The Winter Palace is one of the most solemn and magnificent buildings of St. Petersburg. Its elegant facades are associated with the best views of the Northern capital, the turning events of Russian history and the greatest museum of the country and the world - the Hermitage. But if the facades basically retained their original appearance, then with the interiors the situation is completely different.
The palace was built by order of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna as the royal royal residence. Italian architect Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli erected a baroque building. Particularly elegant, magnificent and magnificent this style in Russia of the middle of the 18th century was called Elizabethan Baroque. The palace was built for more than ten years, from 1754 to 1762 and the daughter of Peter did not have a chance to live in it. Catherine II immediately ordered to remodel the interiors in accordance with the new fashion. At the end of the XVIII - the first quarter of the XIX century, all the premises, with a few exceptions, begin to take on a new look in the style of classicism, which then prevailed in Russian architecture. But even these ensembles are currently known only from graphic and documentary materials.
In December 1837, a fire broke out in the palace. The building with wooden ceilings glowed for thirty hours. On the second and third floors, almost everything was destroyed by fire. The commission for the restoration of the palace was created the very next day, it was headed by architects Vasily Stasov and Alexander Bryullov.
It was decided to change part of the interiors, but others, which had special significance, needed to be restored. Among such interiors is the Main Staircase. It was created as the Ambassadorial, because ambassadors of foreign powers were to climb it. Therefore, Rastrelli made the staircase unusually solemn and magnificent. From the first steps along it, the power and grandeur of the Russian state should have been felt. The royal family descended to this Neva during the celebration of the Epiphany. In memory of the baptism of Christ in the waters of the Jordan River, the staircase was called the Jordan.
Rastrelli's staircase turned out to be really magnificent. A huge space suddenly opens to an incoming person - more than twenty meters high. The architect took the entire northeast risalit of the building to accommodate this staircase. Walls with a white gold ornament give the impression of exquisite luxury. Huge windows are cut through from the north side, the wall is blank on the opposite side and window frames are made here, in which mirrors are inserted. From this space seems even brighter and more spacious. At the level of the second floor, space increases due to the gallery with columns. Rastrelli set up wooden columns lined with pink artificial marble. Stasov replaced them with granite. The ceiling is decorated with paintings; this is a painting by the Italian artist Gradizzi, depicting the Olympic gods. The picture that Stasov found in the storerooms of the Hermitage in order to replace the burned one turned out to be smaller. And then the remaining space was painted, this painting creates the illusion of a continuation of architectural elements, a similar technique was also often used in the Baroque era.
From the upper platform, two doors lead to the enfilades of the front rooms. Rastrelli made Nevsky Enfilade the main one, it was through her that one could get into the throne room. Now the main suite has become the main one, it is located perpendicular to the Nevsky and occupies the entire eastern side of the building. The interiors of this enfilade have lost their original appearance even before the fire.
In 1833, Auguste Montferrand was entrusted with the design of the hall dedicated to the memory of Peter I. The main substantive element of the hall was painting, as was customary in the era of classicism. In the memorial hall there were paintings glorifying the exploits of Peter. The main canvas of the artist Amikoni placed in a deep niche. It depicts the Russian autocrat with the goddess of wisdom Minerva. The walls of the hall were covered with raspberry velvet, the ceiling was gilded, and the floors were decorated with typeset parquet composed of nine types of wood. Unfortunately, Petrovsky Hall was in the midst of a fire. But Stasov managed to recreate it almost in its original form. The main decorative elements have been preserved. But gilded pilasters are added along the walls, and a bronze double-headed eagle is placed in the center of each wall, all this gives the hall even more solemnity.
It so happened that for some time the Winter Palace did not have a large ceremonial throne room. In 1781, it was decided for him to attach a new building. It is located on the eastern side between the northern and eastern risalits. The work was supervised by Giacomo Quarenghi, who came from Italy. The second name of the hall is St. George's, in honor of the patron saint of Russia. Before the fire, the huge two-room hall was decorated with marble of white, gray, light red and blue. The decoration was complemented by gilded bronze, a painted ceiling and typeset parquet.
The name of Vasily Petrovich Stasov is not accidentally called among the main architects - the creators of the Winter Palace. His talent was applied to the restoration of many front rooms. For the new design of the Throne Hall, he used only white marble. All parts were made according to the drawings of Stasov in Carrara, in Italy. The main colors of the renovated interior were white - the color of marble and gold - 18 thousand gilded bronze details. Even Stasov decided not to paint the ceiling, but to break it into deep caissons decorated with gilded ornaments. The magnificent decoration was complemented by multi-tiered chandeliers.
Equally important is Stasov’s merit in giving the current look to the 1812 Gallery. This memorial hall is dedicated to the glorious victory in World War II. Its design was entrusted to Karl Ivanovich Rossi. The architect had a difficult task, portraits of heroes were to be placed in a rather narrow room more than 50 meters long. To avoid monotony, Rossi divided it into three parts by paired columns and relief arches on the arches. Fortunately, during the fire, the portraits were saved, but Stasov could no longer restore the interior as it was due to the fact that neighboring rooms were rebuilt. As a result, the gallery has become longer. Stasov did not divide the space, but on the contrary emphasized its unity with a smooth cylindrical arch. The ceiling is decorated with grisaille painting; in addition, the hall is decorated with bas-reliefs over doorways and curly candlesticks. As a result, the hall, the main element of which are portraits located along all the walls, became more solemn, which corresponded to the spirit of the new era.
The memory of the victory of 1812 in a figuratively allegorical form is also perpetuated by the Bryullov Alexander Hall. The idea to create an interior in the palace dedicated to the victorious emperor appeared in the early 1830s, but it was possible to realize it only when the building was restored after a fire. In turn, it was this circumstance that allowed Alexander Bryullov to fully realize his decoratively bold project. The architect divided the space of the two-room hall with pylons protruding from the walls. The most spectacular part is the ceiling. Four central parts are covered with fan arches bearing gently sloping domes, and two side parts with cylindrical arches. From the middle of the 19th century, historicism reigned in Russian architecture - a special style that turned to the architecture of the past. In the decoration and design of the Alexander Hall, Bryullov used elements of Gothic architecture. Memorial sound is given to the interior by paintings, stucco moldings with military symbols and 24 relief medallions on the themes of the war of 1812 by the sculptor Tolstoy.
Bryullov also worked on the design of personal chambers of members of the imperial family. Half of the Empress Alexandra Fedorovna, wife of Nicholas I, began with three living rooms, the most famous of them being Malachite. There are few interiors equal to this in exquisite luxury and elegant solemnity. The living room walls are decorated with white marble, the white ceiling is densely decorated with gilded stucco, gilded doors and other details are only accompaniment for the noble greenery of the Ural malachite. The discovery of this material in the Ural mines of Demidov deposits made it possible to design an entire interior with a rare stone.
