The Winter Palace is undoubtedly one of the most famous landmarks of St. Petersburg

The Winter Palace that we see today is in fact the fifth building built on this site. Its construction lasted from 1754 to 1762. Today it reminds us of the splendor of the once popular Elizabethan Baroque and is, apparently, the crown of Rastrelli himself

As I said, there were five Winter Palaces in total on this site, but the entire period of change was invested in a modest 46 years between 1708, when the first was built and 1754, when the construction of the fifth began.

The first Winter Palace was a small Dutch-style house erected by Peter the Great for himself and his family

In 1711, the wooden building was rebuilt into a stone one, and this event was timed to coincide with the wedding of Peter I and Catherine. In 1720, Peter I with his family moved from summer residence in the winter, in 1723, the Senate was located in the palace, and in 1725 the life of the great emperor was cut short here

The new empress, Anna Ioannovna, considered that the Winter Palace was too small for the imperial person, and entrusted Rastrelli to rebuild it. The architect proposed to buy the adjacent houses and demolish them, which was done, and on the site of the old palace and the demolished buildings, a new, third in a row, Winter Palace soon arose, the construction of which was finally completed by 1735. On July 2, 1739, the solemn betrothal of Princess Anna Leopoldovna to Prince Anton-Ulrich took place in this palace, and after the death of the empress, the young emperor John Antonovich was transported here, who lived here until November 25, 1741, when Elizaveta Petrovna took power. The new empress was also dissatisfied with the appearance of the palace, so on January 1, 1752, a couple more houses near the residence were bought, and Rastrelli added a couple of new buildings to the palace. At the end of 1752, the empress thought it would be nice to increase the height of the palace from 14 to 22 meters. Rastrelli proposed to build the palace in another place, but Elizabeth refused, so the palace was completely dismantled again, and on June 16, 1754, the construction of a new Winter Palace began in its place.

The Fourth Winter Palace was temporary: it was built by Rastrelli in 1755 at the corner of Nevsky Prospekt and the Moika River embankment during the construction of the fifth. The fourth palace was demolished in 1762, when the construction of the Winter Palace, which we are used to seeing on Petersburg Palace Square today, was completed. The Fifth Winter Palace became the tallest building in the city, but the empress did not live until the completion of construction - the almost finished palace was admired by Peter III on April 6, 1762, although he did not live to see the completion of the interior finishing work. The emperor was killed in 1762, and the construction of the Winter Palace was finally completed under Catherine II. The Empress removed Rastrelli from the work, and instead hired Betsky, under whose leadership the Throne Hall appeared from the side of the Palace Square, in front of which a waiting room was built - the White Hall, behind which the dining room was located. The Light Study adjoined the dining room, and behind it was the Grand Bedchamber, which later became the Diamond Rest. In addition, Catherine II took care of creating a library, an imperial study, a boudoir, two bedrooms and a dressing room in the palace, in which the empress built a toilet seat from the throne of one of her lovers, the Polish king Poniatowski \u003d) By the way, it was under Catherine II that appeared in the Winter Palace the famous winter garden, the Romanov gallery and the Georgievsky hall

In 1837, the Winter Palace underwent a serious test - a major fire, which took more than three days to extinguish. At this time, all the palace property was taken out and piled around the Alexander Column

Another incident in the palace took place on February 5, 1880, when Khalturin detonated a bomb to kill Alexander II, but as a result, only the guards were injured - 8 people died, and 45 were injured of varying degrees of severity

On January 9, 1905, a well-known event took place that turned the course of history: a peaceful workers' demonstration was shot in front of the Winter Palace, which was the beginning of the Revolution of 1905-1907. The walls of the palace never saw persons of imperial blood again - during the First World War there was a military hospital here, during the February Revolution the building was occupied by troops that went over to the side of the rebels, and in July 1917 the Winter Palace was occupied by the Provisional Government. During the October Revolution, on the night of October 25-26, 1917, the Red Guard, revolutionary soldiers and sailors surrounded the Winter Palace, guarded by a garrison of cadets and a women's battalion, and by 2.10 am on October 26, after the famous volley from the cruiser Aurora , took the palace by storm and arrested the Provisional Government - the troops guarding the palace surrendered without a fight

In 1918, part of the Winter Palace, and in 1922 the rest of the building was transferred to the State Hermitage. and Palace Square with the Alexander Column and the General Staff building form one of the most beautiful and amazing ensembles in the entire post-Soviet space

The Winter Palace is designed in the shape of a square, the facades of which overlook the Neva, the Admiralty and Palace Square, and in the center of the main facade there is a ceremonial arch

Winter Garden in the Winter Palace)

In the southeast of the second floor is the legacy of the fourth Winter Palace - the Great Church, built under the leadership of Rastrelli

The Winter Palace today has more than a thousand different rooms at its disposal, the design of which is striking and creates the impression of an unforgettable solemnity and splendor

