The Winter Palace is the largest palace building in St. Petersburg. Its dimensions and magnificent decoration make it possible to classify it with full right among the most striking monuments of the St. Petersburg baroque. “The Winter Palace as a building, as a royal dwelling, perhaps has nothing like it in the whole of Europe. With its vastness, with its architecture, it depicts a powerful people that has so recently entered the environment of educated nations, and with its inner splendor it reminds of that inexhaustible life that boils in the interior of Russia ... The Winter Palace for us is a representative of everything domestic, Russian, ours, ” - this is how V. A. Zhukovsky wrote about the Winter Palace. The history of this architectural monument is rich in turbulent historical events.

At the beginning of the 18th century, in the place where the Winter Palace now stands, only naval officials were allowed to build. Peter I took advantage of this right, being a ship's master under the name of Peter Alekseev, and in 1708 he built a small house in the Dutch style for himself and his family. Ten years later, by order of the future emperor, a canal was dug in front of the side facade of the palace, called (after the palace) the Winter Canal.

In 1711, specifically for the wedding of Peter I and Catherine, the architect Georg Mattarnovi, by order of the tsar, set about rebuilding the wooden palace into a stone one. In the process, the architect Mattarnovi was removed from business and the construction was headed by Domenico Trezzini, an Italian architect of Swiss origin. In 1720, Peter I and his entire family moved from their summer residence to their winter residence. In 1723, the Senate was transferred to the Winter Palace. And in January 1725, Peter I died here (in the room on the first floor behind the current second window, counting from the Neva).

Later, Empress Anna Ioannovna considered the Winter Palace too small and in 1731 entrusted its restructuring to F. B. Rastrelli, who offered her his reorganization project Winter Palace. According to his project, it was required to purchase the houses that stood at that time on the site occupied by the current palace and belonged to Count Apraksin, the Naval Academy, Raguzinsky and Chernyshev. Anna Ioanovna approved the project, the houses were bought up, demolished, and the work began to boil. In 1735, the construction of the palace was completed, and the empress moved into it to live. Here, on July 2, 1739, Princess Anna Leopoldovna was betrothed to Prince Anton-Urich. After the death of Anna Ioannovna, the young emperor John Antonovich was brought here, who stayed here until November 25, 1741, when Elizaveta Petrovna took power into her own hands.

Elizaveta Petrovna also wished to remake the imperial residence to her taste. On January 1, 1752, she decided to expand the Winter Palace, after which the neighboring plots of Raguzinsky and Yaguzhinsky were bought out. At the new location, Rastrelli built new buildings. According to the project he drew up, these buildings were to be attached to the existing ones and be decorated with them in the same style. In December 1752, the Empress wished to increase the height of the Winter Palace from 14 to 22 meters. Rastrelli was forced to redo the design of the building, after which he decided to build it in a new location. But Elizaveta Petrovna refused to move the new Winter Palace. As a result, the architect decided to rebuild the entire building. The new project - the next building of the Winter Palace - was signed by Elizaveta Petrovna on June 16, 1754.

Construction lasted eight long years, which fell on the decline of the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna and the short reign of Peter III.

The story of the arrival at the palace of Peter III is curious. After the death of Elizabeth, 15 thousand dresses, many thousands of shoes and stockings remained in her wardrobe, and only six silver rubles turned out to be in the state treasury. Peter III, who replaced Elizabeth on the throne, wished to immediately move into his new residence. But the Palace Square was cluttered with piles of bricks, boards, logs, barrels of lime and similar building debris. The capricious temper of the new sovereign was known, and the chief police chief found a way out: it was announced in St. Petersburg that all the townsfolk have the right to take whatever they please on Palace Square. A contemporary (A. Bolotov) writes in his memoirs that almost all of St. Petersburg with wheelbarrows, wagons, and some with sleds (despite the proximity of Easter!) ran to Palace Square. Clouds of sand and dust rose above her. The townsfolk grabbed everything: boards, bricks, clay, lime, and barrels... By evening, the area was completely cleared. Nothing interfered with the solemn entry of Peter III into the Winter Palace.

In the summer of 1762, Peter III was overthrown from the throne. The construction of the Winter Palace was already completed under Catherine II. In the autumn of 1763, the empress returned from Moscow to St. Petersburg after the coronation celebrations and became the sovereign mistress of the new palace.

First of all, Catherine removed Rastrelli from work, and Ivan Ivanovich Betskoy, the illegitimate son of Field Marshal Prince Ivan Yuryevich Trubetskoy and personal secretary of Catherine II, became the manager at the construction site. The empress moved the chambers to the southwestern part of the palace, under her rooms she ordered to place the chambers of her favorite G. G. Orlov.

