Post on the theme of the winter palace. Winter Palace

The Winter Palace on Palace Square in St. Petersburg is the main attraction of the northern capital, which from 1762 to 1904 served as the official winter residence of the Russian emperors. In terms of the richness and variety of architectural and sculptural decoration, the palace has no equal in St. Petersburg.

To get around all the exhibits of the Hermitage, you will need to spend 11 years of your life and walk 22 kilometers. All Petersburgers are well aware: in the main museum of the city there is an Egyptian hall on the first floor, on the third floor there are impressionists. Guests of the city are also aware.

How are we going to surprise? You can try with facts:

№1. The Hermitage is huge ... As well as the territory of a huge country ruled by a tsar, the autocrat of all Russia right from the walls of this luxurious palace... 1057 rooms, 117 stairs, 1945 windows. The total length of the main cornice flanking the building is almost 2 km.

№2. The total number of sculptures installed on the parapet of the Winter Palace is 176 pieces. You can count the number of vases yourself.

№3. Built main palace The Russian Empire has more than 4000 bricklayers and plasterers, marblers and modelers, parquet flooring and painters. Receiving a paltry salary for their work, they huddled in miserable hovels, many lived here, on the square, in huts.

№4. From 1754 to 1762, the building of the palace was under construction, which at that time became the tallest residential building in St. Petersburg. For a long time ... Empress Elizaveta Petrovna died without settling in the new mansions. Peter III took over 60,000 square meters of new housing.

№5. After completion of construction Winter Palace the entire area in front of him was littered with construction debris. Emperor Peter III decided to get rid of him in an original way - he ordered to announce to the people that anyone who wants to can take anything from the square, and for free. After a few hours, all the rubbish was cleared away.

№6. The trash is removed - a new problem. In 1837 the palace burned down. The whole imperial family was left homeless. However, 6,000 unknown workers saved the day by working day and night and in 15 months the ball 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. Was both red and pink. It acquired its original, pale green color in 1946.

№8. The Winter Palace is an absolutely monumental structure. It was intended to reflect the power and greatness of the Russian Empire. It is estimated that there are 1,786 doors, 1945 windows and 117 staircases. The main facade is 150 meters long and 30 meters high.

Saint Isaac's Cathedral

St. Isaac's Cathedral (the official name is the Cathedral of St. Isaac of Dalmatia) is the largest Orthodox church in St. Petersburg. Located on St. Isaac's Square.

The first St. Isaac's Church in St. Petersburg was built in 1707 in a meadow opposite the gates of the Admiralty shipyard. It was a modest one-story building with a small bell tower. The church was built in honor of the patron saint of Peter I, since the tsar's birthday coincided with the day of commemoration of the legendary Byzantine monk Isaac of Dalmatia.

In 1717, according to the project of G.I. Mattarnovi, the construction of a new stone St. Isaac's Church began. Isaac's Church was built until the 1750s. Under the weight of the building, the soil began to settle, because of which the temple had to be dismantled.

The new building of St. Isaac's Cathedral was conceived to be bright enough, faced with Olonets marble. However, by 1796, by the death of Catherine II, it was only half completed. Completion of the construction of the third building of St. Isaac's Cathedral was delayed. The new St. Isaac's Cathedral was completed only in 1800.

In 1809, Alexander I announced a competition for the construction of a new St. Isaac's Cathedral.
The final project was chosen by the French architect Auguste Montferrand.

The solemn laying of the temple took place on June 26, 1818.
Considering local peculiarities 10,762 piles were driven into the base of the foundation.
The columns were installed before the walls of St. Isaac's Cathedral were erected. The first column (north portico) was erected in March 1828 and the last in August 1830.

The gilding of the dome of St. Isaac's Cathedral took more than 100 kilograms of pure gold.

St. Isaac's Cathedral was built for an unusually long time. In this regard, rumors circulated in St. Petersburg about an intentional delay in construction. "They say that a visiting clairvoyant predicted Montferrand's death immediately after the completion of construction." - "That's why he's been building for so long."

The construction of St. Isaac's Cathedral was completed in 1858. The consecration of the temple took place on May 30 this year.

In St. Isaac's Cathedral, members of the royal family were baptized; it became the center of citywide holidays. However, the scaffolding was not removed from it for a long time. They said that the building was built in bad faith and requires constant renovation. They did not spare money for the cathedral, and a legend was born that the house of the Romanovs would fall as soon as the scaffolding was removed from Isaac. They were finally removed only by 1916. Not long before the abdication of Nicholas II from the throne.

The height of St. Isaac's Cathedral is 101.5 meters. On the porticos around the drum of the dome, 72 columns of granite monoliths weighing from 64 to 114 tons are installed. For the first time in construction practice, columns of this size were raised to a height of more than 40 meters. The cathedral is the fourth largest in the world. It is second only to St. Peter's in Rome, St. Paul's in London and St. Mary's in Florence. With an area of ​​4,000 square meters, it can accommodate up to 12,000 people.

The Winter Palace is a legendary building that used to serve as the home of Russian rulers. The Winter Palace was built in St. Petersburg in the middle of the 18th century. The main collection of the historical State Hermitage was housed in the premises of the palace in the 20th century.

The building for the 1.5 century served as an official winter residence for state monarchs, only during the reign of Nicholas II the emperor moved it to the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoe Selo.

The Winter Palace together with the Palace Square are beautifully combined in architectural ensemble and are an adornment of St. Petersburg. Thousands of travelers from all over the world visit the historic building every year.

Palace history

During the 18th century, 5 Winter Palaces were erected on this site.

1. Wedding chambers of Peter the Great

At the beginning of the 18th century, wedding chambers were built for Peter I. This building was presented by the head of the city to the king in honor of the wedding.

2. Winter Palace of Peter I

The tsar entrusted the order for the construction of the new Winter Palace to the architect Georg Mattarnovi in ​​1716. During the construction of the building, the Palace Embankment had to be moved 50 meters to the river. The emperor settled in the building 4 years later, and died in 1725.