The outer design of the Winter Palace, according to Rastrelli's plan, was to architecturally link it with the ensemble Northern capital

The elegance of the palace is emphasized by the vases and sculptures installed around the entire perimeter of the building above the cornice, once carved from stone, which later, at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries, were replaced with metal counterparts

Today, the building of the Winter Palace houses the Small Hermitage

Where did the tradition of dividing the houses of monarchs into winter and summer ones come from? The roots of this phenomenon can be found in the times of the Muscovy. It was then that the tsars first began to leave the walls of the Kremlin for the summer and go to breathe the air in Izmailovskoye or Kolomenskoye. Peter I transferred this tradition to the new capital. The Emperor's Winter Palace stood on the spot where the modern building is, and the Summer Palace can be found in the Summer Garden. It was built under the direction of Trezzini and is, in fact, a small two-story house with 14 rooms.

Source: wikipedia.org

From house to palace

The history of the creation of the Winter Palace is not a secret for anyone: Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, a great lover of luxury, in 1752 ordered the architect Rastrelli to build the most beautiful palace in Russia for herself. But it was not built from scratch: before that, on the territory where the Hermitage Theater is now located, there was a small winter palace of Peter I. The wooden palace of Anna Ioannovna, which was built under the leadership of Trezzini, replaced the house of the Great. But the building was not luxurious enough, so the empress, who returned the status of the capital to Petersburg, chose a new architect - Rastrelli. It was Rastrelli Sr., the father of the famous Francesco Bartolomeo. For almost 20 years new palace became the seat of the imperial family. And then the very Winter one, which we know today, appeared - the fourth in a row.

Source: wikipedia.org

The tallest building in St. Petersburg

When Elizaveta Petrovna wished to build a new palace, the architect, in order to save money, planned to use the previous building for the foundation. But the empress demanded to increase the height of the palace from 14 to 22 two meters. Rastrelli reworked the project of the building several times, and Elizabeth did not want to move the construction site, so the architect had to simply demolish old palace and build a new one in its place. Only in 1754 the empress approved the project.

It is interesting that for a long time the Winter Palace remained the tallest building in St. Petersburg. In 1762, a decree was even issued prohibiting the construction of buildings in the capital above the imperial residence. It was because of this decree that the Singer company had to abandon its idea to build a skyscraper for itself on Nevsky Prospekt, like in New York, at the beginning of the 20th century. As a result, a tower was built over six floors with an attic and decorated with a globe, giving the impression of a height.

Elizabethan Baroque

The palace was built in the style of the so-called Elizabethan baroque. It is a quadrangle with a large courtyard. The building is decorated with columns, platbands, and the roof balustrade is lined with dozens of luxurious vases and statues. But the building was rebuilt several times, Quarenghi, Montferrand, Rossi worked on the interior decoration at the end of the 18th century, and after the notorious fire of 1837 - Stasov and Bryullov, so that baroque elements were not preserved everywhere. Details of the magnificent style remained in the interior of the famous front Jordan staircase. It got its name from the Jordan passage, which was nearby. Through him, on the feast of the Epiphany of the Lord, the imperial family and the higher clergy went to the ice hole in the Neva. This ceremony has traditionally been called the "walk to Jordan". Baroque details are also preserved in the decoration of the Great Church. But the church was ruined, and now only a large ceiling by Fontebasso with the image of the Resurrection of Christ reminds of its purpose.

Source: wikipedia.org

In 1762, Catherine II ascended the throne, who did not like Rastrelli's pompous style. The architect was dismissed, and new craftsmen took over the interior decoration. They destroyed the Throne Room and erected a new Nevskaya suite. Under the leadership of Quarenghi, the Georgievsky, or Great Throne Hall, was created. For him, a small extension had to be made to the eastern facade of the palace. At the end of the 19th century, the Red Boudoir, the Golden Lounge and the library of Nicholas II appeared.

The hard days of the Revolution

In the early days of the 1917 Revolution, sailors and workers stole a huge amount of treasures from the Winter Palace. Only a few days later, the Soviet government guessed to take the building under protection. A year later, the palace was given to the Museum of the Revolution, so part of the interiors was rebuilt. For example, the Romanov Gallery was destroyed, where portraits of all the emperors and members of their families were located, and in the Nicholas Hall they began to show films at all. In 1922, part of the building was transferred to the Hermitage, and only by 1946 the entire Winter Palace became part of the museum.

During the Great Patriotic War, the palace building suffered from air raids and shelling. With the beginning of the war, most of the exhibits exhibited in the Winter Palace were sent for storage to the Ipatiev Mansion, the same one where the family of Emperor Nicholas II was shot. About 2,000 people lived in the Hermitage bomb shelters. They did their best to preserve the exhibits remaining within the walls of the palace. Sometimes they had to fish for china and chandeliers floating in flooded basements.

