Winter Palace: wiki: Facts about Russia. Chambers of Catherine II in the last years of her life External view of the Winter Palace
Where did the tradition of dividing the houses of monarchs into winter and summer ones come from? The roots of this phenomenon can be found in the times of the Muscovite kingdom. It was then that the tsars first began to leave the walls of the Kremlin for the summer and go to breathe the air in Izmailovskoye or Kolomenskoye. This tradition was carried over by Peter the Great to the new capital. The winter palace of the emperor stood on the site where the modern building is located, and summer palace can be found in summer garden. It was built under the direction of Trezzini and is, in fact, a small two-story house with 14 rooms.
From house to palace
History of creation Winter Palace It's no secret to anyone: Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, a great lover of luxury, in 1752 ordered the architect Rastrelli to build for herself the most beautiful palace in Russia. But it was not built in an empty place: before that, on the territory where the Hermitage Theater is now located, there was a small winter palace of Peter I. The wooden palace of Anna Ioannovna, which was built under the direction of Trezzini, replaced the house of the Great. But the building was not luxurious enough, so the empress, who returned the status of the capital to St. Petersburg, chose a new architect - Rastrelli. It was Rastrelli Sr., the father of the famous Francesco Bartolomeo. Almost 20 years new palace became the residence of the imperial family. And then came the very Winter, which we know today - the fourth in a row.
Source: wikipedia.org
The tallest building in St. Petersburg
When Elizaveta Petrovna wished to build a new palace, the architect, in order to save money, planned to use the previous building for the foundation. But the empress demanded to increase the height of the palace from 14 to 22 two meters. Rastrelli redid the building project several times, and Elizabeth did not want to move the construction site, so the architect had to simply demolish old palace and build a new one in its place. Only in 1754 did the empress approve the project.
Interestingly, for a long time the Winter Palace remained the tallest building in St. Petersburg. In 1762, even a decree was issued prohibiting the construction of buildings in the capital higher than the imperial residence. It was because of this decree that the Singer company at the beginning of the 20th century had to abandon its idea to build a skyscraper for itself on Nevsky Prospekt, like in New York. As a result, a tower was built over six floors with an attic and decorated with a globe, creating the impression of height.
Elizabethan Baroque
The palace was built in the style of the so-called Elizabethan Baroque. It is a quadrilateral with a large courtyard. The building is decorated with columns, architraves, and the roof balustrade is lined with dozens of luxurious vases and statues. But the building was rebuilt several times, Quarenghi, Montferrand, Rossi worked on the interior decoration at the end of the 18th century, and after the infamous fire of 1837, Stasov and Bryullov, so baroque elements were not preserved everywhere. Details of the magnificent style remained in the interior of the famous front Jordan Stairs. It got its name from the Jordanian passage, which was nearby. Through it, on the feast of the Epiphany of the Lord, the imperial family and the higher clergy went out to the ice hole in the Neva. Such a ceremony was traditionally called "the march to the Jordan." Baroque details are also preserved in the decoration of the Great Church. But the church was ruined, and now only a large ceiling by Fontebasso with the image of the Resurrection of Christ reminds of its purpose.
Source: wikipedia.org
In 1762, Catherine II ascended the throne, who did not like the pompous style of Rastrelli. The architect was dismissed, and new masters took up the interior decoration. They destroyed the Throne Hall and erected a new Neva enfilade. Under the leadership of Quarenghi, the Georgievsky, or Great Throne Room, was created. For him, a small extension had to be made to the eastern facade of the palace. At the end of the 19th century, the Red Boudoir, the Golden Living Room and the library of Nicholas II appeared.
Difficult days of the Revolution
In the early days of the Revolution of 1917, sailors and workers stole a huge amount of treasures from the Winter Palace. Only a few days later the Soviet government guessed to take the building under guard. A year later, the palace was given over to the Museum of the Revolution, so some of the interiors were rebuilt. For example, the Romanov Gallery was destroyed, where there were portraits of all the emperors and members of their families, and films were shown in the Nicholas Hall. In 1922, part of the building went to the Hermitage, and only by 1946 did the entire Winter Palace become part of the museum.
During the Great Patriotic War, the palace building was damaged by air raids and shelling. With the outbreak of war, most of the exhibits exhibited in Zimny were sent for storage to the Ipatiev Mansion, the same one where the family of Emperor Nicholas II was shot. About 2,000 people lived in the Hermitage bomb shelters. They did their best to preserve the exhibits that remained within the walls of the palace. Sometimes they had to fish out china and chandeliers floating in flooded cellars.
furry guards
Not only water threatened to spoil the art, but also voracious rats. For the first time, a mustachioed army for the Winter Palace was sent from Kazan in 1745. Catherine II did not like cats, but she left the striped defenders at court in the status of "guards of art galleries." During the blockade, all the cats in the city died, which is why the rats bred and began to spoil the interiors of the palace. After the war, 5 thousand cats were brought to the Hermitage, which quickly dealt with tailed pests.
The development of the territory to the east of the Admiralty began simultaneously with the emergence of the shipyard. In 1705, a house was erected on the banks of the Neva for the "Great Admiralty" - Fyodor Matveyevich Apraksin. By 1711, the place of the current palace was occupied by the mansions of the nobility involved in the fleet (only naval officials could build here).
The first wooden Winter House of "Dutch architecture" according to Trezzini's "exemplary project" under a tiled roof was built in 1711 for the tsar, as for shipbuilding master Pyotr Alekseev. A canal was dug in front of its facade in 1718, which later became the Winter Canal. Peter called it "his office." Especially for the wedding of Peter and Ekaterina Alekseevna, the wooden palace was rebuilt into a modestly decorated two-story stone house with a tiled roof, which had a descent to the Neva. According to some historians, the wedding feast took place in the great hall of this first Winter Palace.
The second Winter Palace was built in 1721 according to the project of Mattarnovi. Its main façade overlooked the Neva. In it, Peter lived his last years.
The Third Winter Palace appeared as a result of the reconstruction and expansion of this palace according to the Trezzini project. Parts of it later became part of the Hermitage Theater created by Quarenghi. During the restoration work, fragments of the Peter's Palace inside the theater were discovered: the main courtyard, stairs, canopy, rooms. Now here, in essence, the Hermitage exposition "The Winter Palace of Peter the Great."
In 1733-1735, according to the project of Bartolomeo Rastrelli, on the spot former palace Fyodor Apraksin, bought out for the Empress, the fourth Winter Palace was built - the palace of Anna Ioannovna. Rastrelli used the walls of the luxurious chambers of Apraksin, erected back in the times of Peter the Great by the architect Leblon.
The Fourth Winter Palace stood approximately in the same place where we see the current one, and was much more elegant than the previous palaces.
The Fifth Winter Palace for the temporary stay of Elizabeth Petrovna and her court was again built by Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli (in Russia he was often called Bartholomew Varfolomeevich). It was a huge wooden building from the Moika to Malaya Morskaya and from Nevsky Prospekt to Kirpichny Lane. There was no trace of him for a long time. Many researchers of the history of the creation of the current Winter Palace do not even remember it, considering the fifth - the modern Winter Palace.
The current Winter Palace is the sixth in a row. It was built from 1754 to 1762 according to the project of Bartolomeo Rastrelli for Empress Elizabeth Petrovna and is a vivid example of magnificent baroque. But Elizabeth did not have time to live in the palace - she died, so Catherine the Second became the first real mistress of the Winter Palace.
