The Winter Palace of Peter the Great

In March 1708, the first winter palace of Peter the Great was completed on Admiralty Island between the Little River Moika and the mighty Neva. It was later reconstructed several times. We do not know who designed the original palace, but it has been suggested that it was the Swiss architect Domenico Trezzini. This residence was a single-story wooden building with a porch and an attic floor topped with a pediment surrounded by a spire. In late 1711, work was completed on a new, second winter palace that was definitely designed by Domenico Trezzini. Now a two-story building, it was protected from flooding by a high semi-basement. The main façade was marked by three projecting sections. Above the central one, there was a gable dormer with three windows. A pair of single-story side wings flanked the palace. As time went on, the second winter palace ceased to meet the requirements of the Tsar and his family, so the German architect Georg Johann Maternovi designed a new residence. The main block of the third winter palace faced the Neva, while it was adjoined by a fairly small two-story side wing containing the royal apartments. To the south of this wing, a small parterre garden was laid out with a fountain and a little harbor for small vessels. However, this palace proved too small and Peter decided to triple the size of the main Neva side block. By the autumn of 1723, the architects Nikolaus Friedrich Himmel, Bartolomeo Carlo Rastrelli, and Domenico Trezzini had made the fourth winter palace an immense imperial residence. The central part of the building was given the appearance of a triumphal arc. The apartments of the emperor's children were in the eastern part of the palace. The Tsar's own private rooms remained, as before, in the western block. On the second floor, an office for conducting the affairs of state was constructed for him. It was there, on the night of the 28th of January 1725, that Peter the Great passed away. Soon, the new ruler, Peter's widow, Empress Catherine I, signed a decree on the enlargement of the winter palace, in accordance with which two-story blocks were erected along the winter canal and service premises were constructed around the remaining perimeter of the plot. The fifth winter palace became a complete quadrangle of buildings around a huge inner courtyard. After Catherine I's death in 1727, no further Russian rulers lived in this palace. In 1783, Catherine II gave orders for the Hermitage Theatre to be built on the site of Peter's winter palace. Following the architect Giacomo Quarenghi's plan, part of the building was dismantled, but it was decided to retain the façade overlooking the Neva. For ease of access to the theatre auditorium from the large Hermitage, a covered walkway was constructed supported by an arch. In August 1786, on Catherine II's instructions, the façade of Peter the Great's winter palace was, nonetheless, dismantled to the foundation level, giving way to the majestic building of the theatre. So, at the end of the 18th century, it seemed that one of the most significant edifices from Peter the Great's time had vanished forever. In 1992, however, following research work, many of the rooms of Peter the Great's winter palace were recovered. The surviving part of the building was given over to an architectural and memorial display devoted to the first Russian emperor. The reconstructed private apartments of Peter the Great make it possible to sense the unique atmosphere of his era, an age that opened a new chapter in the history of Russia.