Furry guards

Not only did the water threaten to spoil the art, but the voracious rats too. For the first time, a mustachioed army for the Winter Palace was sent from Kazan in 1745. Catherine II did not like cats, but she left striped defenders at court in the status of “guards art galleries". During the blockade, all the cats in the city died, which is why the rats multiplied and began to spoil the interiors of the palace. After the war, 5,000 cats were brought to the Hermitage, which quickly dealt with the tailed pests.

The Winter Palace is the largest palace building in St. Petersburg a. The size and excellent finish make it one of the most striking monuments of the St. Petersburg Baroque. “The Winter Palace as a building, as a royal dwelling, perhaps, has nothing like this in the whole of Europe. With its immensity, its architecture, it depicts a powerful people who so recently entered the environment of educated nations, and with its inner splendor reminds of that inexhaustible life that boils in the interior of Russia ... - 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, construction was allowed only by naval officials. Peter I exercised this right, being a shipbuilder under the name of Peter Alekseev, and in 1708 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 retired and the construction was headed by Domenico Trezzini, an Italian architect of Swiss origin. In 1720, Peter I with all his family moved from a summer residence to a winter one. 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 rebuilding to FB Rastrelli, who offered her his project of rebuilding 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 present palace, which 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, the betrothal of Princess Anna Leopoldovna to Prince Anton-Urikh took place. 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. At the new location Rastrelli added new buildings. According to the project drawn up by him, these buildings were to be added 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 Peter III's arrival at the palace is curious. After Elizabeth's death, 15 thousand dresses, many thousands of shoes and stockings remained in her wardrobes, and only six silver rubles were in the state treasury. Peter III, who replaced Elizabeth on the throne, wished to immediately move into his new residence. But the Palace Square was cluttered with heaps of bricks, boards, logs, barrels of lime and similar construction waste. The capricious disposition of the new sovereign was known, and the chief of police found a way out: in St. Petersburg it was announced that all inhabitants 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, carts, and some with sleds (despite the proximity of Easter!), Ran to Palace Square. Clouds of sand and dust rose above her. The townsfolk grabbed everything: boards, bricks, clay, lime, and barrels ... By evening, the square was completely cleared. Nothing prevented Peter III from entering the Winter Palace.

In the summer of 1762, Peter III was dethroned. The construction of the Winter Palace was completed under Catherine II. In the fall 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 the work, and Ivan Ivanovich Betskoy, the illegitimate son of General Field Marshal Prince Ivan Yuryevich Trubetskoy and personal secretary of Catherine II, became the manager of 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 arranged, in front of it a waiting room appeared - the White Hall. A dining room was placed behind the White Hall. Adjacent to it was the Light Office. The dining room was followed by the Main Bedchamber, which a year later became the Diamond Rest. In addition, the empress ordered to equip a library, study, boudoir, two bedrooms and a dressing room for herself. Under Catherine, a winter garden and a Romanov gallery were also built in the Winter Palace. At the same time, the formation of the St. George Hall was completed. In 1764, in Berlin, through agents, Catherine acquired from a merchant I. Gotskovsky a collection of 225 works by Dutch and Flemish artists. Most of the paintings were housed in the secluded apartments of the palace, which received the French name "Hermitage" ("place of solitude").

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

The facades of the palace are divided into two tiers by an entablature. They are decorated with columns of Ionic and composite orders. 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 platbands, an abundance of stucco details, a multitude of decorative vases and statues located above the parapet and over numerous pediments create a decorative decoration of the building that is exceptional in its splendor and splendor.

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

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

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

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

Arched galleries ran along the entire lower floor. Galleries connected all parts of the palace. The premises on the sides of the galleries were of a service nature. Here were the storerooms, a guardroom, and the servants of the palace.

The ceremonial halls and living quarters of the 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, and lush rococo decor. The upper floor was mainly occupied by the apartments of the courtiers.

The palace was subject to destruction. For example, on December 17-19, 1837, there was a strong fire that completely destroyed the beautiful decoration of the Winter Palace, of which only a charred skeleton remained. They could not put out the flame for three days, all this time the property taken out of the palace was piled around the Alexander Column. The disaster killed the interiors of Rastrelli, Quarenghi, Montferrand, Rossi. The restoration work, which began immediately, 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 of the 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, SN Khalturin, a member of the Narodnaya Volya, made an explosion in the Winter Palace with the aim of assassinating Alexander II. At the same time, eight soldiers from the guard were killed and forty-five were wounded, but neither the emperor nor his family members were injured.

In the late 19th - early 20th centuries, the interior design was constantly changing and supplemented with new elements. Such, in particular, are the interiors of the chambers of Empress Maria Alexandrovna, wife of Alexander II, created according to the projects of G.A.Bosse (Red Boudoir) and V.A.Shreiber (Golden Lounge), as well as the library of Nicholas II (by 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 the Russian emperors. After the murder 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.