In 1837, the Winter Hall burned down - the fire started in the Field Marshal's Hall and lasted for three whole days, all this time the servants of the palace took out of it works of art that adorned the royal residence, a huge mountain of statues, paintings, precious trinkets grew around the Alexander Column ... They say that nothing is missing...
The Winter Palace was restored after a fire in 1837 without any major external changes, by 1839 the work was completed, they were led by two architects: Alexander Bryullov (brother of the great Charles) and Vasily Stasov (author of the Spaso-Perobrazhensky and Trinity-Izmailovsky cathedrals). The number of sculptures around the perimeter of its roof was only reduced.
Over the centuries, the color of the facades of the Winter Palace changed from time to time. Initially, the walls were painted with "sandy paint with the finest yellowing", the decor was white lime. Before the First World War, the palace acquired an unexpected red-brick color, which gave the palace a gloomy look. A contrasting combination of green walls, white columns, capitals and stucco decoration appeared in 1946.
Exterior view of the Winter Palace
Rastrelli built not just a royal residence - the palace was built "for the sole glory of the All-Russian", as was said in the decree of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna to the Governing Senate. The palace is distinguished from European buildings of the Baroque style by the brightness, cheerfulness of the figurative structure, festive solemn elation. Its more than 20-meter height is emphasized by two-tiered columns. The vertical division of the palace is continued by statues and vases, leading the eye to the sky. The height of the Winter Palace has become a building standard, elevated to the principle of St. Petersburg urban planning. It was not allowed to build higher than the Winter Building in the old city.
The palace is a giant quadrangle with a large courtyard. The facades of the palace, different in composition, form, as it were, folds of a huge ribbon. The stepped cornice, repeating all the ledges of the building, stretched for almost two kilometers. The absence of sharply protruding parts along the northern facade, from the side of the Neva (there are only three articulations here), enhances the impression of the length of the building along the embankment; two wings on the western side face the Admiralty. The main façade overlooking the Palace Square has seven articulations, it is the most ceremonial. In the middle, protruding part, there is a triple arcade of entrance gates, decorated with a magnificent openwork lattice. The southeastern and southwestern risalits protrude beyond the line of the main facade. Historically, it was in them that the living quarters of emperors and empresses were located.
The layout of the Winter Palace
Bartolomeo Rastrelli already had experience in building royal palaces in Tsarskoye Selo and Peterhof. In the scheme of the Winter Palace, he laid the standard planning option, which he had previously tested. The basement of the palace was used as housing for servants or storage rooms. The first floor housed service and utility rooms. The second floor housed the ceremonial ceremonial halls and private apartments of the imperial family. The third floor housed the ladies-in-waiting, doctors and close servants. This layout assumed predominantly horizontal connections between the various rooms of the palace, which was reflected in the endless corridors of the Winter Palace.
The northern facade is distinguished by the fact that it houses three huge front halls. The Neva enfilade included: the Small Hall, the Large (Nikolaev Hall) and Concert hall. A large enfilade unfolded along the axis of the Main Staircase, going perpendicular to the Nevsky enfilade. It included the Field Marshal's Hall, the Petrovsky Hall, the Armorial (White) Hall, the Picket (New) Hall. A special place in the series of halls was occupied by the memorial Military Gallery of 1812, the solemn St. George and Apollo Halls. The ceremonial halls included the Pompeii Gallery and the Winter Garden. The route of the royal family's passage through the suite of ceremonial halls had a deep meaning. The scenario of the Great Exits, worked out to the smallest detail, served not only as a demonstration of the full splendor of autocratic power, but also as an appeal to the past and present of Russian history.
As in any other palace of the imperial family, there was a church in the Winter Palace, or rather, two churches: Big and Small. According to the plan of Bartolomeo Rastrelli, the Big Church was supposed to serve the Empress Elizaveta Petrovna and her “big court”, while the Small Church was supposed to serve the “young court” - the court of the heir-prince Pyotr Fedorovich and his wife Ekaterina Alekseevna.
Interiors of the Winter Palace
If the exterior of the palace is made in the late Russian baroque style. The interiors are mostly made in the style of early classicism. One of the few interiors of the palace that has retained its original Baroque decoration is the main Jordan Staircase. It occupies a huge space of almost 20 meters in height and seems even higher due to the ceiling painting. Reflected in the mirrors, the real space seems even larger. The staircase created by Bartolomeo Rastrelli after the fire of 1837 was restored by Vasily Stasov, who preserved the general plan of Rastrelli. The decor of the stairs is infinitely varied - mirrors, statues, fancy gilded stucco, varying the motif of a stylized shell. The forms of baroque decor became more restrained after the replacement of wooden columns lined with pink stucco (artificial marble) with monolithic granite columns.
Of the three halls of the Neva Enfilade, the Anteroom is the most restrained in terms of decoration. The main decor is concentrated in the upper part of the hall - these are allegorical compositions executed in monochrome technique (grisaille) on a gilded background. Since 1958, a malachite rotunda has been installed in the center of the Anteroom (at first it was in the Tauride Palace, then in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra).
The largest hall of the Neva Enfilade, the Nikolaevsky Hall, is decorated more solemnly. This is one of the largest halls of the Winter Palace, its area is 1103 sq. m. The three-quarter columns of the magnificent Corinthian order, the painting of the plafond border and huge chandeliers give it splendor. The hall is designed in white.
The concert hall, designed at the end of the 18th century for court concerts, has a richer sculptural and pictorial decor than the two previous halls. The hall is decorated with statues of muses installed in the second tier of the walls above the columns. This hall completed the enfilade and was originally conceived by Rastrelli as a threshold to the throne room. In the middle of the 20th century, a silver tomb of Alexander Nevsky (transferred to the Hermitage after the revolution) weighing about 1500 kg, created at the Mint of St. Petersburg in 1747-1752, was installed in the hall. for the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, in which the relics of the Holy Prince Alexander Nevsky are kept to this day.
A large enfilade begins with the Field Marshal's Hall, designed to accommodate portraits of field marshals; he was supposed to give an idea of the political and military history of Russia. Its interior was created, as well as the adjacent Petrovsky (or Small Throne) Hall, by architect Auguste Montferan in 1833 and restored after a fire in 1837 by Vasily Stasov. The main purpose of the Petrovsky Hall is memorial - it is dedicated to the memory of Peter the Great, so its decoration is especially pompous. In the gilded decor of the frieze, in the painting of the vaults - the coats of arms of the Russian Empire, crowns, wreaths of glory. In a huge niche with a rounded vault there is a picture depicting Peter I, led by the goddess Minerva to victories; in the upper part of the side walls there are paintings with scenes of the most important battles of the Northern War - at Lesnaya and near Poltava. In the decorative motifs that adorn the hall, the monogram of two Latin letters “P”, denoting the name of Peter I, is endlessly repeated - “Petrus Primus”
The Armorial Hall is decorated with shields with the coats of arms of Russian provinces of the 19th century, located on huge chandeliers that illuminate it. This is an example of the late classical style. The porticos on the end walls hide the hugeness of the hall, the continuous gilding of the columns emphasizes its splendor. Four sculptural groups of warriors of Ancient Russia remind of the heroic traditions of the defenders of the fatherland and precede the Gallery of 1812 following it.
