.

During the Great Patriotic War, the Winter Palace suffered from air raids and shelling. In the cellars of the palace there was a dispensary for scientists and cultural figures who suffered from dystrophy. In 1945-1946, restoration work was carried out, at the same time the entire Winter Palace became part of the Hermitage.

At present, the Winter Palace, together with the Hermitage Theatre, the Small, New and Large Hermitage, forms a single museum complex "The State Hermitage".

Empress Elizabeth, wishing to surpass the luxury of the palaces of European monarchs, ordered the chief architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli to build a grandiose building in the center of St. Petersburg. In 1754, the project of the Winter Palace, designed in a magnificent baroque style, was approved. Later, some changes were made to it, bringing Baroque liberties closer to the strict standards of classicism. Large-scale construction was not completed during the reign of Elizabeth, and only Catherine II became the first sovereign mistress of the Winter Palace. Under her, work continued on the arrangement of the interior. So, the Great Throne Hall, known as St. George's, was decorated. Since 1764, Catherine began to collect a collection of paintings from the Hermitage and commission architects to build additional buildings in the immediate vicinity of the Winter Palace. In the future, they will be united by a system of transitions into a palace complex.

Under Nicholas I, work on the interiors of the Winter Palace was continued. In 1837, due to a malfunction of the chimney, a terrible fire broke out in the building, which destroyed the historical decoration of the halls - the projects of Quarenghi, Rossi, Montferrand. In addition, it was necessary to equip the southwestern wing of the second floor with chambers for the heir to the throne, Alexander II, who was about to marry. Most of the works of this period were made by Vasily Stasov and Alexander Bryulov.

In 1904, under Nicholas II, the Winter Palace ceded the right to be called the imperial residence to the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoye Selo. The building continued to be used for museum purposes. With the outbreak of the First World War, part of the collections was taken to Moscow, and the spacious halls were given over to hospitals. After the February Revolution, the Winter Palace became the meeting place of the Provisional Government. It was here, in the Small Dining Room on the second floor, that his ministers were arrested during the October Revolution. A week later, all collections were declared state property and the Winter Palace officially became part of the Hermitage museum complex. During World War II, all collections were evacuated to the Urals. Since the autumn of 1945, the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg has been receiving visitors as usual. Archaeological collections, works of artists and sculptors, works of arts and crafts of Asian countries, England and France are now stored here.

Architectural features of the building

By the time Rastrelli received the order, two Winter Palaces had already been erected in St. Petersburg, but their size and decoration of the halls did not correspond to the high status of the imperial residence. The new building, at the request of Elizabeth, was distinguished by the height of the ceilings and the splendor of the decoration characteristic of the Baroque - stucco, sculptures, gilding, draperies from expensive fabrics. The facade of the Winter Palace was decorated with two tiers of snow-white columns with gold stucco. The distances between the columns are different - so the architect, skillfully using the play of light and shadow, created a complex rhythmic pattern. Places on the roof were occupied by patinated antique statues, vases, symbols of Russian statehood were also erected here. By the way, greenish-blue facades have become only in our time. Historically, the walls were yellowish sand, later they were painted in richer yellows and browns.

Dimensions of the Winter Palace

Elizabeth insisted that the height of the Winter Palace should be 22 m, an unprecedented size for St. Petersburg. As a result, the building exceeded the set bar by another 1.5 m. The facade facing the Neva was extended by 210 m, the Admiralty side was slightly shorter - 175 m. Subsequently, Nicholas I made sure that there were no competitors to the palace in the capital, limiting the height of new buildings.

In total, the Winter Palace had more than 1,000 rooms - for official ceremonies, for storing collections, the private quarters of the emperor and the heirs to the throne and their retinue, and a huge number of utility rooms to serve the needs of the people living here.

