Dvortsovaya Naberezhnaya 38
Tel. 311- 3420, 110- 9625, 571-
3420
Open: 10:30am- 6pm Tue- Sat, 10:30am- 5pm Sun (last
admission 1 hour before closing)
Closed: Mon
Metro: Nevsky
prospekt or Gostiny Dvor
www.hermitagemuseum.org
The Hermitage (from French ermitage - a place of solitude, a cell, a
hermit's shelter, seclusion), the State Hermitage (until 1917 - the
Imperial Hermitage) is the Russian State Museum of Fine and Decorative
and Applied Arts, one of the largest institutions of its kind in the
world.
The main museum complex of the Hermitage is located in the
historical center of St. Petersburg and includes six interconnected
buildings - the Winter Palace, the Reserve House of the Winter Palace,
the Small Hermitage, the Large (Old) Hermitage, the New Hermitage and
the Hermitage Theatre. They have 365 halls open to the public. Also at
the disposal of the museum are the General Headquarters, the Museum of
the Imperial Porcelain Factory, the restoration and storage center
"Staraya Derevnya" and the Menshikov Palace. The total area of the
premises (buildings) of the Hermitage is 233,345 m², the exposition and
exhibition area is 100,000 m². The modern collection of the museum
includes about three million works of art and monuments of world
culture, collected from the Stone Age to our century. The collection
includes paintings, graphics, sculpture and objects of applied art,
archaeological finds and numismatic material.
The Hermitage arose
as a private collection of works of art purchased privately by the
Russian Empress Catherine II from the beginning of her reign. Initially,
this collection was located in the main imperial residence in a special
palace wing - the Hermitage (in the modern complex - the Small
Hermitage) - from which the common name of the future museum was fixed.
In 1852, a public museum was formed from a greatly expanded collection
and opened to the public, located in a building of the New Hermitage
specially built for this purpose.
The State Hermitage is one of
the ten most visited art museums in the world. According to the results
of 2018, it took the 9th place in terms of attendance among museums in
the world (4.2 million people visited it in 2018). In 2019, the
Hermitage received 4,956,524 visitors, making it the 8th most visited
art museum in the world. According to 2021 data, the museum was ranked
6th in the world with 1,649,443 visitors.
In total, during the period 1711-1764, five winter palaces were erected in the city in different areas. Initially, Peter I settled in a one-story house built in 1703 not far from the Peter and Paul Fortress.
Peter the Great owned a plot between the Neva and Millionnaya Street (on the site of the present Hermitage Theatre). In 1708, here, in the depths of the plot, a wooden "Winter House" was built - a small two-story house with a high porch and a tiled roof. In 1712, the stone Wedding Chambers of Peter I were built. This palace was a gift from the governor of St. Petersburg, Alexander Danilovich Menshikov, for the wedding of Peter I and Ekaterina Alekseevna.
In 1716, the architect Georg Mattarnovi, on the orders of the tsar, began the construction of a new Winter Palace, on the corner of the Neva and the Winter Canal (which was then called the "Winter Canal"). In 1720, Peter I and his entire family moved from their summer residence to their winter residence. In 1725, Peter died in this palace.
Later, Empress Anna Ioannovna considered the Winter Palace too small
and in 1731 entrusted its reconstruction to F. B. Rastrelli, who
offered her his project for the reconstruction of the 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 Ioannovna approved the project, the houses were
bought up, demolished and construction began in the spring of 1732.
The facades of this palace were facing the Neva, the Admiralty and
the "meadow side", that is, the palace square. In 1735, the
construction of the palace was completed, and Anna Ioannovna moved
into it to live. The four-story building included about 70
ceremonial halls, more than 100 bedrooms, a gallery, a theater, a
large chapel, many stairs, service and guard rooms, as well as rooms
for the palace office. Almost immediately, the palace began to be
rebuilt, an extension began to be added to it along the meadow side
of technical buildings, sheds and stables. There, on July 2, 1739,
Princess Anna Leopoldovna was betrothed to Prince Anton-Ulrich.
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.
In 1745, by
the highest decree of the Empress, 30 cats were brought from Kazan
to catch a large number of mice in the unfinished palace, which
replenished the cat population of the palace, which originated from
a cat brought by Peter I from Holland. The tradition of keeping cats
to protect them from rodents has survived centuries - in 2008, 50
cats lived in the basements of the palace, for which a special
Hermitage Cat Friends Fund was created.
Under Elizabeth, the
addition to the palace of office premises continued, as a result, by
1750 it “represented a motley, dirty, unworthy view of the place it
occupied and the very strangeness of the imperial palace, one wing
adjoining the Admiralty, and the other on the opposite side, to the
dilapidated chambers of Raguzinsky, not could be pleasing to the
Empress. On January 1, 1752, the Empress 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 decides to rebuild
the entire building, the new project was signed by Elizaveta
Petrovna on June 16 (June 27), 1754:
After all, 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 cannot be satisfied to accommodate us with the necessary
servants and things, for which we set out to This is our Winter
Palace with a large space in length, width and height to rebuild,
for which the restructuring, according to the estimate, will require
up to 900,000 rubles, what 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 structure.
It was built in 1755. It was built by Rastrelli at the corner of Nevsky Prospekt and the embankment of the river. Washers. It was demolished in 1762.
Construction according to the project of F. B. Rastrelli
From
1754 to 1762, the construction of the fifth building of the palace
was underway, which at that time became the tallest residential
building in St. Petersburg. The building included about 1500 rooms.
The total area of the palace was about 60 thousand m². Elizaveta
Petrovna did not live to see the completion of construction, Peter
III took the job on April 6, 1762. By this time, the decoration of
the facades was completed, but many of the interior spaces were not
yet ready. In the summer of 1762, Peter III was overthrown from the
throne, and the construction of the Winter Palace was completed
under Catherine II.
First of all, the Empress removed
Rastrelli from work. The interiors of the palace were decorated by
the architects Yu. M. Felten, J. B. Vallin-Delamot and A. Rinaldi
under the guidance of Betsky.
According to the original
layout of the palace, made by Rastrelli, the largest front rooms
were on the 2nd floor and overlooked the Neva. As conceived by the
architect, the path to the huge “Throne” hall, which occupied the
entire space of the northwestern wing, began from the east - from
the “Jordanian” or, as it was formerly called, “Ambassadorial”
stairs and ran through a suite of five anterooms ( of these, three
middle halls later formed the Nicholas Hall). Rastrelli placed the
palace theater "Opera House" in the southwestern wing. 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.
In 1763, the empress moved her chambers to the southeastern part of
the palace, under her rooms she ordered the chambers of her favorite
G. G. Orlov to be placed (in 1764-1766, the Southern Pavilion of the
Small Hermitage was erected for Orlov, connected with Catherine’s
chambers by a gallery on the arch ). In the northwestern risalit,
the “Throne Hall” was equipped; a waiting room appeared in front of
it - the “White Hall”. A dining room was placed behind the White
Hall. Adjacent to it was the "Light Cabinet". The dining room was
followed by the “Front Bedchamber”, which became the “Diamond Peace”
a year later. In addition, the Empress ordered to equip a library,
an office, a boudoir, two bedrooms and a lavatory for herself.