The most perfect creation of Stasov in the Winter Palace is the St. George (Large Throne) Hall. The Quarenghi Hall, created on the same site, perished in a fire in 1837. Stasov, having retained the architectural design of Quarenghi, created a completely different artistic image. The walls are lined with Carrara marble, and the columns are carved from it. The decor of the ceiling and columns is made of gilded bronze. The ceiling ornament is repeated in the parquet made of 16 precious woods. Only the double-headed eagle and St. George are absent from the floor drawing - it is unsuitable to step on the emblems of the great empire. The gilded silver throne was restored in its original place in 2000 by architects and restorers of the Hermitage. Above the throne place is a marble bas-relief with St. George slaying the dragon, the work of the Italian sculptor Francesco del Nero.
Hosts of the Winter Palace
The customer of the construction was the daughter of Peter the Great, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, she hurried Rastrelli with the construction of the palace, so the work was carried out at a frantic pace. The private chambers of the Empress (two bedchambers and an office), the chambers of Tsarevich Pavel Petrovich and some premises adjoining the chambers: the Church, the Opera House and the Bright Gallery were hastily finished. But the empress did not have time to live in the palace. She died in December 1761. The first owner of the Winter Palace was the nephew of the Empress (the son of her older sister Anna) Peter III Fedorovich. The Winter Palace was solemnly consecrated and commissioned by Easter 1762. Peter III immediately started alterations in the southwestern risalit. The rooms included an office and a library. It was planned to create an Amber Hall on the model of Tsarskoye Selo. For his wife, he determined chambers in the southwestern risalit, the windows of which overlooked the industrial zone of the Admiralty.
The emperor lived in the palace only until June 1762, after which, without knowing it, he left it forever, moving to his beloved Oranienbaum, where he signed a renunciation at the end of July, shortly after which he was killed in the Ropsha Palace.
The “brilliant age” of Catherine II began, who became the first real mistress of the Winter Palace, and the southeastern risalit, overlooking Millionnaya Street and Palace Square, became the first of the “residence zones” of the owners of the palace. After the coup, Catherine II basically continued to live in a wooden Elizabethan palace, and in August she left for Moscow for her coronation. Construction work in Zimny did not stop, but they were already carried out by other architects: Jean Baptiste Vallin-Delamot, Antonio Rinaldi, Yuri Felten. Rastrelli was first sent on vacation, and then retired. Catherine returned from Moscow at the beginning of 1863 and moved her chambers to the southwestern risalit, showing the continuity from Elizabeth Petrovna to Peter III and to her, the new empress. All work on the west wing has been cancelled. On the site of the chambers of Peter III, with the personal participation of the Empress, a complex of personal chambers of Catherine was built. It included: the Audience Chamber, which replaced the Throne Room; Dining room with two windows; Restroom; two casual bedrooms; Boudoir; Office and Library. All rooms were designed in the style of early classicism. Later, Catherine ordered to convert one of the everyday bedrooms into the Diamond Room or the Diamond Room, where precious property and imperial regalia were stored: a crown, a scepter, orb. The regalia were in the center of the room on a table under a crystal cap. As new jewelry was acquired, glazed boxes attached to the walls appeared.
The Empress lived in the Winter Palace for 34 years and her chambers were expanded and rebuilt more than once.
Paul I lived in the Winter Palace during his childhood and youth, and having received Gatchina as a gift from his mother in the mid-1780s, he left it and returned in November 1796, becoming emperor. In the palace, Pavel lived for four years in Catherine's converted chambers. His large family moved with him, settling in their rooms in the western part of the palace. After accession, he immediately began the construction of the Mikhailovsky Castle, not hiding his plans to literally “rip off” the interiors of the Winter Palace, using everything of value to decorate the Mikhailovsky Castle.
After the death of Paul in March 1801, Emperor Alexander I immediately returned to the Winter Palace. The palace returned the status of the main imperial residence. But he did not occupy the chambers of the southeastern risalit, he returned to his rooms, located along the western facade of the Winter Palace, with windows overlooking the Admiralty. The premises of the second floor of the south-western risalit have forever lost their significance as the interior chambers of the head of state. The repair of the chambers of Paul I began in 1818, on the eve of the arrival of the King of Prussia, Frederick William III, in Russia, appointing “collegiate adviser Karl Rossi” responsible for the work. All design work was done according to his drawings. From that time on, the rooms in this part of the Winter Palace were officially called the "Prussian-Royal Rooms", and later - the Second Spare Half of the Winter Palace. It is separated from the First Half by the Alexander Hall; in plan, this half consisted of two perpendicular enfilades overlooking Palace Square and Millionnaya Street, which were connected in different ways with rooms overlooking the courtyard. There was a time when the sons of Alexander II lived in these rooms. First, Nikolai Alexandrovich (who was never destined to become the Russian emperor), and since 1863 his younger brothers Alexander (future Emperor Alexander III) and Vladimir. They moved out of the premises of the Winter Palace in the late 1860s, starting their independent life. At the beginning of the 20th century, dignitaries of the “first level” were settled in the rooms of the Second Spare Half, saving them from terrorist bombs. From the beginning of the spring of 1905, the Governor-General of St. Petersburg Trepov lived there. Then, in the fall of 1905, Prime Minister Stolypin and his family settled in these premises.
The rooms on the second floor along the southern facade, the windows of which are located to the right and left of the main gate, were given by Paul I to his wife Maria Feodorovna in 1797. The intelligent, ambitious and strong-willed wife of Paul during her widowhood managed to form a structure that was called "the department of Empress Maria Feodorovna." It was engaged in charity, education, and the provision of medical care to representatives of various classes. In 1827, repairs were made in the chambers, which ended in March, and in November of the same year she died. Her third son, Emperor Nicholas I, decided to conserve her chambers. Later, the First Spare Half was formed there, consisting of two parallel enfilades. It was the largest of the palace halves, stretching along the second floor from the White Hall to the Alexander Hall. In 1839, temporary residents settled there: the eldest daughter of Nicholas I, Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna and her husband, the Duke of Leuchtenberg. They lived there for almost five years, until the completion of the Mariinsky Palace in 1844. After the death of Empress Maria Alexandrovna and Emperor Alexander II, their rooms became part of the First Spare Half.
On the first floor of the southern facade between the entrance of the Empress and up to the main gate leading to the Great Courtyard, the rooms of the Duty Palace Grenadiers (2 windows), the Candle Post (2 windows) and the office of the Military Camping Office of the Emperor (3 windows) were windows on the Palace Square. Next came the premises of the "Hoff-Fourier and Kamer-Furier positions." These premises ended at the Commandant's entrance, to the right of which the windows of the apartment of the commandant of the Winter Palace began.
The entire third floor of the southern façade, along the long maid of honor corridor, was occupied by the apartments of the ladies-in-waiting. Since these apartments were service living space, at the behest of business executives or the emperor himself, ladies-in-waiting could be moved from one room to another. Some of the ladies-in-waiting quickly married and left the Winter Palace forever; others met there not only old age, but also death ...
