Winter Palace

The Imperial Palace of St. Petersburg and the residence of the Tsars. Today it is the main building of the Hermitage Museum.

The Winter Palace is the single most popular building in St. Petersburg. It has the richest of imperial histories, and still holds all of it's grandeur from it's glory days. The palace design we see today was completed in the 1760s in the Russian Baroque style, and is a piece of genius by the architect Bartholomeo Rastrelli, who's magnificent works are seen in many imperial buildings of St. Petersburg. The palace is in the shape of a square, with a courtyard in the centre. Inside, it has nearly 1500 rooms. The Hermitage collection was always housed in the Winter Palace, however today it has become the primary reason for the millions that visit the palace everyday. The banquets, rooms, galleries and the intricate architecture inside this massive palace just cannot be missed. The imperial glory of the Winter Palace was restored after the fall of the communist regime, and you have not visited St. Petersburg without visiting the Winter Palace.