Winter Palace Timeline

It was here in the second Winter Palace that Peter the Great died in 1725. On his death, Saint Petersburg was still far from being the centre of western culture he had envisioned.

Image source: Peter the Great

Peter I was succeeded by his widow, Catherine I, who reigned until her death in 1727.

Image source: Catherine I of Russia

In 1728, shortly after the third palace was completed, the Imperial Court left Saint Petersburg for Moscow, and the Winter Palace lost its status as the principal imperial residence.

Following the death of Peter II in 1730, Anna Ivanovna re-established the Imperial court at the Winter Palace, and in 1732 Saint Petersburg again officially replaced Moscow as Russia's capital.

Image source: Anna of Russia

The infant Tsar Ivan VI, succeeding Anna in 1740, was soon deposed in a bloodless coup d'état by Grand Duchess Elizabeth, a daughter of Peter the Great.

Image source: Elizabeth of Russia

In 1762, following a coup d'état in which her husband was murdered, Catherine paraded her seven-year-old son Paul on the Winter Palace's balcony to an excited crowd below.

In 1767, as the Winter Palace grew in richness and splendour, Empress Catherine the Great published an edict extending Russian serfdom.

Image source: Serfdom in Russia

Paul I took up residence at St Michael's Castle, where he was murdered three weeks after taking up residence in 1801.

Image source: Paul I of Russia

Alexander I was succeeded in 1825 by his brother Nicholas I, who effected many interior changes and rebuilt the palace after the fire of 1837.

Image source: Nicholas I of Russia

Empress Maria Feodorovna, wife of Alexander III, saw that a garden was laid out in the centre of the main courtyard in 1885, an area previously cobbled and lacking vegetation.

After succeeding Alexander III in 1894, Nicholas II and Alexandra established themselves at the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoe Selo in 1895, though they did reside at the Winter Palace during winter periods from December 1895.

Image source: Nicholas II of Russia

A themed fancy dress ball celebrating the reign of Alexei I took place on 11 and 13 February 1903—the last spectacular ball in the history of the empire, where the entire Imperial family posed in 17th-century attire for their final photograph together.

Image source: 1903 ball in the Winter Palace

With Russia at war with Japan and the newborn Tsarevich secretly ill, the Tsar and Empress permanently abandoned Saint Petersburg and the Winter Palace in 1904 for the greater comfort and privacy of Tsarskoe Selo.

In 1913, the Romanov dynasty celebrated its tercentenary, marked by various ceremonies around the country.

Image source: Romanov Tercentenary

Between 1764 and 1781 Catherine the Great acquired six major collections: those of Gotzkowsky, Brühl, Crozat, Walpole, Baudouin, and finally in 1787 the John Lyde-Brown collection.

In 1769, the Bruhl collection brought to the Winter Palace two further works by Rembrandt, Portrait of a Scholar and Portrait of an Old Man in Red.

Image source: Hermitage Museum

Following Napoleon's defeat in 1815, the contents of the Winter Palace were enhanced when Alexander I purchased the art collection of former French Empress Joséphine.

Image source: Alexander I of Russia

In 1850, the collection of Cristoforo Barbarigo was acquired from the Republic of Venice, bringing further works by Titian and many 16th-century Renaissance artworks to the palace.

Plans drawn up by Leo von Klenze and overseen by Vasily Stasov resulted, after eleven years of building and architectural conflict, in the first art museum in Russia, the Imperial Hermitage Museum, opening on 5 February 1852.

During Alexander II's reign there were further acquisitions: the ancient and archaeological collection of Marchese di Cavelli in 1861 and Leonardo da Vinci's Madonna and Child in 1865; the Benois Madonna followed in 1914.

Image source: Madonna Litta

On 30 October 1917, shortly after the October Revolution, the Winter Palace was declared to be part of the Hermitage public museums.

In 1920, to celebrate May Day, the high wall topped with decorated railings featuring eagles and monograms surrounding Her Majesty's Garden was demolished, having already been damaged since the revolution.

Following the Siege of Leningrad, a restoration policy was enacted which has fully restored the Winter Palace.

In 2022, the railings around the palace grounds were restored, and restoration of the imperial monograms and eagles is set to take place in the future.

On 5 February 1880 revolutionaries detonated an explosion in the Winter Palace, attempting to assassinate the Tsar and Imperial family as they dined.

Image source: Stepan Khalturin

The last tsar to truly reside in the Winter Palace, Alexander II, who ruled from 1855, was assassinated in 1881 as his carriage drove through the streets of Saint Petersburg.

Image source: Alexander II of Russia

On 9 January 1905 demonstrators marched toward the Winter Palace during a demonstration by workers, and were fired upon. By then the Imperial Family lived at the more secure Alexander Palace, returning only for formal occasions. The event catalysed the 1905 Revolution.

Image source: Bloody Sunday (1905)

The first State Duma opened in St George's Hall of the Winter Palace in 1906, one of the most momentous events in early 20th-century Russian history associated with the palace.

Image source: State Duma (Russian Empire)

In 1914, Russia was forced to go to war as a result of the Triple Entente Alliance, and Saint Petersburg was renamed Petrograd to rid itself of its German-sounding name.

Image source: World War I

From October 1915, rechristened the Tsarevich Alexey Nikolayevich Hospital, the palace was a fully equipped hospital with staterooms transformed into wards; the 1812 Gallery became a store room and the Jordan staircase vestibule a canteen.

Following the February Revolution of 1917, the Russian Provisional Government led by Alexander Kerensky based itself in the north west corner of the palace, with the Malachite Room serving as chief council chamber.

Image source: Russian Provisional Government

Stranded in his train while on his way back to the capital following Rasputin's murder and mounting revolution, Nicholas II abdicated on 15 March 1917 in favour of his brother Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich.

Image source: Abdication of Nicholas II

By 25 October 1917 the failing Provisional Government ordered the palace's defence against the Bolsheviks, who stormed it. The storming became a symbol of the October Revolution through Soviet art and Eisenstein's 1928 film October.

Image source: October Revolution

No member of the Romanov family lived in the Winter Palace after the 1917 abdication. Nicholas II, his wife and children were held in captivity until murdered by the Bolsheviks at Yekaterinburg in 1918.

Image source: Murder of the Romanov family

The Storming of the Winter Palace was a historical reenactment organised by the Bolsheviks in 1920 on the third anniversary, cementing the event's mythologised status.

Image source: The Storming of the Winter Palace

During the 1941–1944 Siege of Leningrad, the Winter Palace was damaged.

Image source: Siege of Leningrad