Additional information about the attractions of the Winter Palace. Interesting facts about the winter palace. From fire to war
To get around the entire Hermitage, it will take 11 years and you will have to walk about 22 kilometers. All St. Petersburg residents know very well: in the main museum on the first floor there is the Egyptian Hall, on the third there are the Impressionists. Guests of our city also know all this. So why surprise then? Let's try with facts:
1. The Hermitage is incredibly huge. Well, imagine yourself in the place of a king who rules from this palace a territory of more than 22 million square kilometers and a population of 150 million people. The Hermitage has 1057 rooms, 117 staircases, 1786 doors, 1945 windows. The length of the main facade is 150 meters, and the height is 30. The total length of the main cornice bordering the building is almost 2 kilometers. 
2. The number of sculptures that are installed on the parapet of the Winter Palace is 176 pieces. You can try to count the number of vases yourself, if it doesn’t work, ask me! .
3. The Hermitage was built by more than 4,000 masons and plasterers, marble makers and stucco makers, parquet floorers and painters. They received mere pennies for their work. And they either lived here or huddled in shacks built right on the square. 
4. Construction of the palace lasted from 1754 to 1762. At that time it was the most tall building in St. Petersburg. 
5. After construction was completed, Palace Square was littered with construction debris. Peter III decided to get rid of garbage in an original way - he announced to the people that everyone could take whatever they wanted from the square, and for free. After several hours there was no garbage in the square. 
6. In 1837, the palace caught fire and the imperial family was left homeless. The situation was saved by 6,000 workers who worked day and night. A little over a year later, the palace was completely restored. And it became even more beautiful! 
7. The Hermitage was constantly repainted in different colors. It was red and pink and yellow. The Hermitage acquired the pale green color in which the building is now painted in 1946.
« Winter Palace? -Where is the Hermitage? - Are the Hermitage and the Winter Palace the same thing? Is the Hermitage the name of the museum located in the Winter Palace? - such questions can often be heard from both Russian and foreign tourists. To figure out what's what, let's start the story about the most famous building of St. Petersburg from afar, from the moment the city was founded on the Neva...
The first Winter Palaces
For those who know the history of St. Petersburg, it is no secret that Peter I initially did not plan to establish a city center on Admiralty Island. The first buildings of St. Petersburg were erected on St. Petersburg Island, around the current Trinity Square. Then, the tsar hatched plans for the construction of a city center in Kronstadt, on Vasilyevsky Island, but not on the left bank of the Neva. The emergence of the current historical center Contributed by chance, or rather the royal hobby. Peter I loved to work with a hatchet. And not only personally chop off the heads of the dissatisfied, but also build ships.
After the founding of the Main Admiralty in 1705-1706, the sovereign builder of St. Petersburg was faced with a problem that was well known to many inhabitants of our residential areas. It was difficult and long to get from Petersburg Island to the Admiralty, even taking into account the absence of traffic jams at that time. So the sovereign wished to have housing near his place of work. In 1708, on the site between the Neva and present-day Millionnaya Street, a wooden two-story “Winter House” was built for Peter. This building was located on the site of the current Hermitage Theater, and is considered to be the first Winter Palace.
Now Peter has the opportunity to run to the shipyard every morning. Soon around the royal
houses of the sovereign's servants and hangers-on appeared in the chambers, and the “industrial outskirts” suddenly became the political and aristocratic center of St. Petersburg.
In 1712, the “Winter House” was expanded by adding the so-called “Wedding Chambers” to it, but Peter Alekseevich, who had settled in the new place, began to think about a more representative residence. In 1716, according to the design of the architect Georg Mattarnovi, construction began on the new Winter Palace, located on the site of the previous building. Subsequently, researchers noted the successful choice of location for the main royal residence: “... the palace is located so that from it one can see most of the city, the fortress, the house of Prince Menshikov, and especially the open sea across the river branch.”
The construction of Peter the Great's Winter Palace was completed in 1723. This event was celebrated with a solemn feast, but Peter I did not live long in the new building. On January 28, 1725, the emperor died in Great hall Winter Palace from the consequences of untreated gonorrhea.
Second Winter Palace of Peter I
After the death of Peter, his widow, Catherine I, lived for some time in the Winter Palace. Under Anna Ioannovna, the court settled in the neighboring Apraksin mansion, located on the site of the current Winter Palace. Peter's "Winter House" was used by various palace services, and then was abandoned. Under Catherine II, the Hermitage Theater building was built in its place.
In the 1970-1980s, Leningrad scientists discovered to their surprise that many elements of the Peter the Great Winter Palace have survived to this day. The architect Giacomo Quarneghi, who erected the theater building, used the walls and load-bearing structures of the old building, thanks to which today we can see the rooms where Peter I spent the last two years of his life. Today they are partially restored and excursions are held in them.
Under Empress Anna Ioannovna, construction of a new Winter Palace, the third in a row, began on the site of the houses of Apraksin, Chernyshev, Raguzinsky and the Maritime Academy. Work continued from 1732 to 1735. The new four-story building had about 70 state rooms, more than 100 bedrooms, a theater, a chapel, an office, service and guard rooms.
Winter Palace of Anna Ioannovna
Subsequently, this Winter Palace was rebuilt and completed more than once, until Empress Elizaveta Petrovna discovered that the palace began to resemble not a ceremonial residence designed to demonstrate the power of the Russian state, but a chicken coop. Appearance the buildings were spoiled by countless stables, technical outbuildings and barns, built mainly on the side of the Admiralty Meadow (present-day Palace Square). The question of rebuilding the palace again arose, but it turned out that it would be easier to demolish the old building and build a new palace in its place. The corresponding decree was signed by Elizaveta Petrovna on June 16, 1754:
“In St. Petersburg, our Winter Palace is not only for receiving foreign ministers and performing ceremonies at the Court on special days, due to the greatness of our imperial dignity, but also for accommodating us with the necessary servants and things, it cannot be satisfied, for which we They set out to rebuild our Winter Palace with a large space in length, width and height, for which the reconstruction, according to the estimate, will require up to 900,000 rubles, which amount, allocated for two years, is impossible to take from our salt money. Therefore, we command our Senate to find and present to us from what income it is possible to take such a sum of 430 or 450 thousand rubles per year for this matter, counting from the beginning of this year 1754 and the next year 1755, and that this be done immediately, so as not to miss the present winter journey to prepare supplies for that building..."
Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli, (1750-1760s)
Construction of the palace
The construction of the new Winter Palace was supervised by the court architect of Elizabeth Petrovna, Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli. The architect understood that he had been given a task of enormous political importance and began to zealously justify the high trust placed in him, because the palace was being built “for the common glory of all Russia.”
According to the master's plan, the Winter Palace was supposed to be a huge quadrangle with a courtyard. The façade and interiors were decorated in the Baroque style, of which Rusterli was an unsurpassed master. Each of the palace facades was individual. The main façade was considered to be the Southern one, facing Palace Square. He was the most magnificent. In its center there were three arches leading to the front courtyard. The façade facing the Neva resembled an endless colonnade. The western facade also had a ceremonial appearance, facing Razvodnaya Square, where Rasterli planned to erect a monument to Peter I, the work of his father, Carlo Bartolomeo.
Inside the Winter Palace, according to Rasterli’s project, it was planned to build 1050 state and residential halls with an area of 46 thousand square meters, 1945 windows, 1786 doors, 117 staircases, 329 chimneys.
The Winter Palace was conceived as the architectural dominant of the center of St. Petersburg and the tallest secular building in the city. Before the decree of Nicholas I, the construction of buildings higher than the Winter Palace in the center of the Northern capital was prohibited. The entire system of external decor, columns installed in two rows, statues, was designed to emphasize the enormous (four-story!) height of the building.
About four thousand people worked on the construction of the Winter Palace, including the best craftsmen from all over Russia. Territory of the present Palace Square and the Alexander Garden was covered with huts in which workers lived. The courtyard also had to change its place of residence. For him, Rastrelli built a temporary wooden Winter Palace, located on the site of Chicherin’s modern house, on the corner of Nevsky Prospect and the Moika River.
Elizaveta Petrovna really wanted to move to a new residence as soon as possible, but this did not happen. On January 25, 1761, the Empress died. And on April 6, 1762, the court moved to the Winter Palace built by Rasterlli. Tradition says that after the completion of the work, Palace Square was a garbage dump. The cunning Chief of Police of St. Petersburg, Baron N.A. Korf proposed to announce through the heralds that every citizen is free to take from the former construction site whatever he needs. The next day, in front of the Winter Palace it was possible to iron clothes... Poor St. Petersburg residents even stole piles of lime.
The Winter Palace becomes the Winter Palace
Before the fresh lime that covered the walls of the Winter Palace had time to dry, they began to rebuild the building. The new Empress Catherine II, who ascended the throne after the short but memorable reign of Peter III, was not a fan of the Baroque. Rastrelli was forced to resign and leave St. Petersburg, and a new team of architects was invited to rebuild the Winter Palace: Y.M. Felten, J.B. Wallen-Delamot and A. Rinaldi.
The interiors of the palace designed by Rastrelli were almost completely destroyed. Today, all that remains of them is the luxurious Jordan Staircase, along which thousands of tourists pass every day to inspect the treasures of the State Hermitage. On the site of the old Throne Hall and Theater, a new Nevsky Enfilade arose, which included the Antechamber, the Bolshoi and the Concert Halls.
The true decoration of the palace was the Great Throne or St. George's Hall created by Giacomo Quarneghi. Its central object was a large throne, executed by P. Azhi. To decorate the interior of this main state hall of the Winter Palace, colored marble and gilded bronze were used.
Under Catherine II, the Winter Palace became the center of secular and cultural life Northern Palmyra, the venue for pompous court festivities and balls.
The Englishman W. Cox, who attended a ball in the Winter Palace in 1778, described what he saw in the following words: “The wealth and splendor of the Russian court surpass the most elaborate descriptions. Traces of ancient Asian splendor mingle with European sophistication..., the splendor of court attire and abundance precious stones leave behind the splendor of others European countries" About eight thousand people attended the ball. True, this crowd of nobles, wealthy merchants and respected artisans did not mix with the aristocrats who danced behind the low barrier that separated the courtiers from the other guests.
Work on the decoration of the Winter Palace continued in subsequent reigns. With the exception of Paul I, who preferred the Mikhailovsky Castle to the Winter Palace, each emperor sought to add something of his own to the decoration of the main palace of the Russian Empire.
Particularly large-scale work was carried out after 1812, when the need arose to demonstrate to the whole world the new status of Russia - the conqueror of Napoleon, the leader of a united Europe in the struggle for the bright ideals of dedicated absolutism.
Military gallery of the Winter Palace. G.G. Chernetsov
In 1826, Karl Rossi built a Military Gallery in front of St. George's Hall, the walls of which were decorated with 330 portraits of participating generals Patriotic War 1812. The paintings for this room were written by the English artist D. Doe. It was to her that A.S. Pushkin dedicated his lines:
The Russian Tsar has a chamber in his palace:
She is not rich in gold or velvet...
The artist placed the crowd in a crowd
Here are the leaders of our people's forces,
Covered with the glory of a wonderful campaign
And the eternal memory of the twelfth year.
Auguste Montferrand also took part in the reconstruction of the Winter Palace. He built the staircase of the Empress's entrance, decorating it with high reliefs, statues and columns, and designed the Field Marshal's, Peter's and Armorial halls. V.A. Zhukovsky wrote with delight to the royal residence:
“The Winter Palace as a building, as a royal dwelling, perhaps did not have anything like it in all of Europe. With its enormity, its architecture, it depicted a powerful people who had so recently entered the midst of educated nations, and with its inner splendor it reminded of the inexhaustible life that boils in the interior of Russia... The Winter Palace was for us a representative of everything domestic, Russian, ours...”
What about the Hermitage?
A tourist visiting the suburbs of St. Petersburg will easily discover that both Pushkin and Peterhof have their own “Hermitage”. This word is translated from French means "Secluded Corner". Nobles and kings of the 18th century loved to set up secluded pavilions in their gardens and parks for intimate pastimes. And Catherine II set up her “secluded corner” right in the center of St. Petersburg.
For this purpose, in 1764-1775, a building was added to the Winter Palace, which is known today as the Small Hermitage. In it, Catherine II spent time with a select audience in an informal setting. Outsiders were not allowed into the Hermitage. Even the tables in this room were set in advance, after which the servants left the “secluded corner” and left.
In general, the atmosphere of the Hermitage was reminiscent of modern corporate ones. Formally, guests left ranks and conventions at the door. Those who said nonsense should have drunk a glass of cold water or read a page from Tredyakovsky’s Telemachiad.
In order for evenings in the Hermitage to become a cultural pastime, Catherine II decided to decorate the premises with an appropriate collection of paintings. The Hermitage collection began in 1764, when the German merchant Gotzkowski gave Russia his collection of 225 paintings as a debt. The Empress also ordered that all valuable works of art that appeared at auctions be bought abroad.
