home Roach Outline of the story about the winter palace the surrounding world. The Imperial Mansion: The History of the Winter Palace

Outline of the story about the winter palace the surrounding world. The Imperial Mansion: The History of the Winter Palace

Built in 1754 - 1762 by the architect B.-F. Rastrelli. The first Winter Palace of Peter the Great stood on a canal called the Winter Canal. The Second Winter Palace was also built on this Winter Canal, but with its main facade facing the Neva. In it, in January 1725, Peter I died (in a room on the first floor behind the current second window, counting from the Neva).

The Second Winter Palace shortly after the death of Peter, in 1726 - 1727, was expanded, decorated, enriched according to the project of Domenico Trezzini. In the 1730s, for Tsarina Anna Ivanovna B.-F. Rastrelli built a new, fourth Winter Palace, rebuilding the chambers of Count Apraksin for this (they stood on a part of the territory occupied by the current Winter Palace). The daughter of Peter 1 - the queen "Elisabeth" (as she called herself) - ordered the construction of a new, fifth Winter Palace for her. And Rastrelli erected the building of the wooden Winter Palace, which on the Nevskaya prospect occupied the space from Moika to Malaya Morskaya Sloboda (Malaya Morskaya Street).

Here Queen Elizabeth found herself “with servants” and her beloved cats (there were about a hundred of them). The poet A.K. Tolstoy wrote:
... The Merry Queen
There was Elisabeth.
Singing and having fun
There is no order ...

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. Nevertheless, during her reign, the sixth Winter Palace was rebuilt (at the expense of the income belonging to the royal treasury of taverns). Peter III, who replaced Elizabeth on the throne, wanted to immediately move into the new residence. But the Palace Square was still cluttered with heaps of bricks, planks, logs, barrels of lime and similar construction waste. The capricious disposition of the new tsar was known, and the chief police chief found a way out: in St. Petersburg it was announced that all inhabitants had the right to take whatever they wanted 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 new Winter Palace.

The Winter Palace is one of the most impressive buildings in the Russian Baroque style. Many of the interiors of the palace are among the world's masterpieces. The building is almost 200 meters long, 160 meters wide, 22 meters high, and the length of the main cornice bordering the building is almost 2 kilometers. The palace has 1057 rooms with a floor area of \u200b\u200b46,516 square meters, 117 stairs, 1,786 doors, 1,945 windows. In 1844, Nicholas 1 gave an order, according to which, private houses were to be built so that their height, at least a fathom, was inferior to the Winter Palace, which was intended to emphasize the priority and grandeur of the royal residence. This rule was in effect until 1905. The garden at the western (facing the Admiralty) facade of the Winter Palace was laid out only in 1896. Previously, guard divorces took place on this site. In 1901, the garden was surrounded by a patterned lattice installed on red sandstone.

An interesting fact: after the October assault on the Winter Palace, the Red Guard, who was entrusted with setting up guards for the protection of 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 in 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, leaving in the morning on 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 one and a half years, there was a guard at this place, although there was no longer a flower, no Tsarina Catherine, not even a draw ground ...

The fence of the Own Garden was dismantled in 1920-1924. The links of the lattice decorated the garden named after January 9 behind the former Narva outpost, and the blocks of red sandstone, from which the pylons of the Own Garden were made, were used to decorate the basement of the building built on the site of the burnt down house of Baron Fredericks (in the days of the February Revolution) - at the corner of Pochtamtskaya Street Konnogvardeisky lane. Nowadays, the Winter Palace houses collections

A magnificent palace building in, surpassing all palaces and estates not only in its scale, but also in the luxury of decoration. The construction of the Winter Palace began in 1754 and was completed in 1762. The author of the project was the famous architect of that time V.F.Rastrelli. The eminent architect did not create a simple residence for the tsars, but the Palace “for the uniform glory of Russia”.

Currently, the palace houses the main exposition of the museum "".

The palace looks like a huge quadrangle, with a courtyard of the same gigantic size. Despite its colossal size, the Palace does not look monotonous and boring. The architect came up with many techniques for arranging columns, edging platbands, installing statues and beautiful vases, thereby enhancing the impression of splendor and elegance.

This building of the Winter Palace, the 5th in a row, was erected for Elizaveta Petrovna, and until the revolution itself was the main residence of the emperors of Russia.

