Winter Palace

First Winter Palace

Original “winter house” was a small single-storey wooden building created for Peter the Great on the bank of the River Neva (1708). Dismantled (1711) to make way for the Winter Palace by Domenico Trezzini (1711–12). When the palace was being built, the Winter Canal was dug between the River Moika and the River Neva to drain the territory. Peter celebrated his wedding to Catherine I on the ground floor of the building (19 February 1712).

Second Winter Palace

Georg Johann Mattarnovi built a second Winter Palace alongside the Winter Canal (1716–20). Peter the Great died in this building (1725). Domenico Trezzini reconstructed and widened the palace (1727).

Third Winter Palace

After reconstruction by Domenico Trezzini (1732), Empress Anna Ioannovna settled in the palace of Admiral Fyodor Apraxin, reconstructed by Jean-Baptiste-Alexandre Le Blond and situated approximately on the site of the current building. Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli added a new wing (1732–36).

Fourth Winter Palace

Created by Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli at the request of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna (1754–62). The Apraxin Palace was rebuilt and included in the building. Rectangular in shape, the fourth Winter Palace had an inner courtyard and faced Palace Square, the River Neva and the Admiralty. After the fire of December 1837, the Winter Palace was restored by Vasily Stasov, Auguste de Montferrand and Alexander Brullov and consecrated (1839).