The most significant changes in the history of the Winter Palace took place in 1917, when the Bolsheviks came to power. Many valuables were plundered and damaged by sailors and workers while the palace was under their control. The former chambers of Alexander III were damaged by a direct hit of a shell fired from the gun of the Peter and Paul Fortress. Only a few days later, the Soviet government announced the Winter Palace and the Hermitage state museums and took the buildings under protection. Soon, valuable palace property and 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 entrusted with setting up guards to guard the Winter Palace, decided to familiarize himself with the placement 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 Guardsman found out the history of this post. It turned out that once Tsarina Catherine II, going out in the morning to the Draw ground, saw a sprouting flower there. So that he would not be trampled by soldiers and passers-by, Catherine, returning from a walk, ordered to set up guards at the flower. And when the flower withered, the queen forgot to cancel her order on the presence of the guard in this place. And since then, for about a hundred and a half years, there was a guard at this place, although there was no longer a flower, no Tsarina Catherine, or even a Draw ground.

In 1918, part of the premises of the Winter Palace was given over to the Museum of the Revolution, which entailed the reconstruction of their interiors. The Romanov Gallery, which contained portraits of sovereigns and members of the Romanov dynasty, was completely liquidated. Many chambers of the palace occupied a reception center for prisoners of war, a children's colony, a headquarters for organizing mass celebrations, etc. The coat of arms was used for theatrical performances, Nikolaev Hall was converted into a cinema. In addition, congresses and conferences of various public organizations were held in the halls of the palace.

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

In the early days of the Great Patriotic War, many of the Hermitage's treasures were urgently evacuated, some of them were hidden in basements. To prevent fires in the buildings of the museum, the windows were bricked up or shuttered. In some rooms, the parquet floors were covered with a layer of sand.

The Winter Palace was a major 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 on an area of \u200b\u200bthree hundred square meters, destroying the fire-fighting water supply installation in the attic. A vaulted attic ceiling of about six square meters was pierced. Another shell that hit the rostrum in front of the Winter Palace damaged the water main.

Despite the difficult conditions that existed in the besieged city, the Leningrad City Executive Committee on May 4, 1942 ordered the construction trust No. 16 to carry out urgent restoration work in the Hermitage, in which the emergency restoration workshops took part. In the summer of 1942, they blocked the roof in places where it was damaged by shells, partially fixed the formwork, installed broken skylights or iron sheets, replaced the destroyed metal rafters with temporary wooden ones, and repaired the water supply 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 in the storeroom of the department of the history of Russian culture, damaged the brickwork of the wall. In the summer of 1943, despite the shelling, they continued to seal the roof and ceilings with tarred plywood, and 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 Nikolaev Hall. But already in August 1944, the Soviet government decided to restore all the buildings of the museum. The restoration work required tremendous effort and took 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, Big and New Hermitages and the Hermitage Theater forms a single palace complex, which has few equal in world architecture. In terms of art and town planning, it belongs to the highest achievements of Russian architecture. All the halls of this palace ensemble, built over many years, are occupied by the State Hermitage, the largest museum in the world with huge collections of works of art.

In the appearance of the Winter Palace, created, as the decree on its construction said, "for the common glory of all-Russian", in its elegant, festive form, in the magnificent decor of its facades, the artistic and compositional idea of \u200b\u200bthe architect Rastrelli is revealed - a deep architectural connection with the city on the Neva, which became the capital of the Russian Empire, with all the character of the surrounding urban landscape, which persists to this day.

Palace Square

Any tour of the Winter Palace starts at 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 General Staff building and the building of the Ministry and connected them into a single whole with the 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 the architect A.P. Bryullov, completes the ensemble of Palace Square.

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

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

Each facade of the Winter Palace is made in its own way. The northern facade, facing the Neva, stretches as a more or less even wall, without noticeable protrusions. The southern facade, overlooking the Palace Square and having seven divisions, is the main one. Its center is cut through by three entrance arches. Is there a front yard behind them? where in the middle of the northern building was the main entrance to the palace. Of the side facades, the most interesting is the western one, facing the Admiralty and the square on which Rastrelli intended to erect the equestrian statue of Peter I cast by his father. Each platband decorating the palace is unique. This is due to the fact that the mass, consisting of a mixture of crushed brick and lime mortar, was cut and processed by hand. All moldings on the facades were made on site.

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

From the interior of the palace, created by Rastrelli, the Baroque appearance of the Jordan Staircase and partly the Great Church have been preserved. The main staircase is located in the northeast corner of the building. On it you can see various details of the decor - columns, mirrors, statues, intricate gilded stucco molding, a huge plafond created by Italian painters. The staircase, divided into two solemn marches, led to the main, Northern suite, which consisted of five large halls, a Fragment of the Jordan Staircase behind which in the northwestern projection there was a huge Throne Hall, and in the southwestern part - the Palace Theater.