The interior decoration of the halls, decorated with gilding, numerous mirrors, and an abundance of decorative details, amazes the imagination. From the inner halls they have preserved the Baroque style in which Rastrelli worked, only the Jordan Staircase and partly the Court Cathedral. The royally decorated Jordan Staircase is distinguished by the extraordinary generosity and splendor of the decor. There are columns, statues, fancy gilded stucco moldings, and a huge plafond made by Italian masters. The first floor was adapted for office and utility rooms. The apartments of the members of the imperial family were located on the second floor. On the upper floor there were rooms for the court people.

In 1762, Rastrelli was dismissed due to the rejection of his creative style by Catherine II, who had just ascended the throne. The architects A. Rinaldi, J. Felten, J. Vallin-Delamot took over the interior decoration, making significant changes to the decor of the Winter Palace. In December 1837, the interiors created by the great masters Rossi, Quarenghi, Montferrand burned down in a strong fire. To great joy, almost all the valuable property of the Palace was saved from the fire.

During the revolution, the building of the Palace was occupied by the Provisional Government. During the war, the Winter Palace suffered serious damage. Its restoration, which took tens of years, required incredible efforts.

You can walk to the Winter Palace from the station. metro "Admiralteyskaya" or "Nevsky Prospect".

The Winter Palace on the Palace Square in St. Petersburg is the main attraction of the northern capital, which from 1762 to 1904 served as the official winter residence of the Russian emperors. In terms of the richness and variety of architectural and sculptural decoration, the palace has no equal in St. Petersburg.

To get around all the exhibits of the Hermitage, you will need to spend 11 years of life and walk 22 kilometers. All Petersburgers are well aware: in the main museum of the city there is an Egyptian hall on the first floor, on the third floor there are impressionists. Guests of the city are also aware.

How will we surprise you? You can try with facts:

№1. The Hermitage is huge ... Just like the territory of a huge country ruled by a tsar, the autocrat of all Russia, right from the walls of this magnificent palace. 1057 rooms, 117 stairs, 1945 windows. The total length of the main cornice flanking the building is almost 2 km.

№2. The total number of sculptures installed on the parapet of the Winter Palace is 176 pieces. You can count the number of vases yourself.

№3. The main palace of the Russian Empire was built by more than 4,000 stonemasons and plasterers, marblers and modelers, parquet flooring and painters. Receiving a paltry salary for their work, they huddled in miserable hovels, many lived here, on the square, in huts.

№4. From 1754 to 1762, the building of the palace was under construction, which at that time became the tallest residential building in St. Petersburg. For a long time ... Empress Elizaveta Petrovna died without living in the new mansions. Peter III took over 60,000 square meters of new housing.

№5. After the completion of the construction of the Winter Palace, the entire square in front of it was littered with construction waste. Emperor Peter III decided to get rid of him in an original way - he ordered to announce to the people that anyone who wants to can take anything from the square, and for free. After a few hours, all the trash was cleared away.

№6. The trash is removed - a new problem. In 1837 the palace burned down. The whole imperial family was left homeless. However, 6,000 unknown workers saved the day by working day and night and in 15 months the ball was completely restored. True, the price of a labor feat is several hundred ordinary workers ...

№7. The Winter Palace was constantly repainted in different colors. Was both red and pink. It acquired its original, pale green color in 1946.

№8. The Winter Palace is an absolutely monumental structure. It was intended to reflect the power and greatness of the Russian Empire. It is estimated that there are 1,786 doors, 1945 windows and 117 staircases. The main facade is 150 meters long and 30 meters high.

The Winter Palace is a legendary building that used to serve as the home of Russian rulers. The Winter Palace was built in St. Petersburg in the middle of the 18th century. The main collection of the historic State Hermitage was housed in the palace premises in the 20th century.

The building for the 1.5 century served as an official winter residence for state monarchs; only during the reign of Nicholas II, the emperor moved it to the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoe Selo.

The Winter Palace together with the Palace Square are beautifully combined in architectural ensemble and are an adornment of St. Petersburg. Every year thousands of travelers from all over the world visit the historic building.

Palace history

During the 18th century, 5 Winter Palaces were erected on this site.

1. Wedding chambers of Peter the Great

At the beginning of the 18th century, wedding chambers were built for Peter I. This building was presented by the head of the city to the king in honor of the wedding.