Works by Rubens and Van Dyck were purchased in England. Russian Ambassador in Paris, Count D.A. Golitsyn, thanks to his connections with D. Diderot and other representatives of French culture, was able to acquire such world-famous masterpieces as “The Return of the Prodigal Son” by Rembrandt, two “Danaes” by Titian and Rembrandt, “Bacchus” by Rubens, “Judith” by Giorgione, etc.
By the end of the reign of Catherine II, the Hermitage collection of paintings amounted to four thousand canvases. The Small Hermitage could no longer accommodate all the masterpieces. A special building had to be built for the collection, called the Old Hermitage.
It wasn’t just paintings that came to the Hermitage. Catherine's agents also purchased engravings, drawings, ancient antiquities, works of decorative and applied art, ancient coins, weapons, medals and books.
The tradition of replenishing the Hermitage collection continued in the 19th century. Under Alexander I, paintings by Rembrandt and Rubens “The Descent from the Cross”, “Potter’s Farm”, paintings by Claude Lorrain, “A Glass of Lemonade” by Terborch and “Breakfast” by Metsu were acquired. During this period, the Hermitage gradually transformed from the personal collection of paintings of the emperor into a museum. True, this was by no means a public gallery. To visit the Hermitage you need to take a special pass signed by the head of the court office. Even A.S. Pushkin received such a document only thanks to the patronage of the teacher of the royal children V.A. Zhukovsky.
Interiors of the New Hermitage in a watercolor by K. Ukhtomsky, 1856
An important turning point in the “democratization” of access to the Hermitage was the construction of the New Hermitage building, which was completed in 1856. This was the first purpose-built museum building in Russia. Already in 1852, the exhibition of the New Hermitage received its first visitors, and in 1866 access to the museum became open and... free. The cost of tickets was reimbursed by the Ministry of the Imperial Household. Of course, only the “European-style” public was allowed inside, which in itself closed access for representatives of the poorer strata of society.
After the revolution, the Hermitage Museum received valuable acquisitions, but at the same time suffered serious losses. The main museum of the country brought valuables expropriated from the private collections of Russian aristocrats and industrialists. At the same time, in the late 1920s, some of the Hermitage paintings were sold abroad to finance industrialization. And the collection of Russian paintings was transferred to the Russian Museum.
In the 1920s, the concepts of the Hermitage and the Winter Palace gradually became a single whole, as the museum received almost all the premises of the former royal residence to house its exhibitions.
After the Great Patriotic War, the collections and storerooms of the Hermitage were replenished with captured works of art taken from Germany as compensation for masterpieces destroyed by Nazi troops in Russia.
The legend of the gunsmith Tarasyuk
There are many interesting tales regarding the Winter Palace. The most banal of them are stories about the ghosts of Peter I, Nicholas I and Nicholas II regularly walking through the night halls of the Hermitage. There are legends about the underground passages of the Hermitage, which lead either to the Manege or to the Marble Palace.
Of all these legends, only one story is distinguished by its original content and dramatic plot. Allegedly, in the early 80s, the First Secretary of the Leningrad City Committee of the CPSU Grigory Romanov, a fierce enemy of the freedom-loving intelligentsia, planned to celebrate his daughter’s wedding in the Tauride Palace. To do this, the satrap demanded that the management of the Hermitage give him the ceremonial service of Catherine II for one hundred and forty-four persons. The director of the Hermitage, Boris Borisovich Piotrovsky, stated that the service could only be taken over his corpse, but when the KGB leadership reported that this could, in principle, be organized, Boris Borisovich went home and called in sick.
Employees of the city committee went to the Hermitage to pick up the service, and only one person stood in their way. It was an employee of the museum Tarasyuk. Dressed in medieval armor, he picked up a sword and menacingly advanced towards the uninvited guests. The cowardly agents of tyranny retreated in panic, but then one extremely sad event occurred for all honest museologists. Just at this time, at night, vicious dogs were released into the halls of the Hermitage. Tarasyuk was a weapons expert, but the armor he wore was intended for riding. When the scientist was already celebrating his victory, the evil dogs bit into his most vulnerable spot, unprotected by armor... Tarasyuk lost his courage, and the jubilant City Committee members took the service.
The further fate of the masterpiece was sad. When they shouted “Bitter!” at the wedding, the partycrats began to smash the precious dishes on the floor... However, Romanov did not get away with it. Because of this story, he was not made General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, instead of Mikhail Gorbachev.
Tarasyuk was fired from the Hermitage and left for Israel, where his traces were lost.
Fire in the Winter Palace K.Zh. Vernet
From fire to war
A symbolic milestone in the history of the Winter Palace was the catastrophic fire of 1837. Subsequently, the cause of the fire was identified as “an vent left unsealed during the last alteration of the large Field Marshal’s Hall”; vent "was in chimney, held between the choirs and the wooden vault of the Peter the Great Hall, located side-by-side with the Field Marshal's, and adjoined very close to the boards of the rear partition. On the day of the accident, it was thrown out of the chimney, after which the flame communicated through this vent to the boards of the choir and the vault of the Peter the Great Hall; wooden partitions provided him with abundant food in this place; along them the fire spread to the rafters. These huge rafters and supports, dried for 80 years by hot air under the iron roof heated by the summer heat, ignited instantly.”
The smell of smoke was noticed on the morning of December 17, but since no one could detect the source of the fire for a long time, taking the necessary measures was postponed until the evening. By that time, the interior ceilings of the Winter Palace were already on fire, and when firefighters broke open the walls, the flames burst out...
The Winter Palace burned for three days. During this time, all its interiors burned out. It was one of the largest fires in the history of St. Petersburg. The glow from the fire was visible several kilometers from the city. Only through the heroic efforts of soldiers and servants was it possible to save almost all of the palace furnishings and paintings. They were taken out into the street and stacked near the Alexander Column.
Immediately after the disaster, the Winter Palace began renovation work, headed by architects V.P. Stasov and A.P. Bryullov. Emperor Nicholas I ordered them to “restore to their previous form” all the interiors of the palace. Let us immediately note that the architects coped with the responsible government task perfectly. The appearance of the former Winter Palace was restored in just two years.
In some halls, changes were nevertheless made with the consent of the sovereign. So Stasov increased the Armorial Hall to a thousand square meters and seriously changed its decoration.