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 Image of the Savior Not Made by Hands (1763). Its walls are decorated with stucco molding - an elegant 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, destroyed in the 1920s, except for the golden dome and the large picturesque plafond 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 on the front in the center, and three rectangular windows on the sides. This circumstance led the architect to the idea of \u200b\u200bdividing the room into three compartments and highlighting the middle one with a particularly magnificent treatment. The hall is separated from the lateral parts by arches on protruding pylons decorated with pilasters, while the central window and the opposite door are accentuated by Corinthian columns, above which are placed four statues - female figures representing the arts. The hall is covered with semicircular vaults. The wall opposite the central windows is designed with arcatures, and above each semicircle are placed in pairs the 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 processed with caissons with stucco molding in the same late classical style saturated with 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 stucco with grotesque ornaments was introduced. Above the pilasters is a wide frieze with figures of children engaged in music and dancing, hunting and fishing, harvesting and winemaking, or playing sailing and war. Such a combination of architectural elements of different scales and the overload of the hall with ornamentation are characteristic of the classicism of the 1830s, but the white color gives the hall integrity.

George Hall and the Military Gallery

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

The military gallery is a kind of monument to the heroic military past of the Russian people. It contains 332 portraits of generals who participated in the Patriotic War of 1812 and the foreign campaign of 1813-1814. The portraits were performed by the famous English artist J. Doe with the participation of Russian painters A.V. Polyakov and V.A.Golike. Most of the portraits were executed from life, but since in 1819, when work began, many were no longer alive, some portraits were painted from earlier, preserved images. The gallery occupies a place of honor in the palace and is directly adjacent to the St. George Hall. The architect K.I.Rossi, who built it, destroyed six small rooms that had previously existed here. The gallery was illuminated through glazed openings in the vaults supported by arches. The arches rested on groups of double columns that stood against the longitudinal walls. On the plane of the walls, portraits were arranged in simple gilded frames in five rows. On one of the end walls, under a canopy, there was an equestrian portrait of Alexander I by J. Doe. 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 there is an image of the King of Prussia Frederick Wilhelm III, also executed by Kruger, and a portrait of the Austrian Emperor Franz I by P. Kraft. If you look at the door leading to the St. George Hall, you can see Dow's portraits of field marshals MI Kutuzov and MB Barclay de Tolly on either side of it.

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

The Russian Tsar has a chamber in his palaces:
She is not rich in gold, not velvet;
But from top to bottom, full length, all around,
My brush free and wide
It was painted by a fast-paced artist.
There are no rural nymphs, no virgin madonnas,
No fauns with cups, no full-breasted wives,
No dancing, no hunting, - but all the cloaks and swords,
Yes, faces full of belligerent courage.
In a crowded crowd, the artist placed
Here the chiefs of our people's forces,
Covered in the glory of a wonderful march
And the eternal memory of the twelfth year.

The fire of 1837 did not spare the gallery either; however, fortunately, all the portraits were taken out by the 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 the portraits, retained the color scheme. But some details of the composition of the hall have been changed. Stasov lengthened the gallery by 12 meters. Above the wide crowning cornice, a balcony was placed for passage to the choirs of adjacent halls, for which the arches resting on columns, rhythmically breaking the too long vault into parts, were eliminated.

After the Great Patriotic War, the gallery was restored, and it additionally contains four portraits of the palace grenadiers, veterans who went through the company of 1812-1814 as ordinary soldiers. These works were also performed by J. Doe.

Petrovsky hall

The Petrovsky Hall is also known as the Small Throne Hall. 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 has been preserved almost unchanged. The main difference between the later decoration is associated with the treatment of the walls. Previously, the panel on the side walls was divided by one pilaster, now there are two of them. There was no border around each panel, a large double-headed eagle in the center, and bronze gilded double-headed eagles of the same size were fixed in diagonal directions on the crimson velvet upholstery.

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

Winter Palace. People and Walls [History of the Imperial Residence, 1762-1917] Zimin Igor Viktorovich

The chambers of Catherine II in the last years of her life

In the 1790s. the apartments of Catherine II continued to occupy the eastern part of the Winter Palace from the Jordan Stairs and up to half of the heir to Pavel Petrovich (Nos. 283 and 290). The front half of Empress Catherine II was opened by “two passage chambers” (No. 193), followed by the Arabeskaya in front of the gallery, which was adjoined from the east by the Dining Room of Chamber Pages and Waiters (No. 194). Behind the White Gallery (No. 195) there were: Shtats-damskaya (No. 195 - southeastern part), Before the Shtats-damskaya gallery (No. 197 - eastern part), Masquerade buffet (No. 196 - northern part), Large staircase called Red ( No. 196 - part), the Pre-Church Hall (No. 270) and the Church of the Savior Image Not Made by Hands (No. 271). From the Pre-Church Hall it was possible to go to the Dining Room (No. 269) and the Pantry, where the post of the Life Guards of the Reitary Horse Regiment (No. 196 - southern part) is located. In all rooms in the second half of the 1760s. they laid block, that is, parquet floors, according to the drawings of Felten and Wallen-Delamot.

