Construction style of the winter palace. History of the Winter Palace

St. Petersburg - the northern capital vast Russia, accustomed to surprise us with a special personality, originality of tastes and ambition. Hundreds of magnificent sights annually attract the views of many tourists and indigenous people. One of them is the Winter Palace, which is an invaluable monument of history and architecture of the past.

Description

Like many buildings, the building is distinguished by pomp, successfully combined with the special style and handwriting of the author, which we will talk about later. Petersburg Winter Palace cultural heritage Russia, one of the main attractions of the country, which contains interesting historical events and facts. There are many legends and myths around the Palace, some of which can be fully justified by historical facts.

Thanks to the splendor of the building, being next to it or inside it, you can fully experience the imperial spirit and features several centuries ago. You can also enjoy magnificent architectural solutions, which to this day are considered the standard of beauty and sophistication. Design Winter Palace changed more than once over these centuries, so we can observe the structure not in its original form, which, however, does not make it less significant and noteworthy, since all the main features conceived by the author of the project, Francesco Rastrelli, were carefully preserved and transferred by architects of different times. Is it located majestic building on Palace Square northern city and blends in beautifully with the surrounding landscape.

The history of the creation and development of the palace

The building is made in the style called Since the times of the USSR, its territory has been equipped for the main part. In earlier times, the Winter Palace has always been the main residence of the emperors of Russia. To fully experience the greatness of this place, you need to turn to the history of its creation.

Under the government of Peter I, in 1712, according to the law, it was impossible to give land at the disposal of ordinary people. Similar territories were kept for sailors belonging to upper class society. The site on which the Winter Palace is located today was taken under the control of Peter I himself.

From the very beginning, the emperor built a small and cozy house here, near which a small ditch was dug closer to winter and which was given the name Winter. Actually, the further name of the palace came from this.

For many years, the Russian emperor convened various architects to reconstruct his house, and now, years later, the structure turned from an ordinary wooden house into Grand Palace from stone.

And who built the Winter Palace? In 1735, Francesco Rastrelli was appointed the chief architect working on the building, who had the idea of ​​buying out neighboring land plots and expanding the structure of the palace, which he told Anna Ioannovna, the ruler of Russia at that time, about.

The task assigned to the architect

It was this architect who created the image of the Winter Palace that we are all used to seeing. However, it is worth remembering that some features of the building have changed over time, but still the main ideas and works of Francesco Rastrelli have remained unchanged to this day.

The Winter Palace acquired its modern look with the advent of Elizabeth Petrovna to the imperial throne. As the ruler considered, the building does not look like a Palace worthy of Russian emperors staying in it. Therefore, a task appeared for Rastrelli - to modernize the structure and design of the structure, which is why it acquired a new look.

During the construction of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, the hands of 4 thousand workers were used, many of the masters of whom Rastrelli personally invited to cooperate. Each detail, which differs from other elements of the structure, was personally thought out by the great architect and successfully implemented.

About the architecture of the building

The architectural component of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg is truly multifaceted. high altitude structures are emphasized by weighty double columns. The chosen baroque style in itself brings notes of pomp and aristocracy. According to the plan, the Palace occupies a territory in the form of a square, which includes 4 outbuildings. The building itself is three-story, the doors of which open onto the courtyard.

The main facade of the palace is cut through by an arch, the other sides of the building are made in an exquisite style, which is expressed in Rastrelli's unique sense of taste and his unusual decisions, which can be traced everywhere. These include the extraordinary layout of the facades, differences in the design of the facades, noticeable risalite ledges, uneven construction of the columns, and the author's special emphasis on the stepped corners of the building attracts attention.

The Winter Palace, the photo of which is presented to your attention in the article, has 1084 rooms, where in total there are 1945 window structures. According to the plan, there are 117 stairs in it. Also unusual and memorable facts include the fact that at that time it was a building with a very large, by European standards, amount of metal in the structures.

The color of the building is not uniform and is made mainly in sandy shades, which are Rastrelli's personal decision. After several reconstructions, the color scheme of the palace changed, but today the authorities of St. Petersburg have come to the conclusion that the best solution is to recreate the appearance of the palace exactly in the version that was originally conceived by the great architect.

A few words about the architect

Francesco Rastrelli was born in the capital of France in 1700. His father was a talented Italian sculptor who had no difficulty in recognizing his son as a future skilled architect. After graduating in 1716, he and his father came to live in Russia.

Until 1722, Francesco worked only as an assistant to his father, but by 1722 he was ripe for the start of an independent career, which at first did not develop very well in a country that was very inhospitable to him. Rastrelli Jr. spent 8 years traveling around Europe, where he did not work most of the time, but received new knowledge in Germany, Italy, France and other countries. By 1730, he had formed his own vision of the Baroque style, which was reflected in his most ambitious project - the Winter Palace.

The architect has repeatedly worked on the creation and reconstruction of buildings in Russia. His main work fell on the period from 1732 to 1755.

