Latest / The Romanov Dynasty: Rise, Power, and Bloody End — Fexingo History / The Romanovs' Winter Palace: From Rastrelli to Revolution
Transcript
- Lucas: So, we've talked a lot about the Romanovs as people — their politics, their tragedies, their secrets. But I think it's worth stepping back and looking at the stage where so much of their drama played out: the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. Luna: The one with the green and white facade, right? The Hermitage today? Lucas: Exactly. But it wasn't always a museum. For nearly two centuries, it was the official residence of the Russian emperors, and it went through several incarnations. The version we know today was largely built under Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, Peter the Great's daughter, starting in 1754. Lucas: She hired an Italian architect named Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli, who designed this massive, exuberant Baroque palace. It's got over a thousand rooms, fifteen hundred if you count the smaller spaces. The facade is that iconic pale green with white columns and gold trim. It was meant to project power — and it did. Luna: Over a thousand rooms. That's... hard to picture. What was the most impressive space? Lucas: Probably the Jordan Staircase. That's the main ceremonial entrance, a double staircase of white marble with gilded columns and a huge ceiling painting. Ambassadors and dignitaries would ascend it for imperial audiences. And then there's the Malachite Room, which is lined with deep green malachite panels — that stone was so prized that the room alone used over two tons of it. Luna: Wait — two tons? Just for one room? Lucas: Yeah, the Ural Mountains had these huge deposits of malachite, and the Romanovs went all in. That room became a favourite of Empress Alexandra, and it's where the last imperial family held many of their private gatherings. But the palace wasn't just about opulence. It was also a political statement. Catherine the Great, who came after Elizabeth, turned the Winter Palace into a cultural powerhouse. Lucas: She started the Hermitage collection — what's now one of the world's greatest art museums. She bought entire collections from Europe, like the paintings of Rembrandt and Rubens, and housed them in what she called her 'small hermitage' — a wing of the palace where she could retreat with close friends. Luna: So the Hermitage started as like a private gallery for the empress? Lucas: Exactly. But it grew fast. By the 19th century, the Winter Palace complex included several buildings — the Small Hermitage, the Old Hermitage, the New Hermitage — all connected and filled with art. And the palace itself kept being renovated and expanded. But it also had a near-disaster in 1837. Luna: The fire, right? I've heard about that. Lucas: Yeah, a massive fire broke out in December 1837. It started in the Field Marshal's Hall, probably from a faulty chimney, and within three days it had gutted the entire palace. The imperial family was living there at the time — Nicholas I was on the throne — and they had to evacuate. The fire was so intense that the ceilings collapsed, and the heat melted the snow on the streets outside. But here's the amazing part: they rebuilt it in just over a year. Luna: A year? For over a thousand rooms? Lucas: It was a herculean effort. Nicholas I ordered that the palace be restored exactly as it was, only with better fireproofing. They used iron beams instead of wood, and they worked around the clock with thousands of laborers. By Easter 1839, the palace was ready again — a phoenix from the ashes. And they held a grand reopening with a ball that was the talk of Europe. Lucas: But the Winter Palace wasn't just a backdrop for balls. It was also the site of several assassination attempts. In 1880, a member of the revolutionary group Narodnaya Volya managed to get a job as a carpenter in the palace and planted dynamite in the dining room. The explosion killed eleven guards, but Tsar Alexander II was late to dinner and survived. Luna: So they literally tried to blow him up at the dinner table? Lucas: Literally. And that was just one of many attempts. The palace became a fortress, with increased security and constant surveillance. But it couldn't stop the tide of history. By 1917, the Winter Palace was more a symbol of autocracy than a home. The last tsar, Nicholas II, actually preferred living at Tsarskoye Selo, outside the city. He found the Winter Palace too formal, too oppressive. Lucas: And then, in October 1917, the Bolsheviks stormed the palace. It was more of a symbolic takeover than a real battle — most of the defenders were just a cadet corps and a women's battalion. But the image of the palace being captured became the defining moment of the Russian Revolution. Luna: So the Winter Palace went from the seat of imperial power to a museum of the revolution. That's quite a transformation. Lucas: It is. And today, the Hermitage Museum is one of the most visited museums in the world. You can walk through the same halls where tsars and tsarinas once held court. The Malachite Room, the Jordan Staircase — they're all preserved. But they also tell a story of extreme inequality. The palace's opulence existed alongside the poverty of most Russians. That contrast is part of why the revolution happened. Luna: If today's episode made you think about the sheer scale of that history — the wealth, the fire, the art, the revolution — and if you found it worth a moment of your time, consider supporting the show. We keep it ad-free because listeners like you make it possible. You can find us at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Lucas: Yeah, it's a small way to help us keep doing these deep dives. And speaking of deep dives — one thing I didn't mention is that the Winter Palace was also the site of the Bloody Sunday massacre in 1905, when protesters marched to the palace to petition the tsar, and troops fired on them. Luna: That's right — that happened right outside the palace gates. Lucas: Exactly. The palace's location on Palace Square made it the focal point of protests and celebrations alike. It was where the tsar appeared to his subjects, but also where they came to demand change. So the building itself holds all these layers of history — imperial glory, revolutionary fury, and now, cultural heritage. Luna: It's amazing that so much of it survived the revolution and the Soviet era. Lucas: The Bolsheviks actually turned it into a museum right away. Lenin declared the Hermitage a state museum in 1917, and it stayed open even during the siege of Leningrad in World War II. The staff hid the artworks in the basement and protected them from bombs and cold. So the Winter Palace has this incredible resilience — it's been through fires, revolutions, wars, and it's still standing. Luna: That's a fitting symbol for Russian history itself, in a way. Lucas: I think so. The Winter Palace is more than a building — it's a narrative of power, art, and upheaval. And every time you walk through those halls, you're walking through the Romanov story.