Winter Palace brief description. The Imperial Mansion: The History of the Winter Palace

Perhaps the most visited attraction in the northern capital of Russia is Winter Palace... The building was built in the middle of the 18th century, its project was developed by the graph Francesco Rastrelli... The palace was built in accordance with the canons of the Russian baroque during the empress's time Elizaveta Petrovna... The style of the building's interiors is somewhat different - certain elements of Rococo (French) are used here.

Until the beginning of the 20th century, the palace was an imperial residence. In the pre-revolutionary period, the building housed a hospital. After the revolutionary events, members of The provisional government... Later, the building housed museum expositions.

Background

Before the baroque building, which today adorns the Palace Square, was built, there were other winter imperial residences. There were four such buildings (or even five, if we count the one-story house of Peter I).

The first two were built at the beginning of the 18th century, during the Petrine era. The third building was built for Anna Ioannovna, to whom the Peter's residence seemed too cramped. More precisely, it was not the construction of a new building, but a restructuring and significant expansion of the old one. The rebuilt palace had about a hundred bedrooms, about seven dozen halls, a theater and many other rooms. Interestingly, almost immediately after the completion of construction, it was decided to rebuild (expand) this building, which was soon implemented.

At Elizaveta Petrovna the expansion of the building was continued. More and more office premises were added to it, which did not in any way benefit the architectural appearance of the palace. As a result, the building looked so strange that it aroused the displeasure of the empress and negative reviews of her contemporaries. The building was expanded again (this time in such a way that its appearance was pleasing to the eye). But when the empress decided to increase the palace not only in length and width, but also in height, the architect decided to simply rebuild it. This decision was approved by the Empress. In the meantime, the construction work was going on, the empress was in the temporary palace (fourth). It was dismantled in the 60s of the 18th century.

Palace erection and interior decoration

The construction of the building, which today is one of the main architectural landmarks of St. Petersburg, took approximately seven years. In the middle of the 18th century, the palace was the tallest building in the city (here we are talking about residential buildings). It had almost fifteen hundred rooms.

The customer of the building (Elizaveta Petrovna) did not live to see the end of construction work. They ended already during the reign Catherine II... In the mid-1860s, several hundred paintings were transferred to her from abroad, most of the authors of which belonged to the Dutch-Flemish school. It was these canvases that laid the foundation for the exposition that can be seen in the palace today. Less than a hundred of these paintings have survived to this day. By the way, the name of the famous museum is hermitage Museum- comes from the name of those palace chambers in which the paintings were originally placed.

In the 30s of the XIX century, the building happened big fire, which destroyed almost all of its interiors. The flame raged for almost three days, it was not possible to extinguish it. The fire killed thirteen people (firefighters and soldiers). There is a version that in fact there were more victims, but official sources concealed this fact. After the fire in the palace, serious restoration work was carried out. They lasted for about two years and demanded tremendous efforts from architects and builders.

In the 80s of the XIX century in the palace thundered explosion- it was an attempt to assassinate the emperor, carried out by a terrorist organization. Many soldiers on guard were wounded, several people were killed. The emperor was not hurt.

The first years of the XX century were marked by two significant events in the history of the palace - this is a grandiose costume ball and, two years later, shooting a peaceful demonstration(unarmed workers walked across the square to the palace to hand over a petition to the emperor).

In the post-revolutionary period, the palace was declared state museum... Soon the first exhibition was opened there. Until the beginning of the 40s of the XX century, the building was adjacent to two state museums- The Hermitage and the Museum of the Revolution.

During the war years, the palace cellars were converted into bomb shelters, but in the end they were used as living quarters: about two thousand people permanently lived in them. The halls of the palace housed the collections of several museums: the exposition of the Hermitage itself (more precisely, part of it, since the rest was evacuated), as well as the values ​​of a number of other city museums, were hidden there. Works of art from other palaces (located in the suburbs) were also hidden in the building.

During wartime, the building was badly damaged by bombs and artillery shelling. After the war, its restoration continued for many years.

