The building of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg was built in 1754-1762 by the Russian architect of Italian origin Bartolomeo Rastrelli. But these openwork. there was no metal gate then, and there was no gate at all.
Only during the reign of Catherine the Great, who came to power through a palace coup and understood the fragility of this power, was it decided to install the gate. The Empress was very worried about the many entrances to the palace, and she hurried to take care of security.
In 1771, the first wooden gates were designed by architect Felten, assistant to the famous Bartolomeo Rastrelli, the author of the Winter Palace and many other palaces of St. Petersburg and its suburbs. Gates were built in ten days. Sash with a simple pattern painted white. The gate was massive and performed its function of protection from unwanted people well, and the guard was on duty at the gate all the time. These gates served until the end of the XVIII century, until they began to rot, which is not surprising, knowing the weather in St. Petersburg.
The entire Soviet period, the gate was closed, and the entrance to the Hermitage was from the Neva. Only after the restoration in 2003, when all the royal symbols were restored, the gate was opened to visitors. Currently, everyone can enter the Winter Palace through the Front Gate from the side of Palace Square.