After this renovation, the ceremonial interiors of the Winter Palace have survived to this day without significant changes. This really cannot be said about the living quarters of the palace. Only Alexandrovsky and White Hall s, the staircase of the entrance to “Her Imperial Majesty”, the Rotunda, the Arab and Malachite halls, have been preserved to us in the form as A.P. conceived them. Bryullov. Other living rooms of the palace were repeatedly rebuilt in accordance with the tastes of their owners. Of course, we can’t talk about any kind of artistic unity here, although the interiors of some of the private chambers are very interesting in themselves. Among them, it is worth noting the “Red Boudoir” of Empress Maria Alexandrovna, the “Golden Living Room” created by V.A. Schreiber and the personal library of Nicholas II (author A.F. Krasovsky).
Until the revolution itself, the Winter Palace continued to serve as a venue for the most important political events of Tsarist Russia. Receptions of foreign ambassadors, gala balls, receptions of loyal delegations, and opening ceremonies of the State Duma were held here. In difficult or solemn moments, crowds of loyal subjects rushed to this building. On January 9, 1905, columns of St. Petersburg workers moved to the Winter Palace, to the Tsar, asking for mercy and intercession. Unfortunately, there was no dialogue between the authorities and the people that day... But on August 1, 1914, a column of patriotic intelligentsia nevertheless reached Palace Square and fell to its knees in front of the adored monarch, who appeared on the balcony of the Winter Palace.
In the 19th century, once a year the doors of the Winter Palace opened to the residents of the capital. On January 1, a New Year's masquerade was held there. Moreover, not only nobles, but also “merchants, townspeople, shopkeepers, artisans of all kinds, even simple bearded peasants and serfs, decently dressed, could come to the royal house. All this was crowded and jostled along with the first ranks of the court, representatives of diplomacy and high society. Dressed up ladies, in diamonds and pearls, military and civilian star-bearers, and mixed with them tailcoats, frock coats and caftans. The sovereign and the royal family, with their numerous retinue, walking from one hall to another, sometimes could hardly pass through the crowd.” For many, this was a wonderful opportunity to refresh themselves: “In the halls there were many buffets with gold and silver dishes, with soft drinks of all kinds, excellent wines, beer, honey, kvass, with an abundance of dishes of all kinds, from the most refined to the common... A crowd around the buffets gave way to a crowd as they emptied and filled up again. At such annual holidays, sometimes from 25 to 30 thousand people came to the Winter Palace. Foreigners could not marvel at the order and decorum of the crowd, and the trust of the sovereign in his subjects, who crowded around him with love, devotion and a sense of self-satisfaction for 5 or 6 hours. Not the slightest etiquette was observed here, and at the same time no one abused their proximity to the royal person.”
But as a royal residence, the Winter Palace was used less and less. It turned out that in the new historical realities, the huge building does not meet safety requirements well. And not only fire protection. On February 5, 1880, Narodnaya Volya member Stepan Khalturin, carrying 30 kilograms of dynamite into the Winter Palace, caused an explosion under the dining room where Emperor Alexander II was supposed to have dinner. The Emperor miraculously was not injured. 11 soldiers of the Life Guards of the Finnish Regiment were killed.
After the People's Volunteers finally killed Alexander II in 1881, the new tsar, Alexander III, chose to live in the safety of Gatchina, and visit the Winter Palace on a rotational basis. Only when Nicholas II ascended the throne, the august family returned to the banks of the Neva again. True, after the start of the 1905 revolution, the Winter Palace looked more like a fortified camp. In addition to the Tsar, some key figures of the regime also lived there - for example, Prime Minister Stolypin. Only there could they feel safe. Nicholas II himself, following the example of his father, spent more and more time in Pushkin’s Alexander Palace.
With the outbreak of World War I, life in the Winter Palace underwent new changes. The imperial family appeared within the old walls less and less often. In 1915, a number of palace halls were allocated for a hospital.
Winter Palace in the 20th century
After the February Revolution of 1917, the Extraordinary Commission of the Provisional Government to investigate the crimes of tsarism worked for some time in the premises of the Winter Palace, and from the summer of 1917, the Provisional Government itself “moved in” to the former royal chambers. Newspapers wrote malicious articles about A.F. Kerensky blissfully in the bed of Nicholas II. All palace valuables and Hermitage collections were sent to Moscow and hidden in the building Historical Museum.
On the night of October 25-26, 1917, the Winter Palace became the scene of historical events. The forces of the military-revolutionary committee, the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, after a series of short skirmishes, captured the former royal residence and arrested the ministers of the Provisional Government. The tabloid press was full chilling articles about the destruction of palace interiors by wild crowds of workers and peasants and the sad fate of the women's shock battalion, whose fighters faced a fate worse than death. However, it should be noted that the scientific literature does not confirm this information.
Three days after the arrest of the Provisional Government, the new Soviet authorities took the Winter Palace under protection as a cultural monument. However, at first it was used for a variety of purposes. The huge building housed the Museum of the Revolution, a reception center for prisoners of war of the old army, a headquarters for organizing mass celebrations, and even a cinema. Only in 1922 did all the premises of the Winter Palace begin to be gradually transferred to the Hermitage.
At the same time, work began on the redevelopment of the former residential and service rooms of the Hermitage. On the ground floor, the Rastrelli Gallery was restored; instead of 65 rooms of the maid of honor, 17 original halls were recreated.
Vegetable gardens on the territory of the Winter Palace during the siege
During the Great Patriotic War, the Winter Palace was seriously damaged. German bombs and shells damaged the Jordan Stairs, the Small Throne (Peter's) Hall, and the Armorial Hall. The restoration of these objects took a long time after the war. The most valuable exhibits were evacuated to Sverdlovsk. In the courtyard of the Winter Palace there was a vegetable garden where vegetables were grown.
In subsequent decades, the Winter Palace-Hermitage became one of the largest museums on the planet. It houses up to three million unique works of art. Every year the Winter Palace is visited by millions of tourists and St. Petersburg residents.
6The history of the Winter Palace begins with the reign of Peter I.
The very first, then still Winter House, was built for Peter I in 1711 on the banks of the Neva. The first Winter Palace was two-story, 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 live in it. She entrusted 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 Maritime Academy were purchased. They were demolished, and in their place by 1735 a new Winter Palace was built. 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 remodel the imperial residence to her taste. The construction of the new palace was entrusted to the architect Rastrelli. The design of the Winter Palace created by the architect was signed by Elizaveta Petrovna on June 16, 1754.