Architectural features and color

The palace is built in the shape of a square. It is formed by wings, facades and a courtyard. All rooms and facades are luxuriously decorated. Main facade facing the square, it is decorated arch... The rhythm of the palace columns is characterized by variability, the risalits protrude strongly forward - these and other features of the building create the impression of dynamics, and also give the palace even more solemnity and majesty.

As mentioned above, in the middle of the 18th century, the palace was the tallest building in the city(among residential buildings). In the 40s of the XIX century, an imperial decree was issued prohibiting the construction of such houses that would exceed the imperial residence in height. More precisely, the decree established a “height limit” for buildings - approximately twenty-three and a half meters (eleven fathoms). This is the height of the palace. One of the consequences of this decree turned out to be the following: from any of the roofs of the old (central) part of the city, almost the entire northern capital of Russia is visible today.

Separately, a few words must be said about the color scheme of the palace. During its long history, it has changed several times. The current appearance of the building, although it has already become familiar to the townspeople, does not correspond to the original plan of the architect. Some contemporary art historians and architects are in favor of returning the building to its original coloristic appearance.

Palace halls

Each palace hall is actually an independent masterpiece (although the original interiors are almost not preserved), it is worthy of attention in itself and at the same time enhances general impression splendor. Let's talk about some of these halls:

- The entrance hall was created at the end of the 18th century. During balls it was used as a front pantry: here gentlemen and ladies drank champagne. Pay attention to the plafond: this is a work by an Italian master; it refers to the small number of decorative elements that miraculously survived during a three-day fire.

-Nikolaevsky hall(also called the Bolshoi) was also created at the end of the 18th century. In the old days, it was illuminated by lanterns made of blue glass. Blue rays fell on the colored marble that adorns the columns and walls, creating an amazing, unforgettable effect. The hall area is over a thousand square meters. In terms of size, this is the most impressive hall in the palace. In pre-revolutionary times, banquets and balls were held here (except for the time when the hospital was opened in the building). Temporary exhibitions are currently held in the hall.

- Concert hall decorated with sculptures of ancient Greek goddesses and muses. Here you can also see a magnificent collection of antique Russian silver.

Another pearl of the palace - Malachite living room... More than one hundred and twenty poods of malachite were used to decorate it. The room was finished with green stone after the fire; before that it was called Yashmova, and its decoration corresponded to the name.

The history of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, like many other buildings in this city, begins during the reign of Tsar Peter I. In 1711, a kind of winter residence was built for the Tsar, which was called the Winter Palace. It was tiny with a tile roof and a high porch with steps. The history of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg is rather multi-stage and interesting. Well, it's time to start this historic voyage.

Second Winter Palace

As the years passed, the city grew rapidly, and more and more people close to the emperor (that is, the king) began to build their own estates in St. Petersburg. of course, he also wanted a magnificent holiday home. This is how the famous Winter Palaces of St. Petersburg appeared. The second palace was built right next to the first one, designed by the architect I. Matarnovi. The palace was only slightly larger than the first, but it was built of stone, but its greatest notability is that it was here that Tsar Peter I died in 1725. Information about the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg has been preserved so reliably that any tourist can personally look at the place of the death of the king.

Third Winter Palace

Architect D. Trezzini began to modernize the second Winter Palace almost immediately after the death of the tsar. The building turned out to be really large and majestic. The second Winter Palace became the western wing, and the Hermitage Theater is now located in the place of the main building of the third. There is a lot to tell about the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, and this is only a small part of the entire great story.

Fourth palace

Historians associate the fourth palace with Ioannovna. The fastidious empress was unhappy with the fact that some admiral Apraksin had a palace larger and richer than hers ... However, it was not large and beautiful enough for her majesty. The architect F. Rastrelli solved this problem as follows: he added a long building to the existing third palace. This building was named "The Fourth Winter Palace in St. Petersburg". Short description the structures are as follows: grand palace with two beautiful facades. Rastrelli was a truly talented architect.