The southwestern risalit under Catherine II was occupied by the palace theater. It was demolished in the mid-1780s to accommodate rooms for the numerous grandchildren of the Empress. Inside the risalit, a small closed courtyard was arranged. The daughters of the future Emperor Paul I were settled in the rooms of the southwestern risalit. In 1816, Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna married Prince William of Orange and left Russia. Her chambers were remade under the direction of Carlo Rossi for Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich and his young wife Alexandra Feodorovna. The couple lived in these rooms for 10 years. After the Grand Duke became Emperor Nicholas I in 1825, the couple moved in 1826 to the northwestern risalit. And after the marriage of the heir-cesarevich Alexander Nikolayevich to the princess of Hesse (future Empress Maria Alexandrovna), they occupied the premises of the second floor of the southwestern risalit. Over time, these rooms became known as "Half of Empress Maria Alexandrovna"
Photos of the Winter Palace
The Winter Palace is without a doubt one of the most famous sights of St. Petersburg.
The Winter Palace that we see today is actually the fifth building built on this site. Its construction lasted from 1754 to 1762. Today it reminds us of the splendor of the once popular Elizabethan Baroque and is, apparently, the crowning achievement of Rastrelli himself.
As I said, there were five Winter Palaces in total on this site, but the entire period of change was invested in a modest 46 years between 1708, when the first was erected and 1754, when construction began on the fifth.
The first Winter Palace was built by Peter the Great for himself and his family a small house in the Dutch style
In 1711, the wooden building was rebuilt into a stone one, and this event was timed to coincide with the wedding of Peter I and Catherine. In 1720, Peter I and his family moved from the summer residence to the winter one, in 1723 the Senate settled in the palace, and in 1725 the life of the great emperor ended here
The new empress, Anna Ioannovna, considered that the Winter Palace was too small for the imperial person, and instructed Rastrelli to rebuild it. The architect offered to buy the nearby houses and demolish them, which was done, and on the site of the old palace and the demolished buildings, a new, third in a row, Winter Palace soon grew up, the construction of which was finally completed by 1735. On July 2, 1739, the solemn betrothal of Princess Anna Leopoldovna to Prince Anton-Ulrich took place in this palace, and after the death of the empress, the young emperor John Antonovich was transferred here, who lived here until November 25, 1741, when Elizaveta Petrovna took power into her own hands. The new empress was also dissatisfied with the appearance of the palace, so on January 1, 1752, a couple more houses near the residence were bought out, and Rastrelli added a couple of new buildings to the palace. At the end of 1752, the empress considered that it would be nice to increase the height of the palace from 14 to 22 meters. Rastrelli proposed to build a palace in another place, but Elizabeth refused, so the palace was again completely dismantled, and on June 16, 1754, the construction of a new Winter Palace began in its place.
The Fourth Winter Palace was temporary: Rastrelli built it in 1755 on the corner of Nevsky Prospekt and the embankment of the Moika River during the construction of the fifth. The Fourth Palace was demolished in 1762, when the construction of the Winter Palace, which we are used to seeing on Petersburg Palace Square today, was completed. The Fifth Winter Palace became the tallest building in the city, but the empress did not live to see the completion of construction - Peter III already admired the almost finished palace on April 6, 1762, although he did not live to see the completion of interior finishing work. The emperor was killed in 1762, and the construction of the Winter Palace was finally completed under Catherine II. The Empress removed Rastrelli from work, and instead hired Betsky, under whose leadership the Throne Hall appeared from the side of Palace Square, in front of which a waiting room was built - the White Hall, behind which the dining room was located. The Light Room adjoined the dining room, and behind it was the Front Bedchamber, which later became the Diamond Room. In addition, Catherine II took care of creating a library in the palace, an imperial study, a boudoir, two bedrooms and a dressing room, in which the empress built a toilet seat from the throne of one of her lovers, the Polish king Poniatowski =) By the way, it was under Catherine II that the Winter Palace appeared the famous winter garden, the Romanov Gallery and St. George's Hall
In 1837, the Winter Palace survived a serious test - a major fire, which took more than three days to extinguish. At this time, all the palace property was taken out and stacked around the Alexander Column
Another incident in the palace occurred on February 5, 1880, when Khalturin detonated a bomb to kill Alexander II, but only the guards were injured as a result - 8 people died and 45 were injured of varying severity
On January 9, 1905, a well-known event took place that turned the tide of history: a peaceful workers' demonstration was shot in front of the Winter Palace, which served as the beginning of the Revolution of 1905-1907. The walls of the palace never again saw persons of imperial blood - during the First World War there was a military hospital here, during the February Revolution the building was occupied by troops who went over to the side of the rebels, and in July 1917 the Winter Palace was occupied by the Provisional Government. During the October Revolution, on the night of October 25-26, 1917, the Red Guard, revolutionary soldiers and sailors surrounded the Winter Palace, guarded by a garrison of junkers and a women's battalion, and by 2:10 am on October 26, after the famous volley from the cruiser "Aurora" , stormed the palace and arrested the Provisional Government - the troops guarding the palace surrendered without a fight
In 1918, part of the Winter Palace, and in 1922 the rest of the building was transferred to the State Hermitage. and Palace Square with the Alexander Column and the General Staff building form one of the most beautiful and amazing ensembles in the entire post-Soviet space
The Winter Palace is designed in the form of a square, the facades of which overlook the Neva, the Admiralty and Palace Square, and in the center of the main facade there is a front arch
Winter Garden at the Winter Palace)
In the southeast of the second floor is the legacy of the fourth Winter Palace - the Great Church, built under the leadership of Rastrelli
At the disposal of the Winter Palace today there are more than a thousand different rooms, the design of which is striking and creates the impression of an unforgettable solemnity and magnificence.
The exterior design of the Winter Palace, according to Rastrelli's plan, was to architecturally connect it with the ensemble of the Northern Capital.
The splendor of the palace is emphasized by vases and sculptures installed along the entire perimeter of the building above the cornice, once carved from stone, which later, at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, were replaced with metal counterparts.
Today the building of the Winter Palace houses the Small Hermitage.
Address: Palace Square, 2
Opening hours: from 10.30 to 18.00
The main palace of Russian emperors was built from 1754 to 1762 years as a court architect, Italian by birth B.F. Rastrelli. The palace was built in the then common style baroque, which was characterized by splendor, grandeur, pronounced contrast and solemnity.
The palace began to be built Elizabeth Petrovna, but the empress did not live to see the end of construction and the first mistress of the new Winter Palace turned out to be Catherine II. She also initiated the creation art gallery and collections of other works of art, which eventually formed priceless Hermitage treasures. Subsequently, the palace turns into a permanent residence acting emperors up to Nicholas II, although he was more fond of the Tsarskoye Selo Alexander Palace.
In difficult years First World War the palace halls were given over to military hospital. In 1917 (from March to October), members of the Provisional Government. From 1920 to 1941 the halls are occupied Museum of the Revolution and the Hermitage.
Today the Winter Palace with the treasures of the Hermitage housed in it is the most visited tourist place in St. Petersburg. People come here to see the palace itself - the brightest city landmark and the works of art that are in it.
History of creation
From the time of Peter the Great to the transformation of the palace into a majestic work of architectural art of the mid-18th century, 5 winter palace structures (together with the latter).
First Winter
The first stone Winter Palace was a palace presented to the first Emperor of Russia Peter on the day of his wedding with Ekaterina Alekseevna by the then governor of the city, friend and ally of Peter - A. Menshikov 1712. That palace called wedding chambers, stood between the Neva and the current Millionnaya street.
Second Winter
Peter, living in the Wedding Chambers, decided to build a new royal winter residence, which was supposed to be located on the formed new embankment(now Palace), from where it was perfectly visible both city buildings and Peter and Paul Fortress, and the Menshikov Palace, and, of course, the banks of the Neva, flowing to the sea.
