Main Gate of the Winter Palace

The first wooden gate designed by architect Yu.M. Felten was built in 1771 in the three arches between the Winter Palace Courtyard and Palace Square (southern facade). After the 1837 fire, it was again restored in wood. In the middle of the 19th century, architect A.I. Stackenschneider proposed a project of metal gate which however was rejected.

In 1855, court architect N.A. Gornostayev made preliminary sketches for one big and two smaller gates. The heavy gates were made at San-Gali factory in St. Petersburg from hammered iron with knocked-out decorative details according to the design proposed by the factory’s owner, decorator and architect R.F. Melzer. Either half of the gate bore monograms of Emperor Alexander III and Empress Maria Fedorovna under the Imperial crown. The upper part of each of the three gates was topped with a bicephalous eagle wearing one Imperial crown and holding the Imperial orb. On the eagles’ bosom were shields with the image of St. George. The eagles and monograms were made from gilt copper. Gate details made from ferrous metals were executed in the come-off graphite technique. The gates preserved this appearance till February 1917, when the Provisional Government had the two-headed eagles and Imperial monograms draped over and then dismantled and destroyed.

In the 1980s, restoration of the missing decorative elements of the gates including the eagles was started, commissioned by the Historic Heritage Preservation Office. Gypsum molds were made according to the plasticine models executed by sculptor S.G. Lebedeva. The zinc molds based on them were used for recreating the eagles in the technique of copper chasing. The recreated gilt eagles surmounting the gates are held in place by Izhorian steel frames. The frames, palm and laurel branches, crowns and other missing elements were designed by V.V. Yefimov, Deputy Senior Architect of the Hermitage.

The gates were at first dismantled and cleaned. Metal was coated with red lead, special varnish and graphite. Deformed elements were corrected. Worn mechanical details were repaired or replaced. The works were performed by ZAO Sobor.

The opening of the New Entrance to the Hermitage

Main Gate of the Winter Palace

The monograms of the gate

The official opening