In 1764, Catherine II was transferred from Berlin 317 valuable
paintings with a total value of 183 thousand thalers from the
private collection of paintings by Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky (Johann
Ernst Gotzkowsky, 1710-1775) on account of his debt to Prince
Vladimir Sergeevich Dolgorukov. Of these 317 paintings (it is
generally believed that there were only 225) mainly of the
Dutch-Flemish school of the first half of the 17th century,
transferred to Russia in 1764 and laid the foundation for the
Hermitage collections, at least 96 canvases have survived here. The
paintings were placed in secluded apartments of the palace, which
received the French name "Hermitage" (a place of solitude); from
1767 to 1775 a special building was built for them to the east of
the palace. In the 1780s-1790s, work on the decoration of palace
interiors was continued by I.E. Starov and J. Quarenghi.
In
1783, by decree of Catherine, the palace theater was demolished.
In the 1790s, by decree of Catherine II, who considered it
inappropriate for the public to enter the Hermitage through her own
chambers, a lintel gallery was created with the Winter Palace -
"Apollo Hall", with the help of which visitors could bypass the
royal apartments. At the same time, Quarenghi erected a new Throne
(George) Hall, opened in 1795. The old throne room was converted
into a series of rooms provided for the quarters of the newly
married Grand Duke Alexander. On the site of the former five
anti-chamber halls built by Rastrelli, the Anteroom, the Marble
Gallery (Great Anteroom) and the Concert Hall were created.
In 1826, according to the project of K. I. Rossi, a Military Gallery
was built in front of St. George's Hall, which housed 330 portraits
of generals who participated in the war of 1812, painted over almost
10 years by D. Dow. In the early 1830s, in the eastern building of
the palace, O. Montferrand designed the Field Marshal, Petrovsky and
Armorial Halls.
After the fire of 1837, when all the interiors were destroyed and the southeast wing was also damaged, the restoration work in the Winter Palace was led by architects V.P. Stasov, A.P. Bryullov and A.E. Shtaubert. External work (restoration of facades) was led by I. M. Maevsky.
For the first time the name Spare half of the Winter Palace appeared
in the process of restoration after a fire. Each spare half included
the necessary set of premises for temporary residence of guests of
the Supreme Court. As a rule, the halves previously occupied by
members of the imperial family who left the Winter Palace due to
marriage or moving to other palaces, as well as those who passed
away, were transferred to the reserve.
The first spare half
occupied the second floor of the southern building overlooking the
square and the courtyard (rooms 283-287, 290-301). Until 1828,
Empress Maria Feodorovna lived here, from July 1839 to 1844 - Grand
Duchess Maria Nikolaevna and Duke Maximilian of Leuchtenberg.
The
second spare half occupied the second floor of the southeastern
risalit (halls No. 263-268, 273-281). Initially, this place housed
the private apartments of Peter III and Catherine II, as well as
Paul I, after whose death the imperial half passed into the reserve
category with the name "Prussian-Royal Rooms".
The third spare
half occupied part of the second floor of the western building
overlooking the courtyard (rooms 157-161). The children of Nicholas
I lived here.
The fourth ("Children's") spare half - occupied the
first floor of the northwestern risalit (halls No. 2-16 and a number
of office premises). The entrance was arranged from the side of the
embankment and further through the spiral Children's staircase (not
preserved). This half began to be called a spare after the departure
from the Winter Palace of the daughters of Nicholas I - Alexandra
(in 1844) and Olga (in 1846). From 1856 until moving to his own
Nicholas Palace, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich lived here. The
interiors of A.P. Bryullov, created after the fire, were partially
changed by A.I. Stackenschneider.
The fifth spare half occupied
the first floor of the southwestern risalit (halls No. 34-53).
Initially, this part of the palace was occupied by the children of
Alexander II - Maria (halls No. 34-38), Sergei and Pavel (halls No.
39-53). Until 1858, part of the premises intended for the Grand
Duchess Maria was occupied by Varvara Nelidova. Above the dressing
room (hall number 38) of Maria Alexandrovna, in a room on the
mezzanine floor, the teacher of the children Anna Tyutcheva lived.
From 1894 to 1897, the daughter of Alexander III, Grand Duchess
Xenia Alexandrovna, and her husband temporarily lived in halls
34–53. After they moved to their own mansion on emb. Washing, 106
halls and receive the name of the Fifth Spare Half. Since 1897, the
Chamberlain of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, Princess Elizaveta
Naryshkina, “Madame Zizi”, has been lodging here, and rooms 40–53
have been occupied by the Chief Chamberlain, Princess Maria
Golitsyna.
The sixth spare half - occupied the third floor of the
western building (halls No. 360-363, 290-301). Her Serene Highness
Princess Yuryevskaya lived here - the second, morganatic, wife of
Emperor Alexander II.
The seventh spare half was located in the
building of the Great Hermitage.
On April 8 (according to another version - April 11), 1762, on
Easter, a ceremony of consecration of the palace took place, the
next day the imperial court entered it.
On December 29, 1837, a
fire broke out in the Winter Palace. They could not extinguish it
for three days, all this time the property taken out of the palace
was piled around the Alexander Column. According to official
figures, 13 soldiers and firefighters died in the fire. Restoration
work required enormous efforts, but the palace was revived in two
years. The work was supervised by V.P. Stasov, who used new
structures for floors and roofs.
On February 5, 1880, Narodnaya
Volya member S. N. Khalturin carried out an (act of terrorism)
explosion in the Winter Palace in order to kill Alexander II, while
eleven soldiers from the guard were killed and fifty-six were
wounded, but neither the emperor nor members of his family were
injured.
On February 11-13, 1903, the famous costumed historical
ball was held in the Winter Palace in costumes from the era of Tsar
Alexei Mikhailovich.
On January 9, 1905, during the procession of
columns of workers to the Winter Palace, a peaceful workers'
demonstration was shot, which was the beginning of the Revolution of
1905-1907.
In August 1914, after the outbreak of the First World
War, part of the cultural property from the palace, including the
Jewel Gallery, was taken to Moscow, but the Art Gallery remained in
place.
In mid-October 1915, a military hospital named after
Tsarevich Alexei Nikolayevich was located in the palace. The halls
of the Nevsky and the Big Enfilade, as well as the Picket and
Alexander Halls were assigned to the hospital wards.
During the
revolution of February 1917, the palace was occupied by troops who
went over to the side of the rebels.
Since July 1917, the palace
became the seat of the Provisional Government, which announced the
nationalization of the royal palaces and formed an art-historical
commission to accept the values of the Winter Palace. In September,
part of the art collection was evacuated to Moscow.