A German architect began to build the Winter Palace of Peter the Great at the intersection of the Winter Canal with the Neva G.Mattarnovi. His project of the palace looked like a solid two-story German building, decorated with pilasters and rustication, with a central risalit part, on the pediment of which a coat of arms with a crown was to be placed.
Palace construction was in full swing when the architect suddenly dies. The construction was continued by the St. Petersburg architect N. Gerbel, who expanded the building, using the already rebuilt premises as the west wing. Having made the eastern wing similar to the western one, Gerbel focuses on the central part, decorating it with columns and creating the effect of a triumphal Roman arch.
The Winter Palace of Peter the Great begins a new era in the creation of magnificent, large-scale and solemn palace apartments, for which St. Petersburg is so famous today. Although, compared with subsequent palaces, Peter's palace decoration was more than humble. Nevertheless, with the creation of the second Winter Palace, the city ensemble building, characteristic of St. Petersburg architecture, begins.
In this Winter Palace, Peter the Great lived with his family from 1720. This is where Tsar Peter died. in 1725.
Catherine the First, after the death of Peter, work began to expand the palace (architect D. Trezzini), interior work continued under Peter the Second. But then, already under Anna Ioannovna, the royal persons did not live in the Winter Palace of Peter. Elizaveta Petrovna placed in it the grenadier company of the Preobrazhensky Regiment. A towards the end of the 18th century Catherine II instead of the Winter Palace of Peter the Great was erected Hermitage Theater(architect J. Quarenghi) for entertainment.
For a long time it was believed that the Palace of Peter the Great gone missing, dismantled for theater construction, but in the late 70s of the 20th century, architectural research revealed several preserved parts of the first floor and the basement of the former Peter's building, which were located under the stage of the Hermitage Theater. In the preserved rooms, called "Small tents" of Peter managed to recreate the interiors of the Petrine era. The king's study with a tiled Dutch stove is furnished with his personal belongings. It was also possible to restore some of the chambers built under Catherine the Great.
Today you can see the expositions of the Dining Room, Peter's office where he died, turning, front yard. Presented and wax posthumous "Person" of Peter, created from the deceased emperor himself Rastrelli, who, having taken casts from the face, arms and legs, subsequently made a life-size Wax Person from them. Moreover, the hair for making a wig, mustache, eyebrows were real - imperial. The “person” is dressed in a European costume from the royal wardrobe.
To get acquainted with the exposition of this little-known, but very unique Winter Palace of Peter the Great, you need to enter with Palace embankment, 32 . The museum is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 10.30 to 17.00. Mondays are days off at the museum.
Third Winter Palace
As already mentioned, the next mistress of the Russian throne Anna Ioannovna Peter's palace seemed small. The creation of an enlarged palace analogue, she instructs F.Rastrelli. To make this a reality, nearby buildings are being bought out and demolished, and in 1732 the construction of the third Winter Palace building begins. The new four-story palace is being built in three years and includes seventy rooms, one hundred bedrooms, several galleries, rooms for the theater, as well as service rooms.
However, the empress who entered the palace constantly demanded some new additions, organization of new premises, etc. Since 1741, the new mistress of the palace - Elizaveta Petrovna- continued the policy of adding new premises, which ultimately led the palace to a state of decentralization, untidy architectural forms and the absence of a common style.
In 1752 Elizabeth buys out the next neighboring plots for expansion palace building. Rastrelli proposed an increase in the palace area in breadth, due to new buildings, but Elizabeth demanded that the building be expanded upwards as well. Debate The architect and the empress led to the decision to demolish the existing palace and build a new one in its place! The construction of another palace structure began in 1754.
Fourth Winter
The Fourth Winter Palace as a temporary one (at the time of the creation of the fifth one) is being built on Nevsky Prospekt, which is already taking shape, where today there are 13 and 15 houses. After the construction of the fifth and last version of the Winter Palace was completed in 1761, the fourth, as unnecessary, was dismantled (1762). Elizaveta Petrovna, so dreaming of grand palace did not live to see the end of construction work.
Fifth Winter (last)
So, by the imperial order of Elizabeth Petrovna, the architect Rastrelli erects a three-story building - the highest at that time ( about 24 meters) – architectural structure Petersburg, whose area was about 60 thousand square meters. The palace, consisting of four buildings, was closed in the form of a square, forming courtyard. Such a palace layout was characteristic of Western architecture of that time.
The main arched entrance to the palace territory was organized from Palace embankment. But even though the main facade, more than two kilometers long, faced the Neva, this did not mean that more attention was paid to it. The palace struck from all sides luxury, splendor, architectural decor with the changing rhythm of the columns.
The perimeter of the roof is decorated with vases and sculptures, which gives the building even more splendor and pomposity. The palace building had ocher color with highlighted decorative elements and columns. The palace consisted of over a thousand rooms, had more than a hundred stairs and about one and a half thousand windows.
The interior of the palace was created enfilade, i.e. all rooms were on the same axis, connected by a through corridor and had a spatial perspective. Northern enfilade stretches along Nevsky Prospekt, southern- along Palace Square. Three corner wings occupied the living quarters of the ruling emperors.
The final interior design of the building has already been completed under Catherine II, which removes Rastrelli from further work and the interiors continue to take shape Y. Felten, J. Vallin-Delamot and A. Rinaldi. Under further emperors, reconstruction work was also carried out, the purpose and interior design of the premises changed.
In 1837 powerful fire, which raged for three days, caused a terrible ruin to the palace - a huge part of the interiors died in the fire - but, nevertheless, the Winter Palace restored in record time. Moreover, some rooms (Field Marshal's, Petrovsky, etc.) were recreated almost in their original version, and some of the rooms (Malachite, Gothic Library, Alexandra Feodorovna's White Drawing Room, etc.) were created in a new architectural style.
Therefore, it must be borne in mind that much in the interiors and the purpose of the premises has been changed compared to the original plan, and today we see the halls in their reconstructive and new design, related to by the second half of the 19th century.
The main halls of the Winter Palace (briefly)
The main palace halls, including the ceremonial ones, are occupied second floor Winter Palace.
jordan stairs
Acquaintance with the halls of the Winter Palace begins with a magnificent front staircase, originally called Ambassadorial, and then Jordanian. This staircase retained the Baroque Rastrelli style, restored by subsequent architects, who, however, made significant changes to the interior.
Here, the splendor of the white marble staircase with a carved balustrade, and granite columns, and the reflected light of mirrors, are striking. statues of gods and muses, gilded intricate ornament and, of course, incomparable plafond with images of the gods of Olympus.
The main staircase on the second floor diverges in two enfilade directions - in the north - along the Neva, and in the east - deep into the palace. In any case, you will be able to bypass all the premises of the second floor along the perimeter, thanks to their through enfilade device.
Nicholas Hall
If you go along the northern enfilade, then through Nikolaevsky anteroom with a malachite rotunda, you can go to Nikolaevsky Hall, which is considered the largest room in the Winter Palace. It was named so after the portrait of the late Nicholas I was placed here, and was considered the main palace hall for receptions and balls, which could gather up to 3000 guests.
The interior of this hall is decorated in the post-fire period. V. Stasov in a different way than it existed before the fire - a strict monotonous decor is decorated Corinthian columns. From the Nikolaevsky Hall we get to the Concert Hall, having examined it, further along the way we move to the northwestern wing.