From the side of the Palace Square, the Throne Hall was equipped, in front of it a waiting room appeared - the White Hall. A dining room was placed behind the White Hall. The Light Room adjoined it. The dining room was followed by the Front Bedchamber, which a year later became the Diamond Chamber. In addition, the Empress ordered to equip a library, an office, a boudoir, two bedrooms and a lavatory for herself. Under Catherine, a winter garden and the Romanov Gallery were also built in the Winter Palace. At the same time, the formation of St. George's Hall was completed. In 1764, in Berlin, through agents, Catherine purchased a collection of 225 works by Dutch and Flemish artists from the merchant I. Gotskovsky. Most of the paintings were placed in secluded apartments of the palace, which received the French name "Hermitage" ("place of solitude").

Built by Elizabeth, the fourth, now existing palace was conceived and implemented in the form of a closed quadrangle with a vast courtyard. Its facades face the Neva, towards the Admiralty and the square, in the center of which F. B. Rastrelli planned to place an equestrian statue of Peter I.

The facades of the palace are divided by the entablature into two tiers. They are decorated with Ionic and Composite columns. The columns of the upper tier unite the second, front, and third floors.

The complex rhythm of the columns, the richness and variety of forms of 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.

The southern facade is cut through by three entrance arches, which emphasizes its importance as the main one. The entrance arches lead to the main courtyard, where the main entrance to the palace was located in the center of the northern building.

The main Jordan Staircase is located in the northeast corner of the building. On the second floor along the northern facade there were five large halls, the so-called "anti-chambers", in an enfilade, behind them - a huge Throne Hall, and in the southwestern part - the palace theater.

Despite the fact that the Winter Palace was completed in 1762, for a long time, work was still being done on the interior decoration. These works were entrusted to the best Russian architects Yu. M. Felten, J. B. Ballin-Delamot and A. Rinaldi.

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

Galleries with arches ran along the entire lower floor. Galleries connected all parts of the palace. The rooms on the sides of the galleries were of a service nature. There were pantries, a guardroom, employees of the palace lived.

The ceremonial halls and living quarters of members of the imperial family were located on the second floor and were built in the Russian Baroque style - huge halls flooded with light, double rows of large windows and mirrors, lush rococo decor. The apartments of the courtiers were mainly located on the upper floor.

The palace was also destroyed. For example, on December 17-19, 1837, there was a strong fire that completely destroyed the beautiful decoration of the Winter Palace, from which only a charred skeleton remained. They could not extinguish the flame for three days, all this time the property taken out of the palace was piled around the Alexander Column. As a result of the disaster, the interiors of Rastrelli, Quarenghi, Montferrand, Rossi were lost. Restoration work started immediately and lasted two years. They were led by architects V.P. Stasov and A.P. Bryullov. According to the order of Nicholas I, the palace was to be restored the same as it was before the fire. However, not everything was so easy to do, for example, only some interiors, created or restored after the fire of 1837 by A.P. Bryullov, have come down to us in their original form.

On February 5, 1880, S. N. Khalturin, a Narodnaya Volya member, made an explosion in the Winter Palace in order to assassinate Alexander II. At the same time, eight soldiers from the guard were killed and forty-five wounded, but neither the emperor nor members of his family were injured.

At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century, the interior design was constantly changing and replenished with new elements. These, in particular, are the interiors of the chambers of Empress Maria Alexandrovna, wife of Alexander II, created according to the designs of G. A. Bosse (Red Boudoir) and V. A. Schreiber (Golden Room), as well as the library of Nicholas II (author A. F. Krasovsky). Among the renovated interiors, the most interesting was the decoration of the Nicholas Hall, which contained a large equestrian portrait of Emperor Nicholas I by the artist F. Kruger.

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

The most significant changes in the history of the Winter Palace took place in 1917, along with the coming of the Bolsheviks to power. A lot of valuables were stolen and damaged by sailors and workers while the palace was under their control. A direct hit by a shell fired from a cannon of the Peter and Paul Fortress damaged the former quarters of Alexander III. Only a few days later, the Soviet government declared the Winter Palace and the Hermitage to be state museums and took the buildings under protection. Soon the valuable property of the palace and the collections of the Hermitage were sent to Moscow and hidden in the Kremlin and in the building of the Historical Museum.

An interesting story is connected with the October Revolution in the Winter Palace: after the storming of the palace, the Red Guard, who was instructed to set up guards to guard the Winter Palace, decided to get acquainted with the arrangement of guards in pre-revolutionary times. He was surprised to learn that one of the posts had long been located on an unremarkable alley of the palace garden (the royal family called it "Own" and under this name the garden was known to Petersburgers). An inquisitive Red Guard figured out the history of this post. It turned out that somehow Tsarina Catherine II, having gone out in the morning to the Adjustable platform, saw a sprouted flower there. So that soldiers and passersby would not trample it, Catherine, returning from a walk, ordered a guard to be placed at the flower. And when the flower withered, the queen forgot to cancel her order about the stay of the guard at this place. And since then, for about a hundred and fifty years, a guard stood at this place, although there was no longer a flower, no Empress Catherine, or even a Adjustable platform.