2. Winter Palace of Peter I

The order for the construction of the new Winter Palace was commissioned by the tsar to the architect Georg Mattarnovi in \u200b\u200b1716. During the construction of the building, the Palace Embankment had to be moved 50 meters to the river. The emperor settled in the building 4 years later, and died in 1725.

3. Winter Palace of Anna Ioannovna

Empress Anna Ioannovna returned the status of the capital to St. Petersburg. She decides to settle in the Winter Palace and gives it the status of an official residence. However, the design did not meet the needs of the empress, and she orders to re-equip the structure. FB Rastrelli took over the construction in 1731.

The Empress moved to a new building on permanent residence after 4 years. The building consisted of four floors, on which there were about 70 ceremonial halls, about a hundred bedrooms, service and guard rooms, and its own theater.

Elizaveta Petrovna to sit on the throne after the death of Anna Ioannovna. She wants an even more chic design than her predecessor and orders the separation of the rooms adjacent to the South of the Light Gallery.

In the middle of the 18th century, the Empress commissioned FB Rastrelli to expand the building. The architect builds new premises in unison with the existing one. A year later, the Empress ordered to change the building in height upwards. Rastrelli has to transform his drawings, and he advises the empress to build a building in a different area of \u200b\u200bthe city. But she refuses to move the building. This led to the fact that in 1754 an order was signed to erect the palace building on the former site.

4. Fourth (temporary) Winter Palace

It was created by Rastrelli in 1755. Seven years later, the building was dismantled.

5. Fifth (existing) Winter Palace

The current Winter Palace was built from 1754 to 1762. The ruler dismisses the architect Rastrelli, and other architects, headed by Betsky, are already engaged in construction. The building housed over 1,500 rooms. The Empress died before the construction was completed. The building was already commissioned to Peter III. The construction cost more than 2.6 million rubles.

Within the walls of the palace, Catherine II orders to build a room for her lover, Count Orlov.

The Empress from Germany was presented with more than 300 expensive paintings to repay the debt to Prince V.D.Dolgorukov. These paintings became the source of the Hermitage collection.

In 1783 the Empress issued a decree on the destruction of the palace theater.

The Winter Palace in St. Petersburg has seen many incidents since those times. He survived a terrible fire, as a result of which the entire interior and statues on the roof of the building had to be restored. I saw the attempt on the life of Emperor Alexander II. Became the venue for chic costume balls. It housed a hospital, the Provisional Government. He survived a hard assault during the revolutionary years. The cultural heritage center of St. Petersburg was located in the palace. During the difficult years of the Second World War, it served as a bomb shelter for more than two thousand citizens. The building was badly damaged by military bombing - the restoration of the building lasted for many decades after the war.

Today, the Winter Palace is a chic structure and has a rectangular configuration with sides of 137 by 106 meters. The height of the building is 23.5 meters. The palace is perfectly located on the territory of the city, and gives it an artistic and compositional flavor.

Tourism

Currently, the Winter Palace of St. Petersburg plays the role of a historical, cultural and artistic structure. More than 500 thousand foreigners and about 2 million Russians come to admire its beauty every year.

Palace in art

The Winter Palace played an important role in art. Its greatness is revealed in the films "Russian Ark", "Rasputin", "October" and others. In the legendary strategy "Red Alert 3" one of the episodes must be performed in a simulated Winter Palace.

Curious little things about the St. Petersburg Winter Palace

More than 50 cats live within the walls of the State Hermitage. Their mission was laid down by Peter I, when he brought a cat from Europe to catch rodents in the Winter Palace, and the emperor's daughter acquired another 30 representatives of mouse catchers. A unique supply of funds has been created for the cats of the Hermitage. Every year a festive feast with all kinds of cat treats is organized for cats. The holiday takes place on April 1 and is called the Day of the March Cat.
Nicholas I issued an interesting state decree, which states that the maximum height of residential buildings in the city should not exceed 11 sazhens (23.47 m). This led to the fact that the Winter Palace turned out to be higher than private houses, although the decree did not say anything about it.

The development of the territory east of the Admiralty began simultaneously with the emergence of the shipyard. In 1705, a house was erected on the banks of the Neva for the "Great Admiralty" - Fyodor Matveyevich Apraksin. By 1711, the place of the present palace was occupied by the mansions of the nobility involved in the fleet (only naval officials could be built here).