3. Winter Palace of Anna Ioannovna

Empress Anna Ioannovna returned the status of the capital to St. Petersburg. She decides to settle in the Winter Palace and gives it the status of an official residence. However, the design did not meet the needs of the empress, and she orders to re-equip the structure. FB Rastrelli took over the construction in 1731.

The Empress moved to a new building for permanent residence after 4 years. The building consisted of four floors, on which there were about 70 ceremonial halls, about a hundred bedrooms, service and guard rooms, and its own theater.

Elizaveta Petrovna to sit on the throne after the death of Anna Ioannovna. She wants an even more chic design than her predecessor and orders the separation of the rooms adjacent to the South of the Gallery of Light.

In the middle of the 18th century, the Empress commissioned FB Rastrelli to expand the building. The architect builds new premises in unison with the existing one. A year after that, the Empress ordered to change the building in height upwards. Rastrelli has to transform his blueprints, and he advises the Empress to build a building in a different area of ​​the city. But she refuses to move the building. This led to the fact that in 1754 an order was signed to erect the palace building on the former site.

4. Fourth (temporary) Winter Palace

It was created by Rastrelli in 1755. Seven years later, the building was dismantled.

5. Fifth (existing) Winter Palace

The current Winter Palace was built from 1754 to 1762. The ruler dismisses the architect Rastrelli, and other architects, headed by Betsky, are already engaged in construction. The building housed over 1,500 rooms. The Empress died before the construction was completed. The building was already commissioned to Peter III. The construction cost more than 2.6 million rubles.

Within the walls of the palace, Catherine II orders to build a room for her lover, Count Orlov.

The Empress from Germany was presented with more than 300 expensive canvases to repay the debt to Prince V.D.Dolgorukov. These paintings became the source of the Hermitage collection.

In 1783, the Empress issued a decree on the destruction of the palace theater.

The Winter Palace in St. Petersburg has seen many incidents since those times. He survived terrible fire, as a result of which the entire interior and statues on the roof of the building had to be restored. I saw the attempt on the life of Emperor Alexander II. Became the venue for luxurious costume balls. It housed a hospital, the Provisional Government. He survived a difficult assault during the revolutionary years. Centre cultural heritage St. Petersburg was located in the palace. During the difficult years of the Second World War, it served as a bomb shelter for more than two thousand citizens. The building was badly damaged by military bombing - the restoration of the building lasted for many decades after the war.

Today the Winter Palace is a chic structure and has a rectangular configuration with sides of 137 by 106 meters. The height of the building is 23.5 meters. The palace is perfectly located on the territory of the city, and gives it an artistic and compositional flavor.

Tourism

Currently, the Winter Palace of St. Petersburg plays the role of a historical, cultural and artistic structure. More than 500 thousand foreigners and about 2 million Russians come to admire its beauty every year.

Palace in art

The Winter Palace played an important role in art. Its greatness is revealed in the films "Russian Ark", "Rasputin", "October" and others. In the legendary strategy "Red Alert 3" one of the episodes must be performed in a simulated Winter Palace.

Curious little things about the St. Petersburg Winter Palace

1. More than 50 cats live within the walls of the State Hermitage. Their mission was laid down by Peter I, when he brought a cat from Europe to catch rodents in the Winter Palace, and the emperor's daughter acquired another 30 representatives of mouse catchers. A unique stock has been created for the cats of the Hermitage Money... Every year a festive feast is organized for cats with all kinds of cat treats. The holiday takes place on April 1 and is called the Day of the March Cat.
2. Nicholas I issued an interesting state decree, which indicated that the maximum height of residential buildings in the city should not exceed 11 sazhens (23.47 m). This led to the fact that the Winter Palace turned out to be higher than private houses, although the decree did not say anything about it.

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Plan of the Winter Palace. 1. Jordan gallery / first floor / 2. Front (Jordanian) staircase 3. Field Marshal Hall 4. Petrovsky (Small Throne) Hall 5. Georgievsky (Large Throne) Hall 6. Military Gallery of 1812 7. Armorial Hall 8. Large Church 9 Alexander Hall 10. Halls of war paintings 11. Large drawing room 12. White room 13. October staircase 14. Golden drawing room 15. Raspberry office 16. Boudoir 17. Study room 18. Bedroom 19. Rotunda 20. Library of Nicholas II 21. Small ( White) dining room 22. Malachite living room 23. Big Arap dining room 24. Concert hall 25. Portrait gallery of the Romanovs' house 26. Big (Nikolaevsky) hall 27. Entrance hall

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Pages of history. The Winter Palace is grandiose structure which is oldest building on Palace Square, built in the Baroque style. Like any building in St. Petersburg, the Winter Palace is shrouded in stories and myths. Officially, the construction of the Winter Palace, designed by B.F. Rastrelli, began in 1754 and ended in 1762, but the history of its creation dates back much earlier. In the place now occupied by the palace in 1712 under Peter the Great, it was forbidden to give land plots to persons who did not belong to the naval ranks. Peter the Great, wishing to build a palace on this site for himself, received permission to build Peter Alekseev as a shipmaster and built a residential "small house of Dutch architecture" there. In 1718, a canal was dug in front of its side facade, named after the palace the Winter Canal. In 1711, especially for the wedding of Peter I and Catherine, the architect Matornovi, by order of the tsar, began to rebuild the wooden palace into a stone one. But in the process of work, the architect G. Matornovi was removed from affairs and the construction was headed by Trezzini. In 1720, Peter I with all his family moved from a summer residence to a winter one. In 1723 the Senate was transferred to the Winter Palace.