Tours of the Winter Palace

It is extremely difficult to see all the halls of the Winter Palace at one time, so tourists should think over routes in advance. On the ground floor, archeological collections collected from all over the former Soviet Union are presented. From an architectural point of view, the apartments of the daughters of Nicholas I, located in the wing overlooking the Neva, are interesting. On the second floor there are halls that have become the hallmark of the Winter Palace: Throne, Bolshoi, Petrovsky - and private rooms of members of the imperial family, in which objects of Western European art are exhibited. The third floor is dedicated to Asia.

First floor halls

The lower floor is not as popular among visitors as the second, however, even here, each hall contains unique exhibits obtained by archaeologists.

Private quarters of the emperor's daughters

The former apartments of the daughters of Nicholas I in the Winter Palace were given over to the archaeological collection. In the hall there are finds from the Paleolithic era, in the bright Gothic living room with lancet arches and medieval plant reliefs - Neolithic and early Bronze Age. The decor of the "Living Room with Cupids" appeared in the 50s of the XIX century. The architect Stackenschneider did not stint on fat-cheeked cupids: babies with wings hid in the arches, reliefs with their images adorned the ceiling. Now these scenery houses a collection of antiquities from the Bronze Age. In the office of Olga Nikolaevna, the future Queen of Württemberg, the architect acted much more delicately: thin golden curves in the upper part of the ceiling vaults set off Bronze Age artifacts. Nearby are simple rooms without decor, given over to Scythian archaeological collections of weapons, ceramics, and jewelry.

Guardhouse premises

From the “female” wing, the Kutuzovsky corridor with modest columns leads the guests of the Winter Palace past the former guardhouse, now given over to the halls of art of the peoples of Altai and other regions of Siberia. The world's oldest pile carpet, woven in the 4th-3rd centuries, is stored here. BC e. In the middle, the corridor leads to the vestibule of the Saltykovsky entrance, designed in the same style, from which doors lead to the halls of ancient Altai and Tuvan art, nomadic tribes of Southern Siberia.

Collection of Central Asian and Caucasian Antiquities

The Kutuzovsky corridor leads visitors to the southwestern wing, dedicated to the art of Central Asia of the pre-Islamic period. Buddhist shrines, fragments of wall paintings, fabrics, household items, silver, stone statues, decorative elements of buildings from Sogdiana and Khorezm are collected here. At the other end of the wing there are halls dedicated to the culture of the Caucasus. The artifacts left over from the state of Urartu are of the greatest value. They were found under the guidance of academician Boris Piotrovsky, the former director of the museum, the father of the current one, Mikhail Piotrovsky. Nearby, perfectly preserved precious fabrics from the Ossetian Moshcheva Balka, an important Caucasian point of the Silk Road, are exhibited. Dagestan halls showcase fine bronze cauldrons, weapons and copper thread embroidery made in the 19th century. Volga Bulgaria, the state of the "Golden Horde" on the territory of the modern Volga region, is represented in the Winter Palace with silver and gold jewelry and weapons, painted underglaze ceramics. In the Transcaucasian halls one can see Georgian medieval weapons, objects of religious worship, Armenian book miniatures and fragments of architectural structures.

Middle East and North Africa

In the opposite wing is the Hall of Culture of Palmyra, an ancient Syrian city whose ruins were severely damaged during the recent hostilities in that country. In the collection of the Hermitage there are funerary stelae, customs documentation carved on stone. In the hall of Mesopotamia, you can see authentic cuneiform tablets from Assyria and Babylon. The vaulted Egyptian Hall, converted in 1940 from the Main Canteen of the Winter Palace, is located in front of the passage to the building of the Small Hermitage. Among the masterpieces of the collection is a stone statue of King Amenechmet III, created almost 4,000 years ago.

