Private Apartments of the Winter Palace

During the October Revolution of 1917, this was the entrance by which the revolutionaries gained access to the palace in order to arrest the Provisional Government in the small private dining room.

The plan used (right) is based on the arrangement of rooms prior to 1917; it has since been altered to accommodate the palace's use today as part of the complex of buildings which comprise the State Hermitage Museum.

During the 1780s, the interior design of the palace was changed from the ornate rococo designed by Francesco Rastrelli to the simpler Neoclassical decoration still prevalent in the state rooms today; the private rooms, however, seem to have been frequently redecorated according to the (often simple) tastes of their occupants;[3] and in terms of decoration, luxury and use they do not correspond to the Petit appartement du roi at Versailles or to the Private Apartments at the Hofburg Palace, in Vienna, or at Windsor Castle.

[5] Able to work competently in a variety of styles, his commission was to rebuild the private and semi-private rooms according to the tastes of their intended occupants.

The architects involved in the rebuilding of the palace were able to take advantage of construction developments not available to Rastrelli and Quarenghi in their original plans.

[7] He decorated the crimson boudoir of the Tsaritsa Alexandra Feodorovna in a Rococo revival that Quarenghi had all but eradicated from the palace 70 years earlier.

This suite of rooms is at the centre and southern end of the private wing, overlooking the Admiralty and Palace Square.

It was along this long passageway that Maria Fedorovna in her memoirs talked of following great drips of congealed blood to find her father-in-law, the dying Tsar in his study.

[11] Alexander III and Maria Feodorovna with their family lived in the more secure Gatchina Palace, due to the several attacks to the former Tsar.

Nicholas II ascended the throne in 1894 and married his wife, Tsaritsa Alexandra Feodorovna in the first days of his reign in a lavish ceremony at the Winter Palace.

In style and content, the suite was intended to epitomise the domestic ethic of the couple, which was to live in an almost bourgeois fashion in small cosy home; at heart the Tsaritsa was a "hausfrau".

"[17] The court was horrified that the furniture was purchased mail order from Maples of London, while her mauve boudoir (at Alexander Palace) has been described as "a horror to all who saw it.

[18] From this was a large bathroom (overlooking an internal courtyard) designed by the court architect, Krasovsky, which had a sunken bath reached by eight marble steps.

During the reign of Nicholas II and his wife, court life was quieter than it had ever been, due to the Tsaritsa's retiring nature and mistrust of St Petersburg's high society.

"[20] Under her influence, gradually the great court receptions and balls at the Winter Palace, which humoured and cultivated the powerful nobility, came to an end, to be briefly replaced by theatricals held in the Hermitage which "no one enjoyed.

The former study or boudoir (4 on plan) of the Tsaritsa Alexandra Feodorovna (wife of Nicholas II) was redesigned for her by Alexander Krasovsky between 1894 and 1895.

[23] Today the room displays the work of Heinrich Gambs, a notable Russian cabinet maker of the early 19th century.

Formerly known as the Pompeian Dining Room, the Small Dining-room was redecorated in 1894–95 for the newly married Nicholas II and his Tsaritsa, by Krasovsky.

Today, with the exception of the library, the rooms are simply decorated and display part of the Hermitage Museum's vast collection of art; no reference is made to their former use.

The private Wing of the Winter Palace, photographed circa 1900, from Tsaritsa Alexandra 's new garden. The door at the centre is the Saltykov Entrance.
The piano nobile of the Winter Palace . The private apartments are shaded pink. Rooms are given their pre-1918 titles. [ a ] 1: Malachite Drawing Room ; 2: Empire Drawing Room; 3: Silver Drawing Room; 4: Sitting room; 5: Bedroom of Alexandra Feodorovna; 6: Boudoir; 7: Nicholas II's study; 8: Small Dining Room; 9: Library; 10: Billiard Room; 11: Tsar's Audience Room (next: Saltykov Staircase) 12: 14: Alexander II's study; 19: Bedroom of Maria Alexandrovna ; 20: Crimson Boudoir; 21: Crimson cabinet; 22: Gold Drawing Room ; 23: HM's Own Staircase; 25: Dining Room; 26: Schoolroom; 28: The Rotunda; 29: Chapel ; 30: Arabian Hall ; 31: Winter Garden ; 32: White Hall.
The Rotunda (28 on the plan). This circular, domed hall, dating from the early 19th century, links the state and private rooms of the palace, and in its design represents the final and neoclassical stage of the palace's evolution.
The bedroom of Tsaritsa Maria Alexandrovna
Memorial bust to Alexander II placed on the spot where he died in 1881.
The Crimson Cabinet, the study of Maria Alexandrovna
Tsar Alexander II died on the chaise longue by the columns
A former drawing room of the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (room No. 4 on plan above). The marble chimney piece is a replacement.
The bedroom of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna photographed in 1900.
A 19th-century view of the private wing showing projecting, canopied balconies; these along with the wall surrounding the private garden have now been removed.
The Gothic library designed by Krasovsky for Nicholas II
His Majesty's Own Staircase (today the October Staircase), which gives access to the private apartments from the ground floor. It was used by revolutionaries during the storming of the palace. [ 25 ]