|
|
The Winter Palace is undoubtedly the most famous building of imperial St. Petersburg, not only as the residence of the czars and the backdrop for the 1905 and 1917 Revolutions, but also as the home of the Hermitage, the world's largest museum of art. The present structure, completed in 1762 and designed by Bartolomeo Rastrelli, was commissioned by the Empress Elizabeth. Its opulent baroque facade, stretching two hundred meters, is a veritable cornucopia of pilasters, bays, and statuary. The palace served as the winter residence for every ruler of Russia since Peter III, who installed himself there along with his mistress, the Countess Vorontsova. After his wife Catherine the Great seized the throne, she redecorated and appropriated her husband's old quarters. While her grandson Nicholas I lived in a modest apartment there, his wife Alexandra commissioned the famously luxurious Malachite Room, later to be used as the meeting place for Kerensky's Provisional Government. Nicholas II had his quarters immediately above this room until 1904, when he moved from the increasingly discontented capital to Tsarskoe Selo. In July of 1917, the Provisional Government took up residence here, thus setting the stage for the October Revolution. After consolidating its power, the Bolshevik government transferred its capital to Moscow, and since that time the Winter Palace has been associated primarily with its role as the Hermitage Museum.
The Hermitage
With the possible exception of the Louvre, there is no museum in the world that rivals the Hermitage in size and quality. Its collection is so large that it would take years to view it in its entirety-at last count, there were nearly three million works on exhibit. The museum is especially strong in Italian Renaissance and French Impressionist paintings, as well as possessing outstanding collections of works by Rembrandt, Picasso, and Matisse. Visitors should also take advantage of its excellent Greek and Roman antiquities collection and its exhibits of Siberian and Central Asian art. Not least among the attractions of the Hermitage is the museum itself, with its fine interior decoration and architectural detail. As the Hermitage is so enormous, its collection so strong and diverse, and its interior so attractive in its own right, many visitors find that the very best way to tour the museum is to make several briefer visits rather than one frenetic and exhausting marathon tour. While there is much to be gained by simply allowing the curiosity of one's eye to take at least occasional precedence over a list of works and collections dictated by a guidebook or even a guide. The origins of the Hermitage can be traced back to the private art collection of Peter the Great, who purchased numerous works during his travels abroad and later hung them in his residence. Catherine the Great expanded the collection considerably, and she and her successors built the Hermitage collection in large part with purchases of the private collections of the Western European aristocracy and monarchy. By the time Nicholas II ascended the throne in 1894, he was heir to the greatest collection of art in Europe. After the Revolution of 1917, the museum was opened to the public, and its collection was further augmented by the addition of modern works taken from private collections. Today, the Hermitage has embarked on a major renovation effort. Its collection is in the process of being reorganised, and many of its works have for the first time become available for travelling exhibits outside of the country.
From 1904 the Winter Palace effectively ceased to be an official Imperial residence and was only used for ceremonies. Nicholas II preferred to live at the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoye Selo. During World War I the interiors of the Winter Palace changed radically. For instance, in October 1915 empty state rooms were used to house the Tsesarevich Alexey Nikolayevich Hospital, which continued in existence until November 1917. Beds for wards now filled the Nevsky Suite, running between the Fieldmarshals' Hall and the Malachite Room, and the Alexander and Picket Halls. The Fieldmarshals' Hall housed a dressing station while the Armorial Hall with its richly gilded columns became an operating-room. Doctors on duty were accommodated in the Memorial Hall of Peter the Great, hospital attendants in the galleries of the Nicholas Hall and the Anteroom, and nurses in the guest rooms. The Military Gallery of 1812 served as a medical store room. The vestibule of the Main Staircase was used as a dining-room, while its landings served as the head physician's room, reception room, laboratory and X-ray room.
Most of the contents of the Museum meanwhile, had been sent to Moscow for safety. As the First World War turned into a Civil War in Russia, and the front came ever closer to the city (named Petrograd between 1914 and 1924 as a reaction against the Germanic name Sankt Peterburg), it was not until 1921 that the collections were returned.