Second floor of the Winter Palace

The northeast wing of the second floor is temporarily closed - its collections have moved to the General Staff building. Next to it is the Grand Throne, or St. George's Hall of the Winter Palace, designed by Giacomo Quarenghi and remodeled after the fire by Vasily Stasov. Carrara marble, a unique parquet made of 16 types of wood, an abundance of columns with bronze gilding, mirrors and powerful lamps are designed to draw attention to the throne standing on a dais, ordered in England for the Empress Anna Ioannovna. The huge room turns into the relatively small Apollo Hall, which connects the Winter Palace with the Small Hermitage.

Large front suite

You can get to the Throne Room through the Military Gallery of 1812, which contains the works of George Dow and the artists of his studio - more than 300 portraits of Russian generals, participants in the Napoleonic Wars. The gallery was designed by the architect Carlo Rossi. On the other side of the gallery is a suite of state rooms. The Armorial Hall of the Winter Palace, designed by Stasov, contains the symbols of the Russian provinces and solid stone bowls made of aventurine. The Petrovsky, or Small Throne Room, conceived by Montferrand and restored by Stasov, is dedicated to Peter I. Its walls are decorated with burgundy Lyon velvet embroidered with gold, the ceiling is covered with gold reliefs. The throne was commissioned for the imperial family at the end of the 18th century. The White Field Marshal's Hall houses Western European porcelain and sculpture.

Neva enfilade

The anteroom is the first in a series of ceremonial rooms overlooking the Neva. Its main attraction - a French rotunda with 8 malachite columns supporting a bronze gilded dome - was placed here in the middle of the last century. Through the Anteroom opens the entrance to the largest room of the Winter Palace - Nicholas Hall, with Corinthian columns and monochrome painting of the ceiling. It does not have a permanent exhibition, only temporary exhibitions are organized. On the opposite side of the Nicholas Hall is the snow-white Concert Hall with paired Corinthian columns and antique reliefs. Adjacent to the Neva Enfilade is the Romanov Portrait Gallery, which contains portraits of members of the imperial family, starting with Peter I.

Part of the northwestern wing is temporarily closed, including the Arapsky Hall with Greek decor that served as a dining room. The Rotunda is waiting for guests - a spacious round hall with rectangular and round Corinthian columns, a simple circular balcony in the second tier, a ceiling with recesses-caissons decorated with reliefs. Particularly effective is the floor with circular inlays of valuable wood species. The small halls leading from the Neva Enfilade to the apartments of the heir to the throne, overlooking the Dark Corridor, were given over to objects of art of the 18th century.

Private quarters of the emperor and empress

Emperor Nicholas I did not spare money for interiors, so each room of private quarters is a real masterpiece of design art. Alexandra Fedorovna's malachite living room is decorated with emerald green vases, columns, and a fireplace. The richly ornamented floor and carved ceiling are in perfect harmony with the exhibition - objects of arts and crafts. Nearby is the Small Dining Room, decorated in the Rococo style. Gambs furniture, the best craftsman of this era, was chosen for the Empress's study. Sketches of furniture for the adjacent room were made by the architect Carlo Rossi. The emperor's smoking room impresses with its oriental splendor and bright colors. Not many halls are associated with the name of Nicholas II in the Winter Palace - the last emperor preferred other residences. His library has been preserved with high windows in the English Gothic style and a carved fireplace, imitating a medieval book depository.

The chambers of the future Emperor Alexander II and his wife

In the southwestern part of the second floor of the Winter Palace are the chambers of Alexander II, equipped in those days when he was the heir to the throne and was preparing for the wedding. From an architectural point of view, the rooms occupied by the future Empress Maria Alexandrovna are noteworthy: the Green Dining Room with lush rococo decor, the White Hall with many reliefs and sculptures, the Golden Living Room with complex stucco ornamentation, parquet and jasper fireplace, the Crimson Cabinet with textile wallpaper, the Blue bedroom with golden columns.