In 1918, part of the premises of the Winter Palace was given over to the Museum of the Revolution, which led to the reorganization of their interiors. The Romanov Gallery was completely liquidated, in which there were portraits of sovereigns and members of the Romanov dynasty. Many chambers of the palace were occupied by a reception center for prisoners of war, a children's colony, a headquarters for arranging mass celebrations, etc. The armorial hall was used for theatrical performances, the Nikolaevsky hall was converted into a cinema. In addition, congresses and conferences of various public organizations were repeatedly held in the halls of the palace.

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

In the first days of the Great Patriotic War, many valuables of the Hermitage were urgently evacuated, some of them were hidden in the cellars. To prevent fires in the museum buildings, the windows were bricked up or closed with shutters. In some rooms, the parquets were covered with a layer of sand.

The Winter Palace was a big target. A large number of bombs and shells exploded near him, and several hit the building itself. So, on December 29, 1941, a shell crashed into the southern wing of the Winter Palace overlooking the kitchen yard, damaging the iron rafters and roofing over an area of ​​three hundred square meters, destroying the fire-fighting water supply installation located in the attic. The attic vaulted ceiling with an area of ​​about six square meters was broken through. Another shell that hit the podium in front of the Winter Palace damaged the water main.

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

On May 12, 1943, a bomb hit the building of the Winter Palace, partially destroying the roof over the St. George Hall and metal truss structures, and damaging the brickwork of the wall in the pantry of the Department of the History of Russian Culture. In the summer of 1943, despite the shelling, they continued to seal the roof and ceilings with tarred plywood, skylights. On January 2, 1944, another shell hit the Armorial Hall, severely damaging the finish and destroying two ceilings. The shell also pierced the ceiling of the Nicholas Hall. But already in August 1944, the Soviet government decided to restore all the buildings of the museum. Restoration work required huge efforts and stretched out for many years. But, despite all the losses, the Winter Palace remains an outstanding monument of baroque architecture.

Today, the Winter Palace, together with the buildings of the Small, Large and New Hermitages and the Hermitage Theater, forms a single palace complex, which has few equals in world architecture. In terms of art and town planning, it belongs to the highest achievements of Russian architecture. All halls of this palace ensemble, built over many years, is occupied by the State Hermitage Museum - the largest museum in the world, which has huge collections of works of art.

In the guise of the Winter Palace, which was created, as the decree on its construction, "for the united glory of all Russia", in its elegant, festive form, in the magnificent decoration of its facades, the artistic and compositional concept of the architect Rastrelli is revealed - a deep architectural connection with the city on the Neva, became the capital Russian Empire, with all the character of the surrounding urban landscape, preserved to this day.

Palace Square

Any tour of the Winter Palace begins on Palace Square. It has its own history, which is no less interesting than the history of the Winter Palace itself. The square was formed in 1754 during the construction of the Winter Palace designed by V. Rastrelli. An important role in its formation was played by K. I. Rossi, who in 1819-1829 created the building of the General Staff and the building of the Ministry and connected them into a single whole with a magnificent Arc de Triomphe. The Alexander Column took its place in the Palace Square ensemble in 1830-1834, in honor of the victory in the War of 1812. It is noteworthy that V. Rastrelli intended to place a monument to Peter I in the center of the square. The building of the Headquarters of the Guards Corps, created in 1837-1843 by architect A.P. Bryullov, completes the Palace Square ensemble.

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

Countless white columns now gather in groups (especially picturesque and expressive at the corners of the building), then thin out and part, opening windows framed with platbands with lion masks and cupids' heads. There are dozens of decorative vases and statues on the balustrade. The corners of the building are lined with columns and pilasters.

Each facade of the Winter Palace is made in its own way. The northern façade, facing the Neva, stretches like a more or less even wall, without noticeable ledges. The southern façade, overlooking the Palace Square and having seven articulations, is the main one. Its center is cut by three entrance arches. Behind them is the front yard? where in the middle of the northern building used to be the main entrance to the palace. Of the side facades, the western one is more interesting, facing the Admiralty and the square, on which Rastrelli planned to place the equestrian statue of Peter I cast by his father. Each architraves decorating the palace is unique. This is due to the fact that the mass, consisting of a mixture of crushed bricks and lime mortar, was cut and processed by hand. All stucco decorations of the facades were made on the spot.