Exclusive facts about the Winter Palace

The building is the richest building in St. Petersburg, and the value of its exhibits still cannot be accurately calculated. The Winter Palace has many secrets and interesting stories, of which the following can be distinguished:

• During the war with the German invaders, the color of the palace was red. The current white and green color of the building was acquired only after the war in 1946.
• At the end of construction work, so much construction waste had accumulated in the square in front of the Palace that it could take whole weeks to clean it up. However, the king came up with an interesting idea: he allowed absolutely anyone to take any thing from these building materials left after work. The area in front of the building was cleared as soon as possible.

Fire

In 1837, all the efforts of Francesco Rastrelli and other architects practically came to naught. A terrible event happened: a considerable fire broke out in the palace due to a malfunction of the chimney, and 2 companies of specialists were called to extinguish it. For 30 hours, firefighters tried to reduce the flames by blocking windows and other openings with bricks, but this did not bring any result. The fire subsided only a day after the start of the fire, incinerating almost all the beauty of the structure. From the former palace, only walls and columns remained, which were singed under high temperatures.

Restoration work

Restoration work was started immediately and lasted 3 years. Unfortunately, the masters of that time did not have any drawings from the first buildings, so they had to turn on improvisation and come up with a new style literally on the go. As a result, the “seventh version” of the palace appeared with a predominance of light green and white shades and gilding inside.

Along with the new look, electrification also came to the palace. The largest power plant in all of Europe (considered as such for 15 years) was installed on the 2nd floor and provided electricity to the entire building.

Not only the fire knocked on the doors of the Winter Palace with bad news. So, this building at one time survived the assault, and the attempt on Alexander II, and numerous bombings of the Great Patriotic War.

For modern tourists

Today, you can walk through the halls of the Winter Palace by ordering one of the many excursions, individual or in a group. The doors of the museum are open to visitors from 10:00 to 18:00 and are closed only on Monday - an official day off.

You can buy tickets for a tour of the Winter Palace directly at the museum's box office, or by ordering them from a tour operator. They are not always available due to the high popularity of the building, especially during tourist season. Therefore, it is better to buy tickets in advance.

Fragment of the facade of the Winter Palace from the Neva.

The architectural and compositional center of St. Petersburg opens from the water surface of the Neva with the bulk of the Winter Palace with its elegant and solemn decoration. This is an outstanding example of Russian baroque, one of the highest achievements of world architecture of the 18th century. grand palace, which has become the main residence of the Russian emperors since the 1760s, leads the ensemble main square of the city - Dvortsovaya, on the creation of which several generations of architects worked for more than two centuries.

window trim

The winter residence of the sovereign's court in St. Petersburg was repeatedly rebuilt over a relatively short period of time - 51 years.

The first Winter Palace of Peter I, the so-called Wedding Chambers, was built by the architect D. Trezzini in 1711. The "Little House of Dutch Architecture" was a gift from the governor of St. Petersburg A. D. Menshikov for the wedding of Peter I and Ekaterina Alekseevna.

The Second Winter Palace was erected in 1719-1721 according to the project of the architect G. I. Mattarnovi on the site where the Hermitage Theater is now located. The building was remodeled and expanded in 1726-1727 with the participation of F. B. Rastrelli, who laid the foundation for the construction of the solemn chambers of the Russian emperors with this project.

The construction of the third Winter Palace was carried out by father and son Rastrelli in 1732-1735 for Anna Ioannovna, who considered the Peter's Palace too small. A new spacious building grew next to the Admiralty and included the houses of neighboring courtyards. Almost immediately after the completion of the work, in 1736, utility rooms appeared along the “meadow side” (on the territory of modern Palace Square).

Under Elizabeth Petrovna, the extension of services continued. As a result, by 1750 the palace “looked motley, dirty, unworthy of the place it occupied, and the very oddity imperial palace, one wing adjoining the Admiralty, and the other, on the opposite side, to the dilapidated chambers of Raguzinsky, could not be pleasing to the empress. In January 1752, the Empress decided to expand the Winter Palace. Compiled by Rastrelli

Plan of the middle floor of the palace. Lithography of the middle of the 19th century. It is estimated that the Winter Palace has 1786 doors, 1945 windows, 1500 rooms and 117 stairs. The main facade is 150 meters long and 30 meters high.

It is noteworthy that all the stucco decorations on the facades of the Winter Palace were not created according to patterns. The dough-like mass (a mixture of crushed bricks and lime mortar) was processed manually by modellers with an approximate orientation to the presented sample. Therefore, on the facades of the Winter Palace there are no at least two absolutely identical sculptural decorations; the project was supposed to attach new buildings to existing ones and decorate them in the same style. A year later, Elizaveta Petrovna wished to increase the height of the palace from 14 to 22 meters. However, the architect was forced to offer her to move the residence to another place, since it was not possible to remake the existing one. The empress refused, and as a result, the architect decided to rebuild the entire building. The draft of the Winter Palace was signed by the empress on June 16, 1754. During the construction of a large residence in 1755, Rastrelli set up a temporary Winter Palace on the embankment of the Moika River, which was dismantled in 1762 as unnecessary.

