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1754-1762: Construction of the Winter Palace commissioned by Empress
Catherine II. Architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli (1700-1771)
In 1754 Empress Elizabeth Petrovna approved the design for a new winter
residence in Baroque style by the architect Bartolommeo Francesco Rastrelli.
Construction of the new palace took over eight years, covering the last
years of Elizabeth's reign and the short rule of Peter III. In autumn1763,
Empress Catherine II returned to St Petersburg after her coronation in
Moscow and became the royal mistress of the Winter Palace.
Empress Elizabeth wished the beauty of her sumptuous new palace to eclipse
that of the leading European royal palaces. Construction required an enormous
sum of money and involved vast numbers of labourers. Over 4,000 people,
including Russia's greatest specialists, worked on the creation of the
Winter Palace. Contemporaries describe the luxurious decoration of the
state and other rooms (over 460 in all). But the architect was unable
to complete the work as originally intended, for the new monarch, Catherine
the Great, was an admirer of the new architectural fashion, Neoclassicism.
She was to seek new designers and architects to carry out her plans.
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View of the Winter Palace

View of the Winter Palace |