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

From the interior of the palace, created by Rastrelli, the Jordan Staircase and partly the Great Church have preserved the baroque appearance. Main staircase located in the northeast corner of the building. On it you can see various details of the decor - columns, mirrors, statues, intricate gilded stucco, a huge ceiling created by Italian painters. Divided into two solemn marches, the stairs led to the main, Northern enfilade, which consisted of five large halls, behind which there was a huge Throne Hall in the northwestern risalit, and the Palace Theater in the southwestern part.

The Great Church, located in the southeast corner of the building, also deserves special attention. Initially, the church was consecrated in honor of the Resurrection of Christ (1762) and again - in the name of the Savior Not Made by Hands (1763). Its walls are decorated with stucco - an elegant pattern of floral ornament. The three-tiered iconostasis is decorated with icons and picturesque panels depicting biblical scenes. Evangelists on the vaults of the ceiling were later painted by F.A. Bruni. Now nothing reminds of the former purpose of the church hall, ruined in the 1920s, except for the golden dome and the large pictorial ceiling by F. Fonte-basso, depicting the Resurrection of Christ.

white hall

It was created by A.P. Bryullov on the site of a number of rooms that had three semicircular windows along the facade in the center, and three rectangular windows on the sides. This circumstance led the architect to the idea of ​​dividing the room into three compartments and highlighting the middle one with especially magnificent processing. The hall is separated from the side parts by arches on protruding pylons, decorated with pilasters, and the central window and the opposite door are underlined by Corinthian columns, above which are placed four statues - female figures, personifying the arts. The hall is covered with semicircular vaults. The wall against the central windows is designed with an arcade and above each semicircle there are pairwise bas-relief figures of Juno and Jupiter, Diana and Apollo, Ceres and Mercury and other deities of Olympus.

The vault and all parts of the ceiling above the cornice are finished with stuccoed caissons in the same late classical style rich in decorative elements.

The side compartments are decorated in the spirit of the Italian Renaissance. Here, under the common crowning cornice, a second smaller order with Tuscan pilasters, covered with small molding with a grotesque ornament, is introduced. Above the pilasters there is a wide frieze with figures of children engaged in music and dancing, hunting and fishing, harvesting and winemaking, or playing seafaring and war. Such a combination of architectural elements of different scales and overloading the hall with ornaments are typical of the classicism of the 1830s, but the white color gives the hall integrity.

Georgievsky Hall and Military Gallery

Experts call the Georgievsky, or the Great Throne Room, designed by Quarenghi, the most perfect interior. In order to create the St. George Hall, a special building had to be attached to the center of the eastern facade of the palace. In the design of this room, which enriched the front suite, colored marble and gilded bronze were used. At the end of it, on a dais, there used to be a large throne, made by the master P. Azhi. Other well-known architects also participated in the design of palace interiors. In 1826, according to the project of K. I. Rossi, the Military Gallery was built in front of the St. George Hall.

The military gallery is a kind of monument to the heroic military past of the Russian people. It contains 332 portraits of generals, participants in the Patriotic War of 1812 and the foreign campaign of 1813-1814. The portraits were made by the famous English artist J. Dow with the participation of Russian painters A.V. Polyakov and V. A. Golike. Most of the portraits were made from life, but since in 1819, when work began, many were no longer alive, some portraits were painted according to earlier, surviving images. The gallery occupies a place of honor in the palace and is directly adjacent to the St. George's Hall. The architect K. I. Rossi, who built it, destroyed the six small rooms that previously existed here. The gallery was illuminated through glazed openings in vaults supported by arches. The arches rested on groups of twin columns that stood against the longitudinal walls. Portraits were arranged in five rows on the plane of the walls in simple gilded frames. On one of the end walls, under a canopy, was placed an equestrian portrait of Alexander I by J. Dow. After the fire of 1837, it was replaced by the same portrait by F. Kruger, it is his painting that is in the hall today, on the sides of it are the image of the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III, also executed by Kruger, and the portrait of the Austrian Emperor Franz I by P. Kraft. If you look at the door leading to the St. George Hall, then on its sides you can see portraits of Field Marshals M. I. Kutuzov and M. B. Barclay de Tolly by Dow.

In the 1830s, A. S. Pushkin often visited the gallery. He immortalized her in the poem "The Commander", dedicated to Barclay de Tolly:

The Russian tsar has a chamber in his halls:
She is not rich in gold, not in velvet;
But from top to bottom, in full length, around,
With my brush free and wide
It was painted by a quick-eyed artist.
There are no country nymphs, no virgin madonnas,
No fauns with bowls, no full-breasted wives,
No dancing, no hunting, but all the raincoats and swords,
Yes, faces full of martial courage.
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.

