Alexander Palace

Alexander Palace in Saint Petersburg, Russia, is an imperial residence built for the Russian Empire in the 1790s in the Palladian neoclassical style. Commissioned by Empress Catherine II as a gift for her grandson, the building was planned in the 1790s and completed as an elegant two‑storey palace intended to serve as an imperial home and seat for members of the ruling family. Its role in the life of the Romanovs made it a focal point for successive generations of heirs and rulers.

Work began in the early 1790s and the main construction was finished by the mid 1790s, with interior decoration completed in the mid 1790s and external façade finishing brought to completion around 1800. Ceiling compositions were added during the interior phase, and the palace quickly assumed use as a private imperial residence rather than a public palace. In the 1830s the building received sculptural groups placed before the colonnade, and the house was adapted repeatedly to suit the tastes and needs of the imperial family.

Throughout the 19th century the palace served as the summer home of the heir to the throne. Alexander I presented the building to his brother, later Nicholas I, and the house then became the customary summer residence for heirs. Major redecoration campaigns took place roughly between 1830 and 1850, and a special playroom known as the Mountain Hall, fitted with a long indoor slide for children, was created during this period. Later occupants included Alexander III and his wife Maria Feodorovna, who occupied apartments in the western wing.

By the end of the 19th century Nicholas II and his family had made the palace their principal residence. After the 1905 Bloody Sunday events they moved there permanently. Between about 1896 and 1906 the imperial suites were rearranged: the former service and retinue rooms were converted into the private living apartments of Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra, a wide concert space on the left side was removed in 1903 to make way for Alexandra’s Maple Drawing Room and Nicholas’s new Parade Study, and children’s rooms were established above these new state rooms. The building received modern conveniences in this period, including electrical wiring, a telephone system, and in 1899 a hydraulic lift linking the Empress’s apartments with the children’s rooms. A film projection installation was installed in the Semicircular Hall as part of these modern comforts.

After the February Revolution of 1917 the imperial family were held under house arrest in the palace. On the morning of 1 (14) August 1917 they were taken from the Semicircular Hall and sent by train to Tobolsk; they were later moved to Yekaterinburg where they were executed in 1918. In 1918 the palace opened to the public as a state museum and a children’s home named for the Young Communards was established there at the initiative of the government’s education authority.

From the 1930s a museum custodian organized restorations intended to create a memorial to the last imperial family, arranged partial evacuations of moveable items before the Second World War, and recorded interior fabrics and fittings for later use. During the German occupation in World War II the building housed German military headquarters and the Gestapo; its basements served as a prison and the square in front of the palace became a burial ground for SS personnel. Museum holdings were partially destroyed or removed during the occupation.

After the war the palace functioned as a repository for museum collections, was transferred in 1946 to the Academy of Sciences to house an exhibition on the poet Alexander Pushkin and underwent restoration work from 1947 to 1951 that recreated some original elements while other parts were altered. In 1951 the complex was placed under the Soviet Navy and many collections were transferred to Pavlovsk Palace‑museum. Conservation and repair continued in the late 20th century. A roof repair grant was awarded in 1996 and a permanent exhibition opened in the left wing in 1997. Three central parade halls were reopened in June 2010 following restoration. The palace forms part of the UNESCO World Heritage site for the historic centre of Saint Petersburg and related monuments and in October 2009 management was transferred to the State Museum‑Reserve Tsarskoye Selo. A major restoration program began in the 2010s and in August 2021 the east wing, housing the private apartments of Nicholas II and Alexandra, reopened after careful work.