3-052-463 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The attempt on the Czar's life: the Winter Palace, St. Petersburg, 1880. 'The Winter Palace, built in the reign of the Empress Elizabeth on the plans of Count Rastrelli, between the years 1754 and 1762, is of colossal proportions and very simple architecture. The palace is 400 ft. square, and its inmates number 6000 persons when the Czar is in residence. It is built on the left bank of the Neva. In front there is a large open space called the Palace-square, in which stands Alexander's Column, a monolith of red granite 80 ft. high. On the right of the Palace is Peter's-square, which contains the celebrated statue of Peter the Great, and the Field of Mars, a parade-ground large enough for 40,000 men to manoeuvre in...The palace is four stories high, or about 80 feet; the frontage is 455 feet in length, in breadth 350 feet. The principal entrance, or "perron des ambassadeurs," is from the Neva, and leads by a magnificent flight of marble steps to the state apartments of the palace. A gateway in the centre of the building, facing Alexander's Column, opens into a large court'. From "Illustrated London News", 1880.