The fire of 1837 did not spare the gallery, however, fortunately, all the portraits were taken out by soldiers of the guards regiments.

V. P. Stasov, who restored the gallery, basically retained its former character: he repeated the treatment of the walls with double Corinthian columns, left the same arrangement of portraits, and retained the color scheme. But some details of the composition of the hall have been changed. Stasov lengthened the gallery by 12 meters. A balcony was placed above the wide crowning cornice for passage to the choirs of adjacent halls, for which the arches were eliminated, which rested on columns that rhythmically broke the too long vault into parts.

After the Great Patriotic War, the gallery was restored, and four portraits of the palace grenadiers, veterans who passed the company of 1812-1814 as ordinary soldiers, were additionally placed in it. These works are also done by J. Doe.

Petrovsky hall

Petrovsky Hall is also known as the Small Throne Room. Decorated with special splendor in the spirit of late classicism, it was created in 1833 by the architect A. A. Montferrand. After the fire, the hall was restored by V.P. Stasov, and its original appearance was preserved almost unchanged. The main difference of the later decoration is related to the processing of the walls. Previously, the panels on the side walls were divided by one pilaster, now they are placed in two. There was no border around each panel, a large double-headed eagle in the center, and on the upholstery of scarlet velvet, bronze gilded double-headed eagles of the same size were fixed in diagonal directions.

The hall is dedicated to the memory of Peter I. Peter's crossed Latin monograms, double-headed eagles and crowns are included in the motifs of the stucco ornamentation of the capitals of the columns and pilasters, the frieze on the walls, the ceiling painting and the decoration of the entire hall. On two walls there are images of the Battle of Poltava and the Battle of Lesnaya, in the center of the compositions - the figure of Peter I (artists - B. Medici and P. Scotty).

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 circumstances. 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, 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, Y. 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 ​​the “office” materialized in the southwestern risalit, where the famous Flashlight 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 palace apartments. 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 about 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 visible 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 architectural solutions known reliably. 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 glazed 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 goods 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 capital's 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

author Vyazemsky Yuri Pavlovich

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Small photo selection

On October 10, 1894, Her Highness Princess Alice of Hesse arrived by ordinary train to Livadia, accompanied by Their Imperial Highnesses Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna (her elder sister). The imminent arrival of the bride of the Heir was caused by the critical state of health of Emperor Alexander III, who was supposed to bless the marriage of the Tsarevich. The engagement itself took place in Coburg on April 8 of the same year.
M. Zichy

On November 14, 1894, the Imperial Wedding took place in the Cathedral of the Imperial Winter Palace.

L. Tuxen

After the solemn ceremony, the August couple went to the Imperial Anichkov Palace, under the protection of the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna.

On November 18, the newlyweds Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna and Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, who got married on July 25, visited the Private Rooms in the Winter Palace. Then the final decision was made to move to Zimniy.

The arrangement of the future Apartment was entrusted to the new Palace architect A.F. Krasovsky. The place for it was chosen on the second floor of the northwestern part of the palace. The alteration was supposed to be the former chambers of Empress Maria Feodorovna, previously owned by the wife of Sovereign Nikolai Pavlovich. It should be noted that the magnificent Bryullov and Stackenschneider interiors under the Emperors Alexander II and Alexander III did not undergo significant changes. The abundance of gilding, French silk and the museum value of the canvas did not meet the taste of the Tsarevich and Her Highness. N. I. Kramskoy and S. A. Danini were appointed to help Academician A. F. Krasovsky for the reconstruction of these chambers. According to the results of the announced competition for the best design of the interiors of the new Imperial chambers, the team included Academician M. E. Messmacher, architect D. A. Kryzhanovsky and Academician N. V. Nabokov. Carpentry and art works were performed in the best workshops of F. Meltzer, N. Svirsky and Shteingolts.

Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna took an active part in the arrangement of the Imperial private quarters. She negotiated with both architects and artists. All direct executors of the order were obliged to reckon with her instructions from the Highest.

In the spring of 1895, the interiors of the new Imperial private chambers were finally approved in all details. The decoration was carried out as quickly as possible, and already on December 16, 1895, after participating in the New Year's Eve charity bazaar, which took place in the halls of the Imperial Hermitage, the August couple visited their fully finished chambers in the palace.