The first wooden Winter House of "Dutch architecture" under the "exemplary design" of Trezzini under a tiled roof was built in 1711 for the tsar, as for shipbuilding master Peter Alekseev. In 1718, a canal was dug in front of its facade, which later became the Winter Canal. Peter called it "his office". Especially for the wedding of Peter and Ekaterina Alekseevna, the wooden palace was rebuilt into a modestly decorated two-storey stone house with a tiled roof, which had a slope down to the Neva. According to some historians, the wedding feast took place in the great hall of this first Winter Palace.

The Second Winter Palace was built in 1721 according to the design of Mattarnovi. The main facade already opened onto the Neva. Peter lived his last years in it.

The Third Winter Palace appeared as a result of the reconstruction and expansion of this palace according to Trezzini's project. Parts of it later became part of the Hermitage Theater, created by Quarenghi. During the restoration work, fragments of the Peter's palace inside the theater were discovered: the front yard, stairs, hallway, rooms. Now there is essentially the Hermitage's exposition "Peter the Great's Winter Palace".

In 1733-1735, according to the project of Bartolomeo Rastrelli, on the site of the former palace of Fyodor Apraksin, redeemed for the empress, the fourth Winter Palace was built - the palace of Anna Ioannovna. Rastrelli used the walls of the luxurious Apraksin chambers, erected in Peter's times by the architect Leblond.

The Fourth Winter Palace stood approximately in the same place where we see the present one, and was much more elegant than the previous palaces.

The Fifth Winter Palace for the temporary stay of Elizaveta Petrovna and her court was again built by Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli (in Russia he was often called Bartholomew Varfolomeevich). It was a huge wooden building from Moika to Malaya Morskaya and from Nevsky Prospect to Kirpichny Lane. Not a trace of him remained for a long time. Many researchers of the history of the creation of the current Winter Palace do not even remember about it, considering the fifth - the modern Winter Palace.

The current Winter Palace is the sixth in a row. It was built from 1754 to 1762 according to the project of Bartolomeo Rastrelli for Empress Elizabeth Petrovna and is a vivid example of the magnificent baroque. But Elizabeth did not have time to live in the palace - she died, so Catherine II became the first real mistress of the Winter Palace.

In 1837, the Winter Palace burned down - a fire began in the Field Marshal Hall and lasted for three whole days, all this time, the servants of the palace took out of it works of art that adorned the royal residence, a huge mountain of statues, paintings, precious trinkets grew around the Alexander Column ... that nothing was missing ...

The Winter Palace was rebuilt after the fire of 1837 without any major external changes, by 1839 the work was completed, they were supervised by two architects: Alexander Bryullov (brother of the great Charles) and Vasily Stasov (author of the Spaso-Perobrazhensky and Trinity Izmailovsky cathedrals). It only reduced the number of sculptures around the perimeter of its roof.

Over the centuries, the color of the facades of the Winter Palace has changed from time to time. Initially, the walls were painted with "sandy paint with the most subtle projection", the decor was white lime. Before the First World War, the palace acquired an unexpected red-brick color, which gave the palace a gloomy look. The contrasting combination of green walls, white columns, capitals and decorative moldings appeared in 1946.

Exterior of the Winter Palace

Rastrelli was building not just a royal residence, - the palace was built “for the glory of the All-Russia”, as it was said in the decree of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna to the Government Senate. The palace is distinguished from European buildings of the Baroque style by its brightness, cheerfulness of the figurative structure, festive solemn elevation. Its more than 20-meter height is emphasized by two-tier columns. The vertical division of the palace is continued by statues and vases that lead the gaze into the sky. The height of the winter palace has become a building standard, erected in the principle of St. Petersburg city planning. It was not allowed to build higher than the Winter building in the old town.
The palace is a giant quadrangle with a large courtyard. The facades of the palace, different in composition, form, as it were, folds of a huge ribbon. The stepped cornice, repeating all the protrusions of the building, stretches for almost two kilometers. The absence of sharply protruding parts along the northern facade, from the side of the Neva (there are only three divisions), enhances the impression of the length of the building along the embankment; two wings on the west side are facing the Admiralty. The main facade overlooking the Palace Square has seven divisions; it is the most ceremonial. In the middle, protruding part, there is a triple arcade of the entrance gate, decorated with a magnificent openwork lattice. The southeastern and southwestern projections protrude beyond the line of the main facade. Historically, it was in them that the living quarters of the emperors and empresses were located.

