St. Petersburg’s Sumptuous Winter Palace
Larger Than Life: Art that inspires us through the ages
Russia’s monumental pastel-green Winter Palace in St. Petersburg was once home to some of the country’s most notable emperors and empresses. The palace encompasses many types of art and architecture, including Baroque, Neoclassical, and Gothic styles, through to Rococo.
In 1754, Empress Elizabeth Petrovna commissioned Italian architect Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli to build a Baroque winter palace that would surpass the beauty of the best European palaces.
Constructed over eight years, the palace contains more than 460 sumptuous rooms. But not all the rooms were decorated according to the original Baroque design. In 1762, just after her coronation, Empress Catherine II (Catherine the Great) took up residence in the Winter Palace. She favored the new Neoclassical style of architecture, and so the palace took on a more refined style.