Before you begin to get acquainted with the Apartment, you should get some idea of ​​​​the Imperial Winter Palace. According to a note of 1888, the total area of ​​the palace with the Imperial Hermitage and the building of the Imperial Hermitage Theater occupied 20,719 square meters. soot or 8 2/3 tithes, the actual building of the palace - 4,902 sq. sazh., main yard - 1,912 sq. soot; the residential floors of the palace contained 1,050 chambers, the floor area of ​​​​which was 10,219 square meters. soot (4 1/4 des.), and the volume is up to 34,500 cu. soot; in these chambers 6,333 sq. soot parquet floors: 548 - marble, 2,568 - slab, 324 - board, 512 - asphalt, mosaic, brick, etc.; doors - 1,786, windows - 1,945, 117 stairs with 3,800 steps, 470 different stoves (after the fire of 1837, heating was installed in the palace according to the method of General Amosov: the stoves were in the basement, and the rooms were heated with warm air through pipes) ; the roof surface of the palace is 5,942 sq. soot; on the roof there are 147 dormer windows, 33 glass skylights, 329 chimneys with 781 smoke; the length of the cornice surrounding the roof - 927 sazhens, and the stone parapet - 706 sazhens; lightning rods - 13. The cost of maintaining the palace extended up to 350 thousand rubles. per year with 470 employees.

Plan:

Malachite living room. Anticipated the Private Quarters of Their Majesties. It was part of the Parade Neva enfilade. Here the ancient ceremonies of the Royal House were held, courtiers were received, relatives gathered, numerous Councils of committees headed by Her Majesty met. During court balls, Their Majesties rested here in seclusion. From here began the solemn exits of Their Majesties.

Her Majesty's Salon or Her Majesty's First Living Room. This room, decorated in the Empire style, was intended for the reception of the ladies-in-waiting of the Court. The discreet decoration was made by the masters G. Botta, A. Zabelin and the painter D. Molinari. Furniture by the workshop of N. F. Svirsky.

Her Majesty's Silver Drawing Room, or Her Majesty's Second Living Room. Living room in Louis XVI style. It was intended for the receptions of Her Majesty's ladies-in-waiting and the ladies of the Diplomatic Corps, as well as for the rest of Her Majesty. The ladies on duty were also there. Her Majesty, who possessed a good soprano, often played music with her entourage in this drawing room. Being a keen collector of French glass from Galle and Daum, Her Majesty placed the best examples here.

Her Majesty's Office. Attention is drawn to the especially respectful attitude towards the memory of the former owners of the chambers on the part of Her Majesty. Thus, a portrait by Vigée-Lebrun of the first August mistress, Empress Elizaveta Alekseevna, was installed over Her Majesty's desk. A small podium behind screens in the northwestern corner of the Cabinet served as an observation platform for admiring the views of Northern Palmyra.

Bedroom of Her Majesty. The modest room of the August spouses, with children's furniture, which belonged to Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna. French chintz is widely used in decoration.

Dressing room of Her Majesty. Made in the style of Louis XVI.

Boudoir of Her Majesty. Adjoined directly to the Cabinet of His Majesty. Designed in restrained Gothic style.

Concluding our acquaintance with the chambers of Her Majesty, I would like to say that during the stay of Their Majesties in the palace, these rooms were filled with a great variety of flowers and greenery. Countless vases, pots, flowerpots of various shapes and sizes with roses, orchids, lilies, cyclamens, azaleas, hydrangeas and violets filled the apartment with subtle scents.

Office of His Majesty. Made in the Gothic style. His Majesty, in memory of his journey through the countries of the Middle and Far East, placed here many art objects from China, Japan and India. All items were selected and arranged by hand. By the way, the Sovereign understood the culture of Asia, sent an expedition to Tibet, collected a collection of Japanese Shung engravings, unique for Russia (which disappeared in 1918), and even had a small tattoo.

Valet.

The White Dining Room of Their Majesties, or the Small Dining Room of Their Majesties. Made in the style of Louis XVI. The walls were decorated with Russian tapestries of the 18th century. Illuminated by a musical chandelier of English work.

Mauritanian. It was intended for the rest of the courtiers during the Grand Imperial balls. In normal times, it was used as the State Dining Room of Their Majesties.

His Majesty's Library. The only surviving room in Their Majesties' Apartment. Done in the Gothic style. As in the Cabinet of His Majesty, carpentry work was done by the workshops of N. F. Svirsky. The emblems of the Royal House and the House of the Dukes of Hesse were placed on the mantelpiece. Their Majesties were passionate bibliophiles, subsidized a number of literary and artistic publications (including the famous Diaghilev's magazine "The World of Art"), and had their own bookmarks. The library served as the official Reception and Front Office of His Majesty. At the same time, she was the most favorite room of the August couple. Here Their Majesties had breakfast, played music, read aloud, sorted out new books, played board games, had a snack in the evenings after the theater, or a bath, played with the children.

Rotunda. The ceremonial hall of the Imperial Palace, in which buffets were served during balls, and at normal times the little Grand Duchesses went roller-skating there.

Small church.

Billiard room of His Majesty.

Adjutant of His Majesty. It was intended for duty under His Majesty.