Concert hall
Originally intended for concerts, the hall several times changed. It is decorated with antique sculptures depicting various types of art, among them there are all kinds of goddesses and muses. Today, the hall presents an exposition of Russian silverware, as well as a unique Alexander Nevsky shrine, made of silver and transferred here from the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.
The northwestern wing was designed for the family during the recovery period after the fire Nicholas II, and at the beginning of the 19th century, the chambers of Alexander the First were located here. In 1917, it was this wing that occupied provisional government, and arrested here.
In this wing, the Arabic and Malachite Halls, the White Dining Room, and the Gothic Library of Nicholas II are available for viewing.
Malachite Hall
This is a well-known and unique hall in a bright green frame. malachite columns and fireplaces. The hall is created by the architect A. Bryullov after the fire in a new interior solution. Decorative painting with figures of "Day", Night" and "Poetry" decorates the wall opposite the windows.
It was in this hall that the Provisional Government, which was overthrown in October 1917, met. Today, here you can see beautiful malachite products made by Russian craftsmen.
white dining room
This dining room has been redone in a mix of styles classicism and rococo at the end of the 19th century to the marriage of Nicholas II. The dining room is furnished with elegant furniture.
A bronze mantel clock shows the time of the arrest of the Provisional Government, which was taken under arrest right here.
Gothic library
Library room completed in the spirit of the Middle Ages(arch. A.Krasovsky). Used in its decoration Walnut and embossed golden leather. Tall windows with openwork bindings, high choirs for bookcases with a massive staircase, a monumental fireplace - all create an atmosphere of strength and inviolability.
Coming through Rotunda we turn into the western gallery, where samples of works related to Russian art of the 18th century are exhibited. We move along the gallery to the southwestern wing of the palace, where the former chambers, owned Maria Alexandrovna- the wife of Alexander II, among which are the Golden Living Room and the Blue Bedroom, the Raspberry Study and the Boudoir, the White Hall and the Green Dining Room.
white living room
This hall of Maria Alexandrovna appeared in the same period as the Malachite Hall, and is made in the same way. A. Bryulov. The White Hall is the most successful work of the architect, who combined three living rooms into a single architectural solution, decorated in the style ancient Roman villas. This style defines both the presence of Corinthian columns and the depiction of the Olympian gods.
The white living room was preparing for the marriage of Alexander II with Maria Alexandrovna and, as part of other rooms in this wing, was the apartments of the new imperial family.
During the period of placement in the Winter Provisional Government, the soldier garrison guarding it was located in these apartments. Soldiers, especially without ceremony, dried their wet clothes on Roman statues.
golden living room
Placers captivate us in this living room golden ornaments on white artificial marble walls. Interior made A. Bryulov for Empress Maria Alexandrovna, later improved A. Stackenschneider. Here you can admire the amazing marble fireplace for a long time. Its jasper columns, picturesque panels and bas-reliefs are harmoniously combined with gilded doors and beautiful parquet floors.
It was in this hall, after the tragic death of his father, that Alexander III, together with the State Council, discussed the further development of Russia.
Raspberry Cabinet
This is the premises of Maria Alexandrovna, we also see in the converted A. Stackenschneider form. This living room sometimes served as a dining room and sometimes as a concert hall. From here, a staircase, hidden by drapery, led to the children's rooms.
By the design of the room, one can judge the personal preferences of the empress, who was fond of music and painting. The room is decorated with medallions depicting notes and musical instruments. We see and unique carved grand piano 19th century. Also here are applied arts, porcelain dishes and more.
Next, passing October stairs, we pass through the enfilades of the southern side of the palace, along the Palace Embankment, in which French art of the 18th century is presented and we get into the front Alexander Hall, built by A. Bryullov to perpetuate the memory of Alexander the First.
From Alexander Hall via Prechurch, you can get to the Great Palace church Savior Not Made by Hands, which after restoration is open to the public. The premises of the church have preserved the splendor of the baroque style of F. Rastrelli. The former church of the imperial family today houses objects related to Russian church art.
And through the nearby picket hall, where in the 19th century the guards officers were on duty, and the palace guard was divorced, we pass into the Military Gallery and the Armorial Hall.
Armorial hall
During the restoration of the Winter Palace after the fire, this hall, with an area of about a thousand square meters, was given a different semantic direction than before. In the pre-fire period in this place of the palace was white gallery, in the hall of which luxurious palace balls were held.
Architect V. Stasov creates a hall with an interior in a completely different thematic content, in accordance with its new purpose - now ceremonial receptions were planned here, and the decoration of the hall in classic style should have shown the power of Russia and the extent of her dominions. Therefore, sculptures of warriors of ancient Russia, equipped with provincial coats of arms, are installed here. The same coats of arms are present in the design of chandeliers.
A colonnade with a balustraded balcony surrounding the hall gives it monumentality and solemnity. And the amazing aventurine bowl, located in the center, causes admiration for the skill of Russian stone cutters.
military gallery
Gallery dedicated to the participants heroic victory over the Napoleonic troops (architect C.Rossi)- one of the most famous palace galleries. It was formed in 1826 by combining several not very large palace premises.
The Military Gallery was created to accommodate generals' portraits of the Russian-French company 1812-1814. Each portrait was assigned a specific location by a specially created commission, where they were installed as they were painted. Almost everything from more than three hundred portraits created J. Doe. Some of them were written from the original source, some - from previously painted portraits. 13 images of the dead generals could not be found, so green silk is simply stretched over their names. A separate wall is occupied by a ceremonial portrait of Emperor Alexander the First.
Further in a straight line, it is supposed to inspect the Petrovsky and Field Marshal's halls. These halls, as well as the Armorial in the 30s. 19th century was decorated by the famous O. Montferrand. However, his work perished in the infamous fire of 1837. What we see is a talented reconstruction that was carried out by V.Stasov, A.Bryulov and E.Staubert.
Petrovsky hall
From the ashes of 1937 Small throne room, dedicated to Peter the Great, is restored in the original idea of Montferrand. Triumphal arch framed by columns. Silver and gilded throne. The canvas behind the throne, depicting Peter the Great and the goddess Minerva (author J. Amikoni).
On other canvases of the hall there are scenes of the famous battles of the Northern War. The decor of the interior contains the monograms of the first Russian emperor, images of double-headed eagles and the imperial crown.
Field Marshal's Hall
This hall was named after the placement in its niches of portraits of prominent field marshals Russia. From the walls of this hall they look at us Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky, Potemkin-Tavrichesky, Suvorov, Kutuzov other. The decor of the hall is sustained military theme- these are laurel wreaths of winners, and military trophies. Also in the decoration of the hall there are art canvases with images of the military victories of the Russian army.
Today, the hall additionally houses paintings by foreign and domestic masters and houses the famous Imperial porcelain.
If we turn right from the Military Gallery, then we will get to the St. George's Hall (Great Throne Room).
St George's Hall
As the most majestic and solemn, Great Throne Room appeared by the end of the 18th century in the best examples of the classical style. Imperial solemn ceremonies and receptions were to be held there. On the day of St. George the Victorious, the consecration of the hall took place, which is why it began to be called St. George's. This hall completely burned down in 1837, and the splendor that we see is, again, a talented reconstruction created by V. Stasov.