In the summer of 1754, Elizaveta Petrovna issued a personal decree to begin construction of the palace. The required amount - about 900 thousand rubles - was taken from the "tavern" money (collection from the drinking trade). The previous palace was dismantled. During construction, the courtyard moved to a temporary wooden palace built by Rastrelli on the corner of Nevsky and Moika.
The palace was distinguished by its incredible size for those times, lavish exterior decoration and luxurious interior decoration.
The Winter Palace is three-story building, having a rectangular shape in plan, with a huge front yard inside. The main facades of the palace face the embankment and the square that was formed later.
When creating the Winter Palace, Rastrelli designed each facade differently, based on specific conditions. The northern facade, facing the Neva, stretches as a more or less even wall, without noticeable protrusions. From the river side, it is perceived as an endless two-tiered colonnade. The southern façade, facing Palace Square and having seven divisions, is the main one. Its center is highlighted by a wide, lavishly decorated risalit, cut through by three entrance arches. Behind them is the front courtyard, where in the middle of the northern building there was main entrance to the palace.
Along the perimeter of the palace roof there is a balustrade with vases and statues (the original stone ones were replaced by a brass knockout in 1892-1894).
The length of the palace (along the Neva) is 210 meters, width - 175 meters, height - 22 meters. Total area the palace is 60 thousand square meters, it has more than 1000 halls, 117 different staircases.
The palace had two chains of state halls: along the Neva and in the center of the building. In addition to the state rooms, on the second floor there were living quarters for members of the imperial family. The first floor was occupied by utility and office premises. The upper floor mainly housed the apartments of the courtiers.
About four thousand employees lived here, they even had their 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, and patterned parquet flooring.
Under Catherine II, a winter garden was organized in the Palace, where both northern and plants brought from the south grew, and the Romanov Gallery; At the same time, the formation of St. George's Hall was completed. Under Nicholas I, a gallery of 1812 was organized, where 332 portraits of participants in the Patriotic War were placed. The architect Auguste Montferrand added the Peter and Field Marshal halls to the palace.
In 1837, there was a fire 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 within two years.
In 1869, gas lighting appeared in the palace instead of candlelight. Since 1882, the installation of telephones in premises began. In the 1880s, a water supply system 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 purpose, 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 Tsarskoye Selo Alexander Palace. The Winter Palace became the place for ceremonial receptions, state dinners, and the place where the Tsar stayed during short visits to the city.
Throughout the history of the Winter Palace as an imperial residence, its interiors were remodeled in accordance with fashion trends. The building itself changed the color of its walls several times. The Winter Palace was painted red, pink, and yellow. 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 Winter Palace building. In 1922, part of the building was transferred to the Hermitage Museum.
In 1925 - 1926, the building was rebuilt again, this time for the needs of the museum.
During the Great Patriotic War, the Winter Palace suffered from air raids and artillery shelling. In the basements 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 which time the entire Winter Palace became part of the Hermitage.
Currently, the Winter Palace, together with the Hermitage Theatre, the Small, New and Large Hermitages, forms a single museum complex, the State Hermitage.
The Winter Palace is the largest palace building in St. Petersburg. Its dimensions and magnificent decoration make it possible to rightfully classify it 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 all of Europe. With its enormity, its architecture, it depicts a powerful people who have so recently entered the midst of educated nations, and with its internal splendor it reminds of the inexhaustible life that boils in the interior of Russia... The Winter Palace for us is a representative of everything domestic, Russian, ours,” - this is what V. A. Zhukovsky wrote about the Winter Palace. The history of this architectural monument is rich in turbulent historical events.
At the beginning of the 18th century, in the place where the Winter Palace now stands, construction was permitted only to naval officials. Peter I took advantage of this right, being a shipwright under the name of Peter Alekseev, and in 1708 he built a small house in the Dutch style for himself and his family. Ten years later, by order of the future emperor, a canal was dug in front of the side facade of the palace, named (after the palace) the Winter Canal.
In 1711, especially for the wedding of Peter I and Catherine, the architect Georg Mattarnovi, on the orders of the Tsar, began rebuilding the wooden palace into a stone one. During the work, the architect Mattarnovi was removed from work and the construction was headed by Domenico Trezzini, an Italian architect of Swiss origin. In 1720, Peter I and his entire family moved from their summer residence to their winter residence. In 1723, the Senate was transferred to the Winter Palace. And in January 1725, Peter I died here (in a room on the first floor behind the current second window, counting from the Neva).
Subsequently, Empress Anna Ioannovna considered the Winter Palace too small and in 1731 entrusted its reconstruction to F.B. Rastrelli, who offered her his own project for the reconstruction of the Winter Palace. According to his project, it was necessary to purchase the houses that stood at that time on the site occupied by the current palace and belonged to Count Apraksin, the Maritime Academy, Raguzinsky and Chernyshev. Anna Ioanovna approved the project, the houses were bought up, demolished, and work began to boil. In 1735, construction of the palace was completed, and the Empress moved to live there. Here, on July 2, 1739, Princess Anna Leopoldovna's engagement to Prince Anton-Urich took place. After the death of Anna Ioannovna, the young Emperor Ivan Antonovich was brought here, who stayed here until November 25, 1741, when Elizaveta Petrovna took power into her own hands.
Elizaveta Petrovna also wished imperial residence remake to your taste. On January 1, 1752, she decided to expand the Winter Palace, after which the neighboring areas of Raguzinsky and Yaguzhinsky were purchased. At the new location, Rastrelli added new buildings. According to the project he drew up, these buildings were to be attached to existing ones and be decorated in the same style. In December 1752, the Empress wished to increase the height of the Winter Palace from 14 to 22 meters. Rastrelli was forced to redo the design of the building, after which he decided to build it in a new location. But Elizaveta Petrovna refused to move the new Winter Palace. As a result, the architect decided to rebuild the entire building. The new project - the next building of the Winter Palace - was signed by Elizaveta Petrovna on June 16, 1754.
Construction lasted eight long years, which coincided with the end of the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna and the short reign of Peter III.
The story of Peter III’s arrival at the palace is interesting. After Elizabeth’s death, 15 thousand dresses, many thousands of shoes and stockings remained in her wardrobe, and only six silver rubles were left in the state treasury. Peter III, who replaced Elizabeth on the throne, wished to immediately move into his new residence. But Palace Square was cluttered with piles of bricks, boards, logs, barrels of lime and similar construction debris. The capricious disposition of the new sovereign was known, and the Chief of Police found a way out: in St. Petersburg it was announced that all ordinary people had the right to take whatever they wanted on Palace Square. A contemporary (A. Bolotov) writes in his memoirs that almost all of St. Petersburg with wheelbarrows, carts, and some with sleighs (despite the proximity of Easter!) came running to Palace Square. Clouds of sand and dust rose above her. The inhabitants grabbed everything: boards, bricks, clay, lime, and barrels... By evening the square was completely cleared. Nothing interfered with the ceremonial entry of Peter III into the Winter Palace.
