Winter Palace Facts for Kids

The Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia, is one of the greatest and largest palaces. It was, from 1732 to 1917, the official residence of the Russian Tsars. It was built on the shores of the Neva River between 1754 and 1762.

Tsar Nicholas I, in the 19th century, was responsible for the palace's present appearance and layout. He made many changes to the interior of the palace, and was responsible for its complete rebuilding after the fire of 1837.

The Winter Palace

On 30 October 1917, the palace was declared to be part of the Hermitage Museum. Today, the palace, as part one of the world's most famous museums, attracts an annual 3.5 million visitors.

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Palace Square at night
Winter Palace Library
The Golden Drawing Room
The Armorial Hall
The Field-Marshall's Hall, by Sadovnikov, 1852.
The St Georges Hall by Ukhtomsky, 1862.
The Great Ante-Chamber (waiting room), Ukhtomsky 1861.
The Throne Room of Empress Maria Fiodorovna, ~1831.
Nicholas II, last Tsar of all the Russias, in the Nicholas Hall of the Winter Palace.

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The first Winter Palace, designed in 1711 for Peter the Great, by Domenico Trezzini who, 16 years later, was to design the third Winter Palace.
The third Winter Palace of 1727. Designed by Domenico Trezzini it incorporated the second Winter Palace of 1721 by Georg Mattarnovy as one of its terminating pavilions.
The principal or "Jordan Staircase", (8 on the plan below) so-called because on the Feast of the Epiphany the Tsar descended this Imperial staircase in state for the ceremony of the "Blessing of the Waters." It is one of the few parts of the palace retaining Rastrelli's 18th century rococo style. The massive grey granite columns were, however, added in the mid-19th century. Painting by Konstantin Ukhtomsky.
St George's Hall (13 on plan above), the principal throne room of the Tsars of Russia. The room was a late addition to the Palace for Catherine II. Painting by Konstantin Ukhtomsky
Frans Hals' Portrait of a Young Man Holding a Glove, purchased for the Winter Palace in 1764
Rembrandt's Portrait of a Scholar purchased in 1769. The painting is one of several by Rembrandt in the former Imperial Collection.
The Rotunda (26). This circular hall, dating from the early 19th century, links the state and private rooms of the palace, and represents the final and neoclassical stage of the palace's evolution. Painting by Yefim Tukharinov
The Nicholas Hall (6 on plan) is the principal reception room, at the centre of the Neva enfilade. This room was the setting for court balls. Painting by Konstantin Ukhtomsky
The Small Throne Room (10 on plan) was created by Auguste de Montferrand in 1833. It has columns of jasper. Diplomats gathered here on New Year's Day to offer good wishes to the Emperor.
Plan showing the use and division of the principal floor, as occupied in the 1840s. 1 (red): State and most formal rooms; 2 (dark green): Apartments of the Tsar; 3 (pink): Apartments of the Empress; 4: Apartments of the Tsarevich, other times part of principal guest suite; 5: Apartments of the Tsarevna; 6: Apartments reserved for guests of the highest rank and members of the Imperial Family; 7: Nurseries of the 3rd and the 4th in line to the throne; 8: General private rooms of the Imperial Family; 9: Principal guest suite, used immediately after their marriage by Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna and her husband
Fire in the Winter Palace by Boris Green
The Armorial Hall, or Guard Room, (11 on plan) is decorated with vast stucco panoplies.
The Winter Palace's Grand Church today retains its original rococo decoration. The onion dome above it is one of the few concessions to an older Russian architecture allowed to be visible from the exterior. Painting by Eduard Hau
The Atlantes portico of Nicholas I's New Hermitage, Russia's first public art gallery.
Nicholas II and the Empress dressed as Alexis I and Maria Miloslavskaya, for the Winter Palace's last Imperial ball
St George's Hall (13), 1906: The throne draped and flanked by the Imperial Romanov regalia, the Imperial family (to the left of the throne) and the 1st State Duma witness the Tsar opening the first Duma. The Tsar's sister believed: "The workmen....looked as though they hated us."
In 1914, the Tsar and Empress bless their troops from the balcony of the Winter Palace.
1915, the Nicholas Hall, transformed to a hospital ward.
Rastrelli's Neva facade upon which Aurora trained her guns
The Malachite Room, seat of the Provisional Government, who were arrested in the adjoining Private Dining Room. Painting by Konstantin Ukhtomsky
Soviet ski troops by the New Hermitage during the Leningrad Siege in 1943.

Winter Palace facts for kids

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