The plan of the halls of the southeastern projection

If at the beginning of the reign of Catherine II, her half included only nine "chambers" of both a representative and a purely personal character, then by the end of her reign their number undoubtedly changed. This is quite natural, since the empress lived in the Winter Palace for 34 years - all the years of her reign. The archival documents contain another list of premises in the half of Empress Catherine II: 1. The main parish and a large entrance staircase; 2. Front three anti-chambers; 3. Audience (Throne Room); 4. Dining room; 5. Mundschenkskaya; 6. Stairs to all floors; 7 and 8. Two walk-through rooms; 9. State bedchamber; 10. Restroom; 11. Room for valets; 12. Bedchamber; 13. Boudoir; 14. Cabinet; 15. Library; 16. Staircase for Her Majesty's passage; 17. A room with a mezzanine, and in it - a stove-stove; 18. Bedroom; 19 and 20. Two rooms.

Today, only a small part of Catherine II's chambers has preserved the outlines of the 1790s. Numerous redevelopments in subsequent years distorted the appearance and "geography" of the Empress's chambers. For example, the present Alexander Hall was occupied by the ceremonial rooms: the Soviet, the Sergeantskaya, "where the Guard Under the aficionados are", and the Kavalergardskaya (former Kavalerskaya), facing the Palace Square. Behind it was the Throne Room of Catherine II with the audience hall, the Kavalier with a bay window-lantern, overlooking the square (No. 280) and the Diamond Room (No. 279), which we described in detail.

One could get to the private chambers of Catherine II from Palace Square by going up the Small Staircase. This staircase led to the Dining Room (No. 269). Today, in its place is the Commandant Staircase.

The famous historian M.I. Pyliaev described this part of the Winter Palace as follows: “... going up the Small Staircase, we entered a room where, in case of the prompt execution of the empress’s orders, there was a writing desk with an inkwell behind the screens for the secretaries of state. This room had windows to the Small Courtyard; from her the entrance was to the lavatory; the windows of the last room were on Palace Square. There was a dressing table, from here there were two doors: one to the right, into the diamond room, and the other to the left, into the bedroom, where the Empress usually listened to business in recent years. From the bedroom they went directly into the inner dressing room, and to the left - into the study and the mirrored room, from which one passage to the lower chambers, and the other directly through the gallery to the so-called "Nearest House"; here the empress lived sometimes in the spring ... ”.

Behind the aforementioned Pyliaev Mirror Cabinet, with windows facing the Small Courtyard, there were two rooms of the chambers-jungfer of Catherine II, Maria Savvishna Perekusikhina (No. 263-264).

Since 1763, on the mezzanine of the first floor there was the already mentioned soap-shop, built under the direction of the architect J.-B. Wallen-Delamot and which included three rooms. According to the descriptions of the 1790s, the bath complex included: Baths (No. 272); under the vestry of the Great Church (no. 701) there was a Restroom and directly under the altar - a vast Bath with a swimming pool. The bathhouse, or soap-room, was upholstered with "carpentry" (linden wood panels) from floor to ceiling. It was possible to go down to the Bathing House, upholstered in fawn cloth, by a small wooden staircase from the empress's private chambers. These premises also overlooked Palace Square and Millionnaya Street. Separately, there were “greased boilers for water heating” and a cold water tank. In the same place, on the mezzanine, there was an office with a bedroom for Count Orlov, and later the subsequent favorites lived.

The private chambers of Catherine II were literally riddled with small ladders. Including secret ones. With such a secret wooden ladder, the mezzanine communicated with the Library (from 1764 to 1776). The secret staircase was designed to look like a mahogany library cabinet so that one of the cabinet doors served as a door through which one could go to the stairs and climb the mezzanine. Note that at the beginning of the reign of Catherine II, this was not a game. A secret ladder, and, most likely, not the only one, could be very useful in the era of palace coups.

A very important page in the life of the Winter Palace is associated with the mezzanine of Catherine II. Today it is generally accepted that the modern State Hermitage, literally "stuffed" with treasures of all times and peoples, "grew" out of the modest mezzanines of Catherine II. These were four small rooms facing east, then called Green Mezzanines. It was in these rooms that various objects were received, the collection of which the empress was fond of at certain times of her life. At first, this collection of rarities was not systematic. However, as the Empress's collections grew, only things of oriental origin remained on the mezzanine, and the mezzanines began to be called Chinese. Often the empress used the mezzanine for dining with loved ones. Coziness, exoticism and luxury were exquisitely combined in these premises. The Empress liked this setting.