Rastrelli carried out the construction of the fourth, now existing, Winter Palace from 1754 to 1762. He created a monumental building, far superior to his predecessors in size and grandiose.

architectural decoration. The architect was faced with the task of not only pleasing the ruler, but also erecting a palace that, in terms of its significance and architecture, would become dominant in the ensemble of the capital, symbolizing glory and grandeur. Russian Empire.

In plan, the building looks like a huge rectangle with a vast inner front yard, typical for the architecture of Western European palaces. The northern facade of the Winter Palace faces the Neva, the western facade faces the Admiralty, the southern facade faces the Palace Square, which had been formed by that time, in the center of which the architect intended to place an equestrian statue of Peter I.

Palace interiors

The powerful volume of the palace corresponded to the role of each of its facades in the city ensemble. From the side of the Neva, the architect somewhat outlined the extreme parts of the building by indenting the middle, the center of which he marked with the entrance, thus emphasizing in the facade its longitudinal direction along the river embankment. On the opposite side, he applied the reverse method of stepping forward the powerful center of the facade, which corresponded to the dominant importance of this part of the palace in the ensemble of the new square. In the center of this facade is the main entrance to the inner front yard, cut through by three entrance arches. In the center of the northern building, opposite the entrance gate, was the main entrance to the palace. The facade from the side of the Admiralty, formed by the protruding corner parts of the palace and the recessed middle part, emphasizes and sets off the powerful front of the two main facades.

The details of the building are executed with exceptional splendor and variety. There are 12 types of window openings and 22 options for their frames. The abundance of decor increases from bottom to top, and at the same time, the palace is characterized by clarity and regularity. The facades of the palace are divided into two tiers: the lower, more squat, and the upper, lighter and front. They are decorated with columns of a composite order - the most complex in execution and exquisitely subtle in perception. The columns of the upper tier unite the second, front, and third floors, corresponding to the location of the main palace premises. The complex rhythm of the columns, the richness and variety of forms of architraves, the abundance of stucco details, the many decorative vases and statues located above the parapet and above the numerous pediments create the decorative decoration of the building, exceptional in its splendor and magnificence. According to the original idea of ​​Rastrelli, the Winter Palace had a very light warm ocher color with a highlighting of the order system and plastic decor with white lime paint.

Rastrelli often repeated that he was building the palace "for the sole glory of the All-Russian", where "everything would be decorated with the greatest splendor."

Composite order - an architectural composition and a certain system for constructing an artistically designed building structure, consisting of a pedestal, a column (includes a base and a capital) and an entablature (includes a frieze and a cornice). The composite order was developed by ancient Roman architects based on the Ionic and Corinthian orders.

pavilion hall.

The planning structure of the Winter Palace was organized from the main entrance to the building (from the courtyard), leading to the solemn Ambassadorial (later Jordanian) stairs in the north-eastern corner of the house, from where the largest state rooms began. They were located in an enfilade in the northern building and led to the Great Throne Hall - St. George's, placed in a corner ledge. In the opposite, southwestern, ledge was the palace theater "Opera House". Kitchens and other services occupied the northeastern wing, and in the southeastern part, between the living quarters and the Great Church arranged in the eastern courtyard, a gallery was thrown.

Military gallery of 1812

Elizaveta Petrovna did not live to see the completion of construction. By the time of her death, the facade decoration was completed, but many interior spaces weren't ready yet. The palace was completed on April 6, 1762 under Peter III, who was deposed from the throne in the summer of 1762. Catherine II, who replaced Peter, removed Rastrelli from work, and entrusted the interior decoration to his assistants, S. I. Chevakinsky and Yu. M. Felten. Soon they were joined by J.-B. Vallin-Delamot and A. Rinaldi, who made a number of changes to the original layout and decoration of the palace. The reconstructions of baroque interiors that they started were continued in the 1780s and 1790s by D. Quarenghi and I. E. Starov. At the same time, the theater, the Throne Hall were destroyed and a new suite of halls was created. In the 1820s, C. I. Rossi created the famous military gallery 1812. In the early 1830s, O. Montferrand changed a number of ceremonial halls: Feldmarshalsky, Petrovsky, built a rotunda to connect two suites at an angle.

A strong fire, which began on December 17 and was extinguished only on December 19, 1837, destroyed to the ground all the magnificent decoration of the Winter Palace. Only the walls and vaults, as well as details on the facades, survived. In 1838-1839, the palace was restored according to new projects by V.P. Stasov and K.P. Bryullov, under their own leadership.

Despite the restructuring and many innovations, the main layout of the building retained the ideas of Rastrelli. Since 1922, the Winter Palace has become part of the State Hermitage.

Winter VS summer

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 Emperor's Winter Palace stood where the modern building is, and the 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

The history of the creation of the Winter Palace is not a secret for 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. For almost 20 years, the new palace became the residence of the imperial family. And then came the very Winter, which we know today - the fourth in a row.

