The principal or Jordan Staircase of the

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 ...

St Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

is so called because on the Feast of the

Epiphany Epiphany may refer to: Psychology * Epiphany (feeling), an experience of sudden and striking insight Religion * Epiphany (holiday), a Christian holiday celebrating the revelation of God the Son as a human being in Jesus Christ ** Epiphany seaso ...

the Tsar descended this

imperial staircase An imperial staircase (sometimes erroneously known as a "double staircase") is the name given to a staircase with divided flights. Usually the first flight rises to a half-landing and then divides into two symmetrical flights both rising with ...

in state for the ceremony of the "Blessing of the Waters" of the

Neva River The Neva ( , ; , ) is a river in northwestern Russia flowing from Lake Ladoga through the western part of Leningrad Oblast (historical region of Ingria) to the Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland. Despite its modest length of , it is the fourth-l ...

, a celebration of

Christ Jesus ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Christianity, central figure of Christianity, the M ...

baptism Baptism (from ) is a Christians, Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by aspersion, sprinkling or affusion, pouring water on the head, or by immersion baptism, immersing in water eit ...

in the

Jordan River The Jordan River or River Jordan (, ''Nahr al-ʾUrdunn''; , ''Nəhar hayYardēn''), also known as ''Nahr Al-Sharieat'' (), is a endorheic river in the Levant that flows roughly north to south through the Sea of Galilee and drains to the Dead ...

. The staircase is one of the few parts of the palace retaining the original 18th-century style. The massive grey granite columns, however, were added in the mid 19th century. The staircase was badly damaged by a fire that swept the palace in 1837, but Nicholas I ordered the architect in charge of reconstruction,

Vasily Stasov Duke Vasily Petrovich Stasov (Russian: Васи́лий Петро́вич Ста́сов; 4 August 1769 – 5 September 1848) was a famous Russian architect, born into a wealthy noble family: his father, Pyotr Fyodorovich Stasov, came from ...

, to restore the staircase using

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 ...

's original plans. Stasov made two small changes: he replaced the original gilt bronze handrails with white marble and the original pink columns with gray granite. The stair hall, which has an 18th-century ceiling depicting the Gods at Olympus, is decorated with

alabaster Alabaster is a mineral and a soft Rock (geology), rock used for carvings and as a source of plaster powder. Archaeologists, geologists, and the stone industry have different definitions for the word ''alabaster''. In archaeology, the term ''alab ...

statues of

Wisdom Wisdom, also known as sapience, is the ability to apply knowledge, experience, and good judgment to navigate life’s complexities. It is often associated with insight, discernment, and ethics in decision-making. Throughout history, wisdom ha ...

and

Justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

by Mikhail Terebenev (1795-1866); Grandeur and Opulence by Alexander Ustinov (1796-1868);

Fidelity Fidelity is the quality of faithfulness or loyalty. Its original meaning regarded duty in a broader sense than the related concept of '' fealty''. Both derive from the Latin word , meaning "faithful or loyal". In the City of London financial m ...

and Equity by Ivan Leppe; and Mercury and

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

by Apollon Manyulov. At the centre of the first landing is an anonymous 18th-century marble sculpture, Allegory of the State. During state receptions and functions the Jordan Staircase was a focal point for arriving guests. After entering the palace through the Ambassadors' entrance, in the central courtyard, they would pass through the colonnaded ground floor Jordan Hall before ascending the staircase to the state apartments. Following a ball at the Winter Palace in 1902, the Duchess of Sutherland wrote: "The stairs of the palace were guarded by cossacks, with hundreds of footmen in scarlet liveries, I have never in my life seen so brilliant a sight—the light, the uniforms, the enormous rooms, the crowd, the music, making a spectacle that was almost Barbaric." Today, as part of the

State Hermitage Museum The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and holds the large ...

, this room retains its original decoration.

Architecture

The Jordan Staircase is a double-height staircase. As visitors to the Winter Palace ascended the stairs of the palace from the lower, shaded area, they entered a large room, flooded with light from the two tiers of windows on the Neva, which was reflected in the mirrors of the symmetrical set of portholes on the opposite side. Rastrelli had used this idea before: in the Dancing Hall of the Great Peterhof Palace (1751-1752), in the Grand Staircase and the Great Hall of the Palace at Tsarskoye Selo (1751-1756). At the top of the stairs, Rastrelli arranged a small gallery separated from the rest of the space by twin columns. The main entrance to the suit of the Neva is decorated by a magnificent portal with columns supporting a pediment with a cartouche and a sculpture. On either side of the portal are niches with statues of Mars and Apollo. In 1758 the finishing work began. On the second tier of the walls on pedestals, allegorical statues of Justice, Mercy, Military Valour and Prosperity of Trade were set up. Bas-reliefs of banners and trophies of war have been placed in the sandriques of the large windows. Rastrelli was commissioned by F. Fontebasso in Italy to create the picturesque plafond. The banisters and balusters of the stairs, the vases as well as the bases of the columns were to be made of gilded copper. The walls were to be painted pink, while the stucco rocaille would remain white. However, by 1761 the walls and wooden columns were clad in artificial marble and the rococoils were gilded.

Gallery

Jordantreppe Petersburg Eremitage 02.JPG The State (Jordan, or Ambassadors') Staircase.jpg The State (Jordan, or Ambassadors') Staircase 2.jpg Hermitage St. Petersburg Interior 20021009.jpg Hermitage staicase.jpg Jordantreppe Decke Petersburg Eremitage.jpg RIAN archive 139402 Main Staircase at the Hermitage.jpg Jordan Staircase 9.JPG

References

Citations Bibliography * * *

External links

History of the Hermitage
retrieved 1 November 2008; {{DEFAULTSORT:Jordan Staircase Of The Winter Palace Hermitage Museum Stairways Vasily Stasov buildings and structures Winter Palace