Fifth and sixth milestone

The fifth palace was just a temporary, not very lush wooden shelter, which, moreover, was located far from. But the sixth palace was truly indescribably grandiose. In general, all the Winter Palaces of St. Petersburg were innovative for their time. This time, the chief architect was faced with an almost invincible task: to develop a palace project and bring it to life in two years! Such was the whim of the then Empress Elizabeth!

Thousands of artisans, painters, foundry workers and many others worked on the sixth palace. Huge areas and resources have been allocated for construction needs. But the chief engineer F. Rastrelli understood that he would not be able to cope in two years, and constantly asked for an extension of the term. In the end, with great difficulty, he managed to get the Empress to renew it for a year.

The creative genius of F. Rastrelli

In the end, it turned out to be a full-fledged Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. Its brief description is as follows: the gigantic size of the Palace had two facades: one overlooked the square, the other - to the Neva. In warm seasons, the palace is reflected in the waters of the river, which multiplies the effect.

The ingenious F. Rastrelli thought out the interior layout of the palace perfectly. It consisted of three floors. On the first there were office premises, on the second there were ceremonial halls and two churches, and the third floor was allotted entirely for the courtiers. In total, there were 460 different rooms in the palace, which were distinguished by stunning decoration. Perhaps it is thanks to the creative research of F. Rastrelli that we can safely say that the key attraction of St. Petersburg is the Winter Palace.

Death of the Empress and the new owner of the palace

Empress Elizabeth, apparently, subconsciously felt the impending death, so she wanted the project of her palace to be completed as soon as possible. However, she died in the temporary fifth wooden palace, never seeing her Winter Palace.

In 1761, the palace was "captured" by Tsar Peter III. He was extremely pleased with such a piece of architectural art and decided to award F. Rastrelli the rank of Major General. However, Catherine II, who ascended the throne in 1962, ruined the career of a great architect, and he had to emigrate to Italy, where he also continued to work in his specialty.

A little about the construction process

As mentioned above, thousands of serfs were involved in the construction. Only a tiny fraction of them were given the right to spend the night and live in the premises of the Winter Palace, while most were housed in huts right on the Admiralty meadows. The sellers in that part of the city, seeing all this excitement, raised the prices of food, and deducted the payment for food from the workers' salaries. It often happened that a worker was indebted to his employer after the payment of his salary. They say that some bricklayers even died of hunger, so brutal were the conditions. Winter palaces of St. Petersburg, like the Great china wall, demanded a fair share of resources from the state. At that time, Russia was at war with Prussia, there was no one to forge weapons, because most of the blacksmiths were involved in the construction of the Winter Palace.

The construction of the Winter Palace cost about 2.5 million rubles, and in those days the ruble was a very valuable currency.

Fire in the Winter Palace

In 1837, a terrible storm happened - the beautiful Winter Palace burst into flames! The breakdown of the chimney became the cause of the disaster. The scale of the fire was truly colossal - for 30 hours it was extinguished by several battalions of guards regiments, two companies of palace firefighters, a company of palace grenadiers and hundreds of "combat units". Trying to save the property of the palace, the soldiers desperately blocked the doors with bricks, trying to stop the fire, dismantled the roof piece by piece in order to be able to pour water from above, but this did not bring actual benefit.

Restoration of the palace

When the fire finally died down, only the walls and arches of the first floor could be recognized - everything else was deformed beyond recognition. In 1837, they began, which ended only three years later (recall that during the same time the Winter Palace was built from scratch). And this despite the fact that every day 10 thousand workers took part in the work. A huge amount of time has passed since the original design of the palace, a significant part of the drawings were lost, and the architects of that time had to improvise. As a result, the winter palaces of St. Petersburg were significantly transformed, acquiring the features of modern architecture. This is how, in fact, the "seventh version" of the palace appeared. The description of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg is as follows: a white and green appearance with a huge number of columns and occasional golden ornaments.

Electrification and internal modernization

In the time period 1869-1888, the palaces are being modernized in every possible way: they telephonize, electrify, gasify, and carry out water pipelines. By the way, for the electrification of the Winter Palace, a power plant was built on its second floor, which for 15 years was considered the largest in Europe.