These historic mezzanines survived until the fire of the Winter Palace in December 1837. Recognizing them historical meaning, the mezzanine was then not only not touched, but also periodically repaired. Moreover, they were renovated while preserving the historical interiors. This is evidenced by the note of the vice-president of the Gough-quartermaster office, Count P.I. Kutaisov, dated early 1833. Then Kutaisov wrote to Nicholas I: “Everything else was influenced by fashion, except for the Chinese mezzanines of the modern times, but reminiscent of the era of the reign of Catherine II, so glorious for Russia. Being fully convinced that the preservation of these monuments is useful for both history and archeology, I have the honor to present the renewal of these rooms at the present time. This seems all the more convenient to me that the Kamertsal-Meister is very rich in excellent Chinese works that have been lying there without any use for several decades and are uselessly subject to spoilage ... "

Nicholas I approved the proposal of P.I. Kutaisov. The restoration of the Chinese mezzanines of Catherine II lasted from 1833 to 1835 under the direction of the architect L.I. Charlemagne 2nd. However, after the fire of 1837, in which the mezzanines perished, these premises were not restored.

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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 variant he used in the palaces of Tsarskoye Selo and Peterhof. The basement of the palace was used as servants' quarters or storage rooms. Service and utility rooms were located on the ground floor of the palace. 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 were lodged maids of honor, doctors and close servants. This planning scheme presupposed predominantly horizontal connections between the various zones 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 Elizaveta Petrovna. The architect located the rooms of the aging empress in the sunny southeastern part of the palace. The windows of the empress's private quarters overlooked Millionnaya Street. Daughter Petrova loved to sit by the window, looking at the bustle of the street. Apparently, taking into account precisely this form of women's leisure and sunlight, so rare in our latitudes, Rastrelli planned the location of the empress's private rooms.

Peter III, and after him Catherine II, left Rastrelli's planning scheme in force, retaining the role of its residential center for the southeastern projection of the Winter Palace. At the same time, Peter III retained the rooms in which Elizaveta Petrovna planned to live. For his hateful wife, the eccentric emperor appointed 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 the Great functioned as a shipyard.

E. Vigilius. Portrait of Catherine II in the uniform of L. - Guards. Preobrazhensky regiment. After 1762

After the coup of 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 unhurried time. Then, in the first half of 1762, she not only organized a conspiracy against her husband, but also managed to secretly give birth to a child in April 1762, 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 enough intelligence, 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 associated with a number of circumstances. First, a new reign is always new people. Catherine II removed many dignitaries of the Elizabethan period, including the architect F.B. Rastrelli. On August 20, 1762, Rastrelli was sent on leave as the person of Elizaveta Petrovna. Secondly, Catherine II considered the whimsical baroque an obsolete style. At the subconscious level, she wanted her reign to be marked by visible style changes, called classicism. Therefore, Rastrelli's vacation smoothly spilled over into his resignation.

Unknown artist. Oath of the Izmailovsky Life Guards Regiment June 28, 1762 First quarter of the 19th century.

Rastrelli was replaced by architects who had previously played a secondary role. These were those who worked in a new manner pleasing to Catherine II - J.-B. Wallen-Delamot, A. Rinaldi and J. Felten. That is, those architects who are usually attributed to the period of the so-called early classicism. It should be noted that they all treated the completed work of their predecessor in the Winter Palace with great care. They did not at all touch the already completed Baroque façade of the Winter Palace. However, perhaps purely mercantile considerations played a role here. There was simply no money for global changes in the newly rebuilt Winter Palace.

I. Mayer. Winter Palace from the side Vasilievsky Island... 1796 g.

M. Mikhaev. View of the Winter Palace from the east. 1750s

Nevertheless, 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 the baroque decor of Rastrelli, yet the rest of the premises have been repeatedly altered. In the second half of the 18th century. these corrections and alterations were sustained in the spirit of classicism. After the fire of 1837, many of the interiors were decorated in the style of historicism.

Winter Palace. Pavilion Flashlight. Bayot's lithograph after a drawing by O. Montferrand. 1834 g.

A new creative group began work in the Winter Palace in the fall of 1762. Thus, Y. Felten, on a personal assignment from the Empress, decorated her chambers in the classicist style. Best known for his descriptions of his Diamond Room, or Diamond Rest. We emphasize that no images of the personal chambers of Catherine II have come down to us. Absolutely. But numerous descriptions of them have survived.

As mentioned, at the end of 1761 Peter III ordered "for the empress ... to decorate 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. Vallen-Delamot began to decorate the private chambers of Catherine II. Among them were the Bedroom, Restroom, Boudoir, Study. Y. Felten also worked there, whose labors appeared Portrait and "Light cabinet" in a wooden bay window, arranged over the entrance, which would later be called Saltykovsky.