On the night
of October 25-26 (November 7-8), 1917, during the days of the
October Revolution, the Red Guard, revolutionary soldiers and
sailors surrounded the palace, which was guarded by a garrison of
junkers and a women's battalion. The north-western risalit of the
palace was fired with buckshot from the guns of the Peter and Paul
Fortress. At 2:04 am on October 26 (November 8), the rebels stormed
the palace and arrested the Provisional Government. In
cinematography, the storming of the Winter Palace was portrayed as a
battle.
On October 30 (November 12), 1917, People's Commissar of
Education A. V. Lunacharsky declared the Winter Palace and the
Hermitage to be state museums. For several months, Narkompros was
located in the rooms of the first floor of the palace. Cinematic
sessions, concerts, lectures, and meetings began to be held in the
front halls. In 1918-1919. called the Palace of Arts.
In 1919,
the first after the revolution exhibitions of paintings from the
paintings left in Petrograd, as well as the exposition "The Funeral
Cult of Ancient Egypt" were opened in the palace.
On January 11,
1920, the official opening of the State Museum of the Revolution
took place in the halls of the first and second floors of the
palace. By November 1920, the process of returning the art treasures
evacuated to Moscow was completed. On January 2, 1921, the halls of
the Art Gallery were opened to the public, and the following year,
other expositions of the State Hermitage. Together, the two museums
existed in the building of the palace until 1941.
On June 22,
1941, after the start of the Great Patriotic War, twelve bomb
shelters were equipped in the basements of the palace, in which
about two thousand people permanently lived until 1942. Part of the
non-evacuated museum collection of the Hermitage, cultural values
from suburban palaces and various institutions of Leningrad were
hidden in the palace.
During the Great Patriotic War, the
buildings of the palace were damaged by Wehrmacht artillery shelling
and Luftwaffe bombing, a total of seventeen artillery shells and two
aerial bombs hit them. The Small Throne (Petrovsky) Hall was
damaged, part of the Armorial Hall and the ceiling of the Rastrelli
Gallery were destroyed, and the Jordan Staircase was damaged. On
November 7, 1944, the palace was partially opened to the public. The
restoration of the halls and facades of the palace continued for
many years after the war.
The modern three-story building has the shape of a square of four
outbuildings with a courtyard and facades facing the Neva, the
Admiralty and Palace Square.
In the architecture of the fifth
Winter Palace, B. F. Rastrelli followed his unique individual style,
combining elements of Italian Baroque, Western European classicism,
the ornamentation of the fashionable Rococo in Elizabethan times and
the traditions of ancient Russian architecture, which the architect
carefully studied while traveling around Russia. In the overall
composition of the facades, especially the southern one facing the
Palace Square, the compositional principles of classicism are
obvious: symmetry, three-part division by risalits and the dominance
of horizontals. The three-part division ensures symmetry: the
facades are divided horizontally into three floors almost equal in
height, and vertically into three risalits. Each risalit also
consists of three parts. All facades are main, but arranged
differently. The main risalit of the southern facade is cut through
by three entrance arches (here Rastrelli repeated the technique he
found in the composition of the palace in Strelna, although the
project of J.-B. Leblon was taken as the basis for the Strelna
Palace). The arches lead to the courtyard, where the main entrance
is located in the center of the northern building.
Two-flight
stairs on a high plinth (currently the level of the ground has risen
significantly) follow the traditions of the style of the founding of
the city: Petrine baroque. The 'private garden' of the western
façade of the cour d'honneur type with projecting side projections
betrays French influences from the Louis XIV style. The classical
symmetry of the composition is complemented by typical baroque
techniques: visual oscillation of the wall plane due to light and
shade with the help of bracing, grouping columns into bundles,
especially at the corners of the building, protruding risalits,
balustrades with flowerpots and statues on the roof. The first
models of flowerpots and statues were made in the 1740s. Austrian
sculptor I.F. Dunker, later they were replaced by new ones, and in
1892-1902 they were again replaced by metal ones (sculptors M.P.
Popov, D.I. Jensen).
Grouping the columns at the corners,
Rastrelli uses an original technique: the columns are arranged in
such a way that the corner of the building remains open; this
enhances the play of chiaroscuro in any weather and from any point
of view. In total, taking into account the ridges and protrusions,
there are 29 corners in the palace building! The complex syncopated
rhythm of vertical articulations was developed by Rastrelli with a
variety of processing of window openings of three modules: small,
medium and large width. Window openings of 12 types have 22 types of
slightly different frames, complemented by 32 types of sculptural
decoration, including five types of capitals and four types of
cartouches.
Rastrelli's decorative elements are peculiar:
"feathery rocaille", shells, cartouches with huge "scallops" along
the edges, sometimes connected with lion masks. They differ from the
Italian and French prototypes primarily in size and powerful
plastic. Many elements were made of cast-filled plaster directly on
the wall, and only a few were molded according to pre-made models.
All architectural, decorative and sculptural techniques create a
typical baroque "vibrato" (Italian vibrato - energetic, strong),
picturesque "fluctuation of the plane" of facades, and
monumentality, corresponding to the ideas of representativeness,
solemnity, power and grandeur.
The building of the palace has 1084 rooms, 1476 windows, 117 stairs
(including secret ones). The length of the facade from the side of
the Neva is 210 meters, from the side of the Admiralty - 175 meters,
the height is 23.5 meters. In 1844, Nicholas I issued a decree that
established the maximum height of residential private buildings
under construction in St. Petersburg - 11 sazhens (23.47 m). Thus,
residential private buildings could not exceed the height of the
Winter Palace, which was not directly mentioned in the decree.
This architectural phenomenon is known today as the "Skyline of
St. Petersburg" - thanks to it, from the roof of any building in the
historical center of the city, you can see almost the entire city.
Thus, the line of the eaves of the roof of the Winter Palace is a
kind of reference value.
Despite the restructuring and many innovations, the main planning
scheme of the palace retained the ideas of F. B. Rastrelli. Palace
buildings are formed around the inner Great Courtyard. Light
courtyards were created in the northwestern and southwestern wings
in place of the Throne Hall and the Opera House, around which
enfilades of living quarters were formed. From the east, the Small
Hermitage adjoins the Winter Palace, built along the Black Passage.
The buildings of the St. George's Hall, the Great Church, the
southeast and northeast wings of the palace go into this passage;
the space is divided into a system of yards and pits: “Small” and
“Large Church” yards (from the Big Church located here, founded back
in 1763), “Church” and “Garage” (from the garage located here) pits,
“Kitchen Yard” .
Design features
The three-story building
of the palace has a basement floor and numerous mezzanine floors,
some of the main halls of the second floor are double-height. The
brickwork of the walls on lime mortar is very massive, the
interfloor ceilings are made both in the form of brick vaults and on
beams. The massive cornice of the palace is built on a stone
foundation, which is supported by iron braces passing through the
brickwork of the outer walls, which have been preserved since the
time of Rastrelli. The entire rafter system and all ceilings above
the halls in the 18th century were made of wood (the ceilings were
insulated with felt and canvas, the rafters were pitched). There
were no firewalls in the attics before the fire. During the
restoration of the palace, iron structures began to play the main
role. Such a massive use of iron in construction was unusual in
world practice.
