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This gallery is located on the ground floor of the Winter
Palace constructed in 1754-62 by the architect Francesco Bartolomeo
Rastrelli to the order of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. The gallery
displays features of the mature Russian Baroque style. In the 18th
century it was known as the Main Gallery as visitors to the palace
proceeded along it from the Main Vestibule to the Grand Staircase.
Later the name Jordan became attached to it, as well as to the entrance
facing the Neva. At the feast of the Epiphany (on 6/19 January, commemorating
the Baptism of Christ) a religious procession passed along the gallery
from the Great Palace Church. Its destination was the Neva, where
a pavilion was set up over a "Jordan" ice-hole cut for the ceremony
of the Blessing of Waters. |
