by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2022

• Unofficial Royalty: Tsardom of Russia/Russian Empire Index

The most important church in the lives of the Romanovs was the Grand Church located in the Winter Palace. The Winter Palace, on the banks of the Neva River in Saint Petersburg, served as the official residence of the Russian Emperors and Empresses from 1732 to 1917. This writer has visited the Winter Palace and it is truly awe-inspiring. Today, part of the Winter Palace houses the State Hermitage Museum, one of the world’s premier art museums. The Winter Palace’s monumental scale was intended to reflect the might and power of Imperial Russia and it is still a mighty and powerful building. It is said to contain 1,786 doors, 1,945 windows, 1,500 rooms, and 117 staircases.

The Grand Church, a Russian Orthodox church that had cathedral status, was the site of most christenings, weddings, conversions of foreign princesses marrying into the family, and memorial services. Funerals were usually held at the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul, the burial site of the Romanovs from Peter I (the Great) to Nicholas II, (with the exception of Peter II and Ivan VI) located in the Peter and Paul Fortress across the Neva River from the Winter Palace.

Before the founding of St. Petersburg by Peter I (the Great), Emperor of All Russia in 1703, the seat of power and the important churches were in the Moscow Kremlin. Male rulers of the Rurik dynasty and the early Romanov dynasty along with close male relatives and some Russian noblemen were interred at the Archangel Cathedral. Women of the Rurik dynasty and women of the early Romanov dynasty along with some Russian noblewomen were interred at the Ascension Cathedral of the Ascension Convent. Assumption Cathedral was the site of the coronations of the sovereign Tsars, Emperors, and Empresses of Russia, and some consorts from 1547 to 1896. It remained the coronation cathedral after the founding of St. Petersburg.

A second smaller church, the Sretenskaya Church or Small Church of the Winter Palace, was conveniently located near the residential wing of the Winter Palace and was used by the Imperial Family for private worship. Today the former church displays Russian Orthodox church vestments of the 17th – early 20th centuries from the State Hermitage Museum collection.

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History of the Grand Church of the Winter Palace

In 1753, Elizabeth, Empress of All Russia ordered the construction of a new (and the present) Winter Palace with a large church. Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli, an Italian architect who worked mainly in Russia, was responsible for the design of the palace and the church. He designed the Grand Church in the Baroque style with an interior similar to a palace hall. Construction on the church began in 1753 and was completed in 1762. On July 12, 1763, Archbishop Gavriil Kremenetsky of St Petersburg consecrated the Grand Church. In 1807, Alexander I, Emperor of All Russia issued a decree giving the Grand Church the status of a Court Cathedral.

On December 29, 1837, a fire broke out after smoke from an unswept chimney spread through a vent in a partition between the wooden and main walls in the Field Marshal’s Hall. The wall began to smolder and a fire broke out in the ceiling of the Small Throne Room. The fire lasted about 30 hours, and the Winter Palace smoldered for almost three days. Most of the second and third floors of the Winter Palace were severely damaged. The two-year restoration was led by Russian architect Vasily Petrovich Stasov. Some of the decorations of the Grand Church were able to be saved and Stasov was able to recreate the style of Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli’s original plans. The Grand Church was reconsecrated on March 25, 1839, in a ceremony conducted by Metropolitan Filaret Drozdov of Moscow in the presence of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia and his family,

After the Russian Revolution, in May 1918, the Grand Church was officially closed for worship. In 1938, the iconostasis, the pulpit, the lantern, and the altar canopy were removed and the former church became one of the State Hermitage Museum’s exhibition spaces.

Restoration work done from 2012 until 2014 was described by the State Hermitage Museum as a “recreation of the original design of the Court Cathedral” with “the icons, the candelabra, the standard lamps and pieces of the iconostasis, the pulpit, the lantern, and the altar canopy returned to their original place.”

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The Interior of the Grand Church of the Winter Palace

Orthodox churches are set up differently than other Christian churches. They are divided into three main parts: the narthex, the nave, and the sanctuary. The narthex is the connection between the church and the outside world. It used to be the practice that non-Orthodox people had to remain in the narthex but this practice has mostly fallen into disuse. The congregation stands in the nave during services. Traditionally there is no sitting during Orthodox services and so Orthodox churches usually do not have pews or chairs.

In Orthodox Christianity, an iconostasis is a wall of icons, religious paintings, that divides the sanctuary from the nave. The sanctuary is where the Eucharist or Divine Liturgy is performed behind the iconostasis. The iconostasis usually has three doors, one in the middle and one on either side. The middle doors are traditionally called the Royal Doors and are only used by the clergy.

The Grand Church is divided by Corinthian columns into three sections and is brightly lit by large windows on opposite sides. Above the central area is a dome. The walls are richly embellished with gilded stucco in a Rococo design.

After the fire of 1837, architect Vasily Petrovich Stasov made every effort to restore the church as it was before the fire although there were few drawings to guide him. The gilded iconostasis, canopy, and pulpit were carved according to the original drawings. Some of the icons saved during the fire were returned to their places. The Royal Doors had survived the fire and were placed in the new iconstasis. After being repaired, the original silver chandelier was returned to its place in the dome.

The new ceiling, painted by Russian painter Pyotr Vasilievich Basin depicts the Ascension of Christ and the lunettes, half-moon-shaped architectural spaces below the dome, depict the Four Evangelists, Saints Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, by Russian painter Fyodor Antonovich Bruni.

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The Grand Church of the Winter Palace was the family church of the Romanovs and was where most important religious rites of passage were held including christenings, weddings, and the conversions to Russian Orthodoxy of the foreign princesses marrying into the Romanov family.

The many weddings held at the Grand Church include:

• July 13, 1817 – Wedding of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia and Princess Charlotte of Prussia (Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia)
• April 28, 1841 – Wedding of Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia and Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine (Empress Maria Alexandrovna)
• November 9, 1866 – Wedding of Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia and Princess Dagmar of Denmark (Empress Maria Feodorovna)
• January 23, 1874 – Wedding of Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia (daughter of Alexander II) and Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, later Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (son of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom) – Unofficial Royalty: Wedding of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia
• August 28, 1874 – Wedding of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia (son of Alexander II) and Princess Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna)
• June 15, 1884 – Wedding of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia (son of Alexander II) and Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine (Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna)
• June 17, 1889 – Wedding of Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia (son of Alexander II) and Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark (Grand Duchess Alexandra Georgievna)
• November 26, 1894 – Wedding of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia and Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine (Empress Alexandra Feodorovna) – Unofficial Royalty: Wedding of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia and Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine

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Works Cited

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