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Winter Palace in the 18th century. (Portrait of Anna Ioannovna) When the reign of Anna Ioannovna came, Count Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli, a brilliant architect of that time, offered her his project for rebuilding the Winter Palace. According to his project, it was required to acquire, at that time on the site occupied by the present palace, houses that belonged to Count Apraksin, the Naval Academy, Raguzinsky and Chernyshev. Anna Ioanovna approved the project, the houses were bought up, and construction began. In 1735, the construction of the palace was completed, and Anna Ioanovna moved into it to live. The palace looked somewhat different than it currently exists. In the opinion of Elizabeth Petrovna, who came to the throne, he did not meet the requirements of the official residence of the Russian empress. By her order in 1754, Count Rastrelli was to compose new project Of the Winter Palace. Rastrelli, in accordance with the wishes of Elizaveta Petrovna, tried to create a palace that the Russian capital could be proud of. The palace was given the appearance that has survived to the present day. 859555 rubles were allocated for the work, which at that time was an extremely modest amount for such a project. And, nevertheless, the author and his assistants managed to emphasize the richness and variety of the decor of the Winter Palace. About four thousand people worked on its construction. We managed to collect the best masters from all over the country. Now Palace Square and the Alexander Garden were covered with huts in which the workers lived. The palace turned out, as planned, not like the others.

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Winter Palace in the 18th century. Its facades are decorated with Rastrelli's inherent variety, each of which the architect gave a unique interpretation. Strongly protruding wings of the western façade facing the Admiralty form a ceremonial courtyard. The same architectural solution was given to the architect to the eastern end of the palace, hidden by the building of the Small Hermitage. The northern facade, facing the Neva, is richly decorated with two-tiered white columns, creating a spectacular play of light and shade. The main - the southern facade, oriented to the Palace Square, is cut through by three entrance arches. The light green color of the walls contrasts favorably with the whiteness of the columns. The decorativeness of the building is enhanced by the whimsical curves of complex cornices and various window frames. Their composition includes cupid heads, lion masks, bizarre curls characteristic of the Baroque style. 176 sculptural figures on the roof, alternating with vases, enliven the silhouette of the palace, emphasizing the dynamics of its forms. The building is striking in its scale. Inside it there are 1,050 ceremonial and residential halls with an area of ​​46 thousand square meters, 1945 windows, 1,786 doors, 117 staircases, 329 chimneys. The total length of the main cornice flanking the building is almost two kilometers. The entire system of external decorations was designed to emphasize the height of the building, unprecedented for those times. This impression was enhanced by the columns arranged in two tiers. But Elizabeth did not have to live in this luxurious creation of architecture.

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Winter Palace in the 18th century. Portrait of Peter III. In 1762, the work was completed, and on April 6 of the same year, Emperor Peter III moved to live in the Winter Palace. He watches with pleasure from the window of the palace as the city dwellers take away the trash left after construction work, thereby clearing the area in front of the palace, which seemed incredible. This simple decision was suggested to Peter III by Chief of Police N.A. Korf. But Peter III did not have to enjoy the beauty of the Winter Palace for a long time. In 1763, Catherine II had already entered it, having returned from Moscow after her coronation. By her arrival, all the finishes were completed. indoor spaces the palace with all the decorations it contains. By the end of the 18th century. in the palace, there were up to 1,500 rooms, among which, for the special luxurious decoration and the works of art collected here, it is necessary to highlight such halls as: the Romanov gallery, containing a collection of portraits of the Sovereigns of the Romanov dynasty, starting with Mikhail Fedorovich. George Hall, in which there is a golden throne, with a large imperial coat of arms, embroidered in gold on a red velvet background. The hall is decorated with marble columns and six magnificent chandeliers, and many other halls. A winter garden was also created in the palace, with large trees - tropical and northern.

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Winter Palace in the 19th century. The Winter Palace acquired its completion during the reign of Emperor Nicholas I (1825-1855). The grandson of the great Catherine II and the younger brother of Tsar Alexander I, Nicholas came to the throne, brutally suppressing the uprising on December 14, 1825 - the first organized protest against tsarism. All further policy of his reign was aimed at strengthening the power and authority of the autocratic government. Having become the owner of the Winter Palace, Nicholas, in order to raise the prestige of the main imperial residence, gives orders to expand the front part of the palace. First of all, he implements the idea, conceived by Alexander I, of creating a portrait gallery in the palace in memory of the victory over Napoleon. Back in 1819, the painter George Doe was invited from England, who was commissioned to paint portraits of all Russian generals who participated in the 1812-1815 campaigns. Dow, who was assisted by the Russian painters A.V. Polyakov and V.A. Golike, painted 332 portraits of those who were still alive and those who were no longer alive and whom he painted from the surviving images. In 1826, the famous St. Petersburg architect K. Rossi (1775 / 77-1849) built a 55-meter-long gallery in the Winter Palace, where the painted portraits were placed. This is how a unique monument was created military glory Russia - Military Gallery of 1812.

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Romanov Gallery The gallery contains portraits of representatives of the Romanov dynasty - from the founder of the Russian Empire, Peter the Great, to the last Russian emperor Nicholas II. The gallery, which was then called Pompeii, was created after the fire of 1837 by V.P. Stasov, who placed next to it, above the Ambassadorial entrance overlooking the courtyard, the Winter Garden with a glazed ceiling. In 1886, it was decided to place paintings in the gallery, in connection with which, according to the project of the palace architect N.A. Gornostaev, its decoration was changed. In the exhibition hall, arranged after the Great Patriotic War on the site of the garden, there is an exposition "Russian culture of the 17th century."

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Georgievsky hall. The St. George (Great Throne) Hall, for which a special building was built, on the side of the Grand Palace, was created in 1787-1795 under Catherine II according to the project of Giacomo Quarenghi (1744-1817). The new throne room was designed in strict classicist forms. The huge double-height room made a stunning impression. But Quarenghi's masterpiece died in a fire in 1837. Emperor Nicholas I ordered "the St. George Hall to try to make ... everything of white marble." White Carrara marble, which gave an extraordinary solemnity to the Throne Room, was delivered from Italy. The ceiling was decorated with gilded ornaments, the pattern of which was repeated in the pattern of parquet flooring from 16 types of colored wood. Above the throne place there is a marble bas-relief "St. George the Victorious, striking a dragon with a spear". Due to the laboriousness of the marble facing, the St. George Hall was completed later than other rooms of the palace, and consecrated in 1841. The entire official history of the Russian reigning house is connected with this hall. The majestic and solemn decoration of the hall corresponds to its purpose: official ceremonies and receptions were held here.