Apparently, the empress liked the idea of \u200b\u200ba three-height bay window. Even in the hustle and bustle of preparations for the coup, she was able to note and appreciate this "architectural element." Therefore, after the cessation of work in the western part of the palace, the idea of \u200b\u200ba "cabinet" materialized in the southwestern projection, where the famous Lantern appeared above the entrance, later called the 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 survived. This watercolor shows scaffolding near the southwestern projection of the palace. There is no flashlight yet, but there is a balcony closed on top by a four-sloped canopy. The place was cozy, and the Flashlight, given the St. Petersburg climate, was closed with capital walls. This cozy Lantern remained above the Commandant's Entrance until the 1920s.

By the beginning of 1763, Catherine II, having returned to St. Petersburg, finally finally decided on her place of residence in the huge Winter Palace. In March 1763, she ordered to move her chambers to the southwestern projection, to where the chambers of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna and Peter III used to be.

There was no doubt that this decision had a distinct political context. Catherine II, as a pragmatic and intelligent politician, built herself not only into the system of power, but also into the existing scheme of palace chambers. Then, in 1863, she took into account any trifle 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 southeastern corner of the Winter Palace was probably dictated by the desire to strengthen her precarious position, including by such a "geographic method." The chambers in which Elizaveta Petrovna and Peter III were supposed to live could only become her chambers. Accordingly, all the works that were carried out by J.-B. Vallin-Delamot and Y. Felten in the western wing of the palace, immediately turned off. So, in the rooms 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. This was no longer a minor cosmetic repair, started by Peter III. In the southeastern projection, a large-scale redevelopment of the interior 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. Right under the personal chambers of Catherine II, on the mezzanine of the first floor, the rooms of her civil husband at that time, Grigory Orlov, were placed. In the same place, on the mezzanine, right under the church altar, a bathhouse (soap room, or soapbox) with vast and luxurious premises was arranged.

G.G. Orlov

G.A. Potemkin

The empress has repeatedly mentioned this soap in her intimate correspondence with her changing favorites. The favorites changed, but the soap, 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 you should know that now everything is ready in the bathhouse. And do not carry food from there to yourself, otherwise the whole world will know that food is being prepared in the bathhouse. " In March 1774, the Empress informs Potemkin of her conversation with Alexei Orlov, who knew well what the soap was meant for: “... My answer was:“ I don’t know how to lie ”. He paki asked: “Yes or no?” I said: “Yes”. After hearing what, he burst out laughing and said: “Do you see in the soap?” I asked: “Why does he think this?” “Because, they say, since four days in the window the fire was seen later than usual.” Then he added: "It was evident yesterday that convention is by no means to show in people agreement between you, and this is very good."

Construction and finishing work proceeded at a feverish pace from January to September 1763. As a result, on the site of Peter III's chambers, 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: Audience Chamber with an area of \u200b\u200b227 m 2 which replaced the Throne Room; Dining room with two windows; Light cabinet; Restroom; two casual bedrooms; Boudoir; Cabinet and Library.

AND ABOUT. Midushevsky. Presentation of a letter to Catherine II

All these rooms were designed in the style of early classicism, but at the same time they combined components that were difficult to compare for this style - solemn splendor and undoubted comfort. The pomp 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 making of architectural decisions is known for certain. The most famous fact is the order of the Empress to transform one of her everyday bedrooms into the Diamond Room, or Diamond Rest, which will be discussed later.

Contemporaries visiting the Winter Palace left numerous descriptions of the empress's private rooms. One of these French travelers wrote: “... the Empress's apartments are very simple: in front of the audience hall there is a small glass cabinet, where the crown and its diamonds are kept under seals; the audience hall is very simple: next to the door is a throne of red velvet; then comes the wood and gilded living room with two fireplaces, ridiculously small. This room, serving for receptions, communicates with the apartments of the Grand Duke, where there is nothing remarkable, as well as in the rooms of his children. "

It should be noted that marble of various grades began to flow from the Urals to St. Petersburg to decorate the premises of the Winter Palace. Columns, fireplaces, boards for tables and so on were hewn from this marble. Finished 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 fall of 1763. If we turn to the Camer-Fourier journals for 1763, the chronology of events is as follows:

August 13, 1763 "Her Imperial Majesty deigned to have an exit for a walk through the streets and to be deigned in the stone Winter Palace ...".

On October 12, 1763, the Empress ordered "the kurtagh not to be, but to be on the 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, “presenting” her new home to those around her.

On October 19, 1763, the Empress staged the first "public masquerade in the Winter Palace for the entire 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 decorate the ceremonial halls. Only in 1764 the major finishing works in the Winter Palace were completed.

Naturally, with the completion of work in 1762-1764. The Winter Palace is not frozen in a constant form and layout. Construction work proceeded 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 "costs of buildings." (See table 1.)

Table 1

Global redevelopments in the Winter Palace began in the late 1770s. and were associated with the growth of the imperial family. All this time construction works the palace was headed by the President of the Imperial Academy of Arts and the secretary of the Empress I.I. Betskoy. On his initiative, Catherine II signed a decree of October 9, 1769, according to which the "Office 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 g.

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