State Rooms in the Winter Palace and the Small Hermitage

The Winter Palace. The Main Staircase / Ambassador Staircase is called so because the receptions of ambassadors took place here.Jordan Staircase. Staircase got the third name thanks to the Epiphany celebrations when the members of the royal family went downstairs to watch the celebration at the Neva River. According to the Bible, the sacrament of baptism took place in the Jordan River, which role the Neva River played during the celebrations in Saint Petersburg.

The Field Marshal's Room is an example of the classical architecture style of the 19 th century. The ambassador receptions continued here therefore there is no furniture since no one was allowed to seat during the receptions. Now there is a carriage that was bought by Peter I for his wife Catherine I. She used it only once during the coronation.

The Small Throne Room / the Peter I Room. The room is dedicated to Peter the Great. He had never lived there but his daughter Elizabeth wanted to consecrate this room to her father's memory. There is a portrait (by Jacopo Amiconi) of Peter the Great with the goddess of Wisdom Minerva and a throne (by an English silversmith Clausen) purchased in England. Peter the Great had never used it too.

The Emblems Room. The room was meant for balls and receptions. It got its name because of the 50 emblems representing districts of Russia that decorate the chandeliers.

The Gallery of 1812. This is a memorial room reminding of Russian victory over Napoleon in 1812. There are 332 portraits of the generals that participated in the Patriotic War. An English painter George Dawe spent 10 years to complete the work on all these portraits. 7 large pictures are portraits of Alexander I, of the Prussian king, of the imperator of Austria, of field marshals Mikhail Kutuzov and Barclay de Tolly, of the count Wellington and grand prince Konstantin. Also one can notice blank frames. These places were meant for the portraits of the generals that perished during the war without leaving any images. They are 13 of them.

The Large Throne Room / St. George's Room. The room is one of the best works by architect Vasily Stasov. The room is decorated with Carrara marble and gilded bronze. The floor ornament was produced by using 16 different kinds of wood. A marble bas-relief showing Saint George, the patron saint of Russia, decorates the walls above the throne that belonged to Nicolas II, the last tsar of Russia.

The Small Hermitage. The Pavilion Room. Before the reconstruction there were 7 pavilions where Catherine II could arrange meetings with the most intimate guests. Now the hall is divided into 2 parts by the row of columns. The attention can be paid to the following attractions: the mosaic tables, the Fountains of Tears and the most famous "Peacock" clock that was made in 1767 in London by James Cox. The clock works rarely playing a special melody while all the animals are moving.

The Council Staircase. The staircase joins 3 edifices: the Small Hermitage, the Old and the New Hermitage. The ground floor of the Old Hermitage was the place of the State Council's meetings, thus the staircase got its name.

The Winter Palace.

The Minor Dining Room. The furniture in the room is typical for 18 th century traditions. This room was the witness of the events of the October Revolution of 1917. Here the members of the Provisional Government met for the last time before their arrest.

The Malachite Room. The room is decorated with the semi-precious stones from the Urals.

The Dark Corridor. The corridor has no windows because it was meant for the tapestries that can be ruined by daylight.

The Raphael Loggia. These are the original-size copies of Raphael's famous frescoes in the Vatican Gallery. The copies were made in the 18th century by a group of masters under the supervision of Christopher Unterberger. The works took place in Vatican and later the complete loggia was brought to Saint Petersburg. In 1785 Giacomo Quarenghi designed the gallery for displaying these replicas.

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