Winter Palace of Anna Ioannovna

The tallest building in St. Petersburg

When Elizaveta Petrovna wished to build a new palace, the architect planned to use the previous building for the foundation in order to save money. 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 the old palace and build a new one in its place. Only in 1754 did the empress approve the project.

It is interesting that for a long time the Winter Palace remained the most tall building In 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.

Singer House on Nevsky Prospekt

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.

jordan stairs

In 1946 the Winter Palace became part of the Hermitage.

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.

Polyakov's painting "The Throne Speech of Nicholas II during the opening of the First State Duma in the Winter Palace." The picture shows the Great Throne Room

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 began to be 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.

In the early days of the Revolution, many treasures of the Winter Palace were stolen

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.

Hermitage during the Great Patriotic War

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.

Each Hermitage guard cat has its own passport

A whole army of fluffy guards lives in the Hermitage

Since the time of Elizaveta Petrovna, each Hermitage cat has its own passport, and each qualified guard is regularly examined by veterinarians. Recently the director of the Hermitage, Mikhail Piotrovsky, set a limit of 50 cats, and the rest are given away in good hands. So anyone can become the owner of the Hermitage pet.

"Winter Palace? - Where is the Hermitage? - Are the Hermitage and the Winter Palace one and the same? Is the Hermitage the name of the museum located in the Winter Palace? - such questions can often be heard from both Russian and foreign tourists. To figure out what's what, let's start the story about the most famous building of St. Petersburg from afar, from the moment the city was founded on the Neva ...

First Winter Palaces

For those who know the history of St. Petersburg, it is not a secret that initially Peter I did not plan the construction of the city center on Admiralteysky Island. The first buildings of St. Petersburg were erected on Petersburg Island, around the current Trinity Square. Then, the tsar hatched plans for the construction of a city center in Kronstadt, on Vasilyevsky Island, but not on the left bank of the Neva. The emergence of the current historical center contributed to the accident, or rather the royal passion. Peter I liked to work as a hatchet. And not only personally cut off the heads of the disgruntled, but also build ships.

After the founding of the Main Admiralty in 1705-1706, the sovereign builder of St. Petersburg faced a problem well known to many inhabitants of our sleeping areas. It was difficult and long to get from Petersburg Island to the Admiralty, even taking into account the absence of traffic jams at that time. So the sovereign wished to have housing near the place of work. In 1708, on the site between the Neva and the current Millionnaya Street, a wooden two-story "Winter House" was built for Peter. This building was located on the site of the current Hermitage Theater, and it is considered to be the first Winter Palace.

Now Peter has the opportunity to run to the shipyard every morning. Soon around the royal
chambers, houses of the sovereign's servants and hangers-on appeared, and the "industrial outskirts" suddenly became the political and aristocratic center of St. Petersburg.

In 1712, the "Winter House" was expanded by adding the so-called "Wedding Chambers" to it, but Peter Alekseevich, who settled down in a new place, began to think about a more representative residence. In 1716, according to the project of the architect Georg Mattarnovi, the construction of the new Winter Palace began, located on the site of the previous building. In the future, the researchers noted the successful choice of a place for the main royal residence: “... the palace is located so that most of the city, the fortress, the house of Prince Menshikov and, in particular, the open sea is visible from it”

The construction of Peter's Winter Palace was completed in 1723. This event was celebrated with a solemn feast, but Peter I did not live long in the new building. On January 28, 1725, the emperor died in the Great Hall of the Winter Palace from the effects of untreated gonorrhea.

Second Winter Palace of Peter I

After the death of Peter, his widow, Catherine I, lived in the Winter Palace for some time. Under Anna Ioannovna, the court settled in the neighboring mansion of Apraksin, located on the site of the current Winter Palace. Petrovsky "Winter House" was used by various palace services, and then was abandoned. Under Catherine II, the building of the Hermitage Theater was built in its place.

In the 1970s-1980s, Leningrad scientists discovered to their surprise that many elements of the Petrovsky Winter Palace have survived to this day. The architect Giacomo Quarneghi, who erected the theater building, used the walls and load-bearing structures of the old building, thanks to which today we can see the premises where Peter I spent the last two years of his life. Today they have been partially restored and tours are held in them.
Under Empress Anna Ioannovna, on the site of the houses of Apraksin, Chernyshev, Raguzinsky and the Naval Academy, the construction of a new Winter Palace, the third in a row, began. Work continued from 1732 to 1735. The new four-story building had about 70 ceremonial halls, more than 100 bedrooms, a theater, a chapel, an office, service and guard rooms.

