The Summer Palace () is either of the two wooden

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

palaces built by

Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli (; 1700 – 29 April 1771) was an Italian architect who worked mainly in Russia. He developed an easily recognizable style of Late Baroque, both sumptuous and majestic. His major works, including the Winter Palac ...

on Tsaritsa's Meadow behind the

Summer Garden The Summer Garden () is a historic public garden that occupies an eponymous island between the Neva, Fontanka, Moika, and the Swan Canal in downtown Saint Petersburg, Russia and shares its name with the adjacent Summer Palace of Peter th ...

in St. Petersburg. Neither building survives.

First Palace

It was in 1730 that Rastrelli designed the first wooden palace for

Empress Anna Anna Ioannovna (; ), also russified as Anna Ivanovna and sometimes anglicized as Anne, served as regent of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia from 1711 until 1730 and then ruled as Empress of Russia from 1730 to 1740. Much of her administration ...

. This was a one-storied structure, with 28 rooms, a spacious central hall, and a system of interior waterways. After

Elizaveta Petrovna Elizabeth or Elizaveta Petrovna (; ) was Empress of Russia from 1741 until her death in 1762. She remains one of the most popular Russian monarchs because of her decision not to execute a single person during her reign, her numerous constructi ...

ascended the Russian throne in 1741, she commissioned Rastrelli to demolish the palace of her predecessor and build a "Venetian-style" residence for herself.

Second Palace

The new Summer Palace, completed in 1744, was the chief residence of

Empress Elizabeth Elizabeth or Elizaveta Petrovna (; ) was Empress of Russia from 1741 until her death in 1762. She remains one of the most popular Russian monarchs because of her decision not to execute a single person during her reign, her numerous constructio ...

in the Russian capital. It was a large and imposing mauve-walled edifice with 160 gilded rooms, adjacent church and a fountain cascade. A Hermitage

pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings; * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...

and an opera house were added to the compound in the 1750s. In 1762,

Catherine the Great Catherine II. (born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst; 2 May 172917 November 1796), most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter I ...

moved her court to the newly built

Winter Palace The Winter Palace is a palace in Saint Petersburg that served as the official residence of the House of Romanov, previous emperors, from 1732 to 1917. The palace and its precincts now house the Hermitage Museum. The floor area is 233,345 square ...

, effectively sealing the fate of the older residence. A year after her death in 1796,

Emperor Paul Paul I (; – ) was Emperor of Russia from 1796 until his assassination in 1801. Paul remained overshadowed by his mother, Catherine the Great, for most of his life. He adopted the laws of succession to the Russian throne—rules that lasted ...

(who had been born there in 1754) ordered the dilapidated palace to be demolished and replaced it with a new residence, St. Michael's Castle.

References

Summer Palace in Encyclopaedia of St. Petersburg
*Каталог Франческо Бартоломео Растрелли. – СПб: Лицей, 2000. *Шварц В.С. Архитектурный ансамбль Марсова поля. – Л: Искусство. Ленинградское отделение, 1989. {{Imperial palaces in Russia Palaces in Saint Petersburg Royal residences in Russia Baroque architecture in Saint Petersburg Houses completed in 1744 1744 establishments in the Russian Empire Demolished buildings and structures in Russia Buildings and structures demolished in 1797 Baroque palaces in Russia af:Somerpaleis#Somerpaleise it:Palazzo d'Estate (San Pietroburgo)#Palazzi d'Estate pt:Palácio de Verão em São Petersburgo#Palácios de Verão