Oranienbaum
Chinese Palace
The home of Peter III, Catherine’s future husband. Catherine hated it here but after his death turned it into her ‘personal dacha’. It is famous for its Chinese Palace built in the 1760s, rococo interiors and Chinoiserie decorations.
Vasilevskiy Island
Contained a thriving German community including (presumably) Catherine’s many German artists and craftsmen
Vasilevskiy Island
Fine Art Academy Vasilevskiy Island
Catherine’s Academy of Arts founded in 1757
Palace Embankment
English architects, merchants and artists settled here from the 1730s. Contains Marble Palace.
Design for a pagoda for the Chinese Village at Tsarskoe Selo
Summer Garden
Ilya Neyelov
Russian 1745–93
"Design for a pagoda for the Chinese Village at Tsarskoe Selo" (1770s)
pen and ink, watercolour
35.5 x 23.5 cm (sheet)
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
(Inv. no. ОР-23369)
Acquired before 1797
Palace Embankment
Bronze Horseman
Palace Embankment
View of the English Embankment from Vasilyevsky Island (1790s)
Benjamin Patersen
Swedish 1750–1815
"View of the English Embankment from Vasilyevsky Island" (1790s)
oil on canvas
68.2 х 85.0 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
(Inv. no.ЭРЖ-1668)
Transferred from the State Russian Museum, Leningrad, 1950
Palace Embankment
Quarenghi's Manege (stables)
Giacomo Quarenghi
Italian 1744-1817
Museum halls over the stables of the Winter Palace. Longitudinal section and plan(early 1800s)
pen and ink, watercolour
48.2 x 96.5 cm (sheet)
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
(Inv. no. ОР-9698)
Acquired from Giulio Quarenghi in 1818
Palace Embankment
View of Palace Embankment from the Spit of Vasilyevsky Island 1796
Wealthy quarter close to the English Embankment
Johann Georg Mayr
German 1760–1816
"View of Palace Embankment from the Spit
of Vasilyevsky Island" 1796
oil on canvas
77.0 x 117.0 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
(Inv. ЭРЖ-2219)
Transferred from the State Russian
Museum, Leningrad, 1953
Sennaya Square
Wealthy quarter close to the English Embankment
View of Sennaya Square
Benjamin Patersen
Swedish 1750–1815 View of Sennaya Square (the Haymarket) (before 1797)
oil on canvas
57.5 х 89.5 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
(Inv. no. ЭРЖ-1904)
Transferred from the State Russian Museum, Leningrad, 1950
The Hermitage
The State Hermitage Museum facade
St Petersburg
Hermitage Hanging Garden and the Small Hermitage's facade
Unknown engraver
Hermitage Hanging Garden and the Small Hermitage’s facade. View from above 1773
Illustration from the Court Calendar 1774
etching with line engraving
25.5 x 18 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg (Inv. no. ЭРГ-20890)
The Hermitage
Small Hermitage, Designed for Catherine by Yuriy Velten as a retreat from the court
Charles Cameron
English 1745–1812
"The Cameron Baths. Section of the Hanging Garden and the Cold Bath Pavilion" (early 1780s)
pen and ink, watercolour
58.2 х 94.7 cm (sheet)
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
(Inv. no. OR-11047)
Acquired from Charles Cameron's descendants in London as part of Cameron's archives, 1822
The Hermitage
Large Hermitage, designed by Yuriy Velten to house Catherine’s pictures
Charles Cameron
English 1745–1812
"The Cameron Baths. Section of the Hanging Garden and the Cold Bath Pavilion" (early 1780s)
pen and ink, watercolour
58.2 х 94.7 cm (sheet)
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
(Inv. no. OR-11047)
Acquired from Charles Cameron's descendants in London as part of Cameron's archives, 1822
The Hermitage Theatre
Designed by Quarenghi for royal performances before Catherine
Giacomo Quarenghi
Italian 1744–1817
"Longitudinal section of the Hermitage Theatre" (1780s)
pen and ink, grey wash
19.2 х 29.0 cm (sheet)
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
(Inv. no. ОР-9629)
Acquired from Giulio Quarenghi in 1818
Winter Palace
The residence of the Imperial family until the Revolution, façade by Rastrelli
Hermitage Museum, the Winter Palace in Winter, St Petersburg
Photo: Andrey Terebenin
Raphael’s Loggias
Catherine’s hallway commissioned in 1787 in emulation of Raphael’s frescoes in the Vatican VOLPATO and OUCHTOMSKY Raphael’s Loggias at the Hermitage
Konstantin Ukhtomsky
Russian 1818–81
The Raphael Loggia 1860
watercolour 42.0 х 25.0 cm (sheet)
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
(Inv. no. ОР-11741)
Acquired from the author in 1860
The Hermitage
Section of hanging garden
Giacomo Quarenghi
Italian 1744–1817
"Design for the interior finishes of the Hermitage Picture Gallery" (early 1800s)
pen and ink, watercolour
53.5 х 99.5 cm (sheet)
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
(Inv. no. ОР-9699)
Acquired from Giulio Quarenghi in 1818
Nevskiy Prospekt
Stately main avenue of St Petersburg containing Churches of all denominations fostered by Catherine – hence its nickname ‘Street of Tolerance’
Benjamin Patersen
Swedish 1750–1815
"View of Palace Square and the Winter Palace from the Start of Nevsky Prospekt" 1801
oil on canvas
64.0 х 99.0 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
(Inv. no. ЭРЖ-1902)
Transferred from the State Russian Museum, Leningrad, 1950
Nevskiy Prospekt
New Academy of Sciences
Neoclassical academy built by Quarenghi at Catherine’s behest in 1783-5
The Marble Palace
On the Palace Embankment. Built as a present by Catherine for her lover Grigoriy Orlov
Neva Embankment
Karl Petrovich Beggrov
Russia 1799–1875
View of the Neva Embankment by the Old Hermitage building1824
watercolour and gouache on paper
62.5 x 84.6 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg (Inv. no. ЭРР-7188)
Tsarksoe Seloe
‘Tsar’s Village’ 25 km south of St Peterburg. A summer resort for the aristocracy. Royal estate redesigned for Catherine II by Charles Cameron in neo-classical taste. Contains the Agate Pavilion featuring luxury stonework.
Agate pavilion by Uchitelev
‘Picture gallery of French, Dutch and Flemish 17th and 18th c masters. Home of the Amber Room, one of the ‘Eight Great Wonders of the World’.
Chinese rooms
Extensive gardens designed with Catherine’s input in 1768
CHINESE
Toilet service (early 18th century)
glass, mercury amalgam, paper, silver, filigree, parcel-gilt, wood, velvet, peacock and king-fisher feathers, mother-of-pearl, crystals
88.7 x 54.8 x 28.0 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg (Inv. no. ЛС-472/ 1,2, ВВс-373)
Tsarskoe Selo
Jean Baltazar de la Travers
French 1752-after 1808
View of the Park at Tsarskoe Selo 1786
watercolor, gouache
24.7 x 46.8 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg (Inv. no. ОР-43895) Acquired from the collection of Jacques Aved, Paris, 1766