The Winter Palace, one of the most famous buildings of Saint Petersburg, is an essential part of the world-known Hermitage State Museum. The predecessor of this grandiose architecture monument was a small wooden palace, the winter residence of Tsar Peter I. Just before the wedding of Peter and Catherine I the wooden building was replaced by stone one constructed under the project of well-known architect Trezini. Ten years later Empress Anna Ioannovna decided that the building is too small and plain for the tsar residence. The reconstruction of the palace was entrusted to famous architect B.-F. Rastrelli.