Layout of the Winter Palace

Bartolomeo Rastrelli already had experience in the construction of royal palaces in Tsarskoe Selo and Peterhof. In the scheme of the Winter Palace, he laid down the standard planning variant, which he had previously tested. The basement of the palace was used as housing for servants or storage rooms. The ground floor housed office and utility rooms. The second floor housed the ceremonial ceremonial halls and the personal apartments of the imperial family, while the third was occupied by the maid of honor, doctors and close servants. This layout presupposed predominantly horizontal connections between the various rooms of the palace, which was reflected in the endless corridors of the Winter Palace.
The northern facade is distinguished by the fact that it contains three huge ceremonial halls. The Nevskaya suite included: Small Hall, Big (Nikolaev Hall) and Concert Hall. The large suite unfolded along the axis of the Main Staircase, going perpendicular to the Nevsky suite. It included the Field Marshal Hall, the Petrovsky Hall, the Armorial (White) Hall, the Picket Hall (New). A special place in the series of halls was occupied by the memorial Military Gallery of 1812, the solemn St. George and Apollo Halls. The ceremonial halls included the Pompeii Gallery and the Winter Garden. The route of passage of the royal family through the suite of state rooms had a deep meaning. The scenario of the Great Exits, worked out to the smallest detail, served not only to demonstrate the full splendor of autocratic power, but also to refer to the past and present of Russian history.
As in any other palace of the imperial family, in the Winter Palace there was a church, or rather, two churches: the Big and the Small. As conceived by Bartolomeo Rastrelli, the Big Church was to serve Empress Elizabeth Petrovna and her “large court”, while the Small Church was to serve the “young court” - the court of the heir-Tsarevich Peter Fedorovich and his wife Ekaterina Alekseevna.

Interiors of the Winter Palace

If the exterior of the palace is made in the late Russian Baroque style. The interiors are mostly made in the style of early classicism. One of the few interiors of the palace that has retained the original baroque decoration is the front Jordan staircase. It occupies a huge space of almost 20 meters in height and seems even higher due to the painting of the plafond. Reflecting in mirrors, real space seems even larger. The staircase created by Bartolomeo Rastrelli was restored after the fire of 1837 by Vasily Stasov, who preserved the general idea of \u200b\u200bRastrelli. The decor of the staircase is infinitely varied - mirrors, statues, fancy gilded stucco molding, varying the motif of a stylized shell. The baroque décor forms became more restrained after the replacement of wooden columns faced with pink stucco (artificial marble) with monolithic granite columns.

Of the three halls of the Nevskaya suite, the Avanzal is the most restrained in decoration. The main decor is concentrated in the upper part of the hall - these are allegorical compositions performed in monochrome technique (grisaille) on a gilded background. Since 1958, a malachite rotunda has been installed in the center of the Avanzal (at first it was located in the Tauride Palace, then in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra).

The largest hall of the Nevskaya suite - Nikolaevsky - is decorated more solemnly. This is one of the largest halls of the Winter Palace, its area is 1103 square meters. The three-quarter columns of the magnificent Corinthian order, the painted border of the plafond and huge chandeliers give it a pomp. The hall is designed in white.

The Concert Hall, intended at the end of the 18th century for court concerts, has a richer sculptural and pictorial decor than the two previous halls. The hall is decorated with statues of muses, installed in the second tier of walls above the columns. This hall completed the suite and was originally conceived by Rastrelli as the entrance to the throne room. In the middle of the 20th century, a silver tomb of Alexander Nevsky (transferred to the Hermitage after the revolution) weighing about 1,500 kg, created at the Mint of St. Petersburg in 1747-1752, was installed in the hall. for the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, which to this day keeps the relics of St. Prince Alexander Nevsky.
The large enfilade begins with the Field Marshal Hall, designed to house portraits of field marshals; he was supposed to give an idea of \u200b\u200bthe political and military history of Russia. Its interior was created, as well as the neighboring Petrovsky (or Small Throne) Hall, by the architect Auguste Montferand in 1833 and restored after the fire of 1837 by Vasily Stasov. The main purpose of the Petrovsky Hall is memorial - it is dedicated to the memory of Peter the Great, so its decoration is particularly splendid. In the gilded decor of the frieze, in the painting of the vaults - the coats of arms of the Russian Empire, crowns, wreaths of glory. In a huge niche with a rounded vault, there is a painting depicting Peter I, led by the goddess Minerva to victories; in the upper part of the side walls there are paintings with scenes of the most important battles of the Northern War - at Lesnaya and near Poltava. The decorative motifs that adorn the hall endlessly repeat the monogram of two Latin letters "P" denoting the name of Peter I - "Petrus Primus"