George the Victorious present in the decoration of the hall in the form of a bas-relief located above the royal throne of London work. This throne, by the way, belonging to the first half of the 18th century, was made especially for Anna Ioannovna. Ornamental drawings of the ceiling are similar to the drawings of the parquet floor, made up of wooden fragments of 16 types of wood.
From here, through the Apollo Hall, you can go to the halls of the Small Hermitage, where art galleries are located.
Apollo Hall
At the end of the 18th century, the Apollo Hall emerged as a connecting link between the halls of the Winter Palace and the pavilions of the Small Hermitage. Chambers of Catherine II occupied the southeastern wing and were located in front of the Alexander Hall. The southern pavilion of the Small Hermitage occupied Count G.Orlov. Their chambers were connected by a gallery built between the palace and the pavilion.
When Catherine began collecting paintings, for which the Northern Pavilion was built, visitors to the Hermitage area walked past the chambers of the Empress, which caused her displeasure. Therefore, both the Apollo Hall and the new Throne George Hall were built ( arch. Quarenghi).
Winter Palace. People and walls [History of the imperial residence, 1762-1917] Zimin Igor Viktorovich
Formation of half of Catherine II
Back in the second half of the 1750s. F.B. Rastrelli laid down in the scheme of the Winter Palace the standard planning option that he used in the palaces of Tsarskoye Selo and Peterhof. The basement of the palace was used as housing for servants or storage rooms. On the first floor of the palace housed service and utility rooms. The second floor (mezzanine) of the palace was intended to accommodate ceremonial, ceremonial halls and personal apartments of the first persons. On the third floor of the palace, ladies-in-waiting, doctors and close servants were settled. This planning scheme assumed predominantly horizontal connections between the various areas of the palace. The endless corridors of the Winter Palace became the material embodiment of these horizontal connections.
The chambers of the first person became the heart of the palace. At first, Rastrelli planned these chambers for Elizabeth Petrovna. The architect placed the rooms of the aging empress in the sunny southeastern part of the palace. The windows of the private chambers of the Empress overlooked Millionnaya Street. The unhurried daughter of Petrov loved to sit by the window, looking at the bustle of the street. Apparently, taking into account precisely this form of female leisure and sunlight, which is so rare in our latitudes, Rastrelli planned the location of the empress's private rooms.
Peter III, and after him Catherine II, upheld Rastrelli's planning scheme, retaining the role of its residential center behind the southeastern risalit of the Winter Palace. At the same time, Peter III retained the rooms in which Elizabeth Petrovna planned to live. For his hateful wife, the eccentric emperor determined chambers on the western side of the Winter Palace, the windows of which overlooked the industrial zone of the Admiralty, which since the time of Peter I had functioned as a shipyard.
E. Vigilius. Portrait of Catherine II in uniform l. - Mrs. Preobrazhensky Regiment. After 1762
After the coup on June 28, 1762, Catherine II lived in the Winter Palace for just a few days. The rest of the time she continued to live in the wooden Elizabethan Palace on the Moika.
Since Catherine II urgently needed to strengthen her precarious position with a legitimate coronation, she left for Moscow in August 1762 in order to be crowned in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. The coronation took place on September 22, 1762.
It is impossible not to note the high pace of life of this woman, so atypical for that leisurely time. Then, in the first half of 1762, she not only organized a conspiracy against her husband, but also managed, secretly from him, in April 1762 to give birth to a child whose father was her lover G.G. Orlov. At the end of June 1762, a coup followed, in early July - the "mysterious" death of Peter III and the coronation in September 1762. And for all this she had the mind, strength, nerves and energy.
After Catherine II left for Moscow, construction work in the Winter Palace did not stop, but other people were already doing it. These changes are due to a number of factors. First, a new reign is always new people. Catherine II removed many dignitaries of the Elizabethan time, including the architect F.B. Rastrelli. August 20, 1762 Rastrelli was sent on leave as a man of Elizabeth Petrovna. Secondly, Catherine II considered the whimsical Baroque to be an obsolete style. On a subconscious level, she wanted her reign to be marked by visible stylistic changes, which were called classicism. Therefore, Rastrelli's vacation smoothly flowed into his resignation.
Unknown artist. The oath of the Life Guards of the Izmailovsky Regiment on June 28, 1762. The first quarter of the 19th century.
Rastrelli was replaced by architects who had previously played secondary roles. These were those who worked in a new manner pleasing to Catherine II - J.-B. Wallen-Delamot, A. Rinaldi and Y. Felten. That is, those architects who are usually attributed to the period of the so-called early classicism. It should be noted that all of them treated the completed sections of their predecessor's work in the Winter Palace with great care. They did not affect the already completed baroque facade of the Winter Palace at all. However, it is possible that purely mercantile considerations also played a role here. There was simply no money for global changes in the newly rebuilt Winter Palace.
I. Mayer. The Winter Palace from Vasilevsky Island. 1796
M. Mikhaev. View of the Winter Palace from the east. 1750s
However, this tradition continued later. Therefore, the Winter Palace to this day is a bizarre mixture of styles: the facade, the Great Church, the Main Staircase still retain Rastrelli's baroque decor, while the rest of the premises have been repeatedly altered. In the second half of the XVIII century. these corrections and alterations were sustained in the spirit of classicism. After the fire of 1837, many of the interior spaces were finished in the style of historicism.
Winter Palace. Pavilion Lantern. Lithograph by Bayot after a drawing by O. Montferrand. 1834
The new creative team began work in the Winter Palace already in the autumn of 1762. So, Yu. Felten, fulfilling the personal order of the Empress, finished her chambers in the classic style. Best known for the descriptions of his Diamond Room, or Diamond Peace. We emphasize that no images of Catherine II's private chambers have come down to us. At all. But numerous descriptions of them have survived.
As mentioned, at the end of 1761, Peter III ordered "for the empress ... to finish the premises on the Admiralty side and make a staircase through all three floors." Therefore, on the second floor of the western building of the Winter Palace, even under Peter III, J.-B. Wallen-Delamot began to furnish the private quarters of Catherine II. Among them were the Bedroom, Lavatory, Boudoir, Study. Y. Felten also worked there, through whose labors the Portrait and “Light Cabinet” appeared in a wooden bay window, arranged above the entrance, which would later be called Saltykovsky.
Apparently, the Empress liked the idea of a remote three-light bay window. Even in the bustle of preparations for the coup, she managed to note and appreciate this "architectural element". Therefore, after the cessation of work in the western part of the palace, the idea of a “cabinet” materialized in the southwestern risalit, where the famous Lantern appeared above the entrance, later called Commandant’s, a small palace hall located above the entrance.
A watercolor by an unknown artist "Catherine II on the balcony of the Winter Palace on the day of the coup", dated to the end of the 18th century, has been preserved. This watercolor shows scaffolding at the southwestern risalit of the palace. There is no flashlight yet, but there is a balcony covered from above with a four-slope canopy. The place was cozy, and Lantern, given the St. Petersburg climate, was closed with capital walls. This cozy Flashlight remained above the Commandant's Entrance until the 1920s.
By the beginning of 1763, Catherine II, having returned to St. Petersburg, finally decided on her place of residence in the huge Winter Palace. In March 1763, she ordered that her chambers be moved to the southwestern risalit, where the chambers of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna and Peter III used to be.