Collection of Western European Art

In the wing of the heir to the throne and in the enfilade dedicated to the victory in the war of 1812, paintings and works of decorative art from Great Britain and France are kept: works by Reynolds, Gainsborough, Watteau, Boucher, Grez, Fragonard, Lorrain, the famous bust of Voltaire, made by Houdon. The southeast wing houses the Alexander Hall, designed in noble white and blue tones, combining elements of Gothic and classicism with a collection of silver items. Next to it is the Great Church, designed by Rastrelli in the Baroque style. The picket hall, where the palace guard was bred, is temporarily closed.

Third floor

The functioning halls on the third floor of the Winter Palace are dedicated to the Islamic art of the Middle East, Byzantium, the state of the Huns, India, China, and Japan. Among the most valuable exhibits are finds from the Cave of 1000 Buddhas, ancient Chinese furniture and ceramics, Buddhist relics, treasures of Tibet.

Information for tourists

How to get there

The official address of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg: Palace Square, 2. The nearest metro station is Admiralteyskaya, from which you need to walk a little more than 100 meters to the north. The bus stop "Palace Embankment" is located to the west of Zimny. Inside the palace there are lifts for wheelchair users and elevators. You must enter the museum through the main turnstile.

Ticket prices and opening hours

A visit to the entire Hermitage complex, including the Winter Palace, costs 600 rubles, on the first Thursday of the month you can go for free. If you want to visit only the Winter Palace, then a ticket for 300 rubles will suffice. Tickets are recommended to be purchased in advance via the Internet, so as not to stand in line at the box office or at the terminal. This can be done on the official website www.hermitagemuseum.org. Children and students, Russian pensioners are a privileged category, receiving free tickets. The day off is Monday, access to tourists is open from 10:30 to 18:00, on Wednesday and Friday - until 21:00. The Winter Palace is closed on New Year's Eve and May 9th.

At the same time, this is already the sixth residence of Russian emperors in the Northern capital, and the history of the Winter Palaces began under Peter the Great, 50 years before the appearance of a magnificent building on Palace Square.

In 1711, on the banks of the Neva, the architect Domenico Trezzini built a small house for Peter, consisting of a central portal and two side wings, it was a “little house of Dutch architecture” for the shipbuilder Peter Alekseev, as the tsar called himself.

The building was a two-story building with a high porch, a tiled roof, and the only thing that adorned it was pilasters (ledges) in the corners and architraves on the windows. This building was often called the Wedding Chambers, since the built house was a gift from the Governor of St. Petersburg Alexander Menshikov for the wedding of Peter and Catherine. It was here that the wedding feast took place, and the legend that has come down to us confirms this.

According to legend, 12 years after the wedding, when Peter found out about the betrayal of his wife, he led her to the mirror of the hall where the wedding was celebrated, and said: “This Venetian glass mirror is made of simple materials, but it can turn into its former insignificance.” Then he hit the mirror with his cane. The former servant and laundress Marta Skavronskaya understood the hint, but was not at a loss and asked: “Has your house become more beautiful now?”

Second Winter Palace for Peter

The first house of Peter, overlooking the canal, turned out to be cramped and in 1716 the architect Georg Mattarnovi created a project for a new home for the royal family. The emperor himself chose a place for it - closer to the Neva, from where a beautiful view of the Spit of Vasilyevsky Island and the expanses of the Neva opens. The house, built by the autumn of 1723, had a grand appearance, its facades and halls were magnificently decorated.

It should be noted that Peter was an advanced person and all the technical innovations that appeared in Europe were implemented in his house. The palace had central heating and flood sewage, hot and cold water was supplied through lead pipes. Only 12 batmen served the king, moreover, he chose them according to their intelligence and quickness, and if they deserved, he brought them out to the people.

The Winter Palace of Peter I, where the founder of St. Petersburg lived and died, is a unique monument of the early 18th century, which you can visit with a guided tour or on your own. The entrance to the museum is located at 32 Palace Embankment. Administratively it belongs to the Hermitage Museum. Among other things, there is a wax figure of Peter, made by Carlo Rastrelli, and dressed in an authentic costume and shoes, and on his head you can see the king's real hair.