Under the influence of different fashions, the palace was repeatedly modernized and painted on the walls. There is no such color on the spectrum of the rainbow that the Winter Palace was not painted with at the time. For example, during the Second World War, the palace had a militant deep red color.

The Winter Palace today

This is where the story of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg comes to an end. Today it exists in an alliance with the adjacent theaters and together with them constitutes a single complex "The State Hermitage". This is the last, eighth version. An idle and incredibly refined look gives the right to confidently declare that the key attraction of St. Petersburg is the Winter Palace.

Now the magnificent Winter Palace is open to the public and historical excursions... The description of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg from an experienced historian is truly mesmerizing. Tourists have the right to admire the beautifully decorated Throne Hall of St. George, the Golden Living Room or the elegant Boudoir, replete with a huge number of mirrors and gold ornaments. Also worth seeing is the Malachite Lounge with rich green columns and a majestic concert hall. It also has an art gallery with many original works.

Built in 1754 - 1762 by the architect B.-F. Rastrelli. The first Winter Palace of Peter the Great stood on a canal called the Winter Canal. The Second Winter Palace was also built on this Winter Canal, but with its main facade facing the Neva. In it, in January 1725, Peter I died (in a room on the first floor behind the current second window, counting from the Neva).

The Second Winter Palace shortly after the death of Peter, in 1726 - 1727, was expanded, decorated, enriched according to the project of Domenico Trezzini. In the 1730s, for Tsarina Anna Ivanovna B.-F. Rastrelli built a new, fourth Winter Palace, rebuilding the chambers of Count Apraksin for this (they stood on a part of the territory occupied by the current Winter Palace). The daughter of Peter 1 - Queen Elizabeth (as she called herself) - ordered the construction of a new, fifth Winter Palace for her. And Rastrelli erected the building of the wooden Winter Palace, which on the Nevsky prospect occupied the space from Moika to Malaya Morskaya Sloboda (Malaya Morskaya Street).

Here Queen Elizabeth found herself “with servants” and her beloved cats (there were about a hundred of them). The poet A.K. Tolstoy wrote:
... The Merry Queen
There was Elizabeth.
Singing and having fun
There is no order ...

After Elizabeth's death, 15 thousand dresses, many thousands of shoes and stockings remained in her wardrobes, and only six silver rubles were in the state treasury. Nevertheless, during her reign, the sixth Winter Palace was rebuilt (at the expense of the income that belonged to the royal treasury of taverns). Peter III, who replaced Elizabeth on the throne, wanted to immediately move into the new residence. But the Palace Square was still cluttered with heaps of bricks, boards, logs, barrels of lime and similar construction waste. The capricious disposition of the new tsar was known, and the chief police chief found a way out: in St. Petersburg it was announced that all inhabitants had the right to take whatever they liked on Palace Square. A contemporary (A. Bolotov) writes in his memoirs that almost all of Petersburg with wheelbarrows, carts, and some with sleds (despite the proximity of Easter!), Ran to Palace Square. Clouds of sand and dust rose above her. The townsfolk grabbed everything: boards, bricks, clay, lime, and barrels ... By evening, the square was completely cleared. The solemn entry of Peter III into the new Winter Palace did not interfere with anything.

The Winter Palace is one of grandiose structures in the style of the Russian baroque. Many of the interiors of the palace are among the world's masterpieces. The building is almost 200 meters long, 160 meters wide, 22 meters high, and the length of the main cornice bordering the building is almost 2 kilometers. The palace has 1057 rooms with a floor area of ​​46,516 square meters, 117 staircases, 1,786 doors, 1,945 windows. In 1844, Nicholas 1 gave an order, according to which, private houses were to be built so that their height, at least a fathom, was inferior to the Winter Palace, which was intended to emphasize the priority and grandeur of the royal residence. This rule was in effect until 1905. The garden at the western (facing the Admiralty) facade of the Winter Palace was laid out only in 1896. Earlier on this site there were divorces of the guards. In 1901, the garden was surrounded by a patterned lattice installed on red sandstone.