On the first floor, exactly under the Personal Half of Their Majesties, the children's rooms of Their Imperial Highnesses were arranged. The rooms were decorated in modern style.

Visitors arriving at the palace on official business entered the Emperor's apartments through the western, Saltykovsky, entrance.

Own Entrance Of Their Imperial Majesties.

Nearly nine years of life were given by Their Majesties to the Apartment in the Imperial Winter Palace. From the summer of 1904, Their Majesties appeared here only on the days of official receptions. The main residence was the Imperial Alexander Palace in Tsarskoye Selo. In 1904, the last high society ball in the Empire was given. In 1915, in the Ceremonial Enfilades, the Empress arranged an infirmary for the lower ranks.

Summing up this acquaintance, you should know that all these interiors have not been preserved. Partially surviving exceptions: Rotunda, Moorish, Malachite, Small dining room, His Majesty's Library.

However, there is an "Inventory of Things Belonging to Their Imperial Majesties and Stored in the Private Rooms in the Winter Palace", compiled by Nikolai Nikolaevich Dementyev, Chief Caretaker of Room Property in the Imperial Winter Palace and the Imperial Hermitage, who held this position from 1888 to 1917. This inventory is distinguished by an accurate fixation of the location items and their details.

As an epilogue:
After the fall of the Monarchy, Their Imperial Majesties' Own Half was opened to the public. In 1918 the palace was plundered by the Bolsheviks.
End of 1918.
Office of the Tsar-Liberator.


Dressing room of Her Majesty.


Her Majesty's Office.


Rooms of the Grand Duchess Tatyana Nikolaevna.

PS - thanks to Vladimir (GUVKh) for the idea to make this post.

We all walk around Zimny, look at paintings, plafonds, vases, tapestries, parquet, gilding in general, all kinds of works of art, but after all, there was not always a museum here, people lived here and not just any, but the rulers of a great state, so I want to to see in what chambers their life passed. Therefore, we will visit the living quarters of the Winter Palace. At present, only part of the magnificent series of residential apartments that once occupied a significant place in a huge building has been preserved in the Winter Palace.

On April 16, 1841, the heir to Tsarevich Alexander Nikolayevich, the future Emperor Alexander II, and the princess of the Gensendarmstadt, who on that day received the title of Grand Duchess-Tsesarevna, were married. Maria Alexandrovna, the future empress, settled in the rooms assigned to her on the second floor of the northwestern part of the palace. She lived in these chambers until her death in 1880. Maria Alexandrovna's apartments consisted of eight rooms, some of which have retained their decoration to this day.

Large Study of Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna, watercolor by E.P. Gau

The boudoir, or the Small Study, was one of Maria Alexandrovna's favorite places. Its decoration was made in the middle of the nineteenth century by the architect Harold Bosse in the style of the then fashionable second rococo.

Boudoir of the Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna, watercolor by E.P. Gau
Bedroom of Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna, watercolor by E.P. Gau

It is as if the atmosphere of a fairy tale has been created here, the patterns twist intricately, the brilliance of gilding sets off the slender figures of snow-white caryatids. A magnificent bronze chandelier is reflected in mirrors of various shapes. In her cozy boudoir, Maria Alexandrovna spent a lot of free time, reading, writing letters to her relatives, drinking tea with her husband. From here there was an exit to the stairs, along which one could go down to the first floor, to the children's rooms.

Raspberry Cabinet

Crimson study of Empress Maria Alexandrovna, watercolor by E.P. Gau

Receptions of personal guests of the empress and meetings with relatives of the royal family were held in the Big or Raspberry Cabinet. The office was also a kind of musical salon. Numerous images can be seen in the drawings of the fabric that fit the walls. musical instruments and notes. The frame of a huge fireplace mirror is crowned by cupids with a shield in their hands, on which the monogram of Maria Alexandrovna is depicted.

Raspberry Cabinet of the Winter Palace, © State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg

golden living room

With its radiant abundance of gilding, the Golden Living Room resembles the chambers of the Moscow Kremlin with their vaulted ceilings and richly decorated walls. True, the owner of the apartment herself compared her living room with the throne room of the Bavarian kings.

255 years ago (1754), the construction of the Winter Palace began in St. Petersburg, which was completed in 1762.

One of the most famous buildings in St. Petersburg is the building of the Winter Palace, which stands on Palace Square and was built in the Baroque style.

The history of the Winter Palace begins with the reign of Peter I.

The very first, then still the Winter House, was built for Peter I in 1711 on the banks of the Neva. The first Winter Palace was two-storey, with a tiled roof and a high porch. In 1719-1721, the architect Georg Mattornovi built a new palace for Peter I.