To support the roof of the Winter Palace,
engineer M. E. Clark developed triangular trusses - roof trusses,
and for the ceilings of the halls of the palace - puffed elliptical
beams. Sprengels and beams were made at the Alexander Plant, using
only two metal processing technologies: forging and casting.
Sprengels were installed in halls up to 20 meters wide, beams - up
to 14 meters. The intuitive approach in the construction of such
structures prevailed over the mathematical calculation. A wide
variety of connections were used in the structures: on bolts,
rivets, wedges, clamps; forging welding was also used. After cases
of structural deformation, spacers were installed between the
trusses to prevent displacement. The temperature regime, and hence
the behavior of metal structures, depended on the quality of the
attic thermal insulation. On August 9, 1841, there was a major
accident - the ceiling collapsed in the St. George's Hall. The
commission investigating this case came to the conclusion that the
I-beams rested on the unreliable places of the load-bearing walls.
During the restoration, sprengels were already used. M. E. Clark
developed a special design of sprengels (3 meters high, 21 meters
long and weighing 447 pounds) using elements of the T-rolled rolling
profile of the Kamsko-Votkinsky plant. The overlapping of St.
George's Hall was one of the first examples of the use of rolled
products in domestic construction[23]. In 1887, under the guidance
of the architect Gornostaev, some of the deformed structures were
renovated and old structures were strengthened. Most of them still
regularly carry out their service in the Winter.
During the
construction of ceilings between the nearest beams, micro-vaults
were made from hollow pottery pots on lime mortar. From below in the
halls, a metal ceiling was fixed or plastered.
Before the
fire, there were 450 Dutch and box ovens in the palace. In the
1840s, a unique heating system with Ammos stoves was installed in
the building. 86 pneumatic furnaces were located in the basements,
heated clean air entered the premises through the fire channels
(later, a water-air system would be created on this basis). At the
end of the 19th century, much attention was paid to the ventilation
system. Sewage was accumulated in a collector built by Rastrelli,
which drained sewage to the Neva. After the reconstruction of the
embankment, this sewer was closed up and the Winter Palace "went
under itself" for some time. In 1886 the Winter Palace was
electrified.
The facades of the palace changed their color scheme several times.
The original color had a very light warm ocher coloration with the
emphasis on the order system and the plastic decor with white lime
paint. The minutes of the Chancellery from the buildings speak of
the release of lime, chalk, ocher and blackling (red earth, which
after processing was used as a pigment) for these works. In later
documents, there are such names as “pale yellow with white”, “under
the color of a wild stone”. The roof was tinned.
Until the
fire of 1837, there were no fundamental changes in the color of the
palace, with the exception of the roof, the color of which in 1816
changed from white-gray to red. In the course of the post-fire
repair, the color scheme of the facade was made up of slaked Tosno
lime, ocher, Italian mummy and part of the Olonets earth, which was
used as a pigment and had an ivory hue, while the roof was painted
with iron minium, giving it a brown-red color.
In the second
half of the 1850s - 1860s, under Emperor Alexander II, the color of
the facades of the palace changed. The ocher has become more dense.
The order system and plastic decor were not painted with an
additional color, but acquired a very light tonal highlight. In
fact, facades are perceived as monochrome.
In the 1880s,
under Emperor Alexander III, the coloring of the facades was carried
out in two tones: a dense ocher expression with the addition of red
pigment and a weaker terracotta tone. With the accession of Nicholas
II in 1897, the emperor approved the project for painting the
facades of the Winter Palace in the color of the “new fence of the
Own Garden” - red sandstone without any tonal highlighting of the
columns and decor. All the buildings on Palace Square were painted
in the same color - the headquarters of the Guards Corps and the
General Staff, which, according to the architects of that period,
contributed to the unity of perception of the ensemble. In 2011,
during the restoration of the Hermitage Garage, it was precisely the
historical red-terracotta color that was used to paint its facades.
The terracotta-brick color of the palace was preserved until the
end of the 1920s, after which experiments began and the search for a
new color scheme began. In 1927, an attempt was made to paint it
gray, in 1928-1930. - in a brown-gray scale, and a copper sculpture
on the roof - in black. In 1934, for the first time, an attempt was
made to paint the palace with orange oil paint, highlighting the
order system with white paint, but oil paint had a negative effect
on stone, plaster and stucco decoration. In 1940, a decision was
made to remove the oil paint from the façade.
With the
outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, the palace was painted with
reversible adhesive gray paint to camouflage it. In 1945-1947, a
commission consisting of the chief architect of Leningrad N. V.
Baranov, the head of the State Inspectorate for the Protection of
Monuments N. N. Belekhov, representatives of the Leningrad City
Executive Committee, the State Construction Control, the State
Hermitage Museum and scientific consultants decided to paint the
walls of the palace with chromium oxide with adding emerald pigment;
columns, cornices, interfloor rods and window frames - in white;
stucco decoration, cartouches, capitals - with ocher, while it was
decided to leave the sculpture black.
Since the 1960s, when
painting the facade, instead of lime paints, synthetic dyes have
been used, which negatively affect stucco decoration, plaster and
natural stone. In 1976, on the recommendation of the All-Union
Central Research Laboratory, a decision was made to clear the
surface of the sculptures from the paint coating to form a natural
layer of patina, which at that time was considered a natural
protection against aggressive environmental influences.
Subsequently, the copper surface was protected with a special paint
composition containing a copper corrosion inhibitor.
For
sixty-five years, the public and the authorities of the city have
developed a certain stereotype in the perception of the color
palette of the palace, but in 2008 the Hermitage researchers
proposed to recreate the color scheme of the facades as close as
possible to the three-dimensional composition of the palace created
by Bartolomeo Rastrelli.
In the external appearance 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, Rastrelli's artistic and compositional concept is revealed - a deep architectural connection of this building with the city on Neva, which became the capital of the Russian Empire, with all the character of the surrounding urban landscape, preserved to this day.
There were balconies on the risalits of the palace, there were five
of them in total. You can see them in old photographs, drawings and
drawings. For example, on watercolors by V. S. Sadovnikov and L. L.
Bonshtedt (mid-19th century), in photographs (of the late 19th and
early 20th centuries), and on plans for the 2nd and 3rd floors of
the palace.
All five balconies were dismantled in the second half
of the 1920s. A. V. Sivkov.
After the fire of 1837, the
restoration of the Palace was required. According to the projects of
A.P. Bryullov in 1838-1839. on the northwestern risalit, two
complex-shaped corner balconies with rounded central parts were
built. The balconies were completely cast iron. (See 1st and 2nd
below)
1. The balcony was located on the third floor
overlooking the Admiralty and the Neva, access to it was from the
corner living room of Nicholas I (later the living room of Alexander
III, now room number 391). Project A.P. Bryullov, cast iron
material, complex shape.
2. The balcony was located on the second
floor, on the inner corner of the northwestern risalit and was
turned towards the depression of the western facade. Where the
apartments of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna were located.