The hall of arms is decorated with shields with the coats of arms of Russian provinces of the 19th century, located on huge chandeliers that illuminate it. This is an example of the late classical style. The porticoes on the end walls conceal the vastness of the hall, the solid gilding of the columns emphasizes its splendor. Four sculptural groups of warriors of Ancient Rus remind of the heroic traditions of the defenders of the fatherland and precede the Gallery of 1812 that follows.
The most perfect creation of Stasov in the Winter Palace is the Georgievsky (Great Throne) Hall. The Quarenghi Hall, created in the same place, died in a fire in 1837. Stasov, keeping the architectural design of Quarenghi, created a completely different artistic image. The walls are faced with Carrara marble, and columns are carved from it. The decor of the ceiling and columns is made of gilded bronze. The ceiling pattern is repeated in the parquet made of 16 precious woods. Only the Double-Headed Eagle and St. George are absent in the floor drawing - it is useless to step on the coat of arms of the great empire. The gilded silver throne was restored in its former place in 2000 by architects and restorers of the Hermitage. Above the throne place is a marble bas-relief with Saint George slaying the dragon, by the Italian sculptor Francesco del Nero.

The owners of the Winter Palace

The customer of the construction was the daughter of Peter the Great, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, she hurried Rastrelli with the construction of the palace, so the work was carried out at a frantic pace. The empress's private chambers (two bedchambers and an office), the chambers of Tsarevich Pavel Petrovich, and some adjoining rooms: the Church, the Opera House and the Light Gallery, were hastily finished off. But the empress did not have time to live in the palace. She died in December 1761. The first owner of the Winter Palace was the nephew of the empress (son of her elder sister Anna) Peter III Fedorovich. The Winter Palace was solemnly consecrated and commissioned by Easter 1762. Peter III immediately started alterations in the southwestern projection. The chambers included an office and a library. It was planned to create the Amber Hall on the model of Tsarskoye Selo. For his wife, he assigned chambers in the southwestern projection, the windows of which overlooked the industrial zone of the Admiralty.

The emperor lived in the palace only until June 1762, after which, without knowing it, he left it forever, moving to his beloved Oranienbaum, where he signed his abdication at the end of July, and soon after that he was killed in the Ropsha palace.

The "brilliant age" of Catherine II, who became the first real mistress of the Winter Palace, began, and the southeastern projection, overlooking Millionnaya Street and Palace Square, became the first of the "residence zones" of the owners of the palace. After the coup, Catherine II mainly continued to live in a wooden Elizabethan palace, and in August she left for Moscow for her coronation. Construction work in the Winter Palace did not stop, but other architects were already doing it: Jean Baptiste Wallen-Delamot, Antonio Rinaldi, Yuri Felten. Rastrelli was first sent on vacation, and then retired. Catherine returned from Moscow at the beginning of 1863 and moved her chambers to the southwestern projection, showing the continuity from Elizabeth Petrovna to Peter III and to her, the new empress. All work in the west wing has been canceled. On the site of Peter III's chambers, with the personal participation of the Empress, a complex of Catherine's personal chambers was built. It included: Audience Chamber, which replaced the Throne Room; Dining room with two windows; Restroom; two casual bedrooms; Boudoir; Cabinet and Library. All rooms were designed in the early classicism style. Later, Catherine ordered to remake one of the everyday bedrooms into the Diamond Room or the Diamond Room, where precious property and imperial regalia were kept: a crown, a scepter, orb. The regalia were in the center of the room on a table under a crystal topped. As new jewelery was acquired, glass boxes that were attached to the walls appeared.
The Empress lived in the Winter Palace for 34 years and her chambers were expanded and rebuilt more than once.

Paul I lived in the Winter Palace during his childhood and youth, and having received Gatchina as a gift from his mother in the mid-1780s, he left it and returned in November 1796, becoming emperor. In the palace, Pavel lived for four years in the converted chambers of Catherine. His large family moved with him and settled in their rooms in the western part of the palace. After accession, he immediately began construction of the Mikhailovsky Castle, not hiding his plans to literally "rip off" the interiors of the Winter Palace, using everything valuable to decorate the Mikhailovsky Castle.