Empress Anna Ioannovna considered the Winter Palace too small and did not want to settle in it. She commissioned the construction of the new Winter Palace to the architect Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli. For new construction, the houses of Count Apraksin, Raguzinsky and Chernyshev, located on the embankment of the Neva River, as well as the building of the Naval Academy, were purchased. They were demolished, and by 1735 a new Winter Palace was built in their place. At the end of the 18th century, the Hermitage Theater was erected on the site of the old palace.

Empress Elizaveta Petrovna also wished to remake the imperial residence to her taste. The construction of the new palace was entrusted to the architect Rastrelli. The project of the Winter Palace created by the architect was signed by Elizaveta Petrovna on June 16, 1754.

In the summer of 1754, Elizaveta Petrovna issued a nominal decree on the beginning of the construction of the palace. The required amount - about 900 thousand rubles - was withdrawn from the "tavern" money (collection from the drinking trade). The previous palace was demolished. During construction, the yard moved to a temporary wooden palace built by Rastrelli on the corner of Nevsky and Moika.

The palace was notable for its incredible size for those times, magnificent exterior decoration and luxurious interior decoration.

The Winter Palace is a three-storey rectangular building with a huge front yard inside. The main facades of the palace face the embankment and the square that was formed later.

Creating the Winter Palace, Rastrelli designed each facade differently, based on specific conditions. The northern façade, facing the Neva, stretches like a more or less even wall, without noticeable ledges. From the side of the river, it is perceived as an endless two-tiered colonnade. The southern façade, overlooking the Palace Square and having seven articulations, is the main one. Its center is highlighted by a wide, richly decorated risalit cut through by three entrance arches. Behind them is the main courtyard, where in the middle of the northern building was the main entrance to the palace.

Along the perimeter of the roof of the palace there is a balustrade with vases and statues (originally made of stone in 1892-1894 were replaced by a brass knockout).

The length of the palace (along the Neva) is 210 meters, width - 175 meters, height - 22 meters. The total area of ​​the palace is 60 thousand square meters, it has more than 1000 halls, 117 different staircases.

There were two chains of ceremonial halls in the palace: along the Neva and in the center of the building. In addition to the ceremonial halls, on the second floor there were living quarters of members of the imperial family. The first floor was occupied by utility and service premises. The apartments of the courtiers were mainly located on the upper floor.

About four thousand employees lived here, even had its own army - palace grenadiers and guards from the guards regiments. The palace had two churches, a theater, a museum, a library, a garden, an office, and a pharmacy. The halls of the palace were decorated with gilded carvings, luxurious mirrors, chandeliers, candelabra, patterned parquet.

Under Catherine II, a winter garden was organized in the Palace, where both northern plants and plants brought from the south grew, the Romanov Gallery; at the same time, the formation of St. George's Hall was completed. Under Nicholas I, a gallery was organized in 1812, where 332 portraits of participants in the Patriotic War were placed. The architect Auguste Montferrand added the Petrovsky and Field Marshal's Halls to the palace.

In 1837, a fire broke out in the Winter Palace. Many things were saved, but the building itself was badly damaged. But thanks to the architects Vasily Stasov and Alexander Bryullov, the building was restored two years later.

In 1869, instead of candlelight, gas lighting appeared in the palace. Since 1882, the installation of telephones in the premises began. In the 1880s, a water pipe was built in the Winter Palace. At Christmas 1884-1885, electric lighting was tested in the halls of the Winter Palace; from 1888, gas lighting was gradually replaced by electric lighting. For this, a power plant was built in the second hall of the Hermitage, which for 15 years was the largest in Europe.

In 1904, Emperor Nicholas II moved from the Winter Palace to the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoye Selo. The Winter Palace became a place for ceremonial receptions, ceremonial dinners, and the seat of the king during short visits to the city.

Throughout the history of the Winter Palace as an imperial residence, the interiors were redesigned in accordance with fashion trends. The building itself changed the color of its walls several times. The Winter Palace was painted in red, pink, yellow colors. Before the First World War, the palace was painted red-brick.

During the First World War, there was an infirmary in the building of the Winter Palace. After the February Revolution of 1917, the Provisional Government worked in the Winter Palace. In the post-revolutionary years, various departments and institutions were located in the building of the Winter Palace. In 1922, part of the building was transferred to the Hermitage Museum.

In 1925 - 1926 the building was rebuilt again, now for the needs of the museum.

During the Great Patriotic War, the Winter Palace suffered from air raids and shelling. In the cellars of the palace there was a dispensary for scientists and cultural figures who suffered from dystrophy. In 1945-1946, restoration work was carried out, at the same time the entire Winter Palace became part of the Hermitage.

At present, the Winter Palace, together with the Hermitage Theatre, the Small, New and Great Hermitage, forms a single museum complex"State Hermitage".