Access
to the balcony was carried out from the Empress's Garden (later the
Cabinet of Nicholas II, now Room No. 181). Project A.P. Bryullov,
cast iron material, complex shape.
3. The balcony was located
on the second floor, on the southwestern risalit.
Access to the
balcony was carried out from the Golden Drawing Room of Empress
Maria Alexandrovna (now Hall No. 304). The balcony was ordinary,
straight in shape, mounted on stone consoles.
4. The balcony
was located on the second floor, on the southeastern risalit of the
palace.
5. The balcony was located on the mezzanine of the first
floor, on the southeastern risalit of the palace.
In old photographs, drawings and drawings, one can see the tower
towering over the northwestern risalit of the Winter Palace. It
appeared in 1886 in connection with the reconstruction of the
lifting device of the stairs, located in the middle of the risalit.
The staircase between the 2nd and 3rd floors has existed since
1826. After the fire of 1837 during the restoration of the palace by
A.P. Bryullov in 1838-1839. the staircase was reconstructed and
extended to the first floor.
The new lifting machine was
designed by A.P. Bryullov and military engineer A.A. Fullon.
The lifting machine connected the chambers of Nicholas I (on the
third floor), Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (on the second floor),
Grand Duchesses Alexandra Nikolaevna and Olga Nikolaevna (on the
first floor).
In 1886, it was decided to replace the
mechanical stair lift with a hydraulic one, as the mechanical one
was outdated in design. This was entrusted to the architect N. A.
Gornostaev and the technician V. L. Pashkov.
The appearance
of the tower was an engineering decision by N. A. Gornostaev. Since
the constructive solution of hydraulic machines required the
creation of a cylinder with a piston, they were buried in the ground
when laying the foundations of buildings under construction, but
this was not possible in the already built Winter Palace. N. A.
Gornostaev proposed an original solution to the problem, he brought
the lift up and enclosed the structure in the tower. Thus, a tower
appeared above the northwestern risalit of the Winter Palace.
As a result of this reconstruction in 1886, the lifting device
of the stairs was replaced, a tower was built, the stairs were
extended to the basement, an entrance was equipped in the basement
with direct access to the embankment to the Neva. The porch and
stairs were called "Own entrance" and "Own stairs" of Their
Majesties, as they led to the chambers of the imperial family (on
the third floor in the 1880s - the first half of the 1890s were the
apartments of Alexander III, on the second - the chambers of
Nicholas II since 1895.
Since 1895, the tower has also been
used for forced ventilation of living quarters.
Presumably in
1933, the tower was dismantled by the Hermitage architect A. V.
Sivkov.
Initially, the Winter Palace had seven entrances, but not all of
them have been preserved. Three entrances were located on the side
of the northern facade facing the Neva (on Palace Embankment), two -
on the side of the southern facade overlooking Palace Square, one -
on the side of the western facade overlooking the Admiralty, and one
more - in the Great Courtyard.
The Jordanian entrance is
located in the center of the facade facing the Palace Embankment.
Initially, it was called Posolsky, but then it received a new name,
since on the feast of Epiphany the emperor, his family and retinue
went through it to the ice of the Neva, where an ice hole (“Jordan”)
was specially cut down. This entrance was used by the highest civil
ranks arriving at the palace.
The children's entrance was also
located on the side of the Neva and was intended for the members of
the imperial family to leave their private rooms. Not preserved.
The "own" entrance is also located on the side of the northern
facade closer to the Admiralty, it was also intended for the members
of the imperial family to exit to the embankment.
The ministerial
entrance is also located on the side of the northern facade, through
which one could get into the apartment of the Minister of the Court.
The Saltykovsky entrance is the main entrance of the western facade
facing the Admiralty. Named in honor of Nikolai Ivanovich Saltykov,
educator of the children of Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich, who was
allocated chambers in the western part of the palace. Opened
exclusively for the Grand Dukes.
The entrance of Her Imperial
Majesty is one of the two entrances overlooking the Palace Square.
At one time he led directly to the chambers of the empress. Through
it, in October 1917, the stormers entered the palace, so it is also
customary to call it "October".
The commandant's entrance is the
second of the entrances facing the Palace Square. Here, on the
ground floor, lived the "major from the gate" (commandant of the
palace). This entrance was open to senior military officials
arriving at the palace.
The embassy entrance is located in the
Bolshoy Dvor. Appeared after the fire of 1837. It is through it that
tourists now enter the palace.
The original interiors of Rastrelli almost did not reach us: during the fire of 1837, all the decoration of the halls burned out. Only the bearing brick walls of the palace, semi-columns in the galleries of the first floor (Rastrelli and Jordan) have survived.
Located on the ground floor of the Winter Palace. The decoration is carried out in the style of Russian baroque. At first, the gallery was called the Main Gallery, since guests of the palace followed it from the Main Vestibule to the Main Staircase. Later (like the entrance) it was renamed Jordanskaya, since on Baptism from the Great Church of the Winter Palace, a procession passed through it, heading to the Neva, where the so-called Jordan, a pavilion for blessing water, was installed over the hole.
In the 18th century, the staircase was called the Ambassadorial, then it received the name of the Jordanian, since during the feast of the Epiphany of the Lord, a procession to the Neva descended along it, where an ice hole was cut down in the ice to bless the water - Jordan. At the time of F.-B. Rastrelli's staircase was wooden, the columns were lined with pink artificial marble. Destroyed by a fire in 1837, the staircase was recreated by V.P. Stasov, who managed to keep the main idea of Rastrelli, but with certain changes. Instead of columns made of pink artificial marble, double columns of gray Serdobol granite were installed; instead of forged gilded railing gratings, a marble balustrade appeared; the military attributes in the tympanums of the false windows are also of a classicist rather than Baroque character. In addition, white has become the leading color of the staircase space instead of pink. Alabaster statues are installed on the brackets of the wall: Wisdom and Justice (works by A. Terebenev), Greatness and Abundance (worker N. Ustinov), Loyalty and Justice (worker N. Leppe), Mercury (worker A. Manuylov), Muse ( worker I. German). In the central niche of the lower platform there is a marble sculpture by an unknown master of the 18th century, the Allegory of the State. On the ceiling there is a lampshade by Gasparo Diziani "Olympus", instead of the burnt brush by Valeriani.
As conceived by Rastrelli, between the Jordan Staircase and the Great Throne Hall located in the northwestern risalit of the palace (not preserved), there were five anterooms. The premises lined up parallel to the Neva embankment and received the common name "Neva Enfilade". At the end of the 18th century, redevelopment took place and the enfilade underwent a number of changes. The ceremonial “grand exits” of the imperial family passed through these halls, ceremonial lunches and dinners were held here, and balls were held.