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Military gallery of 1812. The military gallery of 1812 - the most famous of the memorial premises of the palace - was built according to the project of the outstanding architect of Russian classicism K.I. Rossi (1775 / 77-1849) and solemnly opened on December 25, 1826, on the anniversary of the expulsion of Napoleon's army from Russia. 332 portraits of generals of the Russian army, participants in the war of 1812 and the foreign campaign of 1813-1814 were placed here. In the Gallery, space was left for 13 portraits of the victims, images of which could not be found. The portraits were commissioned by Alexander I to the artist George Doe. The meeting between the Russian emperor and the fashionable English portrait painter took place in the German city of Aachen, where in the fall of 1818 the first congress of the Holy Union of the countries that won the Napoleonic army took place. In the back of the hall, on the front wall, there is a ceremonial portrait of Emperor Alexander I (executed by Franz Kruger). Nearby are ceremonial portraits of the monarchs of the allied states - Prussia and Austria. Portraits of Field Marshal MI Kutuzov and MB Barclay de Tolly are located on the sides of the door leading to the Georgievsky (Great Throne) Hall. During the fire of 1837, all the portraits were saved and returned to their places in the hall restored by V.P. Stasov.

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Fire in the Winter Palace in 1837. In 1828, O. R. Montferrand (1786-1858), a French architect invited to Russia by Alexander I in 1816, was involved in the work in the Winter Palace. While working on the construction of St. Isaac's Cathedral, which was destined to become one of the most ambitious structures of the mid-19th century, Montferrand was simultaneously creating new apartments in the royal residence. In 1833-1834, next to the Main Palace Staircase, he built two halls that completed the formation of the main suite of ceremonial halls of the Winter Palace - Field Marshal and Petrovsky, dedicated to the memory of Peter the Great. Three years later, everything created by Montferrand and his predecessors in the Winter Palace perished in the fire of an unprecedented fire in December 1837. Fires in those days happened in St. Petersburg quite often, mainly due to stove heating, which was also in royal palace... On the first floor, under the Field Marshal and Petrovsky halls, there was a palace pharmacy, in which the stove was heated around the clock. On the evening of December 17, 1837, plumes of smoke began to seep from the strangler in the Field Marshal's Hall. The alarmed personnel on duty called a fire company squad. After examining the stranglehold, attic and basement rooms, the firefighters found a smoking mat and poured water from the brinesboats over everything. However, the cause of the fire, which burst out from behind the collapsed wooden partition of the hall after a few minutes, was different ...

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Fire in the Winter Palace. An intense flame instantly engulfed the ceilings: the palace flared up from above. It was impossible to save him. The fire spread rapidly along the walls, along the carved wood of gilded ornaments, picturesque plafonds, and waxed parquet floors. Today it is obvious that the constructive mistake of the architect O. R. Montferrand, who placed the strangler in a narrow space fenced off by a partition, and the use of wood as the main building material led to tragic consequences. An eyewitness to the incident, A.P. Bashutsky, colorfully described the finale of a grand fire that raged for more than thirty hours. “Were solemnly sad last hours phoenix-buildings ... We saw through the broken windows how the victorious fire walked in the deserted space, illuminating the wide passages, it then chopped and rolled the marble columns, then boldly blackened the precious gilding, then poured crystal and bronze chandeliers of artwork into ugly heaps, then tore off luxurious brocade and damask from the walls ... ". When it became obvious to Nicholas I, who returned from the theater, the impossibility of stopping the raging elements, a decision was made: to urgently remove everything that was possible from the palace. Furniture, dishes, crystal, chests with clothes, paintings, carpets, books, albums and other utensils - everything was piled right on the snow of Palace Square. To prevent the fire from spreading to the Hermitage, the passages between it and the palace were broken, and the walls, behind which were kept priceless artistic treasures, were kept under the pressure of water. The fire raged for three days. By the evening of December 19, one giant charred skeleton remained from the Winter Palace.

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Field Marshal Hall. The hall opens the Great Front Suite of the Winter Palace. The interior was restored after a fire in 1837 by V.P. Stasov, close to the original project of O. de Montferrand (1833 - 1834). The entrances to the hall, designed in a strict classical style, are accented with portals. The longitudinal walls are decorated with double pilasters on which the entablature supporting the choir lies. The decor of gilded bronze chandeliers and grisaille paintings in the hall uses motifs of military glory. Before the revolution, ceremonial portraits of Russian field marshals were placed in the niches of the hall, which explains its name. The hall displays monuments of Western European and Russian sculpture, as well as porcelain items from the Imperial Factory, created in the first half of the 19th century.

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Petrovsky hall. The Petrovsky (Small Throne) Hall perpetuates the memory of the founder of the Russian Empire - Peter I. The hall was created in 1833 according to the project of O.-R. Montferrand (1786-1858) and restored after the fire by V.P. Stasov almost unchanged. The decoration of the hall was the composition with the allegorical painting "Peter I with Minerva" by G. Amikoni. Elements of imperial paraphernalia - monograms of Peter the Great, crowns, double-headed eagles - occupy a special place in the decoration of the hall. Picturesque images of the famous battles of the Northern War - the Battle of Poltava and the Battle of Lesnaya - allowed contemporaries to perceive this room as a "palladium of Russian greatness and glory." In the hall of Peter I there is a historical relic - the throne of Empress Anna Ioannovna, made by the master N. Clausen in London in 1731. The wooden base of the throne is framed in massive gilded silver; the state emblem of Russia is embroidered on the back in silver.

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Winter Palace. 1853. An unprecedented fire completely destroyed the magnificent decoration of the royal residence, erasing an entire era in the history of the palace. It seemed that it would be impossible to revive the palace. However, the consequences of the fire were eliminated in an unprecedentedly short time: during the years 1838-1839. And in the spring of 1839, a grand reception was held in the newly decorated state rooms, dedicated to the renewal of the Winter Palace. It can be argued that in terms of scale and complexity, this was an unprecedented restoration for its time, which was not known in the practice of world architecture.