Winter Palace of Anna Ioannovna

In the future, this Winter Palace was rebuilt and completed more than once, until Empress Elizaveta Petrovna discovered that the palace began to resemble not a front residence, designed to demonstrate the power of the Russian state, but a chicken coop. The appearance of the building was spoiled by countless stables, technical outbuildings and sheds, built mainly from the side of the Admiralteysky Meadow (the current Palace Square). The question arose again of rebuilding the palace, but then it turned out that it would be easier to demolish the old building and build a new palace in its place. The corresponding decree was signed by Elizaveta Petrovna on June 16, 1754:

“Because in St. Petersburg, our Winter Palace is not only for the reception of foreign ministers and the departure at the Court on the appointed days of festive rites, due to the greatness of our imperial dignity, but also for accommodation we cannot be satisfied with the necessary servants and things, for which we they set out to rebuild our Winter Palace with a large space in length, width and height, for which, according to the estimate, it is necessary to rebuild up to 900,000 rubles, which amount, spread over two years, it is impossible to take from our salt money. For this, we order our Senate to find and present to us from what income it is possible to take such an amount of 430 or 450 thousand rubles a year for that matter, counting from the beginning of this 1754 and the next 1755, and that this should be done immediately, so as not to miss the current winter way to prepare supplies for that building ... "

Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli, (1750-1760s)

Palace construction

The construction of the new Winter Palace was supervised by the court architect of Elizabeth Petrovna Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli. The architect understood that he was given a task of great political importance and began to zealously justify the high trust placed in him, because the palace was being built "for the united glory of all Russia."

According to the plan of the master, the Winter Palace was supposed to be a huge quadrangle with a courtyard. The facade and interiors were designed in the Baroque style, the unsurpassed master of which was Russterley. Each of the facades of the palace was individual. The main facade was considered to be the South, facing the Palace Square. He was the most magnificent. In its center were three arches leading to the front yard. The facade overlooking the Neva resembled an endless colonnade. The western facade also had a grand appearance, overlooking Razvodnaya Square, where Rasterly planned to erect a monument to Peter I, the work of his father, Carlo Bartolomeo.

Inside the Winter Palace, according to the Rasterly project, it was supposed to arrange 1050 front and living rooms with an area of ​​46 thousand square meters, 1945 windows, 1786 doors, 117 stairs, 329 chimneys.

The Winter Palace was conceived as the architectural dominant of the center of St. Petersburg and the tallest secular building in the city. Prior to the decree of Nicholas I, the construction of buildings higher than the Winter Palace in the center of the Northern capital was prohibited. The whole system of external decoration, columns installed in two rows, statues, was designed to emphasize the huge (four-story!) height of the building.
About four thousand people worked on the construction of the Winter Palace, including the best craftsmen from all over Russia. The territory of the current Palace Square and the Alexander Garden was covered with huts in which workers lived. The yard also had to change its place of residence. For him, Rastrelli built a temporary wooden Winter Palace, located on the site of the modern Chicherin house, at the corner of Nevsky Prospekt and the Moika River.

Elizaveta Petrovna really wanted to move to a new residence as soon as possible, but this did not happen. On January 25, 1761, the Empress died. And on April 6, 1762, the court moved to the Winter Palace built by Rasterli. The legend says that after the completion of the work, the Palace Square was a garbage dump. The cunning police general of St. Petersburg, Baron N.A. Korf proposed to announce through the heralds that every citizen is free to take everything he needs from the place of the former construction site. The next day, in front of the Winter Palace, it was possible to iron clothes ... Poor Petersburgers even stole heaps of lime.

The Winter Palace becomes the Winter Palace

Before the fresh lime that covered the walls of the Winter Palace had dried, they began to rebuild the building. The new Empress Catherine II, who ascended the throne after the short but memorable reign of Peter III, was not a fan of the Baroque. Rastrelli was forced to resign and leave St. Petersburg, and a new team of architects was invited to rebuild the Winter Palace: Yu.M. Felten, J.B. Vallin-Delamot and A. Rinaldi.

The interiors of the palace conceived by Rastrelli were almost completely destroyed. Today, only the magnificent Jordan Stairs have survived from them, along which thousands of tourists pass every day, going to inspect the treasures of the State Hermitage. In place of the old Throne Hall and the theater, a new Neva enfilade arose, which included the Anteroom, the Bolshoi and the Concert Halls.

The true decoration of the palace was the Great Throne or St. George Hall created by Giacomo Quarnegi. Its central object was a large throne made by P. Azhi. Colored marble and gilded bronze were used to decorate the interior of this main front hall of the Winter Palace.

Under Catherine II, the Winter Palace became the center of secular and cultural life Northern Palmyra, the venue for pompous court festivities and balls.
The Englishman W. Cox, who attended a ball in the Winter Palace in 1778, described what he saw in the following words: “The wealth and splendor of the Russian court surpass the most pretentious descriptions. Traces of ancient Asian splendor mingle with European sophistication…, the splendor of court attire and the abundance of precious stones leave behind the splendor of others European states". About eight thousand people attended the ball. True, this crowd of nobles, wealthy merchants and respected artisans did not mix with the aristocrats who danced behind the low barrier that separated the courtiers from other guests.

