Winter Palace Fire of 1837

Categories / City Services/Fire Safety
WINTER PALACE FIRE OF 1837. Started on the evening of 17 December 1837, due to a faulty chimney connecting the choirs and the wooden vault in Peter the Great's Hall. It lasted more than 30 hours, and resulted in complete burning of the second and the third floors of the Palace. Two companies of Palace firemen, city fire brigades, a company of Palace grenadiers, and units from the Guards (in total up to 6,000 people), fought the fire. Guards Regiments banners, portraits from the Military Gallery of 1812, and valuable china and furniture were saved. On 29 December 1837, the Commission for the Restoration of the Palace was established under the supervision of the Head of the Court Ministry, Prince P.M. Volkonsky, (architects V.P. Stasov, A.P. Bryullov, A.E. Shtaubert; later, K.A. Ton, engineers A.D. Gotman, M.E. Clark and I.K. Krol). Over the course of the restoration, which was supervised by the General P.A. Kleinmichel, wooden stoves were replaced by pneumatic stoves (engineer N.A. Amosov); elliptical beams, "sprengels" and "pot vaults" were used to reconstruct the vaults (engineer Clark). Architects involved in the reconstruction of the interiors included Stasov, Bryullov, N.E. Efimov; they were joined by sculptors A.M. Manuilov and A.I. Terebenev, and artists N.A. Maykov and F. Richter. In March 1839, celebrations commemorating the end of the restoration were held. In 1842-69, Palace interiors were painted over by artists E.P. Hau, K.A. Ukhtomsky and L. Premazzi.

References: Башуцкий А. П. Возобновление Зимнего дворца в Санкт-Петербурге. СПб., 1839; Сивков А. В. П. Стасов и его работы по восстановлению Зимнего дворца. Л., 1948; Эрмитаж: История и архитектура зданий. Л., 1974; Минин А. С. Пожар Зимнего дворца 17 декабря 1837 года в воспоминаниях современников // Петербургские чтения-95. СПб., 1995. С. 128-131.

Y. N. Kruzhnov. Amosov Nikolay Alexeevich
Bryullov Boris Pavlovich
Clark Mathew (Matvey Egorovich) A3469
Efimov Nikolay Efimovich
Gotman Andrey Danilovich
Hau Eduard Petrovich
Kleinmichel Peter Andreevich
Krol I.K.
Manuylov Alexander Mikhailovich
Maykov Nikolay Apollonovich
Peter I, Emperor
Premazzi Ludwig Osipovich
Richter Friedrich
Shtaubert Alexander Egorovich
Stasov Vasily Petrovich
the Terebenevs
Ton Konstantin Andreevich
Ukhtomsky Konstantin Andreevich
Volkonsky Peter Mikhailovich, Duke
Сивков А.В. П. Стасов и его работы по восстановлению Зимнего дворца. Л., 1948
Минин А. С. Пожар Зимнего дворца 17 декабря 1837 года в воспоминаниях современников // Петербургские чтения-95. СПб., 1995
Башуцкий А. П. Возобновление Зимнего дворца в Санкт-Петербурге. СПб., 1839
Эрмитаж: История и архитектура зданий. Л., 1974 1837