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Revival of the Winter Palace. The revival of the Winter Palace after the fire of 1837 is, first of all, the merit of two outstanding Russian architects of the 19th century - V.P. Stasov (1769-1848) and A.P. Bryullov (1798-1877). V.P. Stasov restored the front part of the palace and supervised the general construction work. The task before him was very difficult. In a short time, the architect had not only to return the palace to its former splendor, but also to give all the ceremonial halls an appearance that met the artistic tastes and views of the Nikolaev era - the time of the highest power of the Russian Empire, which became a great European power after the victory over Napoleon. Tsar Nicholas I especially insisted on this ideological side, who personally drew up a thematic program for decorating the restored halls. Finally, it was necessary to provide for all measures to forever exclude the possibility of a new fire. Stasov brilliantly solved this problem by creating a monumental complex of ceremonial halls, united by the nobility of the classical style and the idea of ​​the greatness of the Russian Empire.

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Revival of the Winter Palace. This idea found its expression in the grandeur of the rooms, in the splendor and at the same time strict thoughtfulness and rationality of the decorations, in the richness of the materials used, in the motives and subjects of wall paintings, stucco moldings, paintings, sculptures, decorative objects, and finally, in the solemn rhythm in which the halls, following one after another, they line up in magnificent enfilades. All the main official palace ceremonies took place here: solemn receptions, high society balls, the highest exits. The halls along the Neva and the Great Front Suite, going deep into the Winter Palace to the Great Throne Room, are connected by the Main Staircase. The first hall of the Great Enfilade, the Field Marshal's, was located immediately behind the Main Staircase. Here, the officers of the palace guard were usually present and the palace guard was divorced. Decorated with portraits of Russian field marshals, the hall was supposed to remind of the military glory and power of the Russian Empire. Stasov recreated the Field Marshal Hall as Montferrand had built it. In addition, in accordance with the plan of his predecessor, he restored the neighboring Petrovsky (Small Throne) Hall.

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Revival of the Winter Palace. The architect Stasov, who followed Petrovsky, designed the Armorial Hall according to his own project. He significantly increased the length of the hall, and the area of ​​the Armorial Hall (the second largest in the Winter Palace) was now 1000 square meters. Using the composition of the columned hall characteristic of Russian classicism, the architect achieved the solemn imposingness of the heavy, all-gilded columns of the luxurious Corinthian order, the upper galleries and porticos lying on them, framing the entrances. On both sides of the entrances there were sculptural groups - Russian knights with spears, on which shields with the coats of arms of the Russian provinces were attached. (Now they are fortified along the edges of the gilded bronze chandeliers that adorn the hall.) The coats of arms gave the name to the hall, which personified the unity of the empire and the emperor: representatives of the cities, the provincial nobility, and the estates were received here by the sovereign. Today, the Armorial Hall, like many other halls of the Winter Palace, is an exhibition space. In the Armorial Hall, the richest collection of Western European silver of the 17th-18th centuries is exhibited.

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Armorial hall. Each subsequent hall of the Enfilade became another link in a complex picture of symbols glorifying the Fatherland. The coat of arms of the Winter Palace, intended for solemn ceremonies, was created by V.P. Stasov in the late 1830s. in the style of late Russian classicism. Images of the coats of arms of Russian provinces are placed on gilded bronze chandeliers. The entrances to the hall are flanked by sculptural groups of ancient Russian soldiers. A slender colonnade carrying a balcony with a balustrade, a frieze decorated with acanthus leaves, and a combination of gold and white create an impression of grandeur and solemnity.

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Gallery of the Patriotic War of 1812. The gallery of the Patriotic War of 1812 adjoins the Hall of Arms. All the portraits of the gallery were taken out of the fire during the fire and rescued by soldiers of the guards regiments. Stasov got the opportunity to restore the gallery in its original form. However, the architect made some changes to Rossi's plan, giving the gallery a complete, solemn, austere and imposing appearance: the length of the 1st gallery was increased by almost 6 m, the choir was located above the cornice - a bypass gallery connected with the same galleries of neighboring halls. This was done not only to enhance the decorative effect, but also for fire prevention purposes. Through the glazed bindings built into the vaults, daylight now passed into the gallery, the wooden roof rafters were replaced with iron ones.

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The widespread use of metal in the restoration of the palace was an innovation in the building practice of that time. A lot of metal structures, complex elements of a new heating system that replaced the stove, water supply, metal parts of architectural decorations were made for the palace at the St. Petersburg Alexandrovsky plant. It was headed by the talented engineer M.E. Clark, using the latest achievements of modern technical thought, brilliantly solved a number of complex technical problems that arose during the work. He developed and for the first time applied in the Winter Palace a system of unsupported overlapping with the help of metal trusses and beams to which ceilings made of copper sheets were suspended. This system made it possible to create floors in such large rooms as the Armorial and the Great Throne Hall.

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The Great Throne Room (Georgievsky) The Great Throne Room, the main hall of the Winter Palace, completes the Great Grand Enfilade. The Throne Room that existed here before the fire was created by the architect Quarenghi during the reign of Catherine II and consecrated on November 26, 1795 on the day of St. George the Victorious - the patron saint of the Russian state and army. Hence the second name of the hall arose - Georgievsky. Its decoration was completely destroyed in the fire. Stasov redesigned the hall anew in a strict and majestic classical style: a grandiose space (hall area 800 sq. M.), Rows of snow-white columns, brilliance and weight of gilded bronze create a feeling of solemnity and splendor. Here, in the presence of the sovereign and the highest dignitaries of the Court, the most important state acts were performed, the main official ceremonies took place. The main theme of the decoration of the ceremonial residence of the Russian emperors - the greatness and power of the empire, the Russian state - found its highest expression in the artistic solution of the Great Throne Hall.