Work on the design of the Winter Palace continued in subsequent reigns. With the exception of Paul I, who preferred the Mikhailovsky Castle to the Winter Palace, each emperor sought to add something of his own to the decoration of the main palace of the Russian Empire.
Particularly large-scale work was carried out after 1812, when it became necessary to demonstrate to the whole world the new status of Russia - the winner of Napoleon, the leader of united Europe in the struggle for the bright ideals of consecrated absolutism.

Military gallery of the Winter Palace. G.G. Chernetsov

In 1826, Karl Rossi arranged a Military Gallery in front of the St. George Hall, the walls of which were decorated with 330 portraits of generals who participated in the Patriotic War of 1812. The paintings for this room were painted by the English artist D. Dow. It was to her that A.S. Pushkin dedicated his lines:

The Russian tsar has a chamber in his halls:
She is not rich in gold, not in velvet ...
Crowd close artist placed
Here the chiefs of our people's forces,
Covered with the glory of a wonderful campaign
And the eternal memory of the twelfth year.

Auguste Montferan also took part in the reconstruction of the Winter Palace. He built the staircase of the empress' entrance, decorating it with high reliefs, statues and columns, decorated the Field Marshal's, Petrovsky's and Armorial Halls. V.A. Zhukovsky enthusiastically wrote to the royal residence:

“The Winter Palace as a building, as a royal dwelling, perhaps, did not have anything like it in the whole of Europe. With its vastness, with its architecture, it depicted a powerful people that had so recently entered the environment of educated nations, and with its inner splendor it reminded of that inexhaustible life that boils in the interior of Russia ... The Winter Palace was for us a representative of everything domestic, Russian, ours ... "

But what about the Hermitage?

A tourist who has visited the suburbs of St. Petersburg will easily find that Pushkin and Peterhof have their own “Hermitage”. This word translated from French means "Secluded corner". Nobles and kings of the 18th century liked to set up secluded pavilions in their gardens and parks for intimate pastime. And Catherine II arranged her "secluded corner" right in the center of St. Petersburg.

For this purpose, in 1764-1775, a building was added to the Winter Palace, which is known today as the Small Hermitage. In it, Catherine II spent time with a select audience in an informal setting. Outsiders were not allowed into the Hermitage. Even the tables in this room were laid in advance, after which the servants left the "secluded corner" and left.
On the whole, the atmosphere of the Hermitage was reminiscent of modern corporate parties. Formally, the guests left their ranks and conventions at the door. Those who spoke nonsense had to drink a glass cold water or read a page from Tredyakovsky's Telemachiad.

In order for evenings in the Hermitage to become a cultural pastime, Catherine II decided to decorate the premises with a proper collection of paintings. The Hermitage collection began in 1764, when the German merchant Gotskovsky gave Russia his collection of 225 paintings as a debt. The Empress also ordered that all valuable works of art that appeared at auctions be bought abroad.

Works by Rubens and Van Dyck were bought in England. Russian ambassador in Paris, Count D.A. Golitsyn, thanks to his connections with D. Diderot and other representatives of French culture, was able to acquire such world-famous masterpieces as Rembrandt's The Return of the Prodigal Son, two Danae by Titian and Rembrandt, Rubens' Bacchus, Giorgione's Judith, etc.

By the end of the reign of Catherine II, the Hermitage collection of paintings amounted to four thousand canvases. The Small Hermitage no longer contained all the masterpieces. For the collection had to build a special building called the Old Hermitage.

The Hermitage received not only paintings. Catherine's agents also bought engravings, drawings, ancient antiquities, works of arts and crafts, ancient coins, weapons, medals and books.

The tradition of replenishing the Hermitage collection continued into the 19th century. Under Alexander I, paintings by Rembrandt and Rubens "Descent from the Cross", "Potter's Farm", paintings by Claude Lorrain, "A Glass of Lemonade" by Terborch and "Breakfast" by Metsu were acquired. During this period, the Hermitage was gradually transformed from a personal collection of paintings by the emperor into a museum. True, it was by no means a public gallery. To visit the Hermitage, you need to take a special pass signed by the head of the court office. Even A.S. Pushkin received such a document only thanks to the patronage of the educator of the royal children V.A. Zhukovsky.

Interiors of the New Hermitage on a watercolor by K. Ukhtomsky, 1856

An important turning point in the "democratization" of access to the Hermitage was the construction of the New Hermitage building, which was completed in 1856. It was the first purpose-built museum building in Russia. Already in 1852, the exposition of the New Hermitage received its first visitors, and in 1866 access to the museum became open and ... free. The cost of tickets was compensated by the Ministry of the Imperial Court. Of course, only “European-style” dressed people were allowed inside, which in itself closed access for representatives of the poor strata of society.

After the revolution, the Hermitage Museum received valuable acquisitions, but at the same time suffered serious losses. AT main museum The country brought in valuables expropriated from private collections of Russian aristocrats and industrialists. At the same time, in the late 1920s, some of the Hermitage paintings were sold abroad to finance industrialization. And the collection of paintings of Russian painting was transferred to the Russian Museum.

In the 1920s, the concepts of the Hermitage and the Winter Palace gradually became a single whole, since the museum received almost all the premises of the former royal residence to house its expositions.