There is no doubt that this decision had a distinct political context. Catherine II, as a pragmatic and intelligent politician, built herself not only into the system of power, but also into the existing scheme of palace chambers. Then, in 1863, she took into account any little thing that could strengthen her position, including such as the continuity of the imperial chambers: from Elizabeth Petrovna to Peter III and to her - Empress Catherine II. Her decision to move her chambers to the status southeast corner of the Winter Palace was probably dictated by the desire to strengthen her precarious position, including by such a “geographical method”. The chambers in which Elizabeth Petrovna and Peter III were supposed to live could only become her chambers. Accordingly, all the work that since the autumn of 1762 was carried out by J.-B. Wallen-Delamot and Y. Felten in the western wing of the palace, immediately turned off. So in the rooms located along the western facade of the Winter Palace, Catherine II did not live a single day.
New work was carried out on a grand scale. It was no longer a minor cosmetic repair, started by Peter III. In the southeastern risalit, a large-scale redevelopment of the interior premises began, when the newly erected walls were dismantled. When carrying out the work, the architects also took into account the nuances of the personal life of the 33-year-old empress. Directly under the personal chambers of Catherine II, on the mezzanine of the first floor, they placed the rooms of her common-law husband at that time, Grigory Orlov. There, on the mezzanine, right under the church altar, they set up a bathhouse (soap room, or soap box) with spacious and luxurious rooms.
G.G. Orlov
G.A. Potemkin
The empress repeatedly mentioned this soapbox in her intimate correspondence with her changing favorites. Favorites changed, but the soapbox, as a secluded meeting place, remained. For example, in February 1774, Catherine II wrote to G.A. Potemkin: “My dear, if you want to eat meat, then know that now everything is ready in the bathhouse. And don’t bring food from there to yourself, otherwise the whole world will know that food is being prepared in the bathhouse. In March 1774, the empress informs Potemkin of her conversation with Alexei Orlov, who knew well what the soap dish was intended for: “... My answer was:“ I can’t lie. He kept asking: “Yes or no?” I said: “Yes.” After listening to that, he burst out laughing and said: “Do you see each other in a soap box?” I asked: “Why does he think this?” “Because, they say, for about four days in the window the fire was seen later than usual.” Then he added: “It was clear yesterday that the agreement was by no means to show agreement among people between you, and this is very good.”
Construction and finishing work went on at a feverish pace from January to September 1763. As a result, on the site of the chambers of Peter III, through the efforts of architects and with the unconditional personal participation of the Empress, a complex of personal chambers of Catherine II was formed, which included the following premises: The Audience Chamber with an area of 227 m 2 , which replaced the Throne Room; Dining room with two windows; light office; Restroom; two casual bedrooms; Boudoir; Office and Library.
AND ABOUT. Miodushevsky. Presentation of the letter to Catherine II
All these rooms were designed in the style of early classicism, but at the same time they combined components that are difficult to compare for this style - solemn splendor and undoubted comfort. The splendor was provided by the architects of early classicism, and the comfort, no doubt, was brought by the empress herself. However, we know about all this only from the descriptions of the chambers left by contemporaries.
The direct intervention of Catherine II in the adoption of architectural decisions is known for certain. The most famous fact is the order of the Empress to remake one of her everyday bedrooms into the Diamond Room, or Diamond Rest, which will be discussed later.
Contemporaries who visited the Winter Palace left numerous descriptions of the Empress' private rooms. One of these French travelers wrote: “... the apartments of the empress are very simple: in front of the audience hall there is a small glassed-in office where her crown and diamonds are kept under seals; the audience hall is very simple: near the door is a red velvet throne; then comes the living room, decorated with wood and gilding, with two fireplaces, ridiculously small. This room, which serves for receptions, communicates with the apartments of the Grand Duke, where there is nothing remarkable, just like in the rooms of his children.
It should be noted that marble of various grades began to arrive from the Urals to St. Petersburg for the decoration of the premises of the Winter Palace. Columns, fireplaces, boards for tables, etc. were carved out of this marble. Finished products and semi-finished products were delivered to St. Petersburg by water on barges. The first such transport was sent to the capital in the spring of 1766.
Empress Catherine II moved to the Winter Palace in the autumn of 1763. If we turn to the Chambers-Fourier journals for 1763, the chronology of events is built as follows:
August 13, 1763 "Her Imperial Majesty deigned to have an exit for a walk through the streets and deigned to be in the stone Winter Palace ...".
On October 12, 1763, the Empress ordered “the Kurtag not to be, but to be there next Wednesday, that is, this October 15th in the Winter Stone Palace of Her Imperial Majesty.”
On October 15, 1763, Catherine II moved to the Winter Palace, where she arranged a housewarming party, “presenting” her new home to the environment.
On October 19, 1763, the Empress staged the first "public masquerade in the Winter Palace for all the nobility", presenting the palace to all the metropolitan nobility.
At the same time, construction work did not stop in other parts of the palace, where they continued to finish the ceremonial halls. Only in 1764 major finishing work in the Winter Palace was completed.
Naturally, with the completion of work in 1762-1764. The Winter Palace did not freeze in an unchanged form and layout. Construction work continued almost continuously on a larger or smaller scale. This is evidenced by the handwritten note of Catherine II, dating back to 1766, in which she summarizes the "expenses for buildings." (See table 1.)
Table 1
Global redevelopment in the Winter Palace began in the late 1770s. and were associated with the growth of the imperial family. All this time, the construction work in the palace was supervised by the president of the Imperial Academy of Arts and secretary of the Empress I.I. Betskaya. On his initiative, Catherine II signed a decree of October 9, 1769, according to which the "Chancery on the construction of Her Imperial Majesty's houses and gardens" was abolished and on its basis the "Office on the construction of Her Imperial Majesty's houses and gardens" was created under the direction of the same I. AND. Betsky. Then, in 1769, the Empress determined the quota for the maintenance and construction of the Winter Palace at 60,000 rubles. in year.
A. Roslin. Portrait of I.I. Betsky. 1777
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From the book Historical Fates of the Crimean Tatars. author Vozgrin Valery EvgenievichECONOMY OF THE FIRST HALF OF THE XIX CENTURY One of the largest colonizers of the beginning of the last century, Mordvinov, was sure that "Tatars are unable to live and occupy land and gardens", which is why "the good of all requires that foreigners be attracted to the mountainous part of the Crimea, raising the price
From the book Domestic History. Crib author Barysheva Anna Dmitrievna26 ENLIGHTENED ABSOLUTISM OF CATHERINE II. REFORMS OF CATHERINE II Catherine II ruled almost the entire second half of the 18th century. (1762–1796). This era is usually called the era of enlightened absolutism, since Catherine, following the new European enlightenment tradition, was
From the book From the Varangians to the Nobel [Swedes on the banks of the Neva] author Jangfeldt BengtFrom Catherine to Catherine: Karl Karlovich Anderson The Stockholm boy Karl Anderson was one of those numerous foreigners whose talent flourished in St. Petersburg; in this sense, his fate is typical. But the beginning of his life path was far from ordinary;
From the book Architects of Moscow XV - XIX centuries. Book 1 author Yaralov Yu. S.S. M. Zemtsov Architects of Moscow in the second half of the 15th and first half of the 16th century From the 70s of the 15th century until the end of the 30s of the 16th century, Moscow was enriched with works of architecture worthy of the capital of a vast country. Until the final unification of Russian lands under the auspices of Moscow