The entrance hall is the first room in the Neva front suite. It was created in 1790 according to the project of G. Quarenghi, after the fire of 1837 it was recreated by V.P. Stasov with minor changes. The entrance hall was used as a front pantry for champagne when balls took place in the neighboring Nicholas Hall (No. 191). On the ceiling there is a plafond "The Sacrifice of Iphigenia" by the Italian artist of the 18th century Jacopo Guarana, originally located in the Concert Hall, but by a lucky chance was removed from there in 1830 and was absent during the fire. After the Great Patriotic War, the Anteroom was restored and opened to visitors in 1948. In May 1958, the Malachite Temple was installed in it - a rotunda, a decorative structure made of Ural gems, presented to Nicholas I by the owners of the Ural mining plants Demidovs in 1836. In 2018, during the next restoration, mirrors with mercury amalgam of false windows of the upper tier were disposed of, and the picturesque ceiling was restored.
Room No. 191. The Grand Entrance Hall was created by the architect G. Quarenghi in 1790 on the site of Rastrelli's three central anterooms. The architect removed the transverse walls and designed the space in the form of a large gallery with a Corinthian colonnade adjoining the walls to the entire height of the hall and two porticos at the end walls. Columns and walls, lined with colored artificial marble, were spectacularly illuminated in the evenings by blue glass lanterns mounted on the walls. During the restoration of the palace after the fire, V.P. Stasov retained the powerful Corinthian order and the proportions of the interior, but, having removed the porticos at the entrances, lengthened the hall. The architect gave the Great anteroom a more austere and majestic look, lining it with white artificial marble. An unusual effect was given by the Pompeii Gallery (now the Eastern Gallery), located behind the glazed arched openings of the inner wall, through which sunlight penetrated, refracting in polychrome painting and scarlet curtains. Three central openings had glass doors, which made it possible to connect the Grand anteroom through the Pompeii Gallery with the Winter Garden (now Hall No. 152), forming a unique transverse enfilade. This hall is the most impressive interior of the Winter Palace in terms of size - its area is 1103 m². After the death of Nicholas I in 1855, a large equestrian portrait of the emperor by F. Kruger with a gilded double-headed eagle above the frame was installed in one of the southeastern piers, and the hall began to be called "Nikolaevsky". After 1930, the fate of the portrait is unknown. The hall was used for court balls, ceremonies and banquets. In 1915-1917. in the hall was the rest of the military hospital of the Red Cross. During the Great Patriotic War, the ceiling in the Great Hall was destroyed by a shell and the type-setting parquet was damaged, painting and molding were damaged. Interior restoration work ended in May 1958. Since the post-war years, the hall has traditionally been used for temporary exhibitions, many of which have become milestones in the cultural life of the country. During the preparation of such exhibitions, the hall (and sometimes the entire Neva enfilade) is closed to visitors.
Like the first ceremonial halls - the Anteroom and the Great Hall - the Concert Hall changed its appearance three times. Its name is explained by the fact that after the reconstruction of the end of the 18th century it was intended for concerts. Restored by architect V.P. Stasov after a fire in 1837. The purpose of this hall is suggested by its decoration: statues of ancient muses and goddesses by the sculptor I. Herman are installed in the second tier, and allegorical figures with attributes of the arts are included in the decorative grisaille painting of the paduga connecting the ceiling and walls. The concert hall houses the Hermitage's rich collection of Russian silver from the 17th to the early 20th centuries, centered on a monument of the middle of the 18th century, unique for Russia, the silver reliquary of Alexander Nevsky, made in 1746-51. at the St. Petersburg Mint (which is in the Peter and Paul Fortress). It consumed 1.5 tons of silver mined during the year at the Kolyvan mines of Altai. From 1790 to 1922 it was located in the right altar chapel of the Holy Trinity Cathedral of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg, since 1922 - in the Concert Hall of the State Hermitage Museum. Since 2012 - under restoration.
The malachite drawing room was part of the private quarters of the wife of Nicholas I, Alexandra Feodorovna, as a front drawing room (1839, architect A.P. Bryullov). This is the only surviving example of malachite decoration of an entire residential interior. 125 pounds of malachite, purchased from the merchant Demidov and processed at the Peterhof Lapidary Factory, were used to decorate the hall. Before the fire of 1837, there was a Jasper drawing room in the gray-violet tone of the stone) (architect Montferrand, 1830). From the Malachite Drawing Room, the imperial couple went out to balls, ceremonies and banquets held in the anterooms of the Neva enfilade. Family holidays were often celebrated in the living room. Since July 1917, the Malachite Drawing Room has become the meeting place of the Provisional Government, which moved here from the Mariinsky Palace, and the Secretariat was located in the private chambers of Nicholas II and the Empress. The white dining room was used for its intended purpose.
Hall No. 188. In 1894-1895, in connection with the marriage of
Nicholas II and his move from the Anichkov Palace to the Winter
Palace, a number of rooms in the northwestern risalit of the palace,
which included the Small Dining Room adjacent to the Malachite
Living Room, were remodeled under the general guidance of A. F.
Krasovsky. N.V. Nabokov made sketches of the decoration of the
premises and pieces of furniture, according to whose designs the
furniture was produced at two factories: F.F. Meltzer and N.F.
Svirsky. The new design of the dining room belongs to the neo-rococo
style. An English chandelier from the middle of the 18th century is
made in the same character. On the walls in stucco frames in the
form of rocaille are tapestries woven at the St. Petersburg
manufactory in the middle of the 18th century. Now in the hall in
showcases, objects made of Russian glass of the 18th-19th centuries
are exhibited.
The dining room was part of the residential
suite of the family of Nicholas II. Previously, in its place was the
Pompeian dining room (begun in 1836, completed in 1839, architect A.
Bryullov), decorated in the style of an ancient Roman interior of
the 1st century. n. e., depicted in a watercolor by K. A. Ukhtomsky
in 1874. The furnishings were preserved in storerooms and exhibited
in other rooms, the parquet was transferred to room No. 176.
On the night of October 25-26, 1917, during the storming of the
Winter Palace, it was in the Small Dining Room that the Provisional
Government, which was sitting here, was arrested. This event is
reminiscent of a memorial plaque installed in the dining room in
1957 on the mantelpiece. On the fireplace is a bronze clock, the
hands of which were stopped that night at 2 hours 10 minutes. In the
year of the centenary of the revolution, the clock was started
again.
The church had a gilded baroque decoration; a two-tiered iconostasis
by V. Bobkov was installed in it. Since the Diamond Room was located
above it, the church had no vaults and its flat ceiling was
decorated with a plafond depicting the Descent of the Holy Spirit by
N. A. Maikov based on a drawing by T. A. Neff. On the roof of the
palace above the Small Church, a belfry with a baroque onion dome
was tripled. The staircase of the palace leading to the Sretenskaya
Church was called Church.
Since the end of the 19th century,
a gilded silver cross with the relics of the Three Hierarchs and a
particle of the Life-Giving Tree, which was brought from the
Pantokrator monastery on Athos, was kept in the sacristy of the
church from the end of the 19th century.
The entrance to the
church was carried out from the Rotunda (architect O. R.
Montferrand, restored by V. P. Stasov), which was a buffer between
the personal apartments of the emperor and the corridors leading to
the main halls. On both sides of the entrance were placed portraits
of the emperor and empress.