After the Great Patriotic War, the collections and storerooms of the Hermitage were replenished with trophy works of art taken out of Germany as compensation for the masterpieces destroyed by the Nazi troops in Russia.

The legend of the gunsmith Tarasyuk

There are many interesting tales about the Winter Palace. The most banal of them are stories about the ghosts of Peter I, Nicholas I and Nicholas II, who regularly walk through the night halls of the Hermitage. There are legends about underground passages Hermitage, which lead either to the Manege or to the Marble Palace.

Of all these legends, only one story is distinguished by its original content and dramatic plot. Allegedly in the early 80s, the First Secretary of the Leningrad City Committee of the CPSU Grigory Romanov, a fierce enemy of the freedom-loving intelligentsia, decided to celebrate his daughter's wedding in the Tauride Palace. For this, the satrap demanded that the leadership of the Hermitage give him Catherine II's ceremonial service for one hundred and forty-four persons. The director of the Hermitage, Boris Borisovich Piotrovsky, said that the service could only be taken over his corpse, but when the KGB leadership said that this could be arranged in principle, Boris Borisovich went home and told the sick.

Employees of the city committee went to the Hermitage for a service, and only one person stood in their way. It was an employee of the museum Tarasyuk. Dressed in medieval armor, he picked up a sword and menacingly moved towards uninvited guests. The cowardly agents of tyranny retreated in panic, but then one extremely sad event happened for all honest museologists. Just at this time, at night, vicious dogs were released into the halls of the Hermitage. Tarasyuk was an expert on weapons, but the armor he wore was designed for riding. When the scientist was already triumphant, vicious dogs dug into his most vulnerable place, unprotected by armor ... Tarasyuk lost his courage, and the jubilant city committee took away the service.

The further fate of the masterpiece was sad. When they shouted “Bitter!” at the wedding, the partocrats began to beat the precious dishes on the floor ... However, Romanov did not get away with it. Because of this story, he was not made General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, instead of Mikhail Gorbachev.

Tarasyuk was fired from the Hermitage and went to Israel, where his traces were lost.

Fire in the Winter Palace K.Zh. Vernet

From fire to war

A symbolic milestone in the history of the Winter Palace was the catastrophic fire of 1837. Later, the cause of the fire was said to be "a vent left unsealed during the last alteration of the large Field Marshal's Hall"; the air vent "was located in the chimney, held between the choirs and the wooden vault of the hall of Peter the Great, located side by side with the Field Marshal's, and adjoined very close to the boards of the rear partition. On the day of the accident, it was thrown out of the chimney, after which the flame communicated through this air vent to the boards of the choirs and the vault of the hall of Peter the Great; he was provided with plentiful food in this place by wooden partitions; on them the fire passed to the rafters. These huge rafters and supports, dried for 80 years in hot air under an iron roof incandescent heat in summer, ignited instantly.

The smell of smoke was noticed on the morning of December 17, but since no one could find the source of the fire for a long time, the necessary measures were postponed until the evening. By that time, the internal ceilings of the Winter Palace were already burning with might and main, and when the firemen broke down the walls, the flame burst out ...

The Winter Palace burned for three days. During this time, all of its interiors burned out. It was one of the largest fires in the history of St. Petersburg. The glow from the fire was visible for several kilometers from the city. Only the heroic efforts of the soldiers and servants managed to save almost the entire palace furnishings and paintings. They were taken out into the street and stacked at the Alexander Column.

Immediately after the disaster, repair work began in the Winter Palace, led by architects V.P. Stasov and A.P. Bryullov. Emperor Nicholas I ordered them to "restore to their original form" all the interiors of the palace. We note right away that the architects did an excellent job with the responsible government task. The appearance of the former Winter Palace was revived in just two years.

In some halls, with the consent of the sovereign, changes were nevertheless made. So the Stasov Armorial Hall was enlarged to a thousand square meters and seriously changed its decoration.

After this repair, the ceremonial interiors of the Winter Palace have survived to this day without significant changes. This truth cannot be said about the living quarters of the palace. Only the Alexander and White halls, the staircase of the entrance of "Her Imperial Majesty", the Rotunda, the Arapsky and Malachite halls have survived to us in the form in which A.P. conceived them. Bryullov. Other living rooms of the palace were repeatedly rebuilt in accordance with the tastes of their owners. Of course, one cannot speak of any artistic unity here, although the interiors of some private rooms are very interesting in themselves. Among them, it is worth noting the "Red Boudoir" of Empress Maria Alexandrovna, the "Golden Living Room" created by V.A. Schreiber and the personal library of Nicholas II (author A.F. Krasovsky).