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Malachite living room. After the fire of 1837, A.P. Brullov was entrusted with the decoration and decoration of the residential half of the palace, who created a complex of residential halves located on all three floors of the western part of the Winter Palace. With special luxury and sophistication, he decorated the rooms of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna - an enfilade facing the Neva and the Admiralty. An outstanding talented architect, polymath, connoisseur of historical styles, in his projects he skillfully, with taste and tact, used the techniques and traditions of the architecture of the ancient classics, the European Middle Ages, and the East. The decoration of the interiors in Alexandra Fyodorovna's half has not survived, but their appearance was brought to us by watercolors. This was the order given by Nicholas I: he ordered to fix the interiors of the Winter Palace and the Hermitage in watercolors. Executed in the 1850s-1860s by the artists K.A. Ukhtomsky, E.P. Gaui L.Premazzi, watercolors are now invaluable documents that give an accurate and at the same time artistic idea of ​​the imperial residence of the 19th century. The only room, the decoration of which has been completely preserved to this day, is the Malachite Drawing Room. The hall owes its truly fabulous luxury to the famous Ural malachite, a rare and extremely valuable green stone. In 1835, in the Ural mines in the possession of the Demidovs, a large deposit of malachite was found. More than two tons of malachite were donated by the Demidov Tsar to decorate the living room in the palace. The malachite drawing room served as a link between the state halls of the palace and the rooms of the empress. A number of Alexandra Feodorovna's private chambers opened behind the Malachite drawing-room: the dining room, painted based on the frescoes excavated in Pompeii, in Italy, elegant drawing rooms, a bedroom, a cozy Boudoir, a romantic Winter Garden with a bubbling fountain and exotic plants, an exquisite and luxurious bathroom Moorish style, as if filled with the spicy aromas of the East.

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Bedroom. The emperor's rooms were located on the third floor. And only the study of Nicholas I was downstairs, on the first floor. Every evening, residents of the capital could see the light in the window of the emperor's office and his figure bending over the table. There was also his folding folding bed, on which he was destined to die in 1855. Behind the wall of the office were the rooms of Nicholas I's daughters, Olga and Alexandra. This small suite of simply but elegantly decorated premises, even after the marriage of the grand duchesses, continued to remain the princely "children's half".

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Library of Nicholas II The special apartments of the palace were intended for the heir, the Tsarevich, the future Emperor Alexander II. This suite of apartments with windows overlooking the Admiralty was created by the architect Quarenghi during the reign of Catherine the Great especially for Alexander I, then the Grand Duke. Following the instructions of Nicholas I, Bryullov did everything to recreate the decor of Quarenghi in the grand ducal half. And in 1839, in connection with the upcoming marriage of the heir to the princess of Hesse-Darmstadt (future Empress Maria Alexandrovna), A.P. Brullov was entrusted with the design of the new half of the heir. This Enfilade began from the Staircase of Her Imperial Majesty, the current October, going from the October entrance from the side of Palace Square. Bryullov has retained the classically restrained and elegant decoration of the staircase, created by Montferrand before the fire. From the staircase followed a series of luxuriously decorated rooms: the grand White Hall (one of the best works of Bryullov in the Winter Palace), Living Rooms, Bedroom, Boudoir. These were the private chambers of the heir's wife, adjacent to his own rooms. In the mid-1850s, a number of Maria Alexandrovna's rooms were redesigned by famous architects of that time: A.I. Stackenschneider (1802-1865), who worked a lot during those years in the imperial residence, and Yu.A. Bosse. An outstanding master of historicism architecture, a subtle stylist, Stackenschneider created the most elegant premises for Maria Alexandrovna - the Green Dining Room and the Raspberry Study. The whole life of Empress Maria Alexandrovna was spent in these apartments. She loved music and painting. The crimson cabinet, on the damask of which images of various musical instruments were woven for a reason, served as a place for home concerts. Pictures hung on the walls of the study, which were often acquired especially for the Empress, and later became a valuable property of the Hermitage.

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Following the instructions of Nicholas I, Bryullov did everything to recreate the Quarenghi decor in the grand ducal half after a fire in 1837. In connection with the upcoming marriage of the heir in 1839 with the princess of Hesse-Darmstadt (the future Empress Maria Alexandrovna), A.P. Bryullov was entrusted with the design of some of the rooms of the heir. The enfilade, which began from the Staircase of Her Imperial Majesty, the current October, included the Raspberry Office. This hall was designed by A.P. Bryullov in 1841 and was used as the study and dining room of Maria Alexandrovna. In the mid-1850s, a number of rooms of the wife of the future Emperor Alexander II were redesigned by the famous architect of that time - A.I. Stackenschneider, who worked a lot during those years in the imperial residence. An outstanding master of historicism architecture, a subtle stylist, Stakenschneider created the most elegant premises for Maria Alexandrovna. In 1858, Stackenschneider changed the design of the Crimson Room. The vaults were removed and the ceiling was redone; the upholstery has been replaced, but the color remains the same - dark red. A large part of Maria Alexandrovna's life was spent in these apartments. She loved music and painting. The crimson cabinet, on the damask of which images of various musical instruments were woven for a reason, served as a place for home concerts. Pictures hung on the walls of the study, which were often acquired especially for the empress.

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White hall. The White Hall was created by A.P. Bryullov for the wedding of the future Emperor Alexander II in 1841. This white interior is notable for its rich plastic decor: stucco ornaments cover the vault and pilasters, the frieze ribbon is decorated with putti figurines indulging in games. In the central part of the hall, above the images of armor, there are bas-relief figures of ancient Roman gods; the columns with lush Corinthian capitals are crowned with figures of art. Picturesque panels by the French landscape painter of the 18th century look harmonious in the interior. G. Rober. The hall houses an exposition of furniture by D. Roentgen, a famous master of the classicism era. During the reign of Emperor Alexander II, the hall had its own purpose: the festive receptions that were held then were held not in the northern part of the palace, as under Nicholas I, but in its southern section, where the personal rooms of the emperor and empress were located.