After Paul's death in March 1801, Emperor Alexander I immediately returned to the Winter Palace. The palace returned to the status of the main imperial residence. But he did not begin to occupy the chambers of the southeastern projection, returned to his rooms, located along the western facade of the Winter Palace, with windows overlooking the Admiralty. The premises of the second floor of the southwestern projection have forever lost their significance as the inner chambers of the head of state. The renovation of the chambers of Paul I began in 1818, on the eve of the arrival of King Frederick Wilhelm III of Prussia to Russia, making the "collegiate advisor Karl Rossi" responsible for the work. All design works were made according to his drawings. From that time on, the rooms in this part of the Winter Palace were officially called the "Prussian-Royal Rooms", and later - the second spare half of the Winter Palace. It is separated from the first half by the Alexander Hall; in the plan, this half consisted of two perpendicular enfilades overlooking Palace Square and Millionnaya Street, which were connected in different ways with the rooms facing the courtyard. There was a time when the sons of Alexander II lived in these rooms. First, Nikolai Alexandrovich (who was never destined to become the Russian emperor), and from 1863, his younger brothers Alexander (the future emperor Alexander III) and Vladimir. They moved out of the premises of the Winter Palace in the late 1860s, starting their independent life. At the beginning of the twentieth century, dignitaries of the “first level” were housed in the rooms of the Second Reserve Half, saving them from terrorist bombs. From the beginning of the spring of 1905, Governor-General of St. Petersburg Trepov lived there. Then in the fall of 1905, Prime Minister Stolypin and his family were accommodated in these premises.

The premises on the second floor along the southern facade, the windows of which are located to the right and left of the main gate, were also assigned by Paul I to his wife Maria Fedorovna in 1797. The clever, ambitious and strong-willed wife of Pavel, during her widowhood, managed to form a structure that was called the "department of Empress Maria Feodorovna." It was engaged in charity, education, providing medical care to representatives of various classes. In 1827, renovations were made in the chambers, which ended in March, and in November of the same year she died. Her third son, Emperor Nicholas I, decided to conserve her chambers. Later, the first spare half was formed there, consisting of two parallel enfilades. It was the largest of the palace halves, stretching along the second floor from the White Hall to the Alexander Hall. In 1839, temporary residents settled there: the eldest daughter of Nicholas I, the Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna and her husband, the Duke of Leuchtenberg. They lived there for almost five years, until the construction of the Mariinsky Palace was completed in 1844. After the death of Empress Maria Alexandrovna and Emperor Alexander II, their rooms became part of the First Reserve Half.

On the first floor of the southern facade between the Empress's entrance and up to the main gate leading to the Great Courtyard, the rooms of the Palace Grenadiers on duty (2 windows), Candlesticks (2 windows) and the office of the Emperor's Military Campaign Office (3 windows) looked out onto Palace Square. Next came the premises of the "Gough-Fourier and Chamber-Fourier positions". These premises ended at the Commandant's entrance, to the right of which the windows of the apartment of the Commandant of the Winter Palace began.

The entire third floor of the southern façade, along a long maid of honor, was occupied by the maid of honor's apartments. Since these apartments were a service living space, at the behest of the business executives or the emperor himself, the maid of honor could be moved from one room to another. Some of the ladies-in-waiting, quickly getting married, left the Winter Palace forever; others met there not only old age, but also death ...

The southwestern projection under Catherine II occupied the palace theater. It was demolished in the mid-1780s to accommodate the empress's many grandchildren. A small closed courtyard was arranged inside the risalit. The daughters of the future emperor Paul I were settled in the rooms of the south-western projection. In 1816, the Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna married Prince William of Orange and left Russia. Her chambers were remodeled under the direction of Carlo Rossi for the Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich and his young wife Alexandra Feodorovna. The couple lived in these rooms for 10 years. After the Grand Duke became Emperor Nicholas I in 1825, the couple moved in 1826 to the northwestern projection. And after the marriage of the heir-Tsarevich Alesandr Nikolaevich to the Princess of Hesse (the future Empress Maria Alexandrovna), they occupied the premises of the second floor of the south-western projection. Over time, these rooms became known as "Half of the Empress Maria Alexandrovna"