After the Revolution of 1917 the
church was closed. The passage to the Rotunda is walled up. At
present, the iconostasis has been dismantled and the premises are
used as an exhibition hall of the Hermitage.
Hall No. 193. The emergence of two new ceremonial halls (Field Marshal's and Petrovsky's) was part of Nicholas I's plan to turn the Winter Palace into a historical monument of the imperial period of Russia's development. The first hall was created in 1833-1834. Auguste Montferrand. After the construction was completed, in 1834, portraits of Russian field marshals were placed on the walls of the Field Marshal's Hall in six of the seven niches. In March 2012, the design of the hall was completely restored. The portraits of Paskevich-Erivansky, Suvorov-Rymniksky, Golenishchev-Kutuzov-Smolensky, Potemkin-Tavrichesky, Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky, Dibich-Zabalkansky were returned to their place. The seventh niche, as well as according to the established tradition in the 19th century, is empty.
Hall No. 194. Designed by O. Montferrand in 1833 (restored by V. Stasov after a fire). Dedicated to the memory of Peter I. The upper part of the walls is decorated with images of Peter's battles victorious for Russia - the Battle of Poltava and the Battle of Lesnaya, made by B. Medici and P. Scotty. The decor is saturated with imperial symbols - double-headed eagles, crowns and Latin monograms "PP" - Peter Primus - Peter the Great. In the depths of a large niche covered with a conch, between two jasper columns, there is a portrait of Peter I with an allegorical figure of Minerva. The throne is a copy of the throne of Empress Anna Ioannovna, made at the end of the 18th century. The walls are upholstered with silver-embroidered Lyon velvet panels.
Hall No. 195. Recreated by V. P. Stasov after the fire of 1837 for solemn ceremonies in the style of late Russian classicism. At the entrance to the hall there are sculptural groups of ancient Russian warriors with banners, on the shafts of which shields with the coats of arms of Russian provinces were fixed. In addition, the coats of arms of the provinces are located on gilded bronze chandeliers.
Hall No. 196. Created in 1839 by V.P. Stasov to the south of the Armorial Hall in place of two small rooms and a staircase. It served for the divorce of the military guard of the company of palace grenadiers - a picket, hence the name of the hall. The appearance of the Picket Hall connected the Armorial Hall with the Great Church and the new Alexander Hall. The decoration of the hall is reliefs depicting helmets, shields, spears, armor, medallions with battle scenes. From 1979 to 2004 it was closed. Museum funds of the Oriental Department, carpets and other objects of art were kept in the hall.
The gallery is dedicated to the victory of Russian weapons over Napoleon. It was built according to the project of Karl Ivanovich Rossi and was solemnly opened on the anniversary of the expulsion of Bonaparte from Russia, December 25, 1826, in the presence of the imperial court, generals, officers and soldiers, who were awarded for participating in the Patriotic War of 1812 and in the foreign campaign of the Russian army of 1813— 1814 On its walls are portraits of 332 generals painted by George Doe who participated in the war of 1812 and foreign campaigns of 1813-1814. In addition, the gallery houses equestrian portraits of Emperor Alexander I and King of Prussia Friedrich Wilhelm III by F. Kruger, a portrait of the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation and Austria Franz I by P. Kraft. The prototype of the gallery was one of the halls of the Windsor Palace, dedicated to the memory of the Battle of Waterloo, in which portraits of the participants in the Battle of the Nations were concentrated.
Room No. 198. Created in 1787-1795 according to the project of Giacomo Quarenghi. At the direction of Emperor Nicholas I, when restoring the hall after a fire in 1837, architects V.P. Stasov and N.E. Efimov used white Carrara marble, the finished parts of which were delivered from Italy. Above the throne place is a marble bas-relief "George the Victorious slaying the dragon", no. Italian sculptor Francesco del Nero based on drawings by Stasov (1842). Official ceremonies and receptions were held in this hall. In Soviet times, the throne place was dismantled by 1930, and in 1948, a large physical map of the Soviet Union created in 1937 from 45,000 semi-precious and precious stones was installed in the place of the throne. In 1989 (?), the map was dismantled and transported to the Mining Museum. By 2000, the throne, along with the canopy, was restored to its original location.
Hall No. 282. The architect A.P. Bryullov found an excellent solution for a large two-height space: by dividing the hall into compartments, he covers the central part with gentle domes resting on fan arches. The grandiosity of the domed spaces caused contemporaries to associate with Byzantine architecture. According to the plan, this hall was supposed to perpetuate the memory of Emperor Alexander I. At the northern end of the hall there was a large portrait of the emperor in full growth in a massive gilded stretcher to the floor, and the back space was hung with crimson brocade drapery with gold double-headed eagles embroidered on it. Currently, the hall exhibits a collection of Western European silver of the 17th-18th centuries.
The interior of the Great Church was created by F. B. Rastrelli in the Baroque style. On July 12, 1763, Archbishop Gabriel (Kremenetsky) of St. Petersburg consecrated the church in the name of the Image of the Savior Not Made by Hands. After the catastrophic fire of 1837, the temple was restored by V.P. On March 25, 1839, Metropolitan Filaret (Drozdov) of Moscow, in the presence of the imperial family, consecrated the renovated house church. At the end of the 19th century, a belfry with five bells was built on the roof of the palace. The large church of the Winter Palace has been restored for the 250th anniversary of the Hermitage.
Created by O. R. Montferrand in 1828. After a fire in 1837, it was restored by A.P. Bryullov almost unchanged. The interior of the staircase is made in a classical style, richly decorated with grisaille painting. In Soviet times, it became known as Oktyabrskaya in memory of the events of October 1917, when assault troops penetrated it into the Winter Palace. The captured ministers of the Provisional Government were taken out along the same stairs at 3 am from October 25 to 26, 1917.
Finally finished for the wedding in 1841, the apartments were called the “New” half of the heir. They were located in the southwestern risalit of the palace and consisted of the Lavatory (room No. 168), the Bathroom (room No. 945), which continued the line of rooms of Alexander Nikolayevich, the Bedroom (room No. 307), the Boudoir (room No. 306), the Crimson Study (room No. 305 ), the Golden Drawing Room (room No. 304), the Green Dining Room and the front White Hall (room No. 289). The main staircase of the apartments was the former Grand Staircase of the chambers of Empress Maria Feodorovna (now Oktyabrskaya), and the entrance overlooking the Palace Square - Own entrance.
The White Hall (hall No. 289) was designed by A.P. Bryullov at the end of 1839. Together with the nearby Golden Living Room, it is a representative part of the apartments prepared for the wedding of the heir. The hall is covered with a cylindrical vault with demouldings, decorated with columns of the Corinthian order, sculpture and numerous bas-reliefs. The double-height front hall, grandiose in size, was used for celebrations. Describing her chambers in the Winter Palace to her brother, Maria Alexandrovna reports: “The last to go is the large white ballroom.”
