Rotunda of the Winter Palace

The Rotunda in 1834, by
Yefim Tukharinov.

The Rotunda of the Winter Palace in St Petersburg is a circular hall in the northwest wing of the palace created for Tsar Nicholas I by the architect Auguste de Montferrand. Designed in a circular neoclassical temple style, it served as an anteroom, vestibule and link between the more public state rooms of the palace and the more intimate rooms used by the Imperial family. The room is domed and top lit by an oculus.

The Rotunda was one of the many rooms destroyed by the Winter Palace fire of 1837. It was rebuilt in near-original style, but with the addition of a gallery under the dome.

Today, the Rotunda is an exhibition hall of the State Hermitage Museum.

References

• The State Hermitage Museum retrieved 10 November 2008

Plan showing location of the Rotunda within the Winter Palace

The Winter Palace Rooms Jordan Staircase Field Marshals' Hall Small Throne Room Armorial Hall Military Gallery St George's Hall and Apollo Room Grand Church Alexander Hall White Hall Gold Drawing Room Private Apartments Rotunda Arabian Hall Malachite Room Neva Enfilade Gardens Miscellaneous Cabin of Peter the Great Fire in the Winter Palace Hermitage Museum