Winter Palace

The Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg was the official residence of the Russian emperors from 1732 to 1917. It now houses the Hermitage Museum. The green-and-white palace has a principal façade 215 meters long and 30 meters high, with 1,500 rooms, 1,886 doors, and 1,945 windows. It sits between Palace Embankment and Palace Square.

Don't miss

• The Hermitage Museum, one of the top five art museums in the world, housed within the palace
• The palace's 1,500 rooms, including the three vast halls of the Neva enfilade redesigned by Quarenghi
• The green-and-white exterior in Elizabethan Baroque style, designed by Italian architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli
• The principal façade, 215 meters long and 30 meters high
• The location between Palace Embankment and Palace Square, adjacent to the site of Peter the Great's original Winter Palace

Tickets & tours

Ways to visit Winter Palace

Cheapest way inImagine Museum of Contemporary Glass Art General Admission4.2★ · 24 travelers1-2 hoursFree cancellationFrom$5 per personSee dates →Most bookedSt. Petersburg Jungle Prada Site History Tour5★ · 628 travelers~2 hoursFree cancellationFrom$18 per personSee dates →Private & flexiblePrivate Golf Cart Tour - The History of St. Petersburg5★ · 13 travelers~2 hoursFree cancellationFrom$49 per personSee dates →

Getting there

Know before you go

• The palace is part of the Hermitage Museum complex, which also includes three adjoining palaces known collectively as the Hermitage.
• The palace is located in the historic center of Saint Petersburg, near the Admiralty and the Bronze Horseman.
• During summer, you can view the palace from the Neva River on a budget riverbus or a channel tour.

A bit of history

The present Winter Palace is the fourth on the site. It was built and altered almost continuously from the late 1730s to 1837, when a severe fire damaged it and it was immediately rebuilt. The exterior remained the same, but large parts of the interior were redesigned in various styles. The palace was the seat of the Russian Provisional Government after the February Revolution of 1917, and later that year Red Guard soldiers and sailors stormed it, a defining moment in the birth of the Soviet state.