In the summer of 1762, Peter III was overthrown from the throne. The construction of the Winter Palace was completed under Catherine II. In the autumn of 1763, the Empress returned from Moscow to St. Petersburg after the coronation celebrations and became the sovereign mistress of the new palace.
First of all, Catherine removed Rastrelli from work, and Ivan Ivanovich Betskoy, the illegitimate son of Field Marshal Prince Ivan Yuryevich Trubetskoy and personal secretary of Catherine II, became the manager at the construction site. The Empress moved the chambers to the southwestern part of the palace; under her rooms she ordered the chambers of her favorite G. G. Orlov to be placed.
On the side of Palace Square, the Throne Hall was equipped, and a waiting room appeared in front of it - the White Hall. A dining room was located behind the White Hall. The Bright Office was adjacent to it. The dining room was followed by the State Bedchamber, which a year later became the Diamond Chamber. In addition, the Empress ordered a library, an office, a boudoir, two bedrooms and a restroom to be equipped for herself. Under Catherine, a winter garden and the Romanov Gallery were also built in the Winter Palace. At the same time, the formation of St. George's Hall was completed. In 1764, in Berlin, through agents, Catherine acquired a collection of 225 works by Dutch and Flemish artists from the merchant I. Gotzkovsky. Most of the paintings were placed in secluded apartments of the palace, which received the French name “Hermitage” (“place of solitude”).
The fourth, currently existing palace built by Elizabeth was conceived and implemented in the form of a closed quadrangle with a vast courtyard. Its facades face the Neva, towards the Admiralty and the square, in the center of which F.B. Rastrelli intended to erect an equestrian statue of Peter I.
The facades of the palace are divided into two tiers by an entablature. They are decorated with columns of the Ionic and Composite orders. The columns of the upper tier unite the second, front, and third floors.
The complex rhythm of the columns, the richness and variety of forms of the platbands, the abundance of stucco details, the many decorative vases and statues located above the parapet and above the numerous pediments create the decorative decoration of the building, which is exceptional in its pomp and splendor.
The southern facade is cut through by three entrance arches, which emphasizes its importance as the main one. The entrance arches lead to the front courtyard, where the central entrance to the palace was located in the center of the northern building.
The main Jordan Staircase is located in the northeast corner of the building. On the second floor along the northern facade there were five large halls, the so-called “anti-chambers,” located in an enfilade, behind them was a huge Throne Hall, and in the southwestern part was the palace theater.
Despite the fact that the Winter Palace was completed in 1762, work on decorating the interior was still underway for a long time. These works were entrusted to the best Russian architects Yu. M. Felten, J. B. Ballen-Delamot and A. Rinaldi.
In the 1780-1790s, work on remodeling the interior decoration of the palace was continued by I. E. Starov and G. Quarenghi. 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.
Throughout the lower floor there were galleries with arches. Galleries connected all parts of the palace. The premises on the sides of the galleries were of a service nature. There were storerooms, a guardhouse, and palace employees lived here.
The state 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 upper floor mainly housed the apartments of the courtiers.
The palace was also subject to destruction. For example, on December 17-19, 1837, there was a strong fire that completely destroyed the beautiful decoration of the Winter Palace, of which only a charred skeleton remained. They could not put out the flames for three days; all this time, the property taken from the palace was piled up around the Alexander Column. As a result of the disaster, the interiors of Rastrelli, Quarenghi, Montferrand, and Rossi were destroyed. Restoration work began immediately and lasted 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 reached us in their original form.
On February 5, 1880, Narodnaya Volya member S.N. Khalturin, with the aim of assassinating Alexander II, carried out an explosion in the Winter Palace. In this case, eight guard soldiers were killed and forty-five were wounded, but neither the emperor nor his family members were injured.
IN late XIX- at the beginning of the 20th century, the interior design was constantly changing and adding new elements. These, 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 updated 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 special ceremonies were held in the Winter Palace. With the accession of Nicholas II to the throne in 1894, the imperial family returned to the palace.
The most significant changes in the history of the Winter Palace occurred in 1917, along with the Bolsheviks coming to power. A lot of valuables were stolen and damaged by sailors and workers while the palace was under their control. The former chambers of Alexander III were damaged by a direct hit from a shell fired from a cannon at the Peter and Paul Fortress. Only a few days later the Soviet government declared the Winter Palace and the Hermitage state museums and took the buildings under guard. Soon, valuable palace property and Hermitage collections were sent to Moscow and hidden in the Kremlin and in the building of the Historical Museum.
A curious story is connected with the October Revolution in the Winter Palace: after the storming of the palace, the Red Guard, who was tasked with placing guards to protect the Winter Palace, decided to familiarize himself with the placement of guards in pre-revolutionary times. He was surprised to learn that one of the posts had long been located on an unremarkable alley of the palace garden (the royal family called it “Own” and by this name the garden was known to St. Petersburg residents). An inquisitive Red Guard found out the history of this post. It turned out that once Tsarina Catherine II, going out to the Razvodnaya platform in the morning, saw a sprouted flower there. To prevent it from being trampled by soldiers and passers-by, Catherine, returning from a walk, ordered a guard to be placed at the flower. And when the flower withered, the queen forgot to cancel her order to keep the guard at this place. And since then, for about a hundred and fifty years, a guard stood at this place, although there was no longer any flower, no Queen Catherine, or even the Divorce Platform.
In 1918, part of the premises of the Winter Palace was given over to the Museum of the Revolution, which entailed the reconstruction of their interiors. The Romanov Gallery, which contained portraits of sovereigns and members of the House of Romanov, was completely liquidated. Many of the palace's chambers were occupied by a reception center for prisoners of war, a children's colony, a headquarters for organizing mass celebrations, etc. The Armorial Hall was used for theatrical performances, and the Nicholas 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 works of painting and sculpture were used to decorate the mansions and apartments of party, Soviet and military leaders, holiday homes of officials and members of their families. Since 1922, the premises of the Winter Palace began to gradually be transferred to the Hermitage.