During the Persian campaign in 1722, it was hot and Peter cut his hair, from which he made a wig. It was used by Rastrelli for the wax person of the king.

Third Winter Palace

After the death of Peter the Great, Catherine I ordered Trezzini to expand the palace along Millionnaya Street and thus the building took the form of a huge square.

Fourth Winter Palace for Anna Ioannovna

Anna Ioannovna, who ascended the throne, ordered Francesco Rastrelli to build a new palace for her. For the construction, a place was also chosen on the left side of the Neva, on the site of the Apraksin Admiralty House. The building, built in 1733 - 1735, was spacious, it had 70 rooms and a theater, but the layout of the premises was confusing and inconvenient.

Temporary Winter Palace for Elizabeth Petrovna

Having ascended the throne, Elizaveta Petrovna considered that the old building did not correspond to her status and ordered Rastrelli to prepare a project for a new palace. At the time of construction, a beautiful wooden building was erected, consisting of 100 rooms, on the corner of Nevsky Prospekt and the embankment of the Moika River. In this house, in 1761, Elizaveta Petrovna died, and the building, which had stood for 10 years, was dismantled after the death of the empress.

Sixth Winter Palace

The Winter Palace was under construction from 1754 to 1762, but Elizaveta Petrovna died without seeing it completed. The monumental building on the Neva embankment was erected in the Baroque style, with an abundance of columns and decorative stucco details. It was the last and most grandiose creation of Rastrelli.

Interior decoration was completed under Peter III, and when he was overthrown, Catherine II, who seized power, removed Rastrelli from work, giving him leave.

The architect left for a year in Italy, but the situation did not change upon his return. Rastrelli was the most prominent representative of the baroque style, which at that time had gone out of fashion. He was not given important tasks, he had no customers left, and soon he was dismissed "in the argument of old age and poor health" with the appointment of a pension of a thousand rubles a year.

Interestingly, the architect worked for 46 years under many emperors, but only PeterIIIfor his faithful service he was awarded the rank of Major General and the Order of St. Anne.

For more than 100 years in St. Petersburg it was forbidden to build houses higher than the Winter Palace. In order to increase the number of floors, but not to break the law, cunning builders found a way out - they made a visor and built on top of 1-2 floors of attics, the construction of which was not prohibited by law.

A fire that happened in 1837 damaged the interiors created by the great masters Rastrelli and Quarenghi, Rossi and Moferan. It took two years to restore the building.

We are accustomed to the light green tone of the facades of the building, but meanwhile, before the First World War, the building was painted in red-brick color.

One of the legends explains this curiosity by the fact that German Emperor Wilhelm sent a whole train of minium wagons to Russia to paint ships, but the officials rejected the paint and decided to paint the facades of the city with it, and the Winter Palace became the first victim of this idea.

The Winter Palace on Palace Square is the sixth and last residence of the representatives of the Romanov family. It was he who was taken by storm during the October Revolution in 1917, although, according to historians, this is a myth and there was no storm. After all, one can hardly call the Aurora blank shots by storm, after which the armed men broke into the palace without loss, and the main concern of the women's battalion and the cadets defending the building was to prevent the theft of valuables.

On June 7, 1732, the Winter Palace was founded for Empress Anna Ioannovna. Officially, it became the third in a row, but many historians call it the first, since the previous Winter Palaces built under Peter I looked more like ordinary houses. From that time until 1904, the Winter Palace was the main royal residence. Currently, it is one of the most beautiful and famous buildings in St. Petersburg and is part of the State Hermitage..

Above all

The Winter Palace became the tallest residential building in St. Petersburg. To maintain this advantage, in 1844, Emperor Nicholas I even issued a decree prohibiting the construction of buildings higher than the Winter Palace: all buildings had to be at least one sazhen below the eaves of the royal residence. The ban was in effect until 1905.

