14. The Church of Our Savior on the Spilled Blood.

It is also called the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. On this spot Alexander 2 was assassinated on Sunday morning March 1 1881. The emperor finished inspecting troops in the Mikhail riding school and began his short return trip to the Winter Palace. As his carriage turned the canoe embankment a bomb went on and the emperor was unharmed & he got of to inspect the damage. As he did so he was hit by the second bomb thrown by the terrorist Гриневицкий, member of People`s Will organization. Both the tsar & the assassin felt mortally wounded. The assassin died immediately on the spot, & Alexander 2 died 1,5 hour later in his bedroom in the Winter Palace. He was often called tsar-matry (мученик) & tsar-liberator, as it was him who abolished (отменил) serfdom (крепостное право) in 1861.

Alexander 3 announced a competition for a permanent memorial to his father. The final design belongs to Alphred Parlan. The foundation stone was laid in October 1883 but the building took almost a quarter of a century to complete. The construction was over in 1907, the church was build in pseudo Russian style. And it copied Saint Basil`s (Василий Блаженный) cathedral in Moscow (16<sup>th</sup> century). Mosaic panels showing scenes from the bible adorn (украшать) the interior and the exterior of the cathedral. They were based on designs by artists such as Viktor Vasnetsov, Mikhail Nesterov. Inside more than 20 types of minerals including jasper(яшма), rhodonite, porphyry, marble Italian. Only 6 years ago in 1998 it was open to public after a complete restoration. 7000 m² of mosaic decorated the cathedral inside & outside. Nowadays it`s a museum, but during the Soviet Era it was closed, used as a storage, there was an intention to explode it; fortunately it didn`t happen. During the siege of Leningrad the cathedral was hit with a shall (снаряд). It didn`t explode & got stuck in the central dome. Many years later after war it was found in the roof of the building, brought out of the city & was exploded. Unfortunately cathedral was neglected for many years. And it was flooded by the waters of the nearby canal. And many beautiful icons were stolen.

15. История создания Эрмитажа. 5 зданий

The Winter Palace

The Winter Palace is the biggest building in the entire museum ensemble of the Hermitage. It was commissioned by the daughter of Peter the Great, Empress Elizabeth I, in 1754 as an official royal residence. Construction went on until 1762. The design was prepared by an outstanding architect of the Baroque style, Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli.

The three-story building occupies a whole block and amazes visitors with its grand scale and splendid ornamentation. The variety of impressions that the Winter Palace produces from different points of view is a result of the different compositions of its facades. Though they share a common symmetry, they have different architectural masses and varying richness of plastic decoration. The whimsical forms of the window and door frames, the splendid Corinthian capitals of the columns, the curved lines of sophisticated cornices, an abundance of statues and vases on the roof, and the festive colour of the walls lend a sumptuousness to the building which is characteristic of the Baroque style.

The construction work on the Winter Palace was completed after the death of Empress Elizabeth I. The Palace was the official residence of the Russian Emperors and Empresses from 1762 till February 1917 when the ruling dynasty of the Romanovs was overthrown by the Revolution.

The most important events in Russian history were connected with the Winter Palace and its inhabitants. This is also where the Russian monarchs and members of their family led their private lives. The original palace interiors where the collections of the Hermitage Museum are housed today have not only artistic but also historical value.

The Great Hermitage

The building of the Great Hermitage was built from 1771-1787 at the behest of Catherine II and was intended to house the palace art collections and library. Yury Veldten designed the three-storey building in such a way that it naturally completed the existing palace ensemble. The strictness and simplicity of the appearance of the Great Hermitge reflected the spirit of 18th century Classicism. The facade combines rhythms of horizontal articulation and vertical window openings. In 1792 Giacomo Quarengi added a new wing to the Great Hermitage to house the Raphael Loggias - a very close replica of the famous gallery in the papal palace in the Vatican. A passage connected the new building with the Northern Pavilion of the Small Hermitage, while an arch over the Winter Canal (Zimnaya Kanavka) connected it with the Theatre.

The Small Hermitage 

At the behest of Empress Catherine II, the Southern wing was erected in 1765-1766 according to a design by the architect Yury Veldten. The appearance of this building organically combined the features of the Late Baroque style with Early Classicism. Later, in 1767-1769, the architect Jean Baptist Vallin de la Mothe constructed the Northern Pavilion on the bank of the Neva using the Early Classicism style. The two structures are joined at the level of the first floor by the Hanging Garden, which has galleries on both sides. This architectural ensemble was called the "Small Hermitage," because in the Northern Pavilion Catherine II had parties with games and performances which were known as "small hermitages." Art works were housed in the side galleries, thereby starting the collections of the imperial museum. In the mid-19th century Andrei Stakenschneider built the Pavilion Hall in the Small Hermitage, a vivid example of the Eclecticism style in interior decoration. In the Hermitage architectural ensemble, the Small Hermitage is a link between the magnificent Baroque building of the Winter Palace and the splendid constructions of the age of Classicism - the Great Hermitage and the New Hermitage.

The New Hermitage

The New Hermitage was the first building in Russia specially constructed to house the art collections of the Museum. It was designed by the German architect Leo von Klenze. When it was erected in the years1842-1851, the supervising architects Vasily Stasov and Nikolai Yefimov made substantial alterations to the ideas of their colleague from Munich in order to harmonize the building with the surrounding architectural ensemble.

The New Hermitage is an example of the architectural school known as Historicism, as evidenced in the strict and monumental outer appearance and the calm equilibrium of architectural volumes. The entrance to the Museum is highlighted by a splendid portico with figures of Atlantes carved from grey Serdobol granite in the workshop of sculptor Alexander Terebenev. The building is also decorated with statues and bas-reliefs representing famous artists, architects, and sculptors from bygone ages. The large planes of the facades are enlivened by ornamental decoration based on Antique, Renaissance and Baroque motifs.

The New Hermitage is part of the ensemble of buildings of the Winter Palace. It is situated in the very centre of the city, at the end of Millionnaya Street which opens on to the Palace Square.

The Hermitage Theatre

The Hermitage Theatre, commissioned by Catherine II and designed by architect Giacomo Quarenghi, was built during the years 1783-1787. The building is noted for the harmony and balance of its architectural forms and is a beautiful example of late 18th century Russian Classicism. The rusticated windows of the ground floor have key-stones decorated with lion masks, one of the favourite devices of Quarenghi. The well-proportioned columns at the level of the first floor are flanked by projections (risalitas) with statues of playwrights and poets of Ancient Greece in the niches. As seen from the embankment, the Hermitage Theatre together with the adjacent Hermitage bridge and arch over the Winter Canal form a wonderful cityscape.