In the first days of the Great Patriotic War, many of the Hermitage’s valuables were urgently evacuated, some of them were hidden in the basements. To prevent fires in the museum buildings, the windows were bricked or shuttered. In some rooms, the parquet floors were covered with a layer of sand.
The Winter Palace was a major target. A large number of bombs and shells exploded near it, and several hit the building itself. Thus, on December 29, 1941, a shell crashed into the southern wing of the Winter Palace, overlooking the kitchen courtyard, damaging the iron rafters and roofing over an area of three hundred square meters, and destroying the fire-fighting water supply installation located in the attic. An attic vault covering an area of about six square meters was broken through. Another shell hit the podium in front of the Winter Palace and damaged the water main.
Despite the difficult conditions that existed in the besieged city, on May 4, 1942, the Leningrad City Executive Committee ordered construction trust No. 16 to carry out priority restoration work in the Hermitage, in which emergency restoration workshops took part. In the summer of 1942, the roof was covered in places where it had been damaged by shells, the formwork was partially repaired, broken skylights or iron sheets were installed, the destroyed metal rafters were replaced with temporary wooden ones, and the plumbing system was repaired.
On May 12, 1943, a bomb hit the Winter Palace building, partially destroying the roof over the St. George's Hall and metal rafter structures, and damaging the brickwork of the walls in the storeroom of the Department of the History of Russian Culture. In the summer of 1943, despite the shelling, they continued to seal the roof, ceilings, and skylights with tarred plywood. On January 2, 1944, another shell hit the Armorial Hall, severely damaging the decoration and destroying two ceilings. The shell also pierced the ceiling of the Nicholas Hall. But already in August 1944, the Soviet government decided to restore all the museum buildings. Restoration work required enormous efforts and lasted for many years. But, despite all the losses, the Winter Palace remains an outstanding monument of Baroque architecture.
Nowadays, the Winter Palace, together with the buildings of the Small, Large and New Hermitages and the Hermitage Theater, forms a single palace complex, which has few equals in world architecture. In artistic and urban planning terms, it belongs to the highest achievements of Russian architecture. All the halls of this palace ensemble, built over many years, is occupied by the State Hermitage Museum - the largest museum in the world, with huge collections of works of art.
In the appearance of the Winter Palace, which was created, as the decree on its construction stated, “for the united glory of all Russia,” in its elegant, festive appearance, in the magnificent decoration of its facades, the artistic and compositional concept of the architect Rastrelli is revealed - a deep architectural connection with the city on the Neva, became the capital of the Russian Empire, with all the character of the surrounding urban landscape, which continues to this day.
Palace Square
Any tour of the Winter Palace begins on Palace Square. It has its own history, which is no less interesting than the history of Winter itself. The square was formed in 1754 during the construction of the Winter Palace according to the design of V. Rastrelli. An important role in its formation was played by K. I. Rossi, who in 1819-1829 created the General Staff building and the Ministry building and connected them into a single magnificent whole Arc de Triomphe. The Alexander Column took its place in the ensemble of Palace Square in 1830-1834, in honor of the victory in the War of 1812. It is noteworthy that V. Rastrelli intended to place a monument to Peter I in the center of the square. The ensemble of Palace Square is completed by the building of the Headquarters of the Guards Corps, created in 1837-1843 by the architect A.P. Bryullov.
The palace was conceived and built in the form of a closed quadrangle, with a vast courtyard. The Winter Palace is quite large and stands out clearly from the surrounding houses.
Countless white columns either gather in groups (especially picturesque and expressive at the corners of the building), then thin out and part, revealing windows framed by platbands with lion masks and cupids’ heads. There are dozens of decorative vases and statues on the balustrade. The corners of the building are bordered by columns and pilasters.
Each facade of the Winter Palace is made in its own way. The northern facade, facing the Neva, stretches as a more or less even wall, without noticeable protrusions. The southern façade, facing Palace Square and having seven divisions, is the main one. Its center is cut through by three entrance arches. Is there a front yard behind them? where in the middle of the northern building there used to be the main entrance to the palace. Of the side facades, the most interesting is the western one, facing the Admiralty and the square on which Rastrelli intended to place the equestrian statue of Peter I cast by his father. Each casing 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. All stucco decorations on the facades were made on site.
The Winter Palace was always painted in bright colors. The original coloring of the palace was pink and yellow, as illustrated by drawings from the 18th - first quarter of the 19th centuries.
Of the interior spaces of the palace created by Rastrelli, the Jordan Staircase and part of the Great Church have retained their Baroque appearance. The main staircase is located in the northeast corner of the building. On it you can see various decorative details - columns, mirrors, statues, intricate gilded stucco molding, a huge lampshade created by Italian painters. The staircase, divided into two ceremonial flights, led to the main, Northern enfilade, which consisted of five large halls, behind which in the northwestern risalit there was a huge Throne Hall, and in the southwestern part - the palace Theater.
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 secondly - in the name of the Savior, the Image Not Made by Hands (1763). Its walls are decorated with stucco - an elegant floral pattern. The three-tier iconostasis is decorated with icons and picturesque panels depicting biblical scenes. The Evangelists on the ceiling vaults were later painted by F.A. Bruni. Now nothing reminds of the former purpose of the church hall, destroyed in the 1920s, except for the golden dome and the large picturesque ceiling by F. Fontebasso, depicting the Resurrection of Christ.
White Hall
It was created by A.P. Bryullov on the site of a number of premises that had three semi-circular windows along the facade in the center, and three rectangular windows on the sides. This circumstance gave the architect the idea of dividing the room into three compartments and highlighting the middle one with particularly luxurious treatment. The hall is separated from the side parts by arches on projecting pylons, decorated with pilasters, and the central window and the opposite door are emphasized by Corinthian columns, above which are placed four statues - female figures personifying the arts. The hall is covered with semi-circular vaults. The wall opposite the central windows is designed with an arcature and above each semicircle there are pairs of bas-relief figures of Juno and Jupiter, Diana and Apollo, Ceres and Mercury and other deities of Olympus.
The vault and all parts of the ceiling above the cornice are decorated with caissons and stucco molding in the same late-classical style, rich in decorative elements.
The side compartments are decorated in the spirit of the Italian Renaissance. Here, under the common crowning cornice, a second smaller order with Tuscan pilasters covered with small moldings with grotesque ornaments is introduced. Above the pilasters there is a wide frieze with figures of children engaged in music and dancing, hunting and fishing, harvesting and winemaking, or playing at sailing and war. Such a connection architectural elements different scales and overloading of the hall with ornaments are characteristic of the classicism of the 1830s, but the white color gives the hall integrity.
