Parade halls of the Winter Palace

The main halls of the Winter Palace make a literally deafening impression not only on the “fresh” visitor, but also on the regular guests of the State Hermitage. Even the route of passage of the imperial family through the enfilade of ceremonial halls, built by generations of Russian emperors, had a deep, sacred meaning. The scenario of the Great Outs worked out to the smallest detail served not only as a demonstration of the brilliance of autocratic power, but also as an appeal to the past and present of Russian history within the framework of the official paradigm “Orthodoxy – Autocracy – Nationality” proclaimed under Nicholas I.

The main ceremonial enfilade of the Winter Palace starts from the Jordan Steps and leads to the St. George (Grand Throne) Hall and the Great Church of the Winter Palace.

The halls, which have preserved their historical decoration, give an idea of the grand palace interiors of the XIX century.

1. The main front enfilade is opened by the Field Marshal Hall. It served as a place of duty and divorce of the guards palace guard, there are portraits of Russian field marshals, three of whom are full St. George cavaliers.
2. The neighborPetrovsky memorial "temple" hall is dedicated to the memory of Peter I. This is the most beautiful, bright, solemn and rich in decoration hall. In addition to the portrait of Peter I, you can see one of the royal thrones. The hall is also called the Small Throne Hall, where small royal receptions of foreign ambassadors took place.
3. It is followed by the Arms Hall - the second largest ceremonial interior of the palace and the most golden. In this hall, the emperor received delegations from the provincial cities of Russia, representatives of different estates - local nobility, city tops, merchants.
   But not only... It was here that Catherine II received the blacksmith Vakula.
4. From the Arms Hall you can go to the Military Gallery of 1812, which was created as a monument to military valor of Russia, which won the war with Napoleon - 332 portraits of generals of the Russian army in the very center of the royal residence.
5. The doors in the center of the Military Gallery lead to the St. George Hall, where the throne ceremonies took place. Wars were declared and peace treaties were signed. Here Nicholas II established the State Duma.
6. Behind the Military Gallery there is a small room, Prechurch, located on the eve of the Great Church of the Winter Palace - the second of only two extant Rastrellievsky interiors. In this church, royal children were baptized, here they married, here monarchs sought help from the Almighty.
7. Nearby is the Picket (New) Hall, which was intended for divorces of the palace guard - picket.
8. And behind it, the Alexander Hall, named after Emperor Alexander I, is a unique interior at the junction of European Gothic and Russian classicism.

Along the Neva there is the Nevsky Grand Enfilade of the Winter Palace, originating from the Jordan Stairs. In the halls of the Nevsky enfilade, official ceremonies and court festivities were held.

The Nevsky ceremonial enfilade consists of three main halls:

1. Advance. Here guests were waiting for the doors of the Nikolaev Hall to open and the ball will begin.
2. Nikolaevsky Hall is the main hall of the Nevsky Grand Enfilade. The largest hall of the Winter Palace (1103 sq.m.), was intended for official ceremonies and balls.
3. Concert hall. The name speaks for itself. Today there is a silver tomb of St. Alexander Nevsky, which was created by order of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna from the first Russian silver in St. Petersburg and until 1922 was in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

Created at the end of the XVIII century. Giacomo Quarenghi interiors of the Neva enfilade burned in a fire in 1837 and were restored by V.P. Stasov, in accordance with the architectural fashion of the middle of the XIX century.
Behind the Concert Hall is the Malachite Living Room (connecting the main halls and the personal royal chambers), the doors from it lead to the Small Dining Room and the Arap Dining Room. From the latter you can get into the hall of a circular layout, with a dome overlap, called the Rotunda (Arch. Auguste Montferrand).
The rotunda is located at the junction of the two buildings of the building.