An interesting fact: after the October assault on the Winter Palace, the Red Guard, who was entrusted with setting up guards for the protection of the Winter Palace, decided to familiarize himself with the arrangement of the 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 under this name the garden was known to Petersburgers). An inquisitive Red Guardsman found out the history of this post. It turned out that once Tsarina Catherine II, going out in the morning to the Draw ground, saw a sprouting flower there. So that he would not be 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 on the presence of the guard in this place. And since then, for about a hundred and a half years, there was a guard at this place, although there was no longer a flower, no Tsarina Catherine, not even a Draw ground ...

The fence of the Own Garden was dismantled in 1920-1924. The links of the lattice decorated the garden named after January 9 behind the former Narvskaya Zastava, and the blocks of red sandstone, from which the pylons of the Own Garden were made, were used to decorate the basement of the building built on the site of the burnt down house of Baron Fredericks (in the days of the February Revolution) - at the corner of Pochtamtskaya Street and Konnogvardeisky lane. Nowadays, the Winter Palace houses collections

M. Zichy. Ball in the Concert Hall of the Winter Palace during the official visit of Shah Nasir ad-Din in May 1873

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

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

In 1904, under Nicholas II, the Winter Palace ceded the right to be called the imperial residence of the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoe Selo. The building continued to be used for museum purposes. With the outbreak of the First World War, part of the collections were taken to Moscow, and the spacious rooms were given over to hospitals. After the February Revolution, the Winter Palace became a meeting place for the Provisional Government. It was here, in the Small Dining Room on the second floor, that its ministers were arrested during the October Revolution. A week later, all collections were announced state property and the Winter Palace officially became part of the Hermitage Museum Complex. During World War II, all collections were evacuated to the Urals. Since the fall of 1945, the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg has been receiving visitors as usual. Now it houses archaeological collections, works of artists and sculptors, works of decorative and applied art from Asia, England and France.

Facade facing the Neva

Architectural features of the building

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

Dimensions of the Winter Palace

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

In total, the Winter Palace had more than 1000 rooms - for official ceremonies, for storing collections, the private chambers of the emperor and the heirs to the throne and their retinue, and a huge number of auxiliary rooms to serve the needs of the people living here.

Excursions to the Winter Palace

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

Halls on the ground floor

The lower floor is not as popular with visitors as the second, but here, too, each room contains unique exhibits obtained by archaeologists.

Private chambers of the emperor's daughters

The former apartments of the daughters of Nicholas I in the Winter Palace were given over to the archaeological collection. In the front hall - finds from the Paleolithic era, in the bright Gothic living room with pointed arches and medieval plant reliefs - Neolithic and Early Bronze. The decor of the Living Room with Cupids appeared in the 1850s. The architect Stackenschneider did not skimp on fat-cheeked cupids: babies with wings hid in arches, reliefs with their images adorned the ceiling. Today, these decorations house a collection of antiquities from the Bronze Age. In the study of Olga Nikolaevna, the future Queen of Württemberg, the architect acted much more delicately: thin golden curves in the upper part of the ceiling vaults set off artifacts from the Bronze Age. Nearby are simple rooms without decor, given over to the Scythian archaeological collections of weapons, ceramics, and jewelry.

Guardhouse premises

From the "female" wing, the Kutuzov corridor with modest columns leads the guests of the Winter Palace past the former guardhouse, now given over to the halls of art of the peoples of Altai and other regions of Siberia. The oldest pile carpet in the world, woven in the 4th-3rd centuries, is kept here. BC NS. In the middle, the corridor opens onto the vestibule of the Saltykovsky entrance, designed in the same style; from it there are doors to the halls of ancient Altai and Tuvinian art, nomadic tribes of Southern Siberia.