Thousands of workers

More than 4,000 masons, plasterers, marblers, painters and parquet workers worked on the construction of the Winter Palace. They built the main palace of the state from morning to night, and lived in huts set up right on the square in front of the palace. After a fire in 1837, even more workers rebuilt the Winter Palace - about 6,000. The construction was restored in just 15 months.

Thousands of workers worked on the construction of the Winter Palace. Photo: Museum of Printing and Publishing

The main palace of the state

Winter is striking in its size. Its space has 1057 rooms, 1786 doors, 1945 windows and 117 stairs. The parapet of the palace is decorated with 176 sculptures, and the total length of the main cornice that borders the building is almost 2 km. In the 18th century, the Winter Palace became the largest palace in the Russian Empire. The area of ​​the modern Winter Palace is 60 thousand square meters. meters.

yellow to red

For several centuries, the walls of the Winter Palace were painted in a wide variety of colors. The original building was pale yellow. Paul I made this color bright and saturated, by decree of Alexander I the palace was repainted in pearl color, and in the era of Nicholas I, the walls of the Winter Palace were ivory. Under Nicholas II, the Winter Palace acquired the most incredible color: it was pink, red, and brown. Only after the end of the Great Patriotic War, the palace was painted in white and green colors: this is how modern Petersburgers are used to seeing it.

Cunning Emperor

When the construction of the Winter Palace was completed, the entire square in front of it was littered with mountains of construction debris. It would have taken the workers weeks to clean it, but Emperor Peter III did not want to wait so long: it was not worthwhile for the imperial palace to stand among piles of rubbish. Then Peter III thought and found a way out of the situation. He issued a decree allowing every resident of St. Petersburg to take anything from the square. The very next day, not a single chip was left on the square.

Petersburgers cleared the entire area of ​​construction debris in one day. Photo: AiF / Yana Khvatova

The museum is not for everyone

When Catherine II began to acquire works of art for the Winter Palace, only the Empress herself and her entourage could admire them. The Winter Palace became accessible to the general public only in 1852. It was then that Nicholas I opened the first art museum in Russia, the Imperial Museum, in the palace. Despite this, another part of the Winter Palace remained the royal apartments. It was not easy to get into the "museum": the number of tickets was limited, and only noble and wealthy people could afford to purchase them.

Complaints and suggestions box

At the end of the 18th century, a box for complaints and suggestions hung near one of the windows of the basement. Emperor Paul I himself ordered to fasten it to the Winter Palace: in this way, the autocrat wanted to be closer to the people and know what the population needed. All the notes coming into the box, the monarch read personally. However, the box did not hang on the wall of the palace for a long time: instead of complaints and suggestions, the inhabitants of St. Petersburg lowered satirical rhymes and caricatures of Paul into it. The emperor did not like this, and he ordered the box to be removed.

Palace of Arts

In 1918, the Bolsheviks renamed the Winter Palace into the "Palace of Arts". Rallies were held in its halls, film screenings and theatrical performances were held. The building houses the People's Commissariat of Education. The new name did not take root among the population, and the inhabitants of the city continued to call the Palace Winter.

Grand opening of the State Duma and the State Council. Winter Palace. April 27, 1906. Photo: Public Domain / K. E. von Gann

Survived under fire

During the Great Patriotic War, 12 bomb shelters for the population were equipped in the basements of the Winter Palace. During the war years, the palace was badly damaged by enemy shelling: 2 aerial bombs and 17 artillery shells hit the building. Despite this, the palace was restored in record time, and already in November 1945, some rooms were opened to visitors.

Set

In 2001, the Winter Palace became a real film set: director Alexander Sokurov filmed his film The Russian Ark within the walls of the palace. From the beginning to the end of filming the movie was only 1 hour and 27 minutes. The picture was shot in one frame and became the first full-length feature film without editing.