Interesting facts about the winter palace. Imperial mansions: history of the Winter Palace In what year was the Winter Palace

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 high building In 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.

The Winter Palace in St. Petersburg is one of the most famous landmarks of this city, along with the cruiser Aurora. Now it houses the world-famous Hermitage exhibition, which hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world come to see every year.

1. During its history, the Winter Palace was the residence of monarchs, a military hospital, the place of work of the Provisional Government, and then it housed an exhibition of the Hermitage. Before the start of the Second World War, half of the palace halls were occupied by the Museum of the Revolution.
2. In total, there were five winter palaces in St. Petersburg, which the Russian emperors built for themselves. Elizabethan Baroque building on Palace Square became the last of them.
3. At the time of completion of construction, the palace was the tallest building in St. Petersburg, and until 1905 it was legally prohibited to build houses exceeding the height of the royal residence. The palace, with an area of ​​about 60 thousand square meters, originally consisted of 1,500 rooms.
4. The customer of the new palace, Elizaveta Petrovna, died before construction was completed. Peter the Third took over the work, but during the time it took to finish the facades, the monarch was overthrown from the throne by his wife Catherine.
5. The Hermitage was started by Catherine the Second, who received 317 valuable paintings by Dutch artists from Germany in payment of a debt. At least 96 of these paintings have survived to this day in the museum’s collections. The Empress placed the paintings in remote chambers of the palace, calling these rooms the “Hermitage” (translated from French- “secluded place”).
6. Now the palace has more than 1050 rooms, about 1950 windows and 117 staircases. The length of the cornice surrounding the building reaches 2 kilometers.
7. The parapet by Rastrelli is decorated with 176 sculptures. The exact number of vases on the façade is unknown.
8. 4,000 workers and craftsmen from all over the empire were involved in the construction of the palace.
9. After the construction of the palace was completed, a huge pile of rubbish was left on the square in front of it. Peter the Third came up with an unexpected solution to this problem - the townspeople were told that they could take whatever they wanted from the square, and a few hours later it was empty.
10. In the 1830s, the palace burned down. More than 6,000 thousand workers were able to eliminate the consequences of the fire in 15 months, returning the monarchs a roof over their heads.
11. During its existence, the palace was rebuilt many times - it was red, pink and even brown. Finally, after the war, the facade was painted white and green - it is this coloring that Russians now associate with the Hermitage.
12. Ordinary Russians gained access to the palace only in 1851, when a museum was opened in some of the luxurious premises. True, few tickets were sold, and they cost a lot of money.
13. After coming to power, the Bolsheviks renamed the Winter Palace into the “Palace of Arts,” but the new name never caught on among the people.
14. During the Second World War, 12 bomb shelters were built for Leningraders under the Winter Palace. The building was hit by 2 aerial bombs and 17 shells, but they were able to eliminate all the damage and reopen the museum to visitors in just six months after the victory in the war.
15. Alexander Sokurov shot the first film in the history of Russian cinema within the walls of the Winter Palace, the creation of which did not involve editing. The shooting lasted about an hour and a half.

Winter Palace is the largest palace building in St. Petersburg a. 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 wooden palace in stone. During the process, 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 summer residence in winter. 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 into it to live. 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 to remodel the imperial residence to her 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 - 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 courtiers' apartments.

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 protection. 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 Drawing 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 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 clearly stands out 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 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 design. 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 placed 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 King of Prussia, 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 upholstery of scarlet velvet, bronze gilded double-headed eagles of the same size were fixed in diagonal directions.

The hall is dedicated to the memory of Peter I. Crossed Latin monograms of Peter, double-headed eagles and crowns are included in the motifs of the stucco ornament of the capitals of columns and pilasters, the frieze on the walls, in the ceiling painting and 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.

Initially, Peter I settled in a hastily built building in 1703 not far from Peter and Paul Fortress one-story house. Subsequently, five winter palaces were built on this site by different emperors in the period 1711-1764. It was only in 1762 that the current palace building appeared. At that time, the Winter Palace became the tallest residential building in St. Petersburg. Elizaveta Petrovna did not live to see the completion of construction; Peter III took over the work on April 6, 1762. By this time, the decoration of the facades was completed, but many of the interior spaces were not yet ready. In the summer of 1762, Peter III was overthrown from the throne, and construction of the Winter Palace was completed under Catherine II. To have an idea of ​​the size of the erected palace, it is enough to provide at least some data. The building has 1057 rooms, 117 staircases, 1945 windows. The total length of the main cornice bordering the building is almost 2 km. And on the roof parapet there are 176 sculptural figures alternating with vases. The palace was built simultaneously by more than 4,000 masons and plasterers, marble makers and sculptors, sculptors and painters. Receiving an insignificant payment for their work, they huddled in miserable shacks, many lived here, on the square, in huts.

In December 1837, a fire broke out in Zimny. The fire raged for 30 hours, destroying to the ground all the finishing of the building. But before the walls of the palace had time to cool down, restoration work began by order of the emperor. They were led by architects Stasov and Bryullov.

To revive the royal winter residence, a huge number of builders were mobilized and worked in difficult, inhuman conditions. During cold weather of 25 - 30 degrees below zero, 6,000 unknown workers were imprisoned in halls heated to 30 degrees Celsius to dry the walls as quickly as possible. Thus, these people experienced a temperature difference of 50 to 60 degrees when entering and leaving the building. People were suffocating from the heat and steam, fell from the scaffolding and crashed, fell in the streets and died. But new ones took the place of those who left, and work did not stop for a single hour. The builders met the deadline set by the emperor: in 15 months the palace was completely restored. Appearance it was recreated almost exactly according to Rastrelli's designs, and the interior rooms were planned and decorated anew.

From the end of construction in 1762 to 1904, it was used as the official winter residence of the Russian emperors. In 1904, Nicholas II moved his permanent residence to the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoye Selo. From October 1915 to November 1917, a hospital named after Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich operated in the palace. From July to November 1917, the palace housed the Provisional Government. In January 1920, the palace opened State Museum revolution, sharing the building with the State Hermitage until 1941. Now all the premises of the palace have been transferred to the Hermitage to house its numerous collections of paintings, sculptures, objects of applied art, coins, and precious items. In order to get acquainted with the exhibition of all the halls, you will need to travel 22 km. And if you spend only one minute at each exhibit, then to explore the museum (if you spend 8 hours in it every day) you will need to spend 11 years.