St. George's Hall and Military Gallery
Experts call the St. George, or Great Throne Hall, created according to Quarenghi’s design, the most perfect interior. In order to create the St. George's Hall, a special building had to be added to the center of the eastern facade of the palace. Colored marble and gilded bronze were used in the design of this room, which enriched the front suite. At the end of it, on a dais, there used to be a large throne made by the master P. Azhi. Other famous architects also took part in the design of the palace interiors. In 1826, according to the design of K.I. Rossi, a Military Gallery was built in front of St. George's Hall.
The military gallery is a kind of monument to the heroic military past of the Russian people. It contains 332 portraits of generals, participants in the Patriotic War of 1812 and the foreign campaign of 1813-1814. The portraits were painted by the famous English artist J. Dow with the participation of Russian painters A.V. Polyakov and V.A. Golike. Most of the portraits were made from life, but since in 1819, when the work began, many were no longer alive, some portraits were painted from earlier, surviving images. The gallery occupies a place of honor in the palace and is directly adjacent to the St. George's Hall. The architect K.I. Rossi, who built it, destroyed the six small rooms that previously existed here. The gallery was illuminated through glazed openings in the vaults supported by arches. The arches rested on groups of double columns that stood against the longitudinal walls. Portraits were arranged in five rows on the walls in simple gilded frames. On one of the end walls, under a canopy, was placed an equestrian portrait of Alexander I by J. Doe. After the fire of 1837, it was replaced by the same portrait by F. Kruger, it is his painting that is in the hall today, on its sides there is an image of the Prussian King Frederick William III, also painted by Kruger, and a portrait of the Austrian Emperor Franz I by P. Kraft. If you look at the door leading to the St. George's Hall, then on its sides you can see portraits of Field Marshals M.I. Kutuzov and M.B. Barclay de Tolly by Doe.
In the 1830s, A. S. Pushkin often visited the gallery. He immortalized it in the poem “Commander,” dedicated to Barclay de Tolly:
The Russian Tsar has a chamber in his palace:
She is not rich in gold or velvet;
But from top to bottom, all the way around,
With your brush free and wide
It was painted by a quick-eyed artist.
There are no rural nymphs or virgin Madonnas here,
No fauns with cups, no full-breasted wives,
No dancing, no hunting, but all cloaks and swords,
Yes, faces full of military courage.
The artist placed the crowd in a crowd
Here are the leaders of our people's forces,
Covered with the glory of a wonderful campaign
And the eternal memory of the twelfth year.
The fire of 1837 did not spare the gallery, however, fortunately, all the portraits were carried out by soldiers of the guards regiments.
V.P. Stasov, who restored the gallery, basically retained its former character: he repeated the treatment of the walls with double Corinthian columns, left the same arrangement of portraits, and retained the color scheme. But some details of the hall's composition were changed. Stasov extended the gallery by 12 meters. A balcony was placed above the wide crowning cornice for passage to the choirs of adjacent halls, for which purpose arches resting on columns were eliminated, rhythmically breaking the too long vault into parts.
After the Great Patriotic War, the gallery was restored, and four additional portraits of palace grenadiers, veterans who served in the campaign of 1812-1814 as ordinary soldiers, were placed in it. These works were also carried out by J. Doe.
Petrovsky Hall
Peter's Hall is also known as the Small Throne Room. Decorated with particular splendor in the spirit of late classicism, it was created in 1833 by the architect A. A. Montferrand. After the fire, the hall was restored by V.P. Stasov, and its original appearance was preserved almost unchanged. The main difference in later finishing is related to the treatment of the walls. Previously, the panels on the side walls were divided by one pilaster, now there are two of them. There was no border around each panel, a large double-headed eagle in the center, and on the scarlet velvet upholstery, bronze gilded double-headed eagles of the same size were mounted in diagonal directions.
The hall is dedicated to the memory of Peter I. The crossed Latin monograms of Peter, double-headed eagles and crowns are included in the motifs of the stucco ornament of the capitals of the columns and pilasters, the frieze on the walls, in the painting of the ceiling and the decoration of the entire hall. On two walls there are images of the Battle of Poltava and the Battle of Lesnaya, in the center of the compositions is the figure of Peter I (artists - B. Medici and P. Scotti).
The Winter Palace on Palace Square in St. Petersburg is the main attraction northern capital, from 1762 to 1904 served as the official winter residence of the Russian emperors. The palace has no equal in St. Petersburg in terms of the richness and variety of architectural and sculptural decoration.
To get around all the exhibits in the Hermitage, you will need to spend 11 years of your life and walk 22 kilometers. All St. Petersburg residents know well: in the main museum of the city on the first floor there is the Egyptian Hall, on the third floor there are the Impressionists. City guests are also aware.
How will we surprise you? You can try with facts:
1. The Hermitage is huge. Of course, the Tsar, the autocrat of all Rus', ruled from this palace a territory occupying more than 22 million square kilometers and 150 million people. 1057 rooms, 117 staircases, 1945 windows. The total length of the main cornice bordering the building is almost 2 km.
2. The total number of sculptures installed on the Winter Palace parapet is 176 pieces. You can count the number of vases yourself.
3. The main palace of the Russian Empire was built by more than 4,000 masons and plasterers, marble makers and stucco makers, parquet floorers and painters. Receiving an insignificant payment for their work, they huddled in miserable shacks, many lived here, on the square, in huts.
4. From 1754 to 1762, construction of the palace building took place, which at that time became the tallest residential building in St. Petersburg. For a long time... Empress Elizaveta Petrovna died without settling into the new mansions. Peter III accepted 60,000 square meters of new housing.
5. After the completion of the Winter Palace, the entire area in front of it was littered with construction debris. Emperor Peter III decided to get rid of it in an original way - he ordered it to be announced to the people that anyone could take anything they wanted from the square, for free. After a few hours, all the debris was cleared.
6. The garbage was removed - a new problem. In 1837 the palace burned down. The entire imperial family was left homeless. However, 6,000 unknown workers saved the situation, working day and night, and within 15 months the palace was completely restored. True, the price of a labor feat is several hundred ordinary workers...
7. The Winter Palace was constantly repainted in different colors. It was both red and pink. It acquired its original pale green color in 1946.
8. The Winter Palace is an absolutely monumental building. It was intended to reflect the power and greatness of the Russian Empire. It is estimated that there are 1,786 doors, 1,945 windows and 117 staircases. The length of the main facade is 150 meters and the height is 30.