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October Stairs. This main staircase was restored after the fire of 1837 by A.P. Brullov, who kept the project of O. de Montferrand (early 1830s) almost unchanged. The architectural solution of the staircase adjacent to the private apartment is distinguished by the severity and clarity typical of the classicism style. The decor clearly sounds the theme of glory: a triumphal procession is depicted on the bas-relief located over the windows; lunettes show allegorical compositions of female figures bowed before a two-headed eagle; the niches contain statues of ancient deities. The interior is richly decorated with grisal painting. In the center of the vault painting there is a medallion depicting the chariot of Apollo. The name "October" staircase was given in memory of the revolutionary events of October 1917, when the storming troops entered the Winter Palace along it. On the October Stairs, at 3 o'clock on the night of October 25-26, 1917, the captured ministers of the Provisional Government were taken out.

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Winter Palace from 1917 to 1925 The revolutionary upheavals of 1917 dramatically affected the fate of the Winter Palace. In July, it was made its seat by the Provisional Government, which was housed in the former chambers of Nicholas II. Anticipating upheaval events in the country, valuable palace property and collections of the Hermitage are sent to Moscow to be preserved in the Kremlin. After the Winter Palace was taken by storm on the night of October 25-26, 1917, soldiers and sailors rampaged for three days in the royal apartments, plundering the interior decoration. Only a few days later, on October 30, 1917, the Winter Palace named after the Russian Soviet Republic was declared the State Museum by the new government. In 1925-1926, according to the project of the architect of the State Hermitage, A.V. Sivkov, the reconstruction of numerous office premises began in order to use them for the expanding expositions of the Hermitage. The mezzanine floors, which distorted the Rastrelli and other galleries, and corridors, a number of internal staircases, kitchens, rooms of service personnel, and later partitions were destroyed. The great achievement of the restorers of the Winter Palace was the reconstruction in 1938 of one of the few surviving Rastrelli interiors - the Rastrelli Gallery. On the third floor along the eastern façade of the palace, where previously there were sixty-four maid of honor rooms, after the reconstruction of the original layout, seventeen bright rooms were formed.

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Winter Palace in the pre-war period. Simultaneously with the reconstruction, the current restoration of the Heraldic, Alexander and White Halls, the Great Church, the Gallery of 1812 was carried out. Unfortunately, during the alteration and adaptation of the former apartments of the royal family for the placement of art collections, fireplaces and stoves of artistic value were dismantled. In the 1930s, the Ammosov heating system was eliminated, and the Winter Palace was connected to the city's heating network. In 1939, the commission, which included representatives of the Monument Protection Department, the chief architect of the Hermitage, and other engineering and technical workers, drew up an act on the technical condition of the Winter Palace and determined a list of repair and restoration work. On May 10, 1941, the Leningrad City Executive Committee considered the issue of repairing and painting buildings overlooking the Palace Square. But all the planned work was interrupted by the war ...

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Alexander Hall. In 1834, A.P. Bryullov drew up a project of a memorial hall in honor of Alexander I, which was carried out only after the fire. The architect found a brilliant spatial solution for a huge two-story room. The original ceilings of the Alexander Hall - fan vaults with gentle domes - have become its main architectural and artistic accent. The abundance of air, the grandeur of the domed spaces allowed contemporaries to characterize the hall as made in "Byzantine taste". The hall immortalized the memory of Alexander I: a portrait of the emperor by J. Doe was placed on the front wall, above it was a bas-relief with a profile image of Alexander "in the form of the Slavic deity Radomysl", personifying wisdom and courage. The frieze was decorated with enlarged copies of F.P. Tolstoy's models, telling about the events of the Patriotic War of 1812, and the symbolic figures of Slav. The memorial character of the hall was emphasized by four huge battle paintings by G.P. Willewalde.

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Big church. The interior of the Great Church, designed by F.B. Rastrelli, was one of the most magnificent in the Winter Palace. Restoring the church after the fire of 1837, V.P. Stasov strove to recreate its original appearance. The space is divided into three volumes, two of which - the one closest to the entrance and the altar part - are double-height. The central part is crowned with a dome and accented with pylons with double fluted Corinthian columns. The walls are decorated with pilasters of the same order, which alternate with arched window openings that illuminate the church from both sides. A heavily profiled and loosened cornice separates the first tier from the upper row of windows. The main role in the decoration of the church is played by a gilded stucco ornament made of papier-mâché and painting: the ceiling "Ascension of Christ" by P.V. Basin in the narthex and images of four evangelists on sails, created by F.A. Bruni. The interior decoration was complemented by crimson draperies and gilded lamps.

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The Winter Palace during the 1941-1945 war. In the first days of the Great Patriotic War, many of the Hermitage's treasures were urgently evacuated, some of them were hidden in basements. To prevent fires in the buildings of the museum, the windows were bricked up 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 him, and several hit the building itself. So, on December 29, 1941, a shell crashed into the southern wing of the Winter Palace, overlooking the kitchen yard, damaging the iron rafters and roofing on an area of ​​three hundred square meters, destroying the fire-fighting water supply installation in the attic. An attic vaulted ceiling with an area of ​​about six square meters was pierced. Another shell that hit the rostrum in front of the Winter Palace damaged the water main.

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Winter Palace during the war. Despite the difficult situation that existed in the besieged city, the Leningrad City Executive Committee on May 4, 1942 ordered the construction trust No. 16 to carry out urgent restoration work in the Hermitage, in which emergency restoration workshops took part. In the summer of 1942, they blocked the roof in places where it was damaged by shells, partially fixed the formwork, installed it in broken skylights or iron sheets, replaced the destroyed metal rafters with temporary wooden ones, and repaired the plumbing system.

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Winter Palace during the war. On May 12, 1943, an aerial bomb hit the building of the Winter Palace, partially destroying the roof over the St. George Hall and metal truss structures, and in the storeroom of the department of the history of Russian culture, damaged the brickwork of the wall. In the summer of 1943, despite the shelling, they continued to seal the roof and ceilings with tarred plywood, and skylights. 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 Nikolaev Hall. But already in August 1944, the Soviet government decided to restore all the buildings of the museum. The restoration work required enormous efforts and took many years to complete. But, despite all the losses, the Winter Palace remains an outstanding monument of Baroque architecture.