Until the revolution, the Winter Palace continued to serve as a platform for the most important political events of Tsarist Russia. Receptions of foreign ambassadors, solemn balls, receptions of loyal subjects of delegations, opening ceremonies of the State Duma were held here. In a difficult or solemn moment, crowds of loyal subjects rushed to this building. On January 9, 1905, columns of St. Petersburg workers moved to the Winter Palace, to the tsar, asking for mercy and intercession. Unfortunately, the dialogue between the authorities and the people did not work out that day ... But on August 1, 1914, a column of patriotic intelligentsia nevertheless reached Palace Square and fell to its knees in front of the adored monarch who appeared on the balcony of the Winter Palace.

In the 19th century, once a year, the doors of the Winter Palace were thrown open for the residents of the capital. On January 1, a New Year's masquerade was held in it. Moreover, not only nobles could come to the royal house, but also “merchants, philistines, shopkeepers, artisans of all kinds, even simple bearded peasants and serfs, decently dressed. All this crowded and pushed along with the first ranks of the court, representatives of diplomacy and high society. Dressed up ladies, in diamonds and pearls, military and civilian star-bearers, and interspersed with tailcoats, frock coats and caftans. The sovereign and the royal family, with a large retinue, walking from one hall to another, sometimes with difficulty could pass through the crowd. For many, this was a wonderful opportunity to refresh themselves: “In the halls there were many sideboards with gold and silver dishes, with all kinds of soft drinks, excellent wines, beer, honey, kvass, with an abundance of all kinds of food from the most refined to the most common ... The crowd around the sideboards replaced by a crowd as they emptied and refilled. At such annual holidays, sometimes from 25 to 30 thousand people came to the Winter Palace. Foreigners could not marvel at the order and decency of the crowd, and the credulity of the sovereign towards his subjects, who crowded around him with love, devotion and a sense of complacency for 5 or 6 hours. Not the slightest etiquette was observed here, at the same time, no one abused proximity to the royal person.

But as a royal residence, the Winter Palace was used less and less. It turned out that in the new historical realities, the huge building does not meet safety requirements well. And not just fire fighting. On February 5, 1880, Stepan Khalturin, a Narodnaya Volya member, carrying 30 kilograms of dynamite into the Winter Palace, set off an explosion under the dining room where Emperor Alexander II was supposed to dine. The sovereign was miraculously unharmed. 11 soldiers of the Finnish Life Guards Regiment were killed.

After the Narodnaya Volya nevertheless killed Alexander II in 1881, the new tsar, Alexander III, preferred to live in the safe Gatchina, and visit the Winter Palace on a rotational basis. Only when Nicholas II ascended the throne, the august family again returned to the banks of the Neva. True, after the start of the 1905 revolution, the Winter Palace looked more like a fortified camp. In addition to the tsar, some key figures of the regime also lived in it - for example, Prime Minister Stolypin. Only there they could feel safe. Nicholas II himself, following the example of his father, spent more and more time in Pushkin's Alexander Palace.

With the outbreak of the First World War, life in the Winter Palace underwent new changes. The imperial family appeared in the old walls less and less. In 1915, a number of palace halls were assigned to the hospital.

Winter Palace in the 20th century

After the February Revolution of 1917, the Extraordinary Commission of the Provisional Government to investigate the crimes of tsarism worked for some time in the premises of the Winter Palace, and from the summer of 1917, the Provisional Government itself "moved" into the former royal chambers. Newspapers wrote malicious articles about A.F. Kerensky blissful in the bed of Nicholas II. All palace valuables and collections of the Hermitage were sent to Moscow and hidden in the building Historical Museum.

On the night of October 25-26, 1917, the Winter Palace became the arena historical events. The forces of the military revolutionary committee, the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, after a series of short skirmishes, seized the former royal residence and arrested the ministers of the Provisional Government. The tabloid press was filled with chilling articles about the destruction of palace interiors by wild crowds of workers and peasants and the sad fate of the female shock battalion, whose fighters were in for a fate worse than death. True, it should be noted that the scientific literature does not confirm this information.

Three days after the arrest of the Provisional Government, the new Soviet authorities took the Winter Palace under protection as a cultural monument. However, at first it was used for a variety of purposes. The Museum of the Revolution, and the reception center for prisoners of war of the old army, and the headquarters for arranging mass celebrations, and even a cinema, operated in a huge building. Only from 1922 did all the premises of the Winter Palace begin to be gradually transferred to the Hermitage.

At the same time, work began on the redevelopment of the former living and service rooms of the Hermitage. On the first floor, the Rastrelli Gallery was restored, instead of 65 rooms of the maid of honor, 17 original rooms were recreated.

Vegetable gardens on the territory of the Winter Palace during the blockade

During the Great Patriotic War, the Winter Palace was seriously damaged. German bombs and shells damaged the Jordan Stairs, the Small Throne (Petrovsky) Hall, and the Armorial Hall. The restoration of these objects took a long time after the war. The most valuable exhibits were evacuated to Sverdlovsk. In the courtyard of the Winter Palace, a vegetable garden was laid out where vegetables were grown.

In subsequent decades, the Winter Palace-Hermitage became one of the largest museums in the world. It houses up to three million unique works of art. Every year the Winter Palace is visited by millions of tourists and Petersburgers.