Hall No. 304. The Golden Living Room was designed by A. P. Bryullov in 1841 for the wedding of the heir and Grand Duchess (later Empress) Maria Alexandrovna, modeled on the Throne Hall of the residence of the Electors in Munich. All walls and pylons are covered with fine ornaments and completely gilded. In contrast to the Munich Hall, the Golden Living Room is covered with a box vault with triangular formwork with abundant gilded stucco. Such a decision, despite the architect's initial focus on Renaissance motifs, gives reason to attribute the style of the interior to the Moscow architecture of the 17th century - a fashionable trend in Russian art of the 19th century. One of the most complex fireplaces in the palace with a bas-relief in the frieze and a mosaic picture attracts attention. In 1850, according to the drawings of the architect Stackenschneider, new curtains and cornices were created, a furniture set upholstered in crimson brocade (the fabric was replaced in the 1960s with blue). After the assassination of Alexander II, it was here, surrounded by elected members of the State Council, that the new emperor Alexander III decided the fate of the Russian constitution and reforms, which it was decided to suspend.
Hall No. 305. The Large or Front Room, built by A.P. Bryullov, was redone in 1867 by the architect E.I. Zhiber (with a high probability, the 1858 project by A.I. Stackenschneider was used). Instead of a vaulted ceiling, the hall received a flat ceiling. The field of walls is completely covered with crimson fabric. D. S. Arseniev spoke in detail about the purpose of the Large Cabinet: “... the so-called “office” of Her Highness, but in essence the living room, is a large almost square corner room. ... In this room, the princess received members of the royal family and her guests who came to her, and in the evening intimate evening meetings were held in the living room, during which they first drank tea, and then the princess with the invited ladies listened to the reading aloud, and she always knitted ... It was called because in one of the corners there was a large desk… „. The corner between the windows was occupied by flowers and ivy screens. Before the advent of a separate dining room, meals were served in this hall.
Room No. 306. The boudoir, created in 1841 by A.P. Bryullov, was radically redesigned in 1853 by the architect G.A. Bosse. The decor of the hall is made in the neo-rococo style (imitation of the decorative interior decoration of the middle of the 18th century). Instead of a semicircular niche in the depths of this narrow but deep room, a rectangular alcove with a floor raised by one step was arranged, bounded by a patterned gilded lattice and an arch of a whimsical shape, supported by two caryatids. The walls are divided into wide and narrow panels covered with garnet brocade in carved gilded frames with intricate, pretentiously wriggling ornaments. The ceiling is also decorated with intricate ornaments. The decoration of the boudoir includes seven mirrors of different sizes that adorn the walls, the marble fireplace and the ceiling. Numerous light carved gilded furniture consists of sofas, armchairs, chairs and chairs. During the last restoration of the boudoir in 1961, the type-setting floor and gilding were restored, the walls were re-upholstered (the original upholstery was preserved on one of the narrow panels). At the special request of the princess, the fireplace was placed on the facade wall, which required the personal permission of Nicholas I and the study of a special commission. Instead of crowbars, scalpels were used in the production of brickwork. The new fireplace of the Boudoir became the only heating device in the palace, located on the outer wall.
Hall No. 308. Created in the 1850s by the architect A.I. Shtakenshneider, who used drawings made by A.P. Bryullov (the project was delayed due to lack of money). The decoration of this exquisite room is made in the neo-rococo style and has survived to this day. The room has no windows, so a glazed ceiling and skylight on the roof were created (not preserved).
Room No. 307. Named after the color of the wall drapery (not preserved): a smooth dark blue fabric was “taken” under the cornice and plinth. The alcove was behind two columns, its drapery was fixed by heavy gilded cornices. The columns are finished in yellow rare Giallo Antico wood marble.
Room No. 945. Maria Alexandrovna writes about this room in the following way: “It is painted in the wonderful blue Marie Luise with a light background; the bathtub is marble, with a fireplace on one side and a couch on the other.
Hall No. 168. Here Maria Alexandrovna rested, changed clothes. The walls were upholstered in fabric, the color of the upholstery changing from pink and light purple to blue. The room was furnished with furniture by P. Gambs, there was a desk at which Maria Alexandrovna worked and read, couches, easy chairs, and a linen closet. Among the many portraits there were portraits of relatives: Alexander Nikolaevich by F. Kruger, Nicholas I, brother of Alexander of Hesse, the youngest daughter of Mary by I. Makarov. In 1845, the artist I. Drollinger made a new painting of the ceiling, which has survived to this day, and placed in the frieze round medallions depicting views of the environs of St. Petersburg, “written off” from nature at the request of the hostess. From the dressing room it was possible to get into the next room, where the spouse's Library was located.
In 1791, the architect G. Quarenghi created apartments for the heir,
Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich. On the second floor of the western
building along the facade along the Admiralty from the Saltykovskaya
stairs (named after the educator of the Grand Dukes N. I. Saltykov,
who lived on the 3rd floor) to the inner corner of the southwestern
risalit, there are the Entrance Hall, Reception Room, Study
(Educational), Bedroom , Lavatory (Dressing Room), Library (rooms
No. 174-169). In 1793-1796, the chambers were occupied by Konstantin
Pavlovich, and from 1796 by Nikolai Pavlovich. After the fire, the
apartments were restored to their original form. A.P. Bryullov. Due
to the special status of the premises, during the restoration of the
Study (Hall No. 172) and the Bedroom (Hall No. 171), flat ceilings
and strict classic finishes were preserved. Now these rooms have
become the only living rooms in the Winter Palace that were not
covered with vaults. Also, despite the installation of air heating,
the emperor ordered to recreate the furnaces, “but so that these
furnaces were made only in the form of the former ones, false or
deaf, since the heating of the rooms would be done pneumatically.”
In a letter to the heir, the emperor adds: "I even ordered one
surviving view to be put in its old place." The furnaces were
dismantled by arch. A. Sivkov in the 1920s during the adaptation of
the halls for museum functions.
Emperor Alexander II lived
and died here (room 171) after the assassination attempt.
The Winter Palace is of great historical, cultural and artistic interest for tourists from Russia and all over the world. In 2009, the total number of visitors was 2,359,616. Approximately 500 thousand of them are foreigners.
In Alexander Sokurov's film The Russian Ark, filmed in one take,
without a single montage, in 2002 the action takes place in the
interiors of the Winter Palace.
The palace is shown in the film
"Rasputin".
The palace is shown in the film "October" (partially
filming took place in a real palace).
The palace is shown in the
film “Red Bells. Film 2. I saw the birth of a new world ”(filming
took place in a real palace).
The opinion that the palace is
shown in the cartoon "Anastasia" is not true: the Catherine Palace
in Tsarskoe Selo was a model there.
The palace is shown in the
cartoon "Anastasia's Secret" (it says that he is in Moscow, although
this is not true).
The palace is modeled in one of the missions
of the computer game "Red Alert 3"
The palace is shown in the
series "Poor Nastya". If you look closely, you can see the crimson
office of Maria Alexandrovna, the St. George Hall and the ballroom
in the intro to the series, and it is often shown in the series
itself.
The palace is shown in the TV series "Catherine",
starring Marina Aleksandrova, who played the role of Catherine the
Great.