Collection of Central Asian and Caucasian antiquities

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

Middle East and North Africa

In the opposite wing is the Culture Hall of Palmyra, an ancient Syrian city whose ruins were severely damaged during the recent hostilities in that country. In the collection of the Hermitage - funeral steles, customs documentation, carved in stone. In the hall of Mesopotamia, one can see the original cuneiform tablets of Assyria and Babylon. The vaulted Egyptian Hall, converted in 1940 from the Main Buffet of the Winter Palace, is located in front of the transition to the building of the Small Hermitage. Among the masterpieces of the collection is the stone statue of King Amenehmet III, created almost 4,000 years ago.

Second floor of the Winter Palace

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

Military Gallery of the Winter Palace

Large front suite

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

A. Ladurner. The Armorial Hall of the Winter Palace. 1834 g.

Nevskaya suite

The entrance hall is the first in a series of ceremonial rooms overlooking the Neva. Its main attraction - a French rotunda with 8 malachite columns supporting a gilded bronze dome - was erected here in the middle of the last century. The entrance to the largest room of the Winter Palace, the Nicholas Hall, with Corinthian columns and monochrome ceiling paintings, opens through the Avanzal. It does not have a permanent exhibition, only temporary exhibitions are organized. On the opposite side of the Nikolaev Hall is the snow-white Concert Hall with paired Corinthian columns and antique reliefs. Adjacent to the Nevskaya suite is the portrait gallery of the Romanovs, which contains portraits of members of the imperial family, starting with Peter I.

A part of the northwest wing is temporarily closed, including the Arap Hall, which served as a dining room, with Greek decor. The Rotunda is waiting for its guests - a spacious round hall with rectangular and round Corinthian columns, a simple circular balcony in the second tier, a ceiling with caisson recesses decorated with reliefs. The floor with circular inlays of precious woods is especially effective. The small halls leading from the Nevskaya suite to the chambers of the heir to the throne, overlooking the Dark Corridor, are given over to objects of art of the 18th century.

Private chambers of the emperor and empress

Emperor Nicholas I spared no expense on interiors, so each room in his private quarters is a real masterpiece of design art. Alexandra Feodorovna's malachite drawing room is decorated with emerald-green vases, columns, a fireplace. The richly ornamented floor and carved ceiling are in perfect harmony with the exhibition - objects of decorative and applied art. Nearby is the Small Rococo Dining Room. For the study of the empress, the furniture of Gambs, the best master of this era, was chosen. The sketches of the furniture for the adjacent room were made by the architect Carlo Rossi. The emperor's smoking room strikes with oriental splendor and bright colors. There are not many halls associated with the name of Nicholas II in the Winter Palace - the last emperor preferred other residences. Its library with high windows in the English Gothic style and a carved fireplace, imitating a medieval book depository, has survived.

Interiors of Russian houses in the Winter Palace

The imperial wing contains rooms that reproduce the interiors of wealthy city houses of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The neo-Russian style is represented by pieces of furniture from the 1900s with fabulous folklore motives. In the former Adjutant's room, there is an original Art Nouveau-style ash wood suite. The austere neoclassical interior is enlivened by a light portrait of Princess Yusupova. The "second" Rococo of the middle of the 19th century is no less magnificent than the samples of a century ago. The "Pompeian dining room" with Gambs furniture refers the viewer to archaeological finds. The Gothic study is decorated with furniture from the Golitsyn-Stroganov estate, which reproduces the forms of the European knightly Middle Ages - carved backs and armrests of chairs, dark tones of wood. Boudoir - the former dressing room of Alexandra Feodorovna with brightly painted furniture from the 40-50s. XIX century. The manor house living room with white columns demonstrates austere classic interior.

The chambers of the future Emperor Alexander II and his wife

In the southwestern part of the second floor of the Winter Palace, there are the chambers of Alexander II, furnished during the time when he was heir to the throne and was preparing for the wedding. Architecturally noteworthy are the rooms occupied by the future Empress Maria Alexandrovna: Green dining room with lush Rococo decor, White hall with many reliefs and sculptures, Golden living room with intricate stucco ornamentation, parquet flooring and a jasper fireplace, Raspberry office with textile wallpaper, Blue bedroom with gold columns.

Collection of Western European Art

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

Third floor

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

Information for tourists

How to get there

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

Ticket prices and opening hours

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