The Winter Palace was home for some of the greatest Russian Tsars beginning with Peter III. The Palace was built for Empress Elisabeth, the daughter of Peter the Great. Sadly, Elisabeth died before completion of her palace.
Baroque Masterpiece
It's very impressive. Three stories high, and consuming an entire one square city block, the palace has 1,945 windows,1,057 rooms and 1,987 doors. The playful forms of the windows and door frames, the Corinthian columns and an abundance of statues and vases on the roof display the granduer that is typical of the Baroque style.
Viva La Russian Revolution
Some of the most important events in Russian history is connected with the Winter Palace and it's inhabitants. After the February Revolution in Russia, the Winter Palace became the headquarters for the Russian Provisional Government. The assualt on the Palace by the Bolshevik forces was the beginning of the October Revolution.
State Hermitage Museum - Catherine's Legacy
The Palace is but only a part of an impressive complex of buildings known as the State Hermitage Museum founded by Catherine the Great. There visitors will come face to face with paintings by Di Vinci, Michaelangelo, many of the French Impressionists, plus several sculptures by Rodin.
With over 2.7 million exhibits there's something to delight everyone. Artifacts range from Ancient Egypt to early 20th century. It has been said that if you were to spend a minute looking at each exhibit, you would need 11 years before you'd seen them all!
This article is part of the Historic Travel series on The St. Petersburg Traveler.