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The Winter Palace at the present time. The Winter Palace, together with the buildings of the Small, Big and New Hermitages and the Hermitage Theater, form a single palace complex, which has few equal in world architecture. In terms of art and town planning, it belongs to the highest achievements of Russian architecture of the 8th-11th centuries. Today, all the halls of this palace ensemble, which have been built over the course of many years, are occupied by the State Hermitage. It is the largest museum in the world with huge art collections.

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The Winter Palace at the present time. Today's Winter Palace preserves the memory of different eras: Rastrelli's works amaze with their whimsical architectural fantasies; the appearance of the ceremonial premises reminds of official ceremonies; the design of residential apartments in the second half of the 19th century demonstrates a huge range of choice of architectural prototypes.

The largest palace building in St. Petersburg is the Winter Palace. The large size and magnificent decoration make the Winter Palace 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 this in its entirety. With its vastness, its architecture, it depicts a powerful people who so recently entered the environment of educated nations, and with its inner splendor reminds of that inexhaustible life that boils in the interior of Russia ... VA Zhukovsky wrote about the Winter Palace.

History of the Winter Palace

Bartholomew Varfolomeevich (Bartolomeo Francesca) Rastrelli (1700-1771) - the largest representative of the Russian Baroque. By origin. In 1716 he came with his father to St. Petersburg. Studied abroad. In the years 1730-1760 he was appointed court architect. His brainchildren include the Cathedral of the Smolny Monastery, the Grand Palace in Peterhof (now Petrodvorets), the Bolshoi Catherine Palace in Tsarskoe Selo, Strogonov's palace, Vorontsov's palace and, of course, the Winter Palace.

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

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

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

The construction was completed in 1762, but for a long time, work was still underway on the interior decoration. The interior decoration was entrusted to the best Russian architects Y. M. Felten, J. B. Wallen-Delamot and A. Rinaldi.

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

Arched galleries ran along the entire lower floor. Galleries connected all parts of the palace. The premises on the sides of the galleries were of a service nature. There were storage rooms, a guardroom, and the palace employees.

The ceremonial halls and living quarters of the 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, and lush Rococo decor. The upper floor was mainly occupied by the apartments of the courtiers.

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

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

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

The most significant changes in the history of the Winter Palace took place in 1917, when the Bolsheviks came to power. A lot of valuables were plundered and damaged by sailors and workers while the palace was under their control. Direct hit of a projectile fired from a gun Peter and Paul Fortress, the former chambers of Alexander III were damaged. Only a few days later, the Soviet government announced the Winter Palace and the Hermitage state museums and took the buildings under protection. Soon the valuable palace property and collections of the Hermitage were sent to Moscow and hidden in and in the building of the Historical Museum.

In 1918, part of the premises of the Winter Palace was given over to the Museum of the Revolution, which entailed the reconstruction of their interiors. The Romanov Gallery, which contained portraits of the sovereigns and members of the Romanov dynasty, was completely liquidated. Many chambers of the palace occupied a reception center for prisoners of war, a children's colony, a headquarters for organizing mass celebrations, etc. The coat of arms was used for theatrical performances, the Nicholas Hall was converted into a cinema. In addition, congresses and conferences of various public organizations have been held in the halls of the palace.

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

The Winter Palace was seriously damaged during the war. Shells and bombs damaged the Small Throne Hall or the Petrovsky Hall, destroyed part of the Armorial Hall and the ceiling of the Rastrelli Gallery, and damaged the Jordan Staircase. The restoration work required tremendous effort and took many years.

Features of the structure of the Winter Palace

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

Countless white columns sometimes gather in groups (especially picturesque and expressive at the corners of the building), then thin and part, opening windows framed by platbands with lion masks and cupid 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 out as a more or less flat wall, without noticeable protrusions. South facade, overlooking the Palace Square and having seven divisions, is the main one. Its center is cut through by three entrance arches. Behind them is the main courtyard, where the main entrance to the palace used to be in the middle of the northern building. Of the side facades, the western one is more interesting, facing the Admiralty and the square on which Rastrelli intended to erect the equestrian statue of Peter I cast by his father. Each platband decorating the palace is unique. This is due to the fact that the mass, consisting of a mixture of crushed brick and lime mortar, was cut and processed by carvers by hand. All the stucco decorations of the facades were made on the spot.

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

From the interior of the palace, created by Rastrelli, the Baroque appearance of the Jordan Staircase and partly the Great Church have been preserved. The main staircase is located in the northeast corner of the building. Various decor details are located on it - columns, mirrors, statues, intricate gilded stucco moldings, a huge plafond created by Italian painters. Divided into two solemn marches, the staircase led to the main, Northern suite, which consisted of five large rooms, behind which in the northwestern projection 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 a second time - in the name of the Image of the Savior Not Made by Hands (1763). Its walls are decorated with stucco - a graceful floral ornament. The three-tiered iconostasis is decorated with icons and picturesque panels depicting biblical scenes. Evangelists on the vaults of the ceiling were later painted by F. A. Bruni. Now, nothing reminds of the former purpose of the church hall, destroyed in the 1920s, except for a golden dome and a large picturesque plafond by F. Fontebasso, depicting the Resurrection of Christ.

Experts call the Georgievsky, or the Great Throne Hall, designed by Quarenghi as the most perfect interior. In order to create the St. George Hall, a special building had to be attached to the center of the eastern facade of the palace. 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, executed by the master P. Azhi. Others participated in the work on the design of the palace interiors. famous architects... In 1826, according to the project of K.I.Rossi, the Military Gallery was built in front of the St. George Hall, on the walls of which 330 portraits of generals - participants in the Patriotic War of 1812 were housed. Most of the portraits were painted by the English artist D. Doe.

Noteworthy are the Avanzal, Bolshoi and Concert halls... All of them are characterized by rigor and artistic integrity, which distinguishes the style of classicism. Most Big hall Winter is the Nicholas Hall (with an area of ​​one thousand one hundred square meters). Especially remarkable is the Malachite Hall - the only surviving example of malachite decoration of an entire residential interior. The main decoration of the hall is made in the technique of Russian mosaic eight malachite columns, the same number of pilasters and two large malachite fireplaces.

Location of the Winter Palace

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

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

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

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

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