St. Petersburg Palaces Showcase Russia’s Former Empire
Throughout the 1700s, Russia competed with the other great empires of Europe to develop geopolitical power and become a world leader. Living in the dreary capital of Moscow, Russian czars envied the great palaces of the French royalty in Versailles, the Ottomans in Istanbul and the Hapsburgs in Vienna. Eventually, Peter the Great and his heirs launched a national effort to create a new capital on the Baltic to give Russia a “window to the west”. These efforts included filling the swamps and marshlands of the region, ordering noble families to relocate their residences to the city, and impressing tens of thousands of serfs from all over the country to work on building great palaces. By the time Peter’s daughter, Catherine the Great, died in 1796, there were several dozen palaces and castles with a grandeur that was second to none constructed in the new city called St. Petersburg.
Hemitage Museum
One of the best-known palaces located in the City is the Winter Palace which served as the main residence of the Romanov czars for several hundred years. It is the principal stop of most tours because in addition to the decorative halls and chambers of the buildings, the Winter Palace today houses the famous Hermitage Museum. The museum’s collection of art, culture and artifacts includes everything from bronze age treasures to Greek statues to Italian renaissance paintings to Russian Faberge eggs. More than 3 million people visit the museum each year to admire its works.
In terms of sheer beauty, we enjoyed visiting the summer residence of Peter’s wife, Catherine, located in the nearby town of Tsarskoye Selo. Known as Catherine’s Palace, the exterior of the palace is renowned for its light blue and white exterior, covered with gold leaf. The rectangular building is more than a kilometer in length and includes a royal carriage house with more than a dozen ornate carriages. Inside, the most popular attractions are the Amber Room where amber panels with hand-carved decorations can be viewed, and the Chinese Drawing room with walls of silk fabric adorned with scenes of China.
On the night we visited, our tour group was welcomed to the palace by a military band and then greeted by a faux czar and czarina. They escorted us into the gold plated Grand Hall where the royal family, ambassadors and other dignitaries once dined and danced in splendor, while the Russian peasantry struggled to survive in the countryside.
Peterhof Palace
Another interesting palace to visit is the Grand Palace at Peterhof located on the shores of the Gulf of Finland which was built by Peter’s daughter Elizabeth in 1750 and redesigned in the 1850s. The exterior of this bright yellow palace is considered by some to be understated. Nevertheless, the gold statues, stepped fountains and pools of the outside courtyard known as the Grand Cascade look out to the waterfront and are one of the most photographed locations in St. Petersburg area. Locals flock to the elaborate palace gardens on weekends to go for walks, enjoy the fountains and picnic.
The present image of St. Petersburg may be beautiful, but much of the region was ravaged by the violence during the 20th century. Both the communist revolution of 1917, which started in St. Petersburg, and the German siege of the city which lasted three years and resulted in the death of several million combatants and civilians, caused much devastation to the area. The restored sites and troubled history on display in St. Petersburg today